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Our players stood out as underdogs.
Young Mongolians' qualities rewriting eSports history.
They're up in the theories!
Mongols close to throwing another knockout blow.
Two kills away!
The eSports World Cup.
The most elite competition in the world.
Its trophy system is built to match.
The Club Championship Trophy.
awarded to the one club that rose above the rest and reigns supreme across all EWC games.
Every participant earns a key, engraved with their name.
That's their right to compete.
Raining champions hold a key unlike any other.
The game trophy is the ultimate prize for every game's champion.
Incomplete until a champion's key is inserted.
The champion's keyframe is locked into the totem, a stone marker of legacy.
Enched with every EWC champion.
The losing keys are crushed.
The champion claims three.
A personal reminder of who they defeated.
The rest are preserved beneath the totem.
In Res, every fallen contender captured forever.
Will you be remembered or forgotten beneath the totem?
At EWC, nothing is granted. Everything is earned.
No!
He thinks he can come in here and play my game!
Enough!
Nothing!
But no!
Either one, you're done.
This is my matter!
You can't play!
That's ALA or something.
Somebody better hold me!
Okay, I'm something then.
I'm supposed to meet with the big producer, but I don't see her anywhere.
Kitty, you made it!
Oh wow, I made it to what?
To the best experience of your life. Come on inside.
Come on.
I don't want to.
Not after last time. Okay, but what if I told you we're making perfume today?
Yeah, I'm curious. It's gonna smell so good. It's gonna be so pretty. Yeah, okay
I still smell a little bit like ketchup, but that's okay. You deserve it. Come on kitty
What makes me so sad is that the EWC is
Eventually going to end. It's very sad indeed, but I am not sad about you going home
But I do want
Something to bring home with me to kind of remember our time together and all the fun things that we got to do
Oh yeah, we had so much fun.
I want to create a scent that truly captures eSports.
What do you think of when you smell eSports?
I think really good, to be honest.
Like people sweating, being focused, keyboards that are not really clean.
So yeah, that's what I think about.
And that's exactly the scent that I want to capture.
What?
eSports.
Okay.
eSports.
I'm gonna start with the lavender one.
Let's start with the base, okay?
Lavender, what is that?
What are you kidding? Is that an NPC? It's not an NPC.
It's like a flower. But I think that for my base
I've actually been able to take a gaming headset used by players and
distill down a lot of the dandruff and headlights into this concoction. This shall be my base.
Take a look!
I think some of the lights are still moving around in there.
I'm gonna put some vanilla in mine.
So what?
Vanilla.
Isn't that for eating?
It's used for several things, you know?
Do you know where you get vanilla?
Yeah.
You actually get from a beaver's butt.
When beavers fart, they have vanilla.
How do you come up with those things?
I just really love beavers.
I've managed to capture KC fans' blood, sweat, and tears.
This is the blue wall in blue tier four.
Oh my god.
You're not going to get beat up after this.
Not after they smell my perfume!
You already made a disaster with that so I'm going to continue my beautiful perfume with
I think some chasis.
Chasis?
Like a robot?
No.
Again, it's a fruit.
It's a fruit?
Yeah, you don't have that in America.
It's fine.
I got Cheetos.
Yeah, I know.
But for my next part, I actually got the finger gloves of layers and we're just
I'm just gonna go ahead and add a little bit of sweat.
Ew, that's a tortuous.
Yeah, but it was from Team Spirit.
It smells like victory.
It's not gonna bring victory into your life, trust me.
I found one of the jerseys from a team
that's gone to 23 back-to-back tournaments.
So what this smells like is pure failure,
desperation, and yet, some resolve.
Oh god.
Is it in?
You can really smell the failure.
I have it right in front of me.
I managed to take one of the keyboards off the stage,
and what I did was I removed all of the dead skin cells
and food junk and crust,
and I put it in to this liquid form.
But here's the thing, it is very potent.
So we can only do...
...on this.
Oh god.
Don't do it.
Okay, I'm sorry.
You're disgusting.
I managed to take all of the Cheeto dust out of the controllers that were on the stage and
create this.
This couch cushion from one of the practice rooms.
I heard that the players did not leave this baby for 24 hours straight.
And so we got this beautiful essence.
This is going to be a fantastic perfume.
I feel like we just gotta mix it up a little bit.
Oh, God.
Smells amazing.
You have no idea how amazing this smells.
It smells like resolve.
It smells like perseverance.
It smells like desperation.
Like, it smells like eSports.
Don't put it near me just a little bit.
I promise, I promise.
I do, I promise.
Oh!
Ooh.
It's disgusting.
That'll come off.
I promise.
That'll...
Oh God, don't touch me!
Don't touch me!
Don't f*** me up!
Every day I come with her,
every day she's f***ing something up.
The Esport.
Whenever I use taxis or public transportation
to get to EWC,
I always end up late.
So I'm taking matters into my own hands.
Parted for my producer.
Still pretty well.
Oh, on your.
I think I'm too tall.
Okay, that's terrifying.
Now it says,
Death System Control Voters Cegrandra Latelier.
It's normal.
That mean that the car is on fire?
No, no, no, it's normal.
OK.
Where's the Prindle?
What?
OK, so here there's different buttons.
There's Sport.
There's the different mode.
Different mode.
There's Sport.
Sport.
And CTF.
And CSTO.
OK, but where's eSport?
eSport, no, no, it's just for instant possible, actually.
Sorry.
You can't have eSport mode?
No, no, no.
So now what do I do?
You can Upshift.
Upshift?
One gear.
What's this button?
It's good?
Why is there dual-wielding horns? Look there's a horn here and there's a horn here so I can
It's good. What if I push it both at the same time?
Okay, let's go. Corner, corner difficult.
Corner is difficult? No, I got corners, watch this.
Alright now, when you're on this track, what's important to remember?
Eyes up. Eyes up?
If I want to check my phone really quick. No, I can't. No, okay. All right, eyes up. My eyes are up
Where else would they be, sir?
Okay, all right, I'm passing it
I feel like I'm doing a good job. Yes. Yes, let me try. Okay
I
Don't think I was driving that slow
Yeah, I feel like I went pretty fast
I don't know if he went too fast for you
Oh my god
I'm not honest
I think I was dressed brother
Holy crap
I'm getting so scared
I'm so scared
I'm gonna die in my hair
Oh my god
I should have listened to all my middle school teachers
teachers and high school teachers and college teachers. I feel being your entire life is only going to
put you in my bed and get to my chest.
You should not have a driver's license.
None of this is okay.
Welcome to the last day of the group stage, the final charge for the coveted playoff
12 teams are now on the crossroads of their EWC fate, and only 6 will make it out alive.
With their backs against the wall, they can only do one thing.
Fight to the very end and secure their place in the next stage, by any means necessary.
This is Counter Strike. This is EWC.
Welcome to Day 5.
Well, here we are at the final group day completing that 16 team playoff field.
Every A-Street match is a direct playoff qualifier.
The opening B01 volatility is gone today is going to reward that best of three depth
in terms of staying alive at the Esports World Cup Club.
Championships here in Paris, France.
Guys, it's a lot of games going on, but for us, strictly counter-strike, still a lot
of games around us at all times.
Yeah, and as you said, you know, through a die time today, Peter, whether you want to make the playoff or not will be determined today is this final day of the group stage.
And I think we have some pretty cool matchup at hand.
And it's been a fair bit of surprises so far at these sports world cups.
So I think it should be a good day.
Yeah, and, you know, a lot of mistakes for a lot of these teams, not only for the teams to play in counter, but just also for the club championship.
So, you know, everything like getting down to the line, you know, everything gets a little bit more excited.
So, yeah, can really wait to get the big one.
600k to the champions here, but really, what was a long process?
We don't have a lot of tournaments that are set up strictly like this one anymore,
where you have open qualifiers, you have mass amounts of teams coming in,
and you really have to prove your value and worth to really get in the server
and play against the world's best.
So the road and the trajectory to these moments here today, they count a lot.
I like to get inspired, Trace, and I hope with a lot of the TOs out there,
maybe the future TOs, look at this format, look at this tournament
and feel a little bit inspired.
The last chance qualifier online brought back a lot of good memories.
I know it's perhaps not the cheapest way of running a tournament,
you know, having so many teams on site and so many PCs set up, etc., etc.
But it brought something extra to this tournament.
And then naturally a big-ass group stage into a single elimination bracket,
where 16 teams is part of it, where everything is at stake every single game.
Not gonna lie, you know, you can fold a lot of the team from maybe not playing as well as you'd like.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
In terms of the raw format of this tournament, it's been a joy.
Yeah, it's just enjoyable, and it's just something different from what we're used to.
And I think that is also what is just a little bit interesting for the likes of Austin,
hopefully also for the viewers, that you get to experience something a little bit different.
I've always liked the idea of having to be a scholar, where you just do a dive from the get go.
I think that's really cool, but now we do have the amount of states you might have everything.
It's like expanded playoffs where you get a little bit more teams.
Some teams that's usually not there get to have a chance of playing that they do about it.
We went from 16 playoffs to 16 team play-ups, you know.
That's a great...
We got a little bit more.
Put a bit more.
Well, expansion is exactly what we're talking about,
because it's not just focused here on the counter-strike side, right?
There's a lot of games, and what the counter-strike teams are doing here
contributing to an overall bigger picture
within the Esports World Cup Club Championship rankings.
Jacob, say that at least three times fast.
No, I can't, but I can tell you that it's heating up
in the top of the Esports Club Championship ranking right now.
As you can see, AGL and Falcons have kind of made a bit of a breakthrough.
I know there was some chess going on yesterday,
where Liquid, Magnus Carlsen, ended up winning, which put Liquid in top 11, you know, before
we started the Counter-Strike tournament, there were nowhere to be seen.
But by the looks of it, as far as I understand it, Peter, naturally, AG and Team Falcons are
in the running to win the entire thing.
Navi and Vitality still have a chance theoretically, but a lot of stuff has to go in their direction
if they want to end that time.
Yeah, 100%.
You know, we have to be looking at Falcons in this one, you know, since they,
like since AG, they don't have a representative in Counter-Strike.
So the fact that Falcons can go in here, get far and win.
And also believe that they have their Rocket League team in the top four as well.
So there's also a chance to get some points there.
So I mean, everything's setting up to have a little bit of a rundown of those two.
But right now, even though that AJL is in the top one,
I think Falcons is peeling it out and is chasing them.
Defending champions as well, and let's not forget,
is it worth $7 million you win as a first prize in the Crop Championship?
So I think it's pretty important for both Falcons and Abbey Vitality, you name it, AGL to do everything they can in order to make it.
Vitality, probably the only title considered remaining over there in PUBG Mobile,
but they did lose in the quarter-final of Rocket League to the hometown team of Carmine Corp,
which do have a booth right here in front, so I think they're looking at it all day.
Falcons, yeah, they're in the top four and Rocket League, if they get into the grand final today,
they'll have to leapfrog AGL going into the final week.
So, like I said, a lot of motion all the way around.
You're really out here representing for your org, not just your team in this moment.
Like, your org is a big picture, which in the terms of the big picture of eSports
has to be a unique undertaking for you.
You've seen a lot of Counter-Strike, maybe video games as a whole.
Yeah, I have, you know, I play a lot of video games myself.
So it's cool to see that that's so many titles nowadays is represented
at such a prestigious tournament.
Then there's no cycling tournament, is there?
No, there will be one one day.
OK. Yeah, it's called the Tour de France.
They do it right down the street.
No, we're a pair. We can't be too far from that. Right. That's right. Can we just drop you off there one day?
That'd be great
Unfortunately, I've never tried you know like to compete at a tournament where you also have something online for the organization
I think if you know it brings in a little bit of extra because you know it is, you know
They're exactly the place that pays out the prize pool. So all the place plays lap
Pays out the salary. There we go. For some reason. So you know a lot of money, you know
You also it's a way of you know giving factor organization
in your slow that it can help develop it.
So I'm going to question you guys on this.
We've seen quite a bit of counter-trade at this point.
Which opening day upset has aged best now
that we've seen these teams in full series?
Still, to me, the Vitality loss against B8
is the biggest surprise to the tournament.
For me, Team Spirit losing to Jiu-Jitsu,
how and the best of one.
At the time, it was a big surprise,
but the way Spirit have played so far,
you know, even Dong said yesterday
that we didn't deserve to win,
we didn't deserve to make the play-up.
I think Spirit is fighting some inner demons
at the moment.
Where's the Vitality?
you know, PA played well, they really did, they deserved that victory and Vitality on home chess,
well, a little bit more left to be decided in the playoffs.
And it's only a very small margin, T-Liz actually taken Vitality down the best of three.
So I think that, you know, the fact that Payton's going to be put in that pool of teams, that's incredible.
But that's what it is for the best of much, right? You know, you can fumble, have a day off,
but to have a day off in a whole series like Vitality, you know, that's a good quick question.
I just love the way Apex took responsibility in the injury after saying that that's on me, you know
I made zero good calls. I made a lot of mistakes if anyone is to be blamed
It's me and he was right, you know, he did play awfully in that game
You know and I love the fact that you can take responsibility with that and then bounce back and we'll see if it's played
It on today man in a couple of moments actually and I'm curious to see if he has something to say about that
Well, I guess let me also ask the same question as you look over some of the recap from yesterday in our STC rewind
Which has mattered more so far, and I do mean elite star power
or five-man systems in fluid effect.
It's always a combination, you know.
But for Spirit's sake, I'd say the elite start-on, you know,
Dump going off on Mirage against Bing on that third deciding map,
also helping on Dust2.
He kind of made sure they avoided disaster.
It was a close game on Mirage up until the point
where Spirit went over to the CT side
and Dump just took over the game.
So, you know, normally I always side with the team aspect of things,
but when it comes to Team Spirit, I'm just team Dump.
Yeah, for sure.
And on the Satside, you know, Dump really makes pleasure.
I think they showed a good enough level to actually make that advantage, but with a tough bracket, that's just the worst ability case.
Now I just hope that Spirit will, in a couple of days, get a bit of a chance to bounce back and have some of those talks that maybe is needed for them to know before and better into the playoffs.
So again, the question, Elite Star Power 5-man system, what do you see more of here?
Honestly, the only team that has stood out with both things is actually for my liking,
Cisfal, because I think they've had the big mixture of things with both the team but also
the visual show-ups where it's been a little bit more, for the likes of Spirit since they
made Claire. I think it is definitely something that proved to be the factor here. For my
tell, I expected more team play-wise from them, but it's kind of been lagging on both ends
from the last segment to come to that team, you know. It's not really been the side who show
that we've seen and Rob's haven't really been in the factor as well, so basically like a little bit
of both, but they have a chance of making up for this later. Let's jump into this. Here's our story
of the day. It's going to be brought to you by Crunchyroll and what that means is
brudge match time, boys. Oh, that's plenty. That's what it feels like, you know, especially
in that lower bracket, especially between some of the teams that know each other in and out.
The first one I want to point out is the Astralis game taking on NIP for good reason.
I think both teams right now are officially labeled as Danish, you know, as the majority of the players within both teams are Danish.
Now, a Danish organization used to be a Danish powerhouse and Astralis going up against NIP who have brought a lot of the, I guess, failed Astralis players into their home, you know,
and now they're trying to figure it out in Stavr and Snappi, who were also at Astralis at a certain point.
The one that never got was Schuss, who were probably the one they should have gotten, you know, in a lot of different occasions.
So I feel like if you're into Danish Counter-Strike or Scandinavian Counter-Strike, that matchup
is interesting and trust me, these players, Peter, they know each other well and there's
no other team they would rather beat in a game for the playoffs.
Yeah, I understand it.
I think it would have been more fun if you go two years back.
Let's say that this match could have happened like two years ago when the whole drama
thing was still up on the high rise.
I do think that the players at this one have settled.
I think things have calmed down a little bit.
It's always like this fight, you know, as well as an appeal to an organization that's
go back in time with a lot of history and a lot of success.
So regardless of that one, you know, it's going to be an interesting one.
And I think it's just very open.
I kind of want to start with an IP, but, you know, a little bit of strong
behind, I also think it's going to be interesting with that side.
It's very interesting.
Again, that's our last best three here on the day for the A stream mouse
p vision in the middle, and vision vitality as we've alluded to.
And for now, our favorite part where we tell you who's not here anymore
because the brackets will illuminate exactly who that is.
There were some L's in the first round.
There was a GG Howe that showed up to play against Team Spirit in the best of one.
Again, first round, best of ones.
Everything there after a best of three.
Yeah, you know, speaking of the teams, we're not going to see any more.
Luminosity left a decent impression against Team Spirit,
at least played very competitively on one map,
which is, I guess, better than they showed so far.
And then they made it losing to Aurora.
No big surprise.
GG Howe, they won the best of one,
but apart from that, didn't get to show too much.
And then as Peter said, I think Big is the one that stands out there.
I think they had to level to make the playoff a little bit hot-tempered by the fact they had to play Spirit in the lower bracket
But they have also been sent home. That's what I thought if we could have this big Aurora game in that lower bracket
Qualifier for players, I think that would have been a way more interesting matchup in terms of who's actually the better team moving forward, right?
So yeah, that's what it is for big X
Sometimes you just end up on the on the downside when some of the elite team seems to be fumbling
So they did have a very tough bracket and I feel like as the tournament has progressed
We've also come to the conclusion now that we started sort out the teams that you know are not good enough
I feel like we've we've so far have seen the majority of the teams that I could not make playoffs also made the best
Fair enough and for group a gamer legion g2 spear and a roar now roar also the interesting case down there in the bottom
They did have to fight to that lower bracket and
Let's go ahead and switch that next group on Jacob. What do you think?
Who be is no no no no no
Group D? Well, what would get Group D? There we go.
I love to see it, love to see it. We also had some eliminations in this group naturally.
Wildcat didn't leave too much of an impression, to be completely honest.
The biggest surprise and the biggest disappointment to me is 3D Max Peter.
The fact that 3D Max on home turf is not able to do any better, you know,
given the opposition they played. Yeah, it's okay to lose to Navi,
but losing 2-0 to Magic yesterday, getting eliminated before even standing a chance
of making the playoff was a little bit disappointing.
And that's why you can't really be sleeping on Magic, you know, it is one of those teams
that doesn't get a lot of attention, but seemingly have started to make their way into making,
you know, tournaments where they can make an impression of themselves.
And sure, there's definitely a case that 3D Max should have taken on and beat Magic.
And then that means we would have this 9C 3D Max for a qualification for playoff.
But just in hindsight, I mean, I wouldn't change much.
No, but I haven't been impressed with 3D Max at all.
It's always this narrative that, hey, we're playing at home, so this should give us an
addition, you know, a little bit more to fight for, but the team is just not functioning
right now.
The changes haven't really done anything good for them, and they just can't find any ability
at what sort of end.
That's also why they're eliminating my boots.
Speaking of stability, Navi and Furia are making it into the playoffs without breaking
too much of a sweat.
I know Navi had a truce game to some degree against the Mongols, and you
could argue Furia as well, up until the point of third map goes for both of them,
actually.
But they get the job done, Trace, and I like that.
I like when teams are getting to jump down.
Yeah, we like that too, Jacob.
Let's go ahead and just switch on into that next bracket real quick,
Mr. Production Man-Man-Man, Group B it would be.
Yeah, and that's where the one team who showed no weaknesses so far
fell concept that just made it through.
You'd argue that the opposition hasn't been too hard either.
K27, that was a landslide.
Chupy and Ansleid, same goes for Astralis.
They did play a very close map on the second one,
but apart from that, I've been pushed by Falcons.
Yeah, what's your idea with Face, you know,
I think it's nice to see that they finally found a little bit of stability and a little bit of success moving forward now that they make like a clean path towards the players.
I think that's good that the game against Legacy looked like they were in control throughout the majority of the match, so a good comfort zone.
Yeah, I mean, that's a move forward for them. And I'm actually excited to see what they can do once they make it to the players.
Faze looks significantly better than I think we could have hoped for at this current stage. They look solid, as you said as well.
as well and I see them as depending on the bracket draw you know and who they're
facing that first round I wouldn't be surprised if they can win a game in that
playoff bracket as well. We saw it a little bit during the blast round so you
know they got to confirm here that they're still playing well so I'm
curious to see what they can do. For me it's Nip and ex-Cabirsky, basically
ex-Cabirsky I mean he put on. Yeah that's essentially what I'm looking at
for the majority at that time and he had one of the clearest individual
takeover performances of the group so far. Look we'll get into the last
group that we've got right here and I know it's a little close to your
Peter, someone will let you take this one.
I know B8 really kind of upset your friends over there
Vitality, and that was not expected.
Oh, of course they're my friends, right?
But you know, even if they're friends, they're...
Still lose.
French?
Friends.
Oh, yeah, that's a good one, right?
Yeah, regardless of that, you know, it was very disappointing
to see that Vitality couldn't make it count
whenever they faced Batey enough.
Gotta give it to Batey, you know,
it is a team that has had a bit of a swing.
When they play their best, they can upset the best teams
in the world, and they definitely showed that.
And in their own wordings, they said they were looking
really good coming into the tournament.
So it's good to see that they continue to strive but regardless of that Vitality now have lindvision looking at them and you know
It should be a matchup that they should be taking quite well. Just about to say right you have vitality lindvision
You have mouse P vision same group accurately two teams that coming into the tournament where some of the favorites to win the trophy
Vitality for good reason mouse because they want trophy a couple of weeks ago at the blast boundary tournament beating spirit and the best of five
Grand Final, I mean they'll make it. I'm sure but there's no guarantees
Look, to me it's as simple as vitality fighting through to prevent VA from upset from that upset beginning early exit early on
I mean you that will haunt you going for Lynn vision arrived with momentum because they you know
They did just beat Tyloo. So that has happened got their key crush yesterday
For Lynn vision if there's a time if there's a place if there's a chance
It might be right now
But for the side of vitality just focusing in on some of the things that we've seen or lack thereof
I know there were a lot of question marks around what they provided when we first got here and then with that loss
that didn't really help answer any of the questions now that it it was a blunder in that game versus v8
I think apex said it pretty well. He took responsibility didn't call great
Yankees pulled up around on inferno. I think the scoreline was 10 to 9
Vitality walk into a pretty much free bomb side and apex decides from whatever reason to take a fight
He never should have taken had he not done that. I think they would have won the game 2-0
We wouldn't be having this compensation vitality will be in the player. We'd be like, yeah
There's still the favorites to win the trophy right and that's how quickly it goes in Counter-Strike
We're talking one or two rounds and all of a sudden they lose grasp of the game
They moved into the third map on dust 2 which to me is the biggest issue for vitality that used to be in 2026
Their strongest map they almost were unbeatable on the map
They only lost was it three times throughout the entirety of the year in 26 and now as of recently they lost it three times
In in the span of a very short period so for vitality in the map pool
It's becoming a Christian mark over past going out as well. That used to be a stronghold train
They used to play that that also went out of the map pool half a year ago
So I feel like they're getting challenged on a lot of different funds right now, Pio
Yeah, and that that's the whole story for me as well is that there is just like no excuse
But there's just so many holes right now. The map pool is like is a good angle, but I also feel like
Excess also said that in this interview night that the excuses is not supposed to be there
But they just not hitting their shots and they're hesitating to watch and they're not making like the right decisions
when they needed to and that's very, that's very odd looking at Vitality when you think of how good they were just like three months ago
like this is the Vitality that all of a sudden actually bleeds and right now it's about figuring out how to stop the bleeding.
Just to put it into context for people at home, you know, this is based on the last three months in nature
we had a break of a month so it's not that big of a sample size
but if you're looking at Vitality's win rate on the match right now, they have to play cash, you know
we don't know whether or not it's gonna be great. That does too, they lost four on a roll, that's a 0% win rate.
They're looking at anubis as well three losses in a row on anubis and they haven't played ancient the last three months either
And that used to be the perma-band for vitality as well
So there's a big fat question mark when it comes to the map pool and where their strength lies right now
Especially considering that cash now has entered the map pool. Well speaking of the map pool
This was a vitality having lost to the eight
Do you think that any of those loss are excuse me?
If there's two losses right there
Expose enough for a lin vision to grab on and say hey this might work against the vitality
absolutely not like the issue there is that I don't see Limbition having the
quality to punish the mistakes that Vitality may or may not do. I think B8
deserves a lot of credit because they were able to do it. They played a good game
of Counter-Strike but it requires a certain level and a certain amount of
experience there I said in order to punish mistakes consistently and I do
not see Limbition doing that. Peter you and I recovered them in Austin when
they were breaking through ever since I've been keeping an eye on them. I
like the guys I think they're fun to speak to. They play a different branch
of Counter-Strike but my god is it uninspiring to see the same mistakes being made over and
over and over and over again. Who inspires you Jacob? Let's just get it you know who inspires
you? Not Lin Vishen. A guy called Tare Pogaccia. Pretty cool Slovenian cyclist. No, no, no,
no, he's speaking Danish or something like that. All I'm saying is we've seen Lin Vishen
make the same mistakes over and over and over and over at every single tournament they
have especially at international level. I don't see that changing today. Well how
How about this, Jacob? How about from the Vitality side, a guy that's in the saddle, that's actually steering this horse around?
Let's talk about some of these mistakes. How does he control him? Dupree, you know this man, probably better than Jacob, if I had to guess at least.
I've had my fights with this guy. Yeah, Avis is a phenomenal leader both inside and outside of the server, that's for sure, right?
But it's also the point, and been that ever since his career started, I think the Vitality, one of the hardest things that they can go up against themselves.
himself and he's the lead man when it comes to fighting themselves because he's
the ring and lead and he could get very frustrated right? He could be extremely
frustrated with his own performance that's gonna take a toll on how he's gone
calling but it's also just like if he can't feel his players if his players
not doing good enough he's he's very good at addressing it but sometimes it
also his emotion gets a bit like I guess the worst for him right he starts
making tremendous mistakes he tries to you know do too many things
individually and it just hurts the team and I actually thought that for
majority of when we talk about how good Vitaliy was, he just had everything on
control, right? But that's also easier said than done when when things is just
working for you. Then it's easy to control your emotions, right? But once
you're here and you're losing to Bade that you're not supposed to be losing to
and right now the question mark is like, why are we not performing? What has
happened to our team in the last three months? That's why I think the
frustration sometimes comes into play with him and it's to me he is one of
the most, he's probably the second most important part of Vitaliy's success
outside of them.
A hundred percent, you know, and he is the leader of this team.
I'm just not buying into the whole Vitality is in a crisis just yet.
Now, if they lose to the admission, sure, we can open that conversation.
They lost an online game at the Major as well.
Yes, they didn't win the Major and surely that was disappointing, but it wasn't like
they played his poor counter strike.
They lost to a Falcons who, you know, played incredible well and did way better
than anyone would have anticipated, you know.
So in that regard, I'm not buying into the whole notion that Vitality is struggling
as much as we can portray the fact that number 5 in VIS right now, well that's because we're
not really playing too many tournaments and didn't do well at the Cologne Major, VIS is very much
in the very moment ranking so let's see at this tournament, let's see when they beat Lin
Mission, which they will, let's see when we get into the playoff, if we can start talking
about a potential crisis being in Vitality, I'm just not buying into the fact that it's
already here. There's a classic double down for you if you'd like it, Jhin. Sure. Because
I'm pretty sure yesterday, last night when we were signing off the show, I think you said
it's win vision, beat Vitality here. It wasn't just retirement. Oh and it shaved his head. That was
the other one. Yeah. So do you want to double down on that? Do you want to go back to the clip?
Should we just face that now? I'll heavily double down. You know, I don't see a world where
LinVision is beating Vitality. And this is not to be disrespectful to LinVision. It's not to
say that they cannot play Counter-Strike, but they can play Counter-Strike at the level
required to beat Vitality. I've watched a lot of LinVision. I've covered them in a lot
a lot of different tournaments and every single time I go in with it, I'm like, you have so
much potential, you have individual players that are interested, but you make the same
mistakes over and over and over.
Whatever they have at a mansion, Peter, they do everything in their power to throw it away.
And if you do that against Vitality, you will get smacked.
That's the whole story with these teams that come from the side.
You know, they're from the foundation region, right?
You know, they don't get tested on their daily basis, right?
You know, then how are they supposed to be improving, right?
They only get a couple of chances once a couple of years to try and go out and
play against the best teams.
you don't get punished enough for your mistakes right and if they can get away with things in their own region
You know that's if they kind of they kind of bring that you know as an idea into the international games
And you know it's just not gonna cut it
It would be the biggest surprise of the year if they want to do knock out by Saturday the best of three before the play of
AdWG it'll be the biggest surprise of the year. Yeah, especially when you come back with a shade Ted
So let's just go in here from flames right now on the vitality side
We've got Vitality up on stage once more where I want to start off playing D by just recapping
the series versus Bay obviously it was way more competitive than we thought, edging the
way of Bay and that one, what were your takeaways from that series?
Well we didn't play our game at all because maybe we were off individually and that's
something that can happen and it did happen and we won a lot of games like that but
We just didn't do anything that we've prepped on and we took a step away from the game plan and stuff.
We did a really bad game for us. Probably the worst game we played together.
So the take-away was mostly like, guys, let's stick to what we know. Let's just play.
Let's not try to overcomplicate or do not enough.
Don't overplay and don't underplay in some sense.
And let's come to today much with just confidence in our game and do what we know
I just want to quickly recap Dust2 because I mean it was once kind of tried and tested map view now
You're on a format lost streak on there. Is there anything specific about Dust2 that you feel like maybe teams have figured out about you
Maybe you've lost. What's the stairs? I think there are a few games that we lost we
like legit didn't play
Anything that we do in practice in practice. We're a really good Dust2 still so I think we
It's because you had like a 36 wins streak and now we have another record actually,
the small four it is, but we want to get back to our level on it and I think we kind of have what it takes.
But I think as well like you know obviously other teams have started playing a bit differently
and we've changed this but some teams still play a bit like different to other teams and we haven't
But perhaps we haven't played that good in those maps, I think, just because of that.
I think the first two games we lost on Dust2 we just played like shit.
And third and the fourth were Falcons and Bates Falcons, I think, so such a close game
could have gone both ways.
And Bates, they destroyed us and I think we're not there yesterday, so I told them
that doesn't help.
But I think people obviously pick it up more against us now.
And that gives us an opportunity also, because it's a map that we understand how
to play on.
We need to punish them on it, and we haven't been doing that recently.
See that as a situation versus Lin Vision as well,
just looking at the history of Vitaly versus Chinese teams.
Pretty much always goes in your favor.
I believe you have to go back to 2019, the last time you lost to them.
But I imagine there's a case of not underestimating them.
So you've done your homework, I imagine.
What have you noticed about Lin Vision?
Well, I think the Chinese teams in the past, they played crazy CS.
Like they were individually and they were very individual.
like they want the hatchet, they want the same dude, and I feel like nowadays they're way more structured,
they have way more plans and way more things set in stone and agreements which in the past
when I played in OG we played Chinese teams, we prepped for the day after because we knew
it's going to be a fucking hard game and like when you start prepping them nowadays it's a bit
more like they're playing CS that is more similar to what we play in day-to-day in Europe
in which in the past was fucking tough because you prep for a whole different game.
One final question. I do want to touch upon the roster situation. I'm not questioning the decision at
all with bringing in the stand-in given the situation with Mezzi and Apex, but I do wonder
from your perspective, you've only got, I believe, three events before the BRS car off with this
4-5. Do you think that adds more pressure for you guys to be performing when you do have the
four rosters together? It definitely, I don't know if it's pressure that's necessarily
because I think for me myself I don't care if we start stage 2 or stage 3 or stage 1
because I know that I'm so comfortable once we get to the major with the full
roster it's gonna be fine but it's definitely there is a case here that we
need to start like we need to do good in the tournaments that we are all
playing together the five of us because if we get to the major and we
haven't and we're not good on the VRS points it means we're also not good
in the achievements like we were not hitting the semis we're not hitting
those playoffs that we need and then the confidence is really down so you know I'm sure that if
we do good here and we do good in the tournaments we've done and will then when we get just like
jail it's gonna be a bit fun but we're not gonna be less trust because we know how good we can
perform with the team but if we're not gonna do good with the five man roster I think it's
gonna be you know it's gonna make all of us think too much maybe and go into uh it's gonna
going to be tough, way tougher. So of course there is more significance to this tournament
especially in Paris, on soil, for French, that we do good and also the rest of the season
that we don't mess up in the tournaments to a full roster. But of course this season
is like a bit tough because the prep stops then you do it with another player, the prep
stops again, another player. One of them is your IGL which is one of the biggest
game changers. So of course we need to step up in those tournaments and there is
this pressure that we need to step up because we don't have any opportunities to make sure we
go far. Thank you so much as always for your honest insight playing D that is Vitality ready
to take on LinVision as our first game today. Thank you. Vitaly, LinVision elimination if you
can believe it. This is a weird one in the road if you look at the pedigree the side that Vitality
has to offer over here. This should be an interesting one regardless considering
stylistically. This could very well be a mismatch. I did hear a little bit snippet there
though he said they really dropped the bomb on Dust2, they dropped the ball on Dust2, I feel like
that could be a problem. I mean that's going to be the interesting part right now Vitality had
Dust2 in the pocket for the better, the last minute of a year where they couldn't lose on the
map Peter, they've lost it four times in a row it's going to be the first map in this series
as well. It's going to be very telling to what kind of Vitality is coming out of this match
but if they can go in Windows 2 and establish themselves on a map they've been stopping
on then I think that speaks volume for what this series is in. I really feel like the first
Six rounds is almost gonna matter more to Vitaly than it is to the admission because Vitaly needs to
get away from the idea that that last time was just, you know, just a one time off, right?
We could do better. Like the mental part of the game right now is very important to them.
So if they get up to this start where the admission gets the ball rolling, then Vitaly can easily fall back into the same kind of vibe that they had against Baylor.
And that's not where they want to go.
We know where Jacob's hat lies in this really quickly. Peter, who wins this game?
2-0, no fight, no contest, nothing, just as it was.
They're too good in every single parameter, so I mean like that's what it is.
Yep, gotta watch out for the parameters boys, let's get into the game.
I've seen enough, looking at Dust2 and Furno and Nubis, Lynn Vision, Vitality.
So vitality on one side of the stage then you got Lynn vision on the other somewhat of a David vs. Goliath and a whole lot of fans here for
Vitality Lynn vision a little far from home and with a lot to do up against a rather intimidating name
I think for them getting to play Tyloo in that lower bracket round
Why is that? Oh, we've traveled to the other side of the world to play against a domestic opponent
and then we win that game and we get Vitality.
Thanks. I suppose you can thank Bait for that one.
We are going to get this one under way on Dust2,
map number one of the series.
Vitality, the heavy favourites, the hometown heroes,
and the crowd hoping that they can make it to the playoffs
starting Wednesday next week.
As mentioned, Dust2 are opening map.
This is map once upon a time where Vitality
would have a record along the lines of 51 and 5.
And now they've lost the last four on the trot.
They lost it every single time at the Major.
lost it here at EWC against Bate. I don't think they're going to lose it here today against
LinVision unless the dynasty truly is crumbling. Yeah, okay. Interesting. So what was your
winningest of all maps now a lost streak on it? People are picking it against them.
It's crazy to see LinVision of all teams opting for that. I thought they could have tried
to push this into obscure points in the map pool, but they seem to think this is
a weakness. When you take a look at the teams who have beaten Vitality on this on
the streak. It's 90 13 to 11. It's mouse 13 to 7. It's Falcons 13 to 11 and then Bates,
the one that just stands up like a sore thumb 13 to 4. Yeah, envision. They want to add their
name to that tally. Don't think anyone saw that one coming. It was a huge three map affair versus
Bay that sends vitality to the lower bracket area. WC course vitality. One of the big
organizations that are vying for that club championship as well. So expecting a good
result here in Counter Strike. They didn't do well in Rocket League. That's going to
It causes mishes down the stretch should we go some info here a pexy just spams away couple out
There's a young car
It's all a bit of a fake though isn't it the bombing up a tunnels coming back now is West Mellon
Flash swing fight
And the fake should be found that means on site right now needs like for me
It's just messy gonna get surrounded here too many bodies starry's got the bomb now spotted
He's just gonna survive an overrun by call me suit
to the left of the right.
You're going to have to go
to the left of the right. You
have to go to.
Four four as that bomb gets
planted by starry. You got
side with quick on tons. They're
very quick to this rotation
or smoke now.
Patience on that. However,
as I want to start Westman
is tracking messy. Robs can
tap two heads cleanly. And
now you're looking for
Zaka who's disconnected
unable to stop that
diffuse. They're
committing to it now. So
10 seconds until this
round concludes the
fatality start off with the
pistol. Yeah, that's just
And they know exactly what's up
The guy will follow with the bomb going down you'd expect Lynn vision to go in with a force
And have eyes on apex obviously very critical of his own performance and calls against bait
We'll see if today he can put a better foot forward as
We're still seeing if I tell he can recover from
Oh, okay, what was a shocking loss to Bait. Tag on the cross, drops down to half HP.
In Zakharin with the Scout there's a couple of gluils, there's a couple of tech nines.
Amelia has been the highest-rated player all in vision so far.
At the same time it's a best-to-one and then a best-to-three against Hylu, which wasn't very competitive, surprisingly.
No one vying for any mid information currently.
Vitali just playing at anti-force setup.
2-3 split, long control is theirs.
Zywa drops off, breaks his legs and flash comes through.
But that is Sendiary when he feels like the pressure is about to amplify,
but they've been very, very restrained with their utility.
We smoke long doors to...
Then the Hunter flames these responsibilities and will enable Zywa to focus on this with Apex.
He's dropping CT, attack 9 and CT, not the most threatening.
Oh, I should have saved that. Zyber goes down, he was caught off guard by the pacing on that.
Now Apex likely to get overrun, nice double, finds the head of Starrie, a necessary double kill out of Apex.
Stops the threat of an immediate plant, now Zacca finds himself with a scout Gandalf.
Gandalf at time becoming a problem now 25 they're gonna want to get this lost bonus
So they need to take the fights. Yeah with apex low. I think that's gonna be zackers primary target
He doesn't have to pull it onto flamethrower three members low, but no casualties
It's just that one from west men and steak nine
Yeah, when he drops in the spawn and it stays quiet thinking okay, are they doing this into a mid to be split?
That's just cutting noise what's going comes through the smoke able to find that first
But nothing follows good stuff from apex and we'll keep runs on him for and over something's off as an eco
Expert divisionaries
The reminder that we have the Mongols taking on pain down the other end of the hall today six games over two streams
And six more teams to be eliminated six more teams to be locked in we've already got ten names
Eight group winners and we're looking for eight
Runner-ups to make the 16 team playoff bracket that draw will be happening at the end of the day the schedule though
will be coming tomorrow. It's Nezzy. We'll find his first frag opening kill onto Starry.
And then she'll just be able to sweep this eco under the rug.
Got a contrast really for Vitaliy right with that loss to Bait obviously a three map series but
When they took on 100 thieves, it was dominant. It was a very dominant affair of 13-4 on Nuke and the bait result, you've got players like MpL and Sizi.
I think Sizi's definitely one for the future of 16-year-old Orpah. So the result was the upsets of the tournament.
I guess people could try and argue the spirit versus Gigi how, but that was the best of one. There's more volatility in that.
Whereas the best of three bait showed class over three maps.
And the just the third map being dust to and winning convincing that the vitality at zero rounds in that second half
And that's why everyone's screaming. They got what's going on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
It's not the vitality we know and love
To all for zaka the same not to be said for zai what type of tone
Is gonna be set I tell the lies. Oh, it does have his AWP
three up a tunnels he goes looking for rocks just hoping for an overextension
I'm gonna clamp down on me with a fight here here's the break didn't quite expose
Amelia on that catwalk however rounding this corner will be yep a very quick
end. You get sinful on flames.
You know, pecs his position.
Man, it's a lot, but already has
his belt run by the M4. Coming
into a drop. Perfect position.
Just what? Just going for a walk.
Those are freebies right there.
I don't know if there was any
communication about where Rob's
got that kill back turn working
at a smoke. Gray screen easiest
kills the drops his life. Yeah.
just undone. I think what is the kind of player is like, I'd rather you were looking at me,
you know, I'd rather you were, I want to fair fight. I want some honor in these engagements
because that was rather, yeah, like a day's a call. Are they allowed to save that becomes
the question. Apex goes a looking, he gets caught by Zaka and 35 seconds on the clock.
They're just going to sit back in T spawn and hope they can hold on to the open the
A-Cab, this is a very, very rough start for Linnvision.
Dust2Inferno and Nuvus.
Moving cash from this one was Vitality.
So they are going to have to play as they enjoy Overpass.
But a very long drawn out save, they will be allowed the good graces to keep these guns.
And we go again into the next with the, at least the loss burn is brimming, Emilia can
get an AK out, West Melanastar could be in with Galils, this is casual, I'm sure Vitality
aren't taking it that way.
Yes, exactly.
You're in Paris, which is where the office is and well, you won the major here back
in 2023.
They're the best team in the world for a very long time and coming into the start of the season
there's a big debate. Was it a fluke from Falcons? Are we going to expect more?
Vitality, are they really starting to slide away off the top spot? And Spirit?
Well, they were they on the comeback trial. There's a lot of conversations with the three big names at the moment.
Falcons have shown the best form so far at EWC. Yeah, no doubt about that.
to see wobbles from vitality wobbles from spirit is is competitive counter strike as this as
the season unfolds we're going to see just how open of a playing field is it yeah the
status quo could be shifting I think I would have preferred the full by shove from lin vision
is behind the saves because there was no loss bonus given to the two players who save
so unless they can get the plant here next round is going to be more of the same okay
Zaka, again, hoping for this jump spot early from Robs.
He's tried and started every round so far on top of these bricks.
He's very confident in this position to stop any of these contact walks out.
Westman's going to try it.
And Robs, oh, casual.
Catches Sue on the trade attempt.
And Zaka will turn tail and get away with that AWP, but already the round feels flat.
Already your opening gambit was to try and catch Robs off guard.
This is three kills in five rounds assuming no more added to the tally in this one, which still can change, but
I don't know what the team's gonna do with their off day though. It's gonna be the practice, isn't it?
But I'll see Eiffel Tower for sure off the tree on
one of the the Louvre
From like I think I saw that in mr. Bean once uh-huh
We are going to get some action along.
That's a bit rough from a plan Z, the nade.
Look at shy, just hits the corner there from Apex.
The second one hits the mark.
Walk smoke, 30 seconds.
That's a bit of gymnastics, like Cirque du Soleil.
and he's lost the AWP, Starrie AK in the 1v4. Walking on in, Apex wants to find this and
oh he hits the headshot, didn't I? Starrie anything. No plan as you've discussed chat
about the financial ramifications of the kind of partial. If this is how the game continues,
I'm not sure how we frame this one. I think this is a fatality of landing on a
That's the crowd builds on a Sunday
We're on one of the side stages here until we move to the
focal point next week, but
Well, this is a very very rough start
This I'm not just trying to walk into beat
Fault spread
Something that's making me laugh is just the fact that this round when Zaka doesn't take the orb towards tons for that early search,
Rops has been jiggling actively. Like, it's like, this is what he was hoping for.
Yeah, I'm just looking at that bi as well, right? You've got Emilia, has an AK, but no head armour.
Zaka and Glass Cannon with the AWP, so it's a bi, sure, but there's areas where it's less than ideal.
Okay, they're going through this. Starrie.
Woaw, sat down by Zywoo, good tracking on the swing.
And Robs will get that info regardless.
Zaka unable to connect a shot onto DB anchor, Flamesy.
Spotted by Amelia, retreating from the long-door side.
Oh, I'm not quite sure what to say about this map so far.
There's another smoke on B.
It's been dropped now with a 45-second mark, that'll take us to about 25.
They're dawdling around. There's no reason for vitality to go aggressive with the man advantage.
I don't think they're concerned about anything right now.
Post it back up on the line as I will again for another test.
We have a flash.
Nice shot. Finds Flamesy and Zawoo.
It doesn't get easier than that.
A nice dry swing into the AWP that was able to find Starry.
18 seconds in the rounds.
Yes, indeed, Chad.
yes indeed through the flames the flashes
wrapping in head shot seven seconds no time to plant
oh okay
I'm not usually lost for words
I'd be lying if I said the expectation coming in today wasn't a quick game.
Yeah.
But...
It's the manner in which these opening six have felt, as though it was, you know, impossible.
Yeah, there is levels to this, but...
It was the two players walking out of the B-tun smoke not looking at robs that
Oh, Amelia's had a haircut handed to him by Zywoo.
Is he going to do it again?
I think so.
Guys, what is going on?
He's still there, yeah.
I think it's about what isn't going on, there you go, go for it, Zaka.
Good maid though, really good maid.
And I'll tell you what, the 5-7 might be the best pistol for this, he's still got
12 bullets ready to finish the job, does find Sue.
I'm not scared. Are they
No, I just want to work out how
nasty they'd want to be in this
situation because they haven't
box. Oh, you could what you
learn like rock the clock to
25. Yeah, that's quite generous
of the fight.
Oh, okay.
It's quite a short list of teams.
I imagine they've picked us
to against my family.
I'm having a tough time with this one. Okay.
Again, in case you are just joining us.
Yeah.
This is LendVision's pick.
Yeah.
Matadi, I want to format losing streak on Dust2.
That's still...
I'm very surprised to see this is the choice today.
Into lower tunnels is Mezzy.
Support from Apex, and A comes in.
And the opening kill for Merriman.
Flash gift for Mois!
He's running in the middle of a platter.
Nearly had the second air 12 HP on Sue a bullet shy for Nezzie. We know that's one of the beat offenders
I don't want to try and have interopsis territory currently seven and oh, mr. Cool. Yeah, and with the T smoke
facilitating the cross I was able to lend a hand as well
Well, that's crazy isn't it I feel we should just start watching xi with PV without x-ray just to see yeah, like look at this
Okay, come on boys
and another this is the most game of
chemistry I've ever seen it does feel
casual doesn't it this is like a
stroll in the park yeah the birds are
singing the daisies are in bloom
I don't know if they bloom but I'm
pretty sure they do are we saving again
gentlemen's you're the bomb down on
the pistol that's about it there's not
even being a moment of excitement in
in this game so far since then.
How's the opening kill department looking?
They got one from West Mellon.
Oh yeah, that's right.
To protect nine.
Exactly.
And then they didn't get a single other kill
within that round.
Inferno up next.
That is what they need to die, right?
Well, yeah.
Or win the round.
I think casual is one of the words, leisurely.
And that's going to be the second time out, called by LinVision, understandably feeling
like it's now or never.
We have got to wake up.
You picked this for a reason.
Perhaps you thought that that loss against Bait or these last, oh you said four loss.
Yeah, four dust twos in a row. Three times a cologne one time here at EWC.
So that was enough for LinVision to feel like, okay, we've got a bit of...
And I think they played Maus in their best of one. Dust two, it was a 13-8 loss for LinVision.
I think the conversation starts becoming, okay, what can LinVision pick against Vitality?
Yeah, what is this? Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough.
That's probably where the conversation starts and stops, but it's still a crazy gambit to pick into that considering their record on this map.
Which is currently 51 and 9. It's not as good as it once was.
Yeah.
I would like to just see LinVision taking some spawns and trying to get into some fights
because, yeah, I don't know what they're doing. Here we go. We're going out long.
Oh, there's some drums. At least we got some energy now. Out long. Apex with the
opener. Starry on the trade. Here we go. A little bit of rhythm. A little bit
That's a chance, but got caught running as I should be dead behind the car one bullet through would do it
Two of them low sure that man advances from my tanti, but for how long
Sue's got the car Molly that should be the end of the world. He hasn't got any extinguished, but they've thrown it early
Hey, hey you can hear that there's some dancing going on let literally some dancing going on
Who would have thunk it? Sue down. 2v4. 1v4. 0v4. As 9-0 the score reads. I'm sorry. I
don't know what to say. That was better. That was brilliant. I love this. This is 0 vs 4.
the Brazilians are the ones doing the dancing, okay?
Thank you Mr. Producer.
Yeah, okay.
That's the most exciting thing that's happened in town.
I mean, the front of the pack was like
a full carnival costume.
Yeah.
We brought some energy to start us off here.
All right, here we go.
We're going towards B this time.
We try it long.
Now we go B.
I really like your casting style.
I want to try and emulate it.
Is that, was it Aggie?
Oh, of course he is in the perfect place
to disrupt this.
Oh, never mind.
Okay, I have to respect the second smoke.
He'll break it open and spot nothing. Oh, I do like x-ray off. This actually makes it more exciting. It does make it more exciting
We get the mystery of all of it. Yeah, actually. Oh my god. Yeah, no, but I know maybe the viewers don't love it
Just for one round. Thank you to be split everybody. Here we go. Fine versus fine
There's your opening and there's rops onto Sue the secondary or reveals itself easy pickings
I don't know what we're watching.
This is Amelia.
That was Amelia.
10-0 for our audio-only listeners.
You waitin' in FaroChad, okay?
I'm waiting.
This is just Dust2.
This is a Dust2 exclusive.
We're gonna be there very quickly.
This is gonna be one of those stories that's, you know,
it's got multiple chapters.
Oh, this is the Rope of Jaws.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Of course!
Okay, you're getting it.
They're takin' shots in the jaw,
They're up against the ropes. And then as they get a little too cocky, they wind back a little too much.
Revision with Inferno. Oh, hold on! No apex.
Full on space, taking the opportunity.
Look at Vitality's reaction. I'm just curious. Look at that minimap sweeping through, pushing mid, clearing tunnels.
They're about to confirm and lock the door. You are committed to long as a squad.
Have that advantage, but can you leverage it?
Zac and Pyro, that's a good start, right?
The AWP, but it's had these longer sightlines.
That means they should be able to scale up.
They've got plenty of smokes, and they've got plenty of time.
That's the rotation.
Jorn's on over now.
They cleared out.
They know what this is going to be.
They have a lot of Utah on the CT side.
It's what, to block this, to shrub this, or stop this play.
Here come LinVision.
Yeah, let's see Vitality's protocols
for this kind of maneuver, the all-in lock.
Drops East of Flash, but support from Flames.
He takes an equalizing frag onto Starry.
Zaru drops a smoke to ensure safety on the default box and will peek on out.
Emerges, finds Emilia, misshot this time.
Metis onto Westman and found the hit on the cross-ramp.
Now, Sue a late arrival, but a few hit, all on the angle from Flames.
Overlook completely.
That's the first time we've seen Zac a find something on this long side.
Got a flash from Robs and then fight.
Clean as you lie, clean as a whistle.
Anyway, the Mongols versus Pain.
On that secondary stream, Nuke, Inferno, and Mirage, if you want to put that one on simultaneously with ours, I think we might be done a whole lot quicker than they are.
We're going to play it today, mouse versus P vision, Magic versus 90, Legacy versus MIBR and Astralis versus NIP to round out your day, to round out the group stage and to set ourselves up for a 16-10 playoff bracket.
Fun around to the half. Can they keep a spotless apex charge and trade up? Get all and he's got the opener on to us
Double Zuck can't make it the triple, but it doesn't matter mezzy. It's just down Amelia
Zuck up. Just gonna kill and does so
The 2v3 situation with a minute 30 on the clock and then they'd write down the gullet unlucky Zuck up
This is what the rounds felt like when I played fanatica i-series. This is exactly how the rounds felt
Nothing to do
For us either really yeah, I'll try and do some minimal casting
Hey
Open for business so many words that was way much way too much
Wide open would have been better. Yes, that's good. Plainty
flank not lucky zacka planting planting mollying flying dead round 12 all right uh the deska back
We have time for lunch.
No.
Alright Vitality do it to him.
They deserve it actually for picking us two and offering us that as you as they actually
deserve that so let's go let's do it.
Let's not let it slip.
Do it for the fans.
They've just added a stack more chairs.
Yeah they are.
They are literally adding more chairs as we go.
This is the first time someone picked us two against Vitality in a best of three
since I am crack out. These BCG lost 8.30.
That was a hype game in the first half at least.
It was? The first half of that game, it was hype.
The second half, not so much. Just like this game.
The first half was hype. 12-0, the second half.
Let's find out.
Let's find out, shall we?
Alright, alright, alright.
That's my Matthew McConaughey impression.
Wow.
It's my own Wilson.
Will they complete it ladies and gentlemen? I'm sure the crowd's gonna go absolutely wild.
Or mild.
Or...
Sly old. Slightly wild.
Two. In my tunnels.
Come on lad. Flamesy. Looses his head.
Film vision.
Oh! Nice quick flick into Rob's. We're cooking now.
3v5 goes 3v4.
Who pegs gonna lock the door? Beaks into Westman and here we go!
They're going to do it. They're going to get on the ball. They're going to give us one round.
I'm picked up by Zywoo. And Zywoo and Mezzie in combination to try and
pull this one back in a contention. Have to deal with Amelia on B.
If you're Amelia, all you need to do is not lose your head to the first bullet as Zywoo's B250.
Door smoke from Mezzie. They'll be behind that. Oh, he's flubbed that completely. Never mind.
Door's not smoked. And he's lost it. Ow! That's a quick flick from Zywoo. He could finish this.
He's locked in locked in X-taz's too. He wants that 13-0. Zai was going to take it by four.
See, you can see. He doesn't fail the timing. Oh, he can do it! Just one bullet shy!
He made it. He gave it a really good go, though.
Leaving the analysts, we're getting excited about that one.
That's all Messi's fault. Don't worry.
Yeah, if you just landed that smoke.
That's what I'm saying.
Well, the 13-0 to Nile.
That's what the headline will read.
Who knows how it was so good on the PC-50 to do?
No, no, no.
Never seen it before.
Never seen it before.
I mean, so good he could probably kill six people.
All right, Flamesee has been given an AK-47 and he needs to find the opening incision.
Okay, Zaka going down makes life really miserable for Sue, especially without a
late-long arrival. He's committed to this ramp position, so he's got a time this
perfect in my precision. Transfer not there! Double is! Zaiwu puts him down. He
got a 2-1-2 here. Oh, he's going round the world! Okay, so last scene long, and
they're not going to be anticipating a flank. This is cheeky from Zaiwu... info.
Oh, it's brutal. Objective
Robbs is live. Survive as I was
on his way. In vision. Quick
about this, though, so it might
force flames his hand in fact,
Amelia's taking him down. It
gets a bit awkward for Si will
nails the head shot Amelia left
in it. 13 one to be booked in
awkward plant for this one.
Amelia not sticking it waiting
for this head shot and
provides it. He may force
I was getting everything in the moves right now.
Good pace on the retake from LimbVision. It didn't limit Zyra's options.
I'm suddenly able to get anything done there from Goose.
That's, yeah, they could definitely justify another force if I tell you just because they've been ragdolling them,
but it looks like they're going to take a conservative approach.
I guess they don't want to allow this to get out of control.
I'm sorry we're with the scout let's see if he hits them on the cross yep yeah
a million tags going out long his flames I'm scared of anything it's a straight to
pit you have no idea I have to acknowledge the possibility surely
doesn't look like Sue's considered it he was quick enough look at this
Oh, I've seen headshot. Just has his head popped out onto West Mellon team. Distracted.
Zacattrat on card. They don't have U-Tilt to force him out, but there is a body on the way towards short.
It's Apex's deagle that will catch him exposed.
Ooh, that's again this 1-2.
Attention drawn by a bullet. Look in the wrong way, and you can say the same for Starry.
Put a ball on it.
Dust2Dun, live vision. Have learned their lesson.
pick this into vitality regardless of that format lost streak.
This is the absolute best teams in the world.
And those score lines, those teams they were playing,
all different kettle of fissures.
Amelia, you have to give this one a go, lad.
It's the last round.
Heads on over, Opelet rings out,
and that'll be that.
Robs confirms it, 13-2 vitality,
one map to the good,
one map away from the playoffs here at EWC.
Yeah, easy as you like it.
Well, in vision vitality,
Well, so far we've been a little bit desirered if you love great counter-strike or very competitive counter-strike.
WinVision not really bringing that to the table in the first map, but Dust2.
Esports World Cup, the elimination day.
Lock on up the line here, gentlemen.
Bupri, Pimp, Bupri, you look like you've got a cheeky smirk on your face like a... I told you so.
I don't even know what to say at this point, honey.
Did the Division get anything done in this specific map?
It didn't feel like they won the pistol, right?
That was probably the most impressive part, and they even almost lost that one to a side
team clutch, right?
Just a fixed display of how big of a skill got there between these two teams, and that's
not only when it comes to team play, but definitely also when it comes to individuals.
And the amount of times that Limb is just caught off guard, or shut me side, or didn't
have the right rotation, I could keep going.
There were so many things I didn't run away on my mission, because my talent was
just better in so many ways.
Not often I'd do this, but I think we almost owe it to the viewer not analyzing this game.
Not trying to sound like we're the spot guys and we saw something you didn't and here's
what happened and here's what not happened and here's what Lin Mission should have done.
Let's just be freaking honest.
This was a game where there was nothing Lin Mission could have done in order to make
it even remotely competitive.
We're looking at two teams who are operating at different levels, who are playing different
games, who are not to be compared in any way of any imagination.
I almost feel like if I were to try to hold it my way into saying that maybe if they were to them this or if they were to compare a little bit differently, then the output could have been closer.
But you saw what I saw. Everyone at home saw what I saw.
We just saw Vitality play as they're supposed to play.
And a little mission who as I said coming into this game is the worst team still to be left in the tournament, at least for another hour.
What's the even funny is like when the game ended both teams started laughing.
I think what I was thinking how is this so easy like how did this get in so fast and hopefully also on the side of
When you should be thinking how is probably better just get this one over with right
Yeah, that's just the notion of the game
You know a well done to to cyber who flames you would see that they're having a field day
Playing a bit of death match, you know found a bit of that confidence
And if you were to distract anything analytical from this game
It is that it is a confidence boost of probability, right?
The easier they can win this game, the more some of those individuals can find a bit of confidence.
The better it's going to feel heading into the playoff.
But in terms of building any sort of storyline right here, it was a game of Counter-Strike with one team on the server
and one team who's about to pack their backs and go home.
Let's just pretend that Dust 2 never happened, which is kind of the idea that you want to go with.
We can almost pretend Inferno isn't going to happen.
Or, or Jacob, I know you're known as an optimist in the community.
Or we could say, Lynn Vision are in the server to play today on Inferno.
turn. Oh, how, why, when? You could say that. You could. But I would say, why do you think that?
Well, I mean, because they have to play it. Eventually, they have to play it.
By the way, low round four, we do have some glimpse of chance here, I suppose.
I think round four is just one of those examples of what didn't really go the way of the mission.
And this is the first, this is the first baron they put up, you know, it's,
it just doesn't make sense to me. Like the first kill on Emilia on show, like it's just
He's just a poor player with all the demolta, but then turning their attention to be like, what is this?
Like, I really hope that the lane mission players expect the smoke to have been different because
Komi's shield just walks out, and then, Sari does the exact same thing, like literally
two seconds later, he walks out with his back turned to the guy that just killed his teammate
and as I said, I think it's because they expect the smoke to be like the lurks
where they can actually edge out on both sides, but I mean like, this really paints the picture of a team that is
I'm not playing though.
Unlucky.
That's not unlucky.
Unlucky.
That's just bad.
That's the honest.
Unlucky.
Unlucky round.
Unlucky scenario.
You know, in another world, another day, Peter, in another round, you could have worked.
This guy.
This guy.
After you guys know, his name is Jacob Pentvinikey.
Jacob, I would love to help you help us see any sort of glaring potential here going
into inferno.
Listen, if anything, we can zoom out and we can maybe talk LinnVision as a whole,
as a team, you know.
Sure, go ahead. Let's hear what you got.
No, but a bit of the history, right?
In Austin at the Major, they broke through.
We were interested, by the way, they were playing Counter-Strike.
It's just a fact that they've failed to develop
from that point on watch, right?
They haven't done anything new.
Rusty changes on the horizon, I'm sure there is, you know,
but I would love them to try to do something
to get back at the level that we've seen before.
Part of why I'm so disappointed in Linvishian
is that I've seen them play much, much better here.
I've seen a team do better.
I've seen a team who, at times,
were competitive against not the likes of Vitality, but smaller European teams where they
could go toe to toe, but I'm not seeing that in the mission anymore. I'm seeing a team
that is getting worse and worse and worse. And to me, if I get worse and worse and worse
every day, at least I try to do something to change that and change the outcome of
that. And that's where my frustration lays right now. I don't feel in mission from
tournament to tournament, whatever I cover them. I don't see anything changing. I
don't see a different approach. If anything, it just gets worse and worse and worse.
For me, that's slighted this point.
It is.
It brings it back to the thing that I thought of seeing in the pre-game, to this one.
You know, it is just tough when they play in the Asian region, right?
The competition is just not there.
We saw how they dealt with Tyloo yesterday.
And also, the prior matchup when they faced Tyloo, they also smacked them, you know.
So, they can play up to their own region and they can do fine there, but once
you turn your attention to Europe where the competition is just so much better, it
just kind of falls apart.
Let me pause you guys right there because if you're running it back to Austin
I'm pretty sure Lynn vision beat the Falcons there right did but the thing about that one is that at majors
There's just a little bit more on the line right you know on the bigger teams like for Falcons or Vitality
Sure, there's also a lot of them to stay here for Vitality
But the major I think they also just hit a strive where momentum was hitting them
They were they were overperforming to a certain degree that they were like playing at a higher level and they kind of
wrote that way for like quite a while and then now they can't really find their way back. They can't really find the group and you know
At this point, you know, I was very surprised. They didn't try to make any
Rust changes coming up for the major in Cologne so whether they also had a pretty poor result
Whether they tried or not whether just couldn't get the piece that they wanted. I'm not sure
I'm not actually aware of that but still as you said Jacob
It's it's kind of weird that you know, they haven't really tried anything else
You guys I think we've hit this nail right in the head a couple times here
not a whole lot to really walk away from dust to with if Furno
we're gonna have to see where this one goes right now by Cali very clearly the driver seat of this vehicle and us are gonna
Be driving into a breaks. We can't get this next map started inferno
We might need a new bus Jacob seems to think not at this point will be low key
I agree. It's not looking too hot out there for one vision
But you are watching these sports World Cup Club championships in 2026 and we'll be right back
Play is in our DNA, whenever we let it out, it becomes out super power.
Now imagine an entire city being built to supercharge it.
Kadea City, powered by play.
Here we go, dodges the upshot, gains the information of player positioning, and Mongol's a reset
now.
Yes, it'll make me his way up towards heaven.
Shifting around over to that Mustang corner.
Maybe he might have something a little later to do, but for the meantime, Mongols have
made their way progressively more and more outside blitz.
Jiggling around, thinking about it, he goes, Zara should spot something here.
He's calling it.
He is.
It's a great call too.
Techno-reposition swings wide, does some good damage, can't have to kill, but maybe enough.
9-10 spots out the foot of VSM as he shifts over, he gets cleared by another of the blitz.
Snow and Periope find themselves some kills as he starts trading out in pain!
Or, out yet, they find another round on the board, but it has to be perfection from here on out,
just for overtime.
Four rounds, plenty of time for Mongols to play around to make sure they're able to secure
this first map. As Bites do eventually come through. Techno. All you tilt, only a clock.
The woe is it being a support player. Molotov into squeaky. South Moloch for a moment.
Snowdrops down he's not even able to find one he said it's Bigazera and Mariah!
Very nicely done all around and now it's just 9-10.
Period. Bigazera, VSM all very very good to stop that flow very early on.
That mongrel's money they're gonna have to take this one on the chin.
No bomb plan. Just completely push them down.
The great play, like you said, from Big Ozzera, and here, yeah, right there.
That straight down was fantastical.
That range, get some through the smoke there, double headshot, makes everything just look
far too easy.
Maunga is going to be swinging into this one, deagles, and blocks with a single flash,
and it's going to go straight to ramp.
Really?
Before, safe, let's, casual stroll, walking?
He just didn't expect himself to get stuck in the fire.
He knows the push through, but the rest of his team evades.
Good position, go outside.
I mean most you're expecting out of this round is a bomb plant you could be quite happy with
that.
910 hits the shot.
I think so.
Something in me is just afraid for big O'Zara.
I have to worry about ESM instead.
Oh yeah, I think he's actually more than comfortable to take that front shot.
Let's get 20 then.
Maid goes out.
I think we're acting out-of-facted.
They spot each other and run away.
VSM chimes for one of his own.
Big Muzera.
21 for him now.
Two-flat, Katie, and Techno.
Quince quietly drops, but he drops.
Nonetheless, Piria finds that one.
And it is nearly a flawless round.
Five alive though for pain, but again two more in a row they need just for that over time to start up
Mongols
It's kind of now or never
They're starting to speed things up, and it's not feeling as comfortable for this tea side to cure Mongols
Well, it's definitely nothing since with the way at any moment
Not quite all nothing in this round, but
but it's not converted.
That'll be difficult in the next year.
You're gonna need a lot to get so aggressive.
That's exactly what happens.
Lobby crunch from elsewhere.
Techno, about face to readjust.
And VSM with his teammate falling,
will decide to turtle back.
Chance to breathe for a moment
Mongols taking the pain route here
They're walking up slowly map control
Next to none, but let's make sure they can always find something going as he has been the consistency of this roster
One map one snow. He's gonna have to at least find a tradeable kill
And he does he finds one in that kind of outside lurk of dark my spirit comes to a close in three
40 seconds left that bomb again going outside
Maybe it goes and wraps towards a but I think it's a secret play and they got to speed this up time
It is not their friend right now. I still something to work with
That's not able to spot anyone. He's backed up by 910
They make you worry down secret
20 seconds left. Oh
Oh, yes.
down to the young prodigy. It's no experience beyond his years, but a clutch may be insurmountable.
Fox's way in. Being quiet about it. Does have the kit. A little bit more time to work with.
And it's gonna come down to an internet piece. He's gonna try to stick it for 9-10 more than
ready to deal with that. Mongols do find themselves up a map against their opponent's map pick
as we head forward to the next.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're back for VitalityLynVision, loser's key crush here
at EWC.
And winner off to the playoffs, it is that cut and dry, it is that last day before we
move into that round of 16 after a couple of days off, and Dust2 has left Chad and
I scratching our heads.
It was basically a 30 minute map.
Yeah, it was pretty quick.
I think that there's a couple of things that need to be discussed with that one first and foremost the dust to a choice
It's not the first time that limb region have done this against vitality right to Chengdu nine months ago
They did the same thing there and they also lost the first half on their T side 12-0
So what second time you've had a 12-0 half in losing fashion against vitality makes sense
It's tough to pick a map against these boys, but the Chengdu version and the vitality version of today are slightly different
We're looking to see if they can kick back into form and lost to bait has put some real questions around their EWC
campaign. But it's not just about the map choice. It's not just saying, oh, that's
hardly one of the absolute best teams in the world dominated. Yeah, of course. But
it's more in the fashion in which Lynn vision played. Yeah, they were walking
through smokes, looking into walls. They didn't really feel that had any pep in
their step. They weren't using their long spawns. It just really felt like
an odd choice considering their approach to the game. We turn to inferno
now. This is going to be the choice of vitality.
and I don't expect the game to be as one sided as what we just saw our fault.
I want to see LinVision operating just a little bit more team-based developing, right?
Maybe with a little bit more aggression because when this team came onto our screen,
some of the exciting parts was Amelia standing on tables,
them getting your face playing Nubis, going aggressive, having some nice set pieces.
Dust2 didn't have any of that.
And again, we are reminding ourselves that there is a real contrast between the level
of these two teams, but just the type of Counter-Strike lindvision play that I'm having a very,
very tough time being able to piece an understanding together.
We've seen many, many affairs in Counter-Strike where the underdog packs a punch, you know,
they've got some gimmicks, they've got their own flavor and they can push world-class
teams to the, you know, the distance.
Quite the opposite in map 1. Let's see if Inferno has a different flavour.
It's a T-star for Vitality and Apex has got a full belt of Util.
Let's take Zawoo forward. We are seeing an aggression immediately from Emilia.
Flashed in by Zaka. Zawoo trying to take B site away from the man used to actually won the round with two kills.
Incredible!
There's another smoke from another Molly. They're going to give this one a go. They need to.
I like the fact that they're playing on the front foot limb vision. They've rotated in quickly.
They're not worrying about lurks. Everybody's rotated over.
Yeah, as I will however being in this borrowed corner
Zaka could easily overlook this
So I would manage the angle doesn't track the head so Zach has provided removed the woo block smoke from apex the last piece of utility
He's holding on to it for as long as he can it lacks the privacy team
That's gonna channel them into him on ruins and he nearly lost his life there does hit the goosh
Zach is low messy through the smoke and apex is left. They know he's through they blocked each other
Right. No, they don't know. Oh no, he's timing this
Waiting for that 10 second defuse to be nearly done and then runs off through the smoker.
NICE! It's actually round winning! That's a stylish clutch from Mr. Merriman.
Starrie will survive.
That's another pistol round on the tally there.
Saewoo is looking extremely sharp today.
Again, the contrast of opponent, but you go back to Dust2.
We're to X-ray off for a lot of his fights. He just knew exactly what was going on
Ended that map 18 and 8 almost watched out on the pistol round with a P250
But everybody was dominating with how easy that first map was
To force my back from Lindvision gonna start three over towards B
That's our cup and Amelia to lock down A's. I was straight up towards logs
Our four smoke immediately
and look at the H.E.S. you can see on the X-ray there's a bunch of them over towards B so
they're going to want to catch a timing on the scaling up banana if they can and like
statues.
I tell you they're waiting for any aggressions, middle, second, mid, boiler, holes.
You name it.
And they will be able to get his banana control.
Oh, Flancy.
He's got a different plant, so exchange your U-Tilt, a deep molly, now a nade and
probably a flash to follow.
Yes, I was going for him. He's got the wall Molly towards sandbags up close not cleared West Milan finds him
It's gonna be as a profit off of the flashbang from starry so great output from their captain a jumping mac 10 season
Now if he's even nice noted that Ross is still present in the apartment
So in a four versus two you've already got the info you have the bomb and banana as well
But they're letting them pick it up
It's a little bit of pressure there has forced the rotation of starry as he is good
Never picked the bomb up can rups shave one off. Well second might catch the perfect timing here as rups rounds the corner
Nothing fades into obscurity
Now audible on the retreat and it's not ideal four or five seven. They did hit the dink. He needs to live
It's not easy when Amelia's hitting shots like that burst to the face just messy
Second round conversions huge for in vision the absence of a pistol this one's even better
up finding one tracksack on that flank he's gonna give it everything gets
worth but he just doesn't have the time for anything other than a plant in that
smoke he's got maybe one chance to fake and try and isolate but no just gets
run down Westmo leaves with three kills high impact in denial of B and it's a
massive around not only do you lose out on that pistol it's what I'm
fortunate mezzy overlook you all passed him in the smoke and he denied
on the diffuse but you've managed to wrestle back for control immediately
yeah this was very well done from Weston because this exchange of you to
banana right here chopping and changing with the two of them with the utilsat so west ballon
doing a shift i'm putting them in a strong position right now to break vitanadi's money
they'll force by back it's take that heavier degle and p250 to complement that and very very
light on with the utilsa lindvizion doing a different forward on inferno this is already positive
this is a must convert considering the level of investment sure it's an all in sharp but
There's just not enough to go around. Flash at the ready, popping through the smoke.
Deep smoke's gonna achieve nothing now.
Hey, Chief, we'll find his mark. Flames you down to 65. Progress. Slow.
And they have a handful of smokes down the workplace, so very difficult to see if I can
Continue to 10 map control
Thanks so much to a sandbags they want to fight for this
Yeah, it's half wall smoke will fade and the fight will go to star. He's got the lineup for that flash back again
Westman will call for it
He is so convinced he's going to be around here somewhere now the jig is up.
Just wants that headshot, wants that rifle, can't connect the bullet. There it is.
You might save this now, because next time you're not going to have anything.
It would probably be in his best interest.
Curiously, look at Starrie's position already.
He might be able to take him down after time, and this would actually be miserable for Robb.
So the further he goes into what he thinks is a safe haven, potentially the closer he gets to Starrie.
Line drawn in the sand, Robb stays on these stairs, he should be safe if he...
He's in too fast, I might peek him. Okay. So some decent damage, but then force saved. It is gonna have to be
An eco behind this which will have some pretty tough flow on effects
I wouldn't even mind a tactical timeout from Xtaz earlier
I know that this isn't gonna be a hefty looking buy, but it's a weird spot to be in. Yeah
The next round everyone else is getting 2400 is the loss
So action on rops, Zaru has been gifted that tech nine. He's got some Kevlar around it
and Apex with a handful of flashes.
They shouldn't be able to make this interesting.
Westmellon playing it aggressive and oh, we lost track.
Zywoo gets their headshot, that's awkward.
He put a rifle into Zywoo's hands, he's got Kevlar behind it.
Then he gets another one because you peeked on in, you give him what he wanted!
Listen, as Zywoo effected it on the pistol as well, just decides he's going to claim B for himself.
Two kills.
Round done.
I'm being picked up two stairs now, Amelia and Starry, and just consider themselves staying
over towards A. And the walls into that empty bombsite and, alright, that's shades of dust
too, coming back with just how easy it looked.
You have to factor a part of the play from LinnVision being their mentality up against
It's a team like Vitality.
It's not that I think they look scared, I just feel like they're not confident in any of their choices.
Which as we know in Counter-Strike can be, is a condemnation. You're screwed.
If you don't have confidence or conviction in your fights.
How many conflames he gettys?
He can take it all away if he wanted to.
to contain. Mezzie, Apex, Anzai will clear it out while they're in halls so they know
that they must be over towards the apartment somewhere. Once spotted, time to run at this.
Oh, he's keeping both of them looking his way. Then he starts to strike and they lose
it all. Wow, what did that work? It was a saved M4, a dropped Tec-9 and a Kevlar Vest.
That's it, right? The only real investment was that Kevlar Vest because the Tec-9 was
carried through from Robbs now they've got themselves for the M4s and again it's just too easy
in considering you find yourself in the low bracket now as vitality
chance that you draw a tongue for opponent in that round of 16
somewhat likely and has started with some aggression
I think it's down.
That's their only gun.
Makes sense to not completely commit to the first fire available.
You'd expect more rounds for the
vision in this map as well because they're starting on the CT side.
Yeah. On the T side, they look, they're headless chooks, right? They were
100%. Just drifting around the map. It felt very disconnected. On the CT side,
On the map it felt very disconnected. On the CT side, they should at least be able to put up the blue wall.
You get to play with a multi-kill.
Let me sell a ball with this apartment setup.
Hopes is on his way.
Zacharoon invests against, goes down.
Drops expect more.
He always expects more.
Starting his crawl now.
Oh, such a quick reaction!
So ready!
Oh, it sues a third!
Clean the rat-seed of the system there, haven't they, West Mellon?
Get a dink off on a flamethrower, get me two Apex.
Four-five staying alive.
And some players on the Envision Invested then, and some players didn't.
And the M4 count keeps growing as they'll had another one that normally you see this go around with the a-tank
Some people actually really like an M4 on the T side
I don't know if it'd be good for a little lurking if you're lurking having silence M4. It'd be quite nice
You don't immediately like announce your presence on that first bullet and normally you're not taking heads up jewels like an entry
Right you're trying to catch people as they're rotating away. So robs will like that then so they do have an AWP and everyone else is essentially eco
I missed opportunity, not an easy shot to hit, that one was the flamesy though, and the
flash could not be better, Zac have sent back towards C. Oh my god, oh my god, look, regardless
of how out of it Limb is looking, Zairu is hitting everything that moves, he is looking
extremely sharp today.
You know how you were saying Limb is in lack of conviction, Zairu is conviction,
chase down it's such like he's got it so dialed in he knows exactly what how much time he needs
in order to chase you down and to catch you just as you're rounding the corner
I would love to know some of the thought process on this and it might just come down to ob we were
on eco but you did have an orc right so the orc shot goes off and then westman runs up an honor
i'll build on this for people if you're going to have a hero awp or hero rifle
You want to give that as many opportunities to find picks before the pistol players die, right?
You as a pistol player can jump for the AWP on the rifle, but Westman just ran out on his own
It just feels it just set Saka to be overrun like he was. Yeah, it's it's a
Not team Counter-Strike on display at the moment from Lynn vision as a scoreline will read 4 to 2
I'm curious if they even find the other half on the AWP apex is juggling it
You wonder if Zaheul even wants it. Yeah, he was great with it on Dust2.
Amelia's been waiting for this. Here's the juggler to logs. Does he make the sleigh?
Oh, I can't get something for his troubles on Tepmesi there on the way out of the door.
He has enough money to drop an AWP over, so Zaheul will be able to get that again.
and everyone will have guns so we'll see a rifle round unfold after the economic war of attrition
to kick things off that was a very very weird back and forth broken over by save them for in a drop tech nine
but not operating with this t-side awp there's no need
zaka hosts up middle flash off the line immediately
Something's pretty strong on B, but right now, Apex is calling into what is looking like a bit of an APOP, so pressure will be on Zaka alongside.
How do you get the AWP off the line? Just a flashbang enough. Yes it is. One flash and CHOT! And again, it's Zaka feeding this pressure.
Every time he pulls out that AWP, it feels like he fires one shot, or not even.
Hey, Smokes!
And hang on, with the media's contribution, by nullifying Robs' presence, it does remove the potency of this pincer!
Zywoo on the short side, gonna pivot and actually take Robs' place! I like this decision making out of Zywoo!
Apex can now... Ooh, I was gonna say, Jiggle, Zaka's punished him on the first one!
They're gonna let Zywoo cook.
Smoke will fade though. Mezzy exposed.
Claims he tagged. Mezzy frags Zywoo onto Zaka!
There's Sue from library puts it all onto Zywoo in the one versus three clutch. That's the loudest rotation. I've ever seen
Where smellin an elephant?
One versus two then for Zywoo, and they're gonna play their numbers together
Tries to flush them out. It's Sue standing on the line who gets the info on one
Yet to confirm that they're grouped up
Mr. The plant here they start their walk start their crawl on the uncrushed. Let's get the info gets a dick
Oh with a one-tap that's stunning star. He's seeing star
Four in the round this man today. What has he had for breakfast?
This is getting out of control now. That's a cross on a chocolate show. I think the Zai Wu it's hot
Ah
The little tap as well
We're still regretting those steps, don't we?
Alright, more of that please.
5-2 partial bite.
This is an isolation.
What's next? Here we go.
X-ray off.
Pixel or peak.
Apex waltz into the angle.
And the beast side is dead.
It's that easy?
He's laughing
I'm grinning. Oh, it's it is scary if he keeps this level of aim up. Yeah, I want everyone to say form
It's the aim right now
Into the playoffs
Oh
Again, contrast to the opponent. I'm grounded in the reality that this isn't LinVision. This is a team that they should have
sweltering confidence against. They played in Chengdu nine months ago. It was a 13-5, a 13-2.
They're just 12-0 at the first half of Dust2.
But there's still being a pleasure to watch, isn't it? Yeah.
The CTs are getting drilled.
I think we might be finishing the whole lot earlier than them yeah, no we're going for somewhat of a speedrun
By we didn't know that was one of the disciplines here at the sport woke up. Hello. Welcome to awesome games
don't flip. Call us right to addition. We didn't account for coach turnouts though. That
is going to be, let's go rock the clock a little bit. I feel a bit for Gum. What can
Gum say or do that would change the outcome? Unfortunately not a lot. Some sort of incantation
that makes them all play like Zywoo. Sure? Black magic, I think he's down in the
answer. Super powers would have to be on display. Well they are on display. They
I wonder if the Bay game was a wake-up call or if Linn vision are really just that far
off the pace.
I think they're the both.
How's Per?
I feel you have to fight for some control Linn vision.
Chicken roasted by the incendiary.
Remember he's dead again.
Oh he's fine.
He left.
He's edging the smoke!
Genius!
Maintain it for now, rally of flashes.
I'm trying to catch him on the retreat, but he'll stand his ground sandbags and we are
We're now seeing some additional nades being juggled towards.
Okay, so we're back to spawn to pick these up.
And a rotation from the invasion.
Gambling towards A.
Double-H here towards Sandback, top banana cleared out.
Ducker on the line.
Filling the pressure from the mid-control util.
Pressure everywhere, huh?
Well constructed T-side. It looks like BA finished.
And the gamble is in the right place.
They've got a bit of mid.
Zach is here.
Starrie on the edge of the smoke, so he fires a shot.
And all he doesn't even get to!
There's Starrie!
Now they can swim with backs turned.
One and done!
Starrie!
Finds a difference maker, and I stubble kill still.
The Apex run down, the flash does everything Starrie needed.
Apex forced to look away, and that's a convincing one from Envision.
Yeah, okay, well done.
Nice little read.
They call the bluff on their extra utility, throwing over to Sandbag.
The rotation's there, and they're ready to fight.
As mentioned, the CT side should be able to get themselves a couple more,
more and that's a nice little start but there's so much cash you have to break through against
vitality this is after the buys apex has 8.4k he's the high end rops us up next at 6.6 so there are
more buys available if the consecutive rounds can be posted
I will bring out the all smoke break for the side we peak
The last man's going for walks.
He's fading.
Just on the gap.
He's going to touch him and launch, catch his flames, he unprepared for such an audacious
maneuver so it's a hell of a way for the captain to provide.
A little bit cumbersome there with the util juggling, maybe lost track of that smoke.
One major.
One major.
Heeey.
Alright, well consecutive rounds looking likely now.
Again. The stack. Finds the right site.
Coming through the apartments on Apex.
Draw flash to the AWP and I'll be home there a bit more reserved this time.
It's not easy for Vitality to get anywhere close to a site given the current layer of the land.
It's the penultimate or last of the smoke, Zaka brought down by Mezzi, still took robs.
Trajectory of the nades indicate Amelia, short side.
Looks unwinnable for that talent.
It feels that way, but Amelia has given Mezzi another opportunity and he'll take it.
Puts us into the three on three and it does look like the bomb could go down to this angle from Sue.
A lovely off angle, but Apex showing restraints.
Mezzi not clear it.
What?
Oh, Mezzi, a quad kill!
My Tanya needed a hero, the setup looked perfect.
And just one by one it all falls apart.
Mezzie tears Linn vision to shreds.
Yeah, I'm nearly looking for answers there.
Gives them the wrong one.
And my Tanya will get up to their seventh.
My Smellon just looking to hold onto this AK.
Will be giving the good graces to Deuce.
Oh, hold up.
a bit of traction here. Apex is very low.
Careful now, Apex. He's at his homework.
Is that a way everybody gonna group up?
That's why I want to try and spam them.
He wants to retain that. So obviously, Sue and Starr are a little bit light on in the buys here.
Westmillan will be able to drop one to that AK.
More of the focus. We've got two rounds left in his first half of plate.
He's never gonna be the most, you know, excited.
It's a Frenchman chanting messege.
Yeah, okay.
Wow.
We've come a long way.
We really have.
Proud of them.
Love is love.
Love is love.
Sue, chant for an MP9, the rest will get the guns out.
A bit more friction required, five rounds possible on the CT side, that would be the
recovery, that would be somewhat powerful to course.
I smell him. Fancy his chances. Fair play to him. He's not backing down from these engagements, albeit it's a bit feast or famine.
Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe not.
Oh, Zac is in trouble. Leg shanta raps is nice.
Yes, the info gets the damage inflicted.
the
you tell for breakfast control
just changing his flash is to try to come off the line is keeping attention
drawn now suit
changing utility
blocks around the half-war
Attack!
Zawu's all pursuit low, Zaka removing the lurker, Mezzi.
Advantage, L'Invision.
Looks good.
It looks great.
They partner up for this, they are going to be disruptive on this fight.
Nice find from Sue, Apex was not anticipating.
So it'll just be close, he goes swinging in.
Good find from Westman and forced to fight.
Zawu won!
Zawu 2 again!
Every time he wants it, he gets the double.
Now look at the health of Robs and Zawu.
And Zaka also has a HG and an incendiary.
Oh, it's uncomfortable. That is if you...
Anticipated ruins.
Media, Winnable 1v2.
Up against Vitality's closers.
Inzawa and Robs.
I don't know how low they are, and so just resides himself to the save, unwilling to give
it a look, and it was a 2v2, a casual zacka.
Overlooking the possibility for such progress to be made by Rob.
They can save in the little nook.
Yeah, but he's trying to deny that, which...
This is more for stats, they have heaps of money for the final rounds.
It really means nothing, but at least he retains the AWP, so he can add a couple more kills to his tally there, Amelia, but all in all, it was always going to be Vitality fully strapped for this final round.
First half, they've got their sights set on 9, there's the tag through the wall, but the AK worked it followed.
It must be so frustrating when you're trying to hold on to this base and you've got to get past, you know that initial fight, you've got to win out versus Flamesy and Apex's Flash, and if you do, there's a sideway there to finish what they started.
Yeah, his aim right now, obviously this is considered the GOAT, right, taken over from Simple's reign, but just what we're seeing on display right now, the output is insane.
he's not missing a beat. When he clutches, he's never going to move.
I think sandwich a fourth round, so then vision.
This has looked, it's not just because of the score, but it has looked a bit more coordinated than what we were seeing on Dust2.
So it's not going to matter in the wash, is it?
No, I fear for the T-side if it's anything like us too.
Oh, they've just aided themselves from it, I tell you.
For a little bit of damage there.
Look at this.
Look at this.
Flamesy's parthing is very unorthodox.
And Westmellon finding a freebie onto Massey's grave.
He's actually walked past one.
There's no idea.
Okay, yeah, Flamesy does adjust, finds two trade onto Westmellon, did not maybe get
both on the Famas.
Three kills from Westmellon in defense of his sight.
8-4 would make it a whole lot more aesthetically pleasing.
I was sorry Westman I just want to say he's been very good. He has he's been in
I know he doesn't have a lot of kills, but he's been involved in a lot of tone setting fights in banana
But he has a back down from that regardless of you know some of the outcomes
I'll drop the very I just go with good actually. I just he's been good. Yeah, it's been good
Everyone's having a snap time in round 12 oh
Oh
Robbs nice head chance of Zaka an important trade from none other than West Mellon four kills to end it and four rounds as we swap sides
Okay, well with it's something it's better than nothing. Yeah better than dust do
We saw the pistols on dust to vision need both here on inferno
And you know what? That's an impossibility.
Who knows who won the first?
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Okay CT side now.
We'll get to info.
And he wants more than that.
They want to take the fight.
Yeah, I'm not playing scared at all, are they?
There's a whole squad running at them, and...
Oh!
Starrie was trying to line something up.
Wops lines him up real good.
Hacker.
Oh!
And two more on top of that!
Amelia and Sue.
Shared.
Clean on this USP.
Rob's denied anymore.
Of course it's Westmellon, who is the shining beacon of light.
All in vision to put up a fight. You got Zywoo continuously searching and Westman and audible
So this should be free a quick tap bomb delivered to his front door
There's a lot of assumptions made by Lin vision a lot of these players right where they think okay
There's not gonna be anybody here. They run in the giveaway the sound cue and it's an easy frag as messy will convert
That's gonna be the night. That's gonna be both pistols
I'm not going down
This mean that Lin vision will have a pretty tough force by and that's if they
for the shovel if they want to take the eco bring the AKs out into the next either
way this one is going one way and one way fast and the individuals of vitality
are just taking turns in the spotlight right now because he 4k'd and as he
pistol clutch has always been going off the rigged up
and they will take the eco all up through second mid and we'll get a
shooting gallery takes the first with seven bullets and to eight for the
final three. Wow, we need the
reload. Four kills in the
magazine. Truly a shooting
gallery. Beautiful little eco
bash. I went up to 20 frags.
20 bullets. All he needs.
Panin. Link visual hoping to
take a pause in that one and
take the round quite slow.
The final is brought to them
and we're just seeing a
bludgeoning right now.
Three more rounds.
what a clean club is this is where it gets really hard that's a perfect
made for that spot double made and all they are all gone a magic trick with
flamesy and his glamorous assistant Danielle matters clear
Never a good feeling when your first gun round feels as impossible to win as the full eco.
Operating in a 2v5 in the opening 20 seconds bomb last and just Sue and Starry gonna try
find something in the other way in. It is actually essentially a 2v2 on this B site, however, blocked from now.
You could actually cheat a rotation over towards B as well if you wanted.
But the Zywoo has this full mid control. The only other issue is going to be apps.
So I think the confidence with the extra U-Tilt means that my Tadi have a real reason to move a muscle.
I'm gonna save. Okay. Well, if I've got anything fun written down, I'm even having a hard time
being able to build a case of excitement. Other than the fact we're in Paris when France
is great that by title, that's that's their headline. That's the highlight. So we're playing
really well. The team looking very sharp. Absolutely. And you contrast that to their
opponent. I started going, okay, would they prefer to hard again to kind of shake
off the bait match, but then they're going to have a couple of days off anyway, and we
know that they're a different team when they get in the bigger environment and the stages.
That's where they tend to play some of their better counter strike. So when you're trying
to weigh up all of these things, I think this is, this feels like an exhibition match.
Yes.
You know, we'll roll out a Lola ranked opponent so the hometown heroes can get a beat down
and look like the heroes that obviously this is not the end. This is just how the
bracket shaked out but this is over. I don't like to say that, it's Counter Strike, it's
MR12, comebacks are possible, or at least you'd hope so at this level, but one of those rare
exceptions where it truly is, I mean, just a beat down. It's hard not to empathize or
sympathize with Linn Vision when you put yourself in their shoes on some of these T-side
rounds is like anywhere you go vitality you've got the advantage and I think if
you thought you were going to out strategize round maneuver vitality that
would be a fool's errands great you have to the quote unquote play your own
game but you want to get into fights you're comfortable with you're not
gonna win playing a game that isn't yours yeah but also just look at this
setup I mean Robsi's never gonna get nothing he's gonna get something and
then the rest of you are gonna get swept under the rug by Messi and Zawoo
There's something, double from him, and then the rest are perfectly positioned to pick up the slack.
Mezzy still remains on site, spots the bomb dropping into site, and tracking through that smoke.
Zaka actually parthing short side, so Zaka on the way back in.
Mezzy is looking to go around the world here.
And he's timed into perfection! He'll tap the head of Zaka!
The 12th secured!
There's one more round.
This is a bit of a pallet cleanser for vitality.
to be able to get it done quickly without any stress.
Yeah, I'm sure, you know, the four crossed their mind this morning of like, oh, what if
this gate's hard?
You know, what, what if they pick up that first map?
What if we lose all the pistols?
What if something goes horribly wrong?
I'm sure very quickly on Dust2 they put that, any of those intrusive thoughts to
bed, but, uh, yeah, this has been nothing more than just a very casual day in the
the office for Vitality. Barely breaking the sweat, barely breaking into a jog.
There were some rounds where, you know, only kills when against them or trades,
feeling like it was starting to look good for the indision, but then an individual of Vitality would manifest a miracle.
And Moe down as, uh, it's like a heavy lead towards Banana for the fight. They've been getting
a lot of utility in their face from this Apex Planesie combo, and there's more of that as they brave the flames.
the plane. I like this. Media, lot of early space. Apex however spots that information,
holds onto his utile. There's going to be a spot smoke with a flash and spam.
It's just going to have to be XQ. You have nowhere to go back up and look. You're just
going to XQ P. They're going to try and pop.
This is here as well, holding a flash. Molly's going to force the hand. Here they come.
Apex trying to catch something on the cross. A cost to pull for one. That's Westmallon gone.
Claims he and Apex chip in. Starrie trying to find a way back into the site.
Envision going for that plant and Apex does not want to allow that to go down and contested.
Incendiary unable to connect and flash through. Jumps up.
Oh, not spotted. Awkward loses control on the dismount.
It's Zaka down to Robs. Comes in, cleans up and it's a clutch for Starrie.
Well, that key to be crushed by Vitality.
He pulls it off, survives to see another round of play.
All right, there you go, Starry.
But a sudden, sudden...
It's hard to say this guy's meant to be the star of the team when
type of counter-strike on display is far from cohesive,
but he's a man who's had a couple of highlights.
He's not in this series, but over his career.
So they extend play ever so slightly win another you will force Spantidey to have a conversation about their buy
It's assuming no saves
It's Nior, that was off shot. Time to brave that again, it's this time a bit more pace, a bit more pet
His nades can be brutal. It's good to find some zaka and Amelia sees that as his cue charges in has his back turned as messy
Just smashes them
Far too casual Lin vision that time in Paris cut short by vitality the hometown heroes abroad a crowd
But it is a quick showing
dominant map one
Picking dust to against vitality the start of the end for Lin vision
main take away from this game is that if I was in this form
vitality are in good form and this is gonna be up to the desk to weigh out you
know is that just because the level of opponent always is I will he's top tier
level today just to give it a good go
completely trapped in banana. Can I go back forward? They're toys. Well boys. He's thinking
just run at me. You know it's done. You know it's over. Let's finish this off and they will
decide where the man to put the cherry on top. Vitality will be in the playoffs. Make
them look just a little bit foolish on the Lindvige inside. Thank you very much gentlemen.
Show a poor show of dominance from the Vitality fans as well as they are certainly in
and attendants all around us right now.
But you can see what started as a stressful event
here for Vitality has shaped up.
You kind of came together to be great.
Yeah, it wasn't too much of a sweat here.
I think they, in every single proper,
we're just a better team today.
You know, only the likes of the Limits
and only getting seven rounds also kind of paints
the picture of a very one-sided affair here.
And you know, it was, it was a vitality
that came to play and that side who in top form.
And it's like, whenever you go up against that,
when he plays this well,
it's just gonna be very hard to even break a sweat.
So overall, I mean, a very accepting performance
or the likes of Vitality, and you can always tell by the people that came to watch him,
you know, they expected him to make it through this game, and now they have set themselves
up for playoffs, and now this whole redemption arc that he's supposed to talk about is still
in the likes of Porsche.
Yeah, and Jeff, that's a good question, you know, at the end of the cast, is this
side role playing well?
Is it Vitality playing well?
Or is it more so, the level of opposition?
As always in a situation like this, Peter, I feel like there's a bit of both, you
know, coming into play right here.
No doubt that the division weren't on par with Vitality.
out that they couldn't put up a fight. No doubt that we're talking about two teams
who are operating at a different level. But then again, you can't take anything away from
Saibu. When he's playing like that, when he's in a flow state like that, when he's
feeling himself like that, you've been his teammate. There's probably very few players
out there who's more dangerous than a Saibu, you know, having a bit of fun in a counter-strike game.
So it's a bit of both. It's good for Vitality to get the job done,
to move into the playoff, live mission, back to the drawing board.
Yeah, back in the drawing board is unfortunate. I mean, I just,
You know, and Peter, correct me if I'm wrong here, if you're in vision before you even got in the server today and you had drawn a vitality, you're like, man, shit.
Yeah, that is the British shit we look like. But then again, I do feel like Limitlesson hopefully came into the server thinking, okay, but how did they gloss debate?
They haven't been looking as dominant as they have maybe half a year ago, even three months ago, coming into the major. There is a potential if they fumble and play just like he did to me.
There's just like a chance you can just make a competitive right but with the style and what happened on those two
They didn't stand a chance right with also one thing is what how much helle face
But if you yourself in limitation show up with the amount of mistakes and the lack of decision and just
Poor display of skill you're not gonna make a count even against it's my tell that would let's just say showed up today with
Their C-game so I mean this one was never in doubt this one was always what hell is getting
Even with the CT pistol there from the side, I mean from the side of one vision, you're
telling me Jacob, you just never thought, I'm just making sure, because I know as well
as you know this game was over, which is why we're going to hear from Apex this moment.
Clean rather and quick from the side of Vitality to secure the spot in the playoffs.
I'd want to just start Apex where Chad actually posed a question saying, is this more Vitality
playing up to your game or is it more to do with the level of opposition on the other side of the server?
What do you think in this one?
I think it went both ways. I don't think L'Invision played really well but I think we played good as well.
For us right now it's more focusing on ourselves to get back to the best level we can show.
We really like threw the last one against Bates, that thing that can happen.
It said it was here but now we want to have a redemption and be sure that we'll do good here for the French fans
and for ourselves as well.
You've got plenty of them already supporting you here.
Just touching upon that Dust 2, when I was being declared to you before,
he said the one obviously versus Bate,
probably one of the last Dust 2s we've seen.
Obviously, we know Limbiz didn't like to play it,
but do you think maybe opposition are getting a little bit fooled
by your lost streak on it?
Do you think it was a risk for them, obviously, to pick this?
I think even though we lost four in a row,
we still have a crazy record on Dust 2.
And I think, yeah, we didn't show up on a few games on Dust 2 lately.
I don't know why, but that's what happened.
And I think it's really important for us to get back to our DOS2 in general.
So it's always a tough task to pick it.
Seconds like that, even though last three months we played it four times and
we lost it four times as well, but it's never an easy map for the opponent.
So we knew they will pick it and yeah, that went on our side this time.
Aster just touched upon the club championship race because unfortunately
yesterday for Vitality and Rocket League eliminated in the quarterfinals.
It's going to make your journey a little bit harder to have that podium finish.
Does that put more pressure on the team?
I don't think we think about that, but in general I think we've been saving NCS for a long time.
We've been playing well. I think we are so far the best section in Vitality.
So hopefully we're going to save the club championship.
I don't know, I hope so for the club, but you know, we can't think that way.
Otherwise it's not going to work.
We're just trying to think, to focus about CS, how to play good, and if we play good and we play it at our level, we will go deep, and that's what matters.
Final question, of course. You've got a hell of a lot of fans already showing up for you guys, but not even on the biggest stage here at EWC. Anything you'd want to say to them?
No, I can't speak French. It's better.
No, but as usual, thank you all. It's a little...
And his vitality locked into the top 16 at the very least here in Paris.
Yeah, funnily enough, he's talking about, you know, it's not something that really kind
of bothers us, saving, saving face for the org in the big picture race.
Well, that's probably because they had a little bit of a saving face of their own at the very
beginning of this tournament, a little bit more to think about and itinerize if you're
the vitality side.
It's the right mentality to have, you know, the best thing vitality counter strike
division can do is focusing on himself and by doing that, the likelihood of them
winning Fida is higher and if they win, then the club of vitality will be happy
as well.
Thinking too much about what's going on around them, it's one of those things as a player.
You know it, I know it, Trace for that matter as well.
We all know it, you know, in a high performance environment.
The more noise you can shut down, you know, and just focus on yourself and focus on the
task ahead of you, the better.
Yeah, and there's just a lot of noise around the hotel.
Why HLTV created Sportsbook, you know?
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
True.
Like, the noise around the team is there, right?
So, the more they can leave out, I should say, Jacob, that is going to be
very important.
And, you know, I'm also, you know, I tell you, I always seem to be having
a good time when they get to play in front of there. You know, everyone wants to be having
a good time playing in their home crowd. Like the further they get, the more chances
of them getting to play in front of, you know, a packed stadium and packed people.
That's going to, that's going to matter as well.
Trying to get your, I mean, you heard just the response there. I think he said, what,
about 10 words that I didn't hear and then say too much to this crowd. They love them.
And in fact, they might even have a little bit of a buff going forward with that. Right.
Yeah, especially now that we are moving from this setting, you know, people watching
at home, we've been playing at one of the smaller stages that we see next week.
I don't know where we moved to a bigger stage, you know bigger crowd more support
So I think that's definitely gonna play a factor and normally I'd also say you know some teams came handle that kind of pressure
But by Saturday they seem to thrive with that. Yeah. Yeah, and well thrive is not only agenda today for win vision
But they are gonna tell us how they feel after that big L
Yeah, sadly the end of the road fall in vision
I've got call me sue for a little bit of a debrief after that one obviously it goes without saying vitality a tough opponent
So I just want to get your initial emotions. What's going through your head after that game?
We thought we were going to do better than last time. I in Chengdu, we got two rounds and still got
two rounds this time. So it was a kind of disappointment. But of course, there are
better teams than us. We're just trying to do our best, but we didn't take care of our details
that well. So we just cannot even get dunked down. So we will find a better way to see how
how to solve that problem.
I know this is quite a broad question,
but when we look at LNVD domestically,
you guys are doing very well.
When it comes to international teams,
that's where the struggle is more.
What is it about maybe some of the styles
of these European teams that are a bit more tricky for you?
Yeah, again, the region that we are playing in Asia, right?
So the training environment is not that good
as the EU region.
So, and also if you want to, for camp here,
it costs lots of money, first of all.
So it's pretty hard for us to stay in Euro for a long time.
So every time that we went back to Asia for a competition and also stay there and continue practicing our skills and level will go down sometimes.
So yeah, it sucks.
I mean I imagine it's just a tough balance for you guys to be striking right.
Obviously looking forward we've got a couple more events that the Envision are locked and loaded into we were just talking about it
Last quarter will be your next job. What is the goal there? What do you think that their minimum for an Envision should be for that next event?
Same as this time
Hopefully we're not gonna
Get O2 at least to win the team, you know
Yeah, and for furthermore we just stay here and still like a one more one more we practice
So yeah, we'll see how we will go for that tournament. Yeah, that's what it has lots of like strong opponent as well
Yeah, it's gonna be like a harder one of this. Thank you so much for your insight commiserations
Unfortunately, that is the end of the road here for an envisioner EWC
Eliminated
I know I hate to keep saying I mean Lombizion are done here
And that is the way that this cookie crumbled and just like the key will crumble
inevitably be free. There's one cool thing about that beer, that is that
they're gonna stay here and practice in Europe so hopefully that can help them
to get more accustomed maybe rediscover some of that level we saw you know a
year ago in Austin but yeah I guess staying in Europe is always gonna be a
good thing for a team who's talking. It will help but it's not gonna solve the
issue that they have and also it's not like they're gonna stay here for three
months where they could get like a ton of practicing right it's gonna be
what is it like a couple like a week and a half until the tournament starts and
then they're gonna go and then hopefully they'll win a game or two and then
they'll fly back to China and then we kind of repeat the cycle and it is just
it is just what it is for these type of teams from that week you know that they
do have to get better practice and they just can't get in their own region if
they keep down in their region they will never get better they maybe get
like inflated thinking hey we have become better but once they turn in
the things here then you know it's just person being. Yeah and we're left to
wonder many things like which which vitality will be getting in these brackets
later on right yeah like they're gonna have to enter part of this this group
stage or this bracket stage draw that we're gonna have later today so in case
you don't know how this all works that's exactly how it shakes down at the end
of the day we take the top seeds put them against the bottom seeds and then
the bracket mix itself I know that there's an actual way to explain that
properly but we'll get there in due time we still have plenty of matches
ahead of us. Malz, P-Vision, Astralis, Nip, overall though guys that one I
I don't think we can add anything else to it, I think that one's done.
Now, it's one of the games that just had to get out of the way,
because now we have some quality games to be completely honest.
I think Maus vs. P-Vision, that's a quality game of Counter-Strike 2 teams
who could easily be the player of both of them had they not lost.
The game has gone into the lower bracket and been in a tough group overall.
They have the level to be part of the top 16 teams
and then, as we spoke about Peter Astralis vs. NIP.
I don't expect a level of Counter-Strike to be as high as in the Maus game,
but the grotch mat going on right there, you know, former teammates,
Snappy, former Stoiles member, Stown, you name it, there's a lot of cool things going on.
Yeah, I'm very sad to see Miles continue and hopefully just continue off of that winning
bounty, you know, I think that is a team that just has been lacking, you know, the trophies,
they've been lacking a bit of confidence of actually breaking through and actually being
more of a semi-final contender than actually being a trophy contender, right? So,
yeah, that was definitely in there, but we also, and I know that the whole project
of Javon Pivish, you know, it's always a team you need to be looking out for because they have
a very special play style and it is something that's not always easy to get around.
What about you guys as EWC play pick-ups? Have you guys thought about that or where do you sit
on those currently to play? I know you've been kind of hand jamming that back there.
Yeah, my predictions are like crazy.
The predictums.
The predictums.
The predictums.
What do you guys think about yours?
I mean, I'm yet to fail a prediction. I've actually hit every single game so far,
believe it or not.
Really?
Really.
Yeah.
He's that smart.
I mean, maybe not that BA game.
I break that other one.
Did you?
Yeah.
Because I thought you said that B8 were closer to your skill level than Vitality.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that was spirit, not even Vitality.
Regardless, yeah, I think we're about done in this moment.
If you guys are cool with that, I'm cool with that.
I'm cool.
Let's go and go to the breaks.
We get the next game going.
That's all it takes.
Us going to a break so we can watch Malz take on ParaVision.
Excuse me, PV.
Strike 1.
For a short.
Jacob, Pimp, Vinicky, Winesh, Esports.
Thank you so much.
We'll be right back after the break, y'all.
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Since last year, we changed a few players. Roland left the Azure role and Surtian took
it. We decided to change Jim Hatt. PR came instead of him and we also promoted Salex
into the main team. Both of them bring really valuable aspects of the game. So yeah, a
A lot of changes. We look fresh, we are a young team.
I think we have a lot of firepower still.
Yeah, we got to win the last tournament.
I didn't say we expected it to win.
It was our first tournament as a new team and we went there to test it out how good we are.
We made it home with the trophy, which gave us a lot of confidence.
And also, I felt like we were getting better and better throughout the tournament.
We improved a lot and it was really nice to see the team shine and I think it shows our potential.
I don't say we are the favorites, even we won the last tournament. We are a really strong team and we are definitely in the title contender things
but just want to test ourselves, it is the best team, we are the three Falcons, 3D and yeah.
You might notice the rock getting drawn up there and I do mean key because Apex and company are definitely about to crush the key of
Envision having just decimated them across two maps. There really isn't much more to say about that series, but I can assure you if you
go back and watch the VOD it just looks like a good time on the vitality side as I welcome you back on into these sports World Cup
Cup Club championships right in front of us though tons of counter strikes will be played in fact this mouse PV game these rankings
They're gonna favor mouse, but the matchup history does not make PV a theoretical underdog
James team have taken three of five listed 200 or excuse me 2026 head-to-head maps and arrive up a clean 2-0 over the 100
Thieves, so what I'm saying is we're about to have a fight
Apex was so mad after that big game
I think it would have crushed the Invisions Key with his bare hands, you need that whole machine.
But yeah, made a statement, made the playoffs, which they absolutely had to do.
And yeah, I think we'll see a much closer affair between Maus and P-Vision, right?
Like Maus off the back of that tournament, but you can even hear from Torgy,
you don't consider ourselves a contender for this event.
We'll tell you that, you know, it was completely unexpected the win that came their way.
But still a big deal for a team that made the roster changes, that, you know,
It's still a very young team, all things considered, and it's good for Spinks to pop off in that final and earn his first MVP.
Yeah, and it was great to see that Spinks always wanted to get that MVP on his butt right, but it's always like making the breakthrough and actually doing so.
And I think this new-look mouse is obviously probably the best start you're going to wish for in coming into a new season when you've changed players
and the whole identity around the team still having to be solved.
And to me, it still leaves me with the same feeling with what's happening with the old
Mausure.
They've got some new blood right now, but it's still, where is the superstar that they
need to have to fail them out of the matches whenever they go up against Spirit, Vitality
and also Falcons.
It's the same kind of issue that I still think revolves around the team, but maybe
this new blood can maybe get them a little bit further ahead.
Where was this team exactly before this change?
And by that, I mean, before Jimpat finds his way out of this team, what was defining
about the team of Maus then and the Maus that we're getting now or they're trying to build into.
Always the bridesmaid never the bride really and I think that's why a lot of people were calling
for changes at the start of the year right like during the death transfer period didn't happen and
then you got more of the same from them playoffs playoffs playoffs they were really in
contention for a trophy and that's why they made the change it's actually the worst possible
time like after the roster lock when you really you know knew you're gonna have to have
They have a substitute at the Major, they played a couple of events with two different players,
just trying to figure it out coming into this year.
And they set up on Zelex to remain a part of the squad and brought in PR from Gamer Legion,
who before that was Maus's Academy team.
So he's back in the Red Jersey and yeah, after a rough period, the last six months
to a year in Gamer Legion, he lifts the trophy in his first event with Maus.
Yeah, that's quite impressive.
I must be feeling good that you've had a struggle and you've passed him.
then you come into Maus and then immediately you get the effect of you know the I wouldn't say the
honeymoon but at least getting into a more stable team and a more successful team and it's it's a
I've always called for Pierre you know he was always the guy in game reason that you would be
looking out for he's had his ups and downs there but he's been being pretty stable and I think
it's rightfully so that he's also one of the guys to be promoting and coming coming into a
better team and it's also just a little bit of flex at this point from from the side of
Maus you know that they it's like what's four out of five of the players now it's from
from the Academy Project, right?
Also, Cyclone coming over there.
So they keep showing that they're, you know,
they put effort into developing players and coaches,
and that just brings, you know,
some comfort that they know their players,
and it's something that's been in, you know,
in the system for a long time.
And PR could potentially be one of those stars
that you're talking about, right?
I know people might look at his stats
or this year with Gamer Legion be like, what?
Like, why did they even get him?
But I think he was really hurt
by the way Gamer Legion was playing,
especially on T-Sci, like it was a lot of anti-stradding
and doing like gimmicky stuff and set calls.
You know, there wasn't as much default
than just letting the players sort of feel the game
in the mid-round and make plays
and just play a slower default style,
which I think is what suits PR a lot more.
And he gets to play that way in Miles.
And I think there's gonna be an adjustment period,
perhaps a little bit, but I think you'll see him
find some of that form that he had
in his rookie year with Gamer League.
And I really feel like that the biggest,
one of the biggest talk about it is when you look
this new three-bill of Maus is also exertion taking up the Ingenbidae and all the problems.
Right now, Bron was the guy that came in and wanted to try and become an Ingenbidae and
had to, let's be honest, like an okay stint, like it wasn't completely shit, but it wasn't,
you know, didn't really get to the trophy seat, whereas now when you look at exertion,
the one thing that I have, when I've looked at exertion being the Ingenbidae is that
he still puts up a lot of fighting power, which is very important.
Even more arguably.
More arguably, right, and that is very important because he's been probably the most important
peace for this mouse ever since you know he was promoted to the team and it's
very important to to feel out that he's still gonna be that important piece
because if he was suddenly put an in game leader role and he would drop off in
terms of his dragon power his in game leading being very aggressive I think
that could have been a problem but luckily right now it seems like he's
thriving a lot in that role I think there's just guys who are sort of
destined for it you know in a way just their character their personality
no exertion was a very vocal player even before especially on the CT side
on T-Side, in the mid-round, he had those space-taker positions where that's sort of in the job description as well.
So the transition isn't as difficult for him as it might have been for some other players.
It comes, I guess, natural to some extent to you here, even from his teammate.
So I think that's one of the reasons why it hasn't affected him or it has affected him.
He's fragging in a positive way more than anything else.
So if we just flip it over to the other side and it kind of poises the question for both,
Which roster is capable of having a player show up when that star player isn't showing up?
And I mean exclusively for the p-vision side too as well. I think for p-vision
Probably jame
Still jame and flitter the two veterans right and obviously we heard even in the interview from dust on your talking about slacks jazz and
How you know he needs he's gonna need time to develop like he has very good mechanics
but understanding of the maps and you know Tier 1 Counter-Strike is going to take a little while for him to get up to speed really.
But I really like the Flit addition, you know, obviously he was part of that Outsiders lineup with Jamin Dastan that won the Rio Major.
And he's also had a rough patch recently in Virtus.pro, spent a couple of months on the bench as well.
But I think he's really a guy who's, you know, very capable with not a lot of resources being sent his way.
like being on his own, on the side of the map and some of those lures are just taking space,
like very experienced, knows what to do and can help out Jame in some of these mid-round situations,
right, where players need to take initiative and need to be vocal and give good information,
I think that's what Flit excels at. And I don't think he's ever been shared with the community
over there, but he was actually the guy that we considered having in Vitality when we had to
find a rephrasing for Mesut. Oh, he got spings, right? So he was one of those guys that we
We thought that he had the capability of being in a solid elite team and I think at that
time he also proved that a lot with what he showed in outside of also in his various pro
time but then in the last year and a half it's just been tough with like inconsistent rosters
and a lot of issues within the rosters and now I think this could hopefully be his
way back into becoming the player that he once was.
And it's interesting because these two teams are similar in the sense of they have
pretty high floor or that's the strength of the team you know they don't make too
many mistakes like they have really solid fundamentals where it comes to team
play when it comes to decision-making you know you're not gonna see it over
these teams before a 3v4 retake on B-2 right for example they they
maximize they play the percentages right and that's why I think we're gonna
have a close game in front of us. So let me remind the viewers at home about
EWC play match pick-ups that's right you can use the QR code that you'll
see right here below me. It's right below my face. If you're not able to pick up your
phone right now, that's okay too. I'm sure it's just across the room, perhaps on the
charger or whatnot, but either way, go ahead and get in there, get that QR code and let
us know who you think's going to be grabbing this one by the horns and trying to win it
in this best of three. And what is the last day of arguably a long group stage? I just
want to do this before we jump right up into the Vitos next to him because I think
that the pool splits pretty beautifully right here. Mirage and Nuke out for Malz.
Key vision, they're looking aside for Ancient, they're not gonna...
I think it shapes up nicely. Let's talk about Vito's.
Yeah, I mean there's a couple of different ways the teams could take it, right?
Dust has been something that people have picked against Miles a lot,
so much so that they've actually gotten a little bit better on the map.
Yeah, they haven't got a headlight, a ton of tier 1 teams really beat Spirit,
they've got a ton which is their best win on Dust 2 probably.
And for Pre-Vision, you know, they can't take it too many places.
Like it would have to be something like a dust as a pick Mirage, you don't want to do it because Maus pick it sometimes
Ancient could be another option for them, but perhaps they can get that as the decider
Yeah, I think Dust2 just speaks in their favor, as you mentioned, like Maus has had struggles on it before
You know, they've locked in a couple of wins now and they've been forced to play a little bit more
But you know, I still think it's so early on for the P-Vision as well as looking at the team
You know it's still also just new players that need to bring it be bringing in that it's still very uncertain to where the map
Collects you want to also play maps that probably already played as well some extent
We've seen miles actually being unwilling really to play cash
So I think if you're privileged and you know that's gonna be their second ban
So you can kind of paint the picture of the veto a little bit easier and miles goes for inferno here
Yeah, I think it was going to be either that or mirage from their side really
but seeing this one as something that will perhaps they can exploit pvision a bit more
I think they have I think the pvision is habit about having answer this third. Yeah, so I think it's if they can
If they can outlast those two, I think there's a chance that this is this could actually mean I'm not saying that
I want to put pvision as a favorite obviously since mouse has just had a good result
And I still think they're the better team
But I wouldn't count jima up because I know what he can get out of at least likely with these are
I don't think maps honestly are too big of a factor in this series, right?
Like yeah, you can give a little bit of an edge to P vision on dust a little bit to miles on inferno
But it's gonna come down more to like who can make fewer mistakes
Because they both made roster changes writing who can play better as a team today. Yeah
Well, let's just sit back and watch gentlemen miles versus P vision dust to inferno ancient and I got another game for you here
at EWC 26
win at Blast Bounty. So there were expectations around them. After falling to foot, they end
up in this position. All or nothing. And now having a face off against the Jame-led squad
for this spot in the playoffs.
Yeah, right? Even though this group stage has been forgiving in format, despite the
opening beer once, having to just win two games to get to the playoffs, even if
you lose your opener, it's all fine. We've still seen a lot of these top squads
struggle. You know, no matter where you put miles right now, they are in a rebuilding period.
They're still a team that's coming off the trophy. They're still a team with expectations,
the core of the squad having quite the last year. So to see them down here with all the other top
teams, I'm going to have to really prove their worth up against pVision who looked excellent
when they took on 100 thieves. But this is a different level.
Let's see what Jame is cooped in the kitchen, Zershyn pushing up on B, finding those nades
early and just decimating this pistol round.
It has P-Vision, limb from limb.
I think that's already a great tone-setter, isn't it, right?
P-Vision have been used to receiving a fair bit of respect, getting the play there.
rounds, but Mao's immediately open with aggression. And so if it wasn't clear enough, this one's
going to feel a little different to the other games. Jamin and his boys have got to play
throughout the tournament.
Definitely. But it's also surprising to see Pew Vision caught off guard by, you know,
spawn aggression. I think, you know, that immediately sets a good tone for Mao's.
But it's not the kind of start we expect from this team. No one covering all those
Spinks doesn't want the knife. He just wants the round and they're going to take him a five alive by the looks
This is up and coming 18 year old slacks of jazz could do something with a glock
Good absolutely love this pistol round and a mouse man. Like what a disorientating round
I like that they go and take all these forward positions
You're just walking around the map getting shot in the back of the head in a 2v5
And so it is an instant state of kind of uncomfortability and a little bit jarring
for P vision
Yeah, now they have to sit back and stay cold for three rounds right or two rounds not gonna be forcing here
With no bomb plant no kills
I'm just gonna let this one bleed out count the nades
Marathon, not a sprint as we often remind ourselves in these kind of games.
Oh, you're in trouble, exertion.
It's a good save.
Juley's Alper eventually dies.
2v4 with an M4.
It's okay that they go back, it's going to say exploitable on A but mows don't let
it happen, they fight in the middle.
So Torsi's AWP will be in play come this first gun round.
It comes as a surprise.
I mean you hear that name on the mid smoke, you know what that means.
what she's about.
Trader, you tell everyone's cat just
really making them work for every inch of ground.
Made from exertion to follow up, and it's gonna find some good chip damage there on
as the yellow he actually cops two of them and so all this utile right now has found its way
onto his health bar putting him down to 26
is it cat or is it mid-to-be the age-old question here looking like cats
30 seconds reblock? Uh-oh. I don't have to go through this one, boys. Just reclaim it
as well. Mal should know exactly what's happening.
I'm a shot from Torsche's orb, but he's trying to bait them into exertion, who certainly
could get overlooked. He actually goes early, ends up going into both of these players,
and that's handed Zwei a double. This could give you a bomb plant here. Spinks might
be floating around close by will Zway provide the cover. Zellex taking a lot of the attention.
Spinks gets out with one and it's like the Jame in his clutch. Can't flick back in time.
So Mows will contain it. Oh, I mean, just a massive mistake for exertion there. I can't
believe that, uh, you know, Mows still win the round. Very lucky is team Baila Malik
also forces Torsi to repeat because he's swinging off his teammate's contact. His teammate
forces the contact they're even holding torsion so
the idea was great execution not so nice but still
coming in on the late retake of the young guns to save this round.
I think you know talking about Dust 2 as all it's been very interesting
watching this mouse squad develop this was kind of the
the problem point for the old version of this roster.
They were 11 and 5 sorry.
5 and 11 on this map. When it got re-added, I think you could actually track the kind of
downfall of that old Maus team to the fact that they had stopped playing Dust2 again, right?
What with the map pool changes. And it was one that they could never really get their head around.
However, the moment you had exertion come in and this whole project changed and he took over,
it's gotten a damn sight better, the 8 and 4 on it. So having a way better go
on Dust2, it was one that even at the very first outing of the big change, we saw them try and play a bunch in Astana.
And it's one that they have had good results on.
Well, it definitely added some more shooters to this lineup, that's for sure.
I mean, Matt has always been plagued by the map vetoes, or rather by the map pool.
Just been killing them, season after season.
All their good maps removed, trained, they were peeking on it.
They knew this at Instabang, old Instabang, got re-added, forced them to play Dust2.
but not mouse fat no or at least they weren't but now
Now starting to find a hell of a lot more success here, so that's why for P vision. This is no guarantee. This is no safe bet
Yeah, we saw it's hard to know what we're gonna get from P vision today because we saw them just look
Incredible against 100 fees right jayme had two fantastic maps and new person dust to and
And it was a great series for them, but also Gizmy came out after and he sort of said like, yeah, you could feel the fatigue from the grind, we've been on these events, we've been attending, you know, it's a new team as well, a new in-game leader, and so, one of the changes, Mao's are more stable, even with their roster changes.
So this is definitely going to be a harder game for P-Vision to get into the playoff.
It's where also you've got to think about the inexperience on someone like Saxeges, right?
Something that Dastan spoke about as well.
Now, he's a very talented player, but certainly lacking in the experience part,
even compared to the old guys in this squad.
That's that kind of said, at least they had the experience playing in at tier three for a while,
got to grips with the game.
And so in a game that sends you to playoffs or sends you home,
that pressure is going to be sky-high. They do get out with a bomb plant here. It's an AK for Zwei,
Tec-9's in this post plant. And now it's very slow on the approach.
As is often the case. James, the key here, but he's playing and they're waiting for it. That
patience for now. They're really slow to re-clear middle. That's when they're still ready on
long. Cap fight needs something massive, doesn't look good here. Flip falls as well.
Slacks are just yet to get a kill and they're offering nothing. The time is the only thing
on his side, but he loses that first fight with that mouse pick up a fourth round. It was a tight
round. It was a close margin. One or two kills there could have made the difference, but mouse
do survive despite a very late retake. Good head on their shoulders there watching for that late
long play. Unfortunately for James, just playing. It felt like he waited long enough,
and I think on a normal round he would have, but the close mouths were so slow to get back
back in air from the re-clearing middle and Zershin giving up Catwalk, the timings were
a little bit aloof. So James walked now in play, and everyone from Maus has showed up
so far in this game. Two latest Peavision additions, you had to get a kill. Gotta change
now don't often see a rifle on this boost no over the smoke why not he not to
overstay their welcome so they dismantle that boost but what she still is this
mid-cross it's also shooting his orb in middle while they're boosted which I
think makes you even less concerned about that possibility but it wasn't
shown. I'll stay active in the mid ground. They repush long. No one's home. They go for
the full flank here with the mid smoke down. Maus are in a very strong position yet again.
Is James going to watch his back? He just looked away. And this could be well-timed
for James. But expecting two, that is the question.
No way.
Hyper-vigilance.
I can't believe that. Ready for the double push through the long doors? It's also just
timing he catches it on right he just left this position how about a third I
mean when you play the game the way Jane does you know your timings into
torsion speed up now will be one step too far but it's gonna give rise to his
team getting out through the catwalk torsion feeling like he has to fight
for this catches another and now down over three on three this torsion
doing everything it can to keep mouse in this round
Uh-oh, Slaxages is a long way from home.
Right now you got a 3B2.
Make that a 3B1 in the bomb site.
Ziello just planted and hasn't got to move a muscle.
He's stuck in place.
Backstabbed by Slaxages.
Does remove one from the pitcher.
It was PR.
Flash high.
PR now making footsteps.
They know where both players are.
Slaxages in position to play around this bomb.
It's a swing from Ziello.
And nearly a transfer for PR. This Molly's big.
That's gonna stop her defuse.
They chase him down, but...
Oh, we picked up a slow four!
Just survived the watchies!
Got it! With milliseconds remaining!
He could not have timed that Molly push better
to the last tick for health on the stick.
That is a beautiful, beautiful clutch.
Oh.
Jamie, think you're the guy that knows time?
Check out what Thor she just did.
Did he pick up a smoke in that volley?
I feel like he did as well.
He didn't even put it down.
Torsche, there was literally no other way to win around there.
That's the guy willing to do anything to win, apparently.
Yeah, T-Mace off to the hills, but he's still believing.
None of Maus can even believe it.
They were all on the edge of their seats.
They're thinking, surely he hasn't got away with it.
I really thought he was going to burn there.
Respectable attempt, but more than an attempt.
A successful one.
Mouse 5-0
Oh, that's a really bad round to lose, a 5v3
Jane gets caught by Orpah Long, they speed up his way, doesn't crouch under the warp that they know isn't long
And he gives up a free kill
Couple of awkward moments here in this game for P-Vision
Maybe just that 1v2, not able to take anyone with you
And now, Jame is still doing what he does best.
I also think, you know, we were touching on Slaxojez as this kind of young rookie player.
And quite frankly, if you're him, I think you feel like you did everything right in that
1v2 attempt.
You get the Molly on the bomb, there's milliseconds on the round, and you still end up losing
it.
But that's the level of perfection demanded when you play versus these top squad.
I had to shoot his way out, I had to get that first kill, and then he got to
to repeat torsion defuse so...
Bit of a nightmare.
You just don't want him in his head at the start of this all important series.
Sir.
When he's down 1 on 5 right now.
Oh my, Zershyn's got the tricks, that Molly put out by the smoke, he stands on the edge.
Sick little bit of utile.
Spinks was tagged on the cross if you recall, he's low on health at this B bomb site.
You'd love it if he could even get out of the round with one, it's a big chunk of damage, and no kills.
that you feel like that's around right how am I was gonna win this one
because you know they're tempted yeah this version of our certainly braver
than the previous rosters oh they're saving off that kill but they will
write this off I mean their money isn't it's good but it can be broken but
just just realizing the odds are still quite low on that b-site. James is gonna hear them coming.
It's got no help here.
Grabs that AK to defend himself.
Too many targets there for PR and so P-Vision are in the game now.
The little bee pop that tag on the cross.
Very important.
Makes things by passive, makes him essentially concede the b-side.
Are you assuring that you're on the board, but you know, you know about this division side that
that Jane likes to win in a big picture sense, right?
It probably feels like you shouldn't have to fall to him getting a tag on the cross to set them up for that bee here.
He's going to want a little bit more out of his entire team.
Because that round was all legit, right?
He's also the one that gets the B entry, not just the tag on the cross, but he stops
Spinks on that swing out from the platform.
Hey, if you want it done right.
He's probably thinking, you know, for now I got us.
But eventually you guys have to have me or else this is going nowhere fast.
Yeah, it's been quiet from everyone else.
That's for sure.
Jamie gang.
No connection.
Some fear in the top mid push, but it's just fear.
But the smoke suicide and Molly taught me they're really going to slow this round down.
Her mouse don't play off this, but he should now must consider everything.
Seattle's coming in pretty quick from lower.
It's not going to care about that green box position.
So cautious here.
One minute fifteen.
Now's a burnt good time off this clock with just two bits of utility.
Torsche is still in an aggressive position so that's a 5v4.
This might be your best bet.
On that jump spot I think they were spotted there coming out through middles across to
the car for Spinks.
PR focused in at the tunnels but only gets out with one.
still alive and still very much a threat here doesn't even need the rotates
torsion pick two i think over the smoke from ct he got three kills in that round so torsion just saves them
from outside of b
and when torsion is having a game like this it feels really rough because
p vision like to do a lot of the slow rounds where they kind of wait for the cts to kind of
nestle back into their bomb sites and then you get free room on catwalk you get to do it all
quietly. You're seeing a lot of players just walking into these
allplines and Torsche with the game he's having. He absolutely
loves that. Unless you tell you're using the quieter you're
trying to be, the more kills for Torsche. Now, there are no
flashes. Just two of this round here for pVision. Expensive
starts to this game as mouths are still not afraid of making
plays. It's Alex in long doors deposits himself early. So mouse
hedged their bets on B. I think it was just one of the notable
changes very early on when this mouse roster change direction is
how much more brazen they tried to be much more space they hope
to take away in these games. Game leader is a very aggressive
player. Yeah. Well, there's kind of no accounting for that
They did be you tell Toshi still gets the kill
That's the bomb as well, you're not getting out of there for free push smoke for the first time and Toshi is not done
He is hitting shots
wrist shaker
Jane boost on the orb. I don't know if you can see anything here. So
Forget about it. You should just save this big green
30 seconds and know where to go.
Just a clinical game out of mouths.
And even now, static in aggressive positions, the kills will come to them.
They've parked in P-Vision's driveway and they've pulled the handbrake up.
This must be felt by such a stressful game. I just don't know how you even get back here and Flitz got no kills, Slaxa just has two, Zelo has one.
Yeah, Jane came to play chess, but we got a guy playing Hungry Hungry Hungarian.
It's Torsi, just absolutely wreck it up, go playing them up.
And he's in the right place again, lying into the tunnels. They never know where this
AWP is going to appear. You've seen it fighting you mid, you've seen it holding down the
long side. Hell, it's killed you on the mid-cross from the crossroads, and now it appears
at this B bomb site. It's real hard to flash him off the angle if you don't know
where he is.
That was your chance to weaken this site. Lerkshokin, pushing forward. He's going
going to get one shot off before he survives. I don't know. You feel like you want to cancel
this now for P-Vision, but they've got nothing else to show. Just tech nines around this orb.
So it is still the best outcome in hitting P. How's it put up the barricade? P-Vision
go back for it, but just a little bit later. Flip feeling out in middle. It is clear.
With this AWP inside the B site, there is no safe haven.
James, I don't know anything you can. They're not close enough to hear that.
You just got to hit your shots with the tech 9s.
Trader positions, torching, trying to shore up the mid defense, leaving PR to focus on the tunnels.
on the tunnels. One man's made it past him, but he's gonna catch Jane back turned on this repos.
So now man up, but a gun game for Flick who got his first kill of the game in this round.
He's gonna go on a bit of a tear here, certainly feeling the pressure this boost throwing in.
His exertion looks for a kill to really try and tip the balance of this one. Nothing spotted on that boost.
those. Can't wait forever, mouse. But one by one, they just get cut apart on this post
plant. Tech 9's in the face, and sticks on exits. Careful, don't give them anything.
Flit will get on the ball with a 3k off of the Tech 9 into the AK, and PV should
do thought mouse finally on this B site.
It's really hard to get back into there, isn't it?
And mouse, no utile to make him uncomfortable.
So so awkward.
Yeah, it's rough, right?
Like you understand why they made this swap.
Toshi trying to watch the lurk smoke with players coming through
on the orb feels kind of brutal but the timing just lets them down yeah it had to be earlier
that they were in those positions PR just gets caught with a smoke push of course she has an
orb and a retake it's a forgivable round for mouths they have the leeway
and they could continue to
to break the money of T-Vision in this round.
Even just to amount, you're seeing James squad running out of money feels notable, right?
It's a team and a captain who always prioritized min-maxing every penny.
And it's not a team you see get broken super easy.
Any squad that's ever played a Jame team will tell you, you're always ready for him to have an AWP.
The weirdest and wildest of moments because he's so good at managing the money,
but they've been losing rounds so decisively, the few they've picked up have been so costly,
but their money's just been in a bad spot all game long.
Do you need to win rounds at the end of the day?
40 seconds on this mid to B, both players in middle, are you ready for Spinks as well?
They freeze spam and they don't clear it and Spinks only gets one, that's the round.
The vision have done enough so it seems flicked though.
Yeah, you're not gonna know that one by a few seconds.
We're bomb planted and unless Jane can see to kill here, mouse might just throw in the towel.
They're gonna go investigating but now their money is cause for concern.
So with every bit of util dropped into this site, screw it, mouse ascending it.
Oh, smoke for the tunnels is good. That's gonna lock Jane out Mason.
Alright, just a bit of posturing, seeing if they were given anything.
I'm sure that felt winnable there, but yeah, Molly and Wendo put it all through the door.
Mouse. Don't like all they see on this B site. It's clearly the only way into this
game.
And hey, back to back rounds of the mid to B. Spinks held that shot though, two kills.
It felt like you just got paranoid after they spammed the smoke right and so takes the one,
doesn't want to look like a fool trying to play for two but yeah I think it would have
been the right move they had written it off that was two kills on a platter they
just had him a little stressed out on that mid to beat well this is where the
game can get stressful because we've been talking about miles dominating this
map seven one up but very quickly you can give P vision some room here at the
end of the half and now the mind game of will they won't they on this mid to
be continues to be a factor for miles
I think it's nice about this. If you're if you're James you've caused such an obvious problem
mouse almost have to address it right there. They kind of can't afford to play the mind
game here to overlook this. They are playing the mind games over this. That's a crazy call.
It's just anti long rush at the start. I still think you're going to adjust to play around
the mid to be. You know, it's not like P-Vision have been doing this instantly. And so yeah,
two players over towards mid.
It's eager there for Torsche.
Just had a couple of rounds where he hasn't got to be involved, right, so trying to
force a fight, trying to get to play ends up on the receiving end of a JMAWP.
Isn't that just Jamie's whittled you down now, right? You feel like you'd won
this game in the first half suddenly we're looking at a p-vision that could get a very
nice t-side given how this game started so jame whittling away at the voodoo doll
and now it's now 4v5 they've at least hedged their bets correctly
we are dead after one but it's depressions of exertion that third man over towards b
The proofs to be super valuable.
Like going back with the bomb,
James is still here making a lot of noise.
Flip really going to be able to escape.
They hear that the tunnels have gone quiet.
They still have sphinx out of the car,
so it's two guns on out in middle.
They're pretty rough around the edges in this game.
Ah, sorry.
Very curious rotation.
James Saving here, at least he's trying to.
10 seconds.
Did not feel like a realistic escape route.
With all of Maus here in middle.
Oh my God, is he going to fight?
Oh, they can't, they find him off the time.
They chase him down.
Oh.
I mean, it's something right that even that's that spoke about in an interview with HLTV kind of saying, you know
It was great to get flicked back in the squad. He appreciates the
reuniting there, but
I mean, he brings a good deal of experience
However, you know, it's spent time on the bench
He also kind of developed his own idea for how to play the games
That's that actually said it felt like he was a little behind on the matter
And so they do
Occasionally have like differing viewpoints differing opinions on how to approach the game and the philosophy behind it
And Flit has been made to look pretty uncomfortable here on Dust2.
He's been the guy waltzing into a lot of these torsion orbs.
And so let's see if Maus can actually deliver on this very strong CT side
because we were getting nervous. The 7-1 lead, couple in a row, 4P vision.
But here they are looking to collect on the promise of a good first half.
Super smart as well.
Sertian throws a deep smoke and so they feel like they have a gap.
They feel like they have an exploitable position.
They can peek the corner with that smoke and so they're going through but he's already
up and over on the blue bin.
James got the bomb but I'm not sure where you're going with this one.
Zello's out shorts known about by Torsi.
It's probably just gonna repeat because that's the kind of game he's playing.
Flash goes high, but Torsi, caught by his yellow, who peeks after the fact.
Zershin up close, yellow seems aware.
Can he shoot his way out of his 2v5 on the corner, covered by Zellex?
And Jame, they know where he was.
And 1v4 with not much time.
to start this playoff progressing series 9 3 up. On PB's mark pig. There's a cool idea
along there, right? The boost into the deep smoke, really beta P-Vision. Felt like
Mows had a very good idea of what they were up against in this game from the pace setter in
that pistol round. Of course, she with some great positional warping.
And yeah, a couple of B hits in there, but not enough to really get P-Vision in the game.
clinical here for mouse can they keep it so and close out this game without a
why just keep it just mapping for no up next Asian decided I just want to swim
into playoffs here that's a great start
Well, everyone on Mao's nose, they can make this a very easy time if they win this round.
Suddenly, it feels like the game starts anew if you lose the pistol, and...
What? Spinks?
A lurk out towards mid.
Sees a lot of bodies at least,
and that gives you real confidence to get this bomb down.
You've got a bit of time now to get set up.
And you know this retake's coming in from short.
Still PR out in no man's land.
Hands away that first.
Russian's going to knife the defuse.
Saxe just has the kit.
Oh, Sellex doesn't even get to fire a bullet.
Saxe suggests in this pistol has been a medic.
What is that?
You can feel it.
They're on it. There's no stopping that toshi for diffuse coming. All right. Thanks to jazz. We see it
Like yeah, he's had a couple of tough maps and tough moments
But there's a reason he got picked up right this guy was a bit of a prospect who's putting a 1.3 is online
He's played like four five lands in his career all local smaller lands, but
online was just beast moaning
I'm playing
Hundreds of maps as well a lot of gameplay just not at this level so
prospect I think it's the right word but we see a sign of it there in that pistol
some great shots something that again in that interview that Stan talked about
right the idea that for Slaxoges he kind of doesn't want to rob him of how new
and exciting everything feels you know he wants him to get to take it all in
saying it reminded him back when you know even these guys were on Avangar
all those years ago.
SlaxaJazz really put under the microscope here.
Good for a double.
That's at least going to keep PB
interested in this retake
at three on three being asked for.
It's the B site falters.
M4 for Torsche.
I'm going to back it up.
Well, it's all retrieved
as well on exertion.
Going to try and slow this one down
by blocking the window.
I'm not sure.
Wait to get out, but unless there's a kit in the site, this one's done.
They've just lost to Glocks.
They're walking away.
That was a hero Galil on Spinks.
It got the entry kill, and they win with Glocks and P250s.
That is the worst possible round to lose.
Dear, oh dear.
What a play for Spinks.
You're on the full eco in Spring Schools, don't worry, I got this. Hero Galil.
Do you actually believe it?
One dry entry on a jiggle with B player and Scythe suggests he gets a nice double here, he even kills the armored player, but just overwhelmed by pistols.
If you PV, how doesn't that just hit you like a truck? Like those aren't the rounds you lose.
You don't do that. You're not the team that give it away the pistols.
But Miles is definitely showing the difference right now in individuals in experience.
Make sure you've got major winners on TV. You've also got three very young players.
One of which are his second top event.
I mean that guy is the only other guy performing.
And at sure it's happened on the back of a strong pistol and some eco kills there.
We haven't really talked about anyone else on this P-Vision squad.
Now it's just had so much momentum now.
And this is one of the maps where when we saw Exertion Takeover in-game leading, we saw them at Starna.
This is where he was putting up his best games.
Had some crazy maps there. We said, you know, he couldn't do it forever.
but he doesn't it doesn't feel like he needs to calling from the front here and
searching for those entries into the CT smoke flitz falling for it
block this smoke but back to where he's actually just surely has his kill this is
I was looking for the knockout blow.
Oh, no, Util's spell's so punishing.
Motherfucker, the burn.
Just set up in half.
See, right click's a flash on his feet.
He's just full turns.
Easy kill.
So that's what makes that look beautiful.
And 4v1, save.
The vision even had to stack and play.
does not matter 11-4 and an absolute
Dropping
That's all time that's used for provision.
It is just so hard to not be enamored with the kind of new DNA at the core of this mouse
team.
Just how different they look in the server.
It's a lot more direct.
It's a lot more in your face.
It's a lot more confident.
A lot of credit goes the way of exertion for how he's switched that up within this team.
And I think Cyclone too, who clearly was very attached to the old ways, the kind of by-the-numbers
methodical look.
Surely he would be the first to admit that he must like this direction for Maus.
I mean you could always feel him kind of setting up exertion to be that future in game leader always was the most vocal player
But like he was calling a lot of stuff on T sides
So not a huge shock to see it I
Think it's also why there's like no surprise to horses you thrive see here vocal this guy is how much he
likes to call his shots
It's only gets a lot of room to do so. I mean it would be so provision to win a round like this
I wouldn't it for be mouse walking out mid to be they've got no smoke down either
In this type of game mad like sure on another day sure. Oh, they've killed James now do they read the stack?
That actually might be the perfect read from miles realizing that why is there?
The or per on this B site
It's an in-game counter strike there.
It just walks it right back into an MTA, only his way in position.
That might just be it.
Not much you can do here.
It's pretty good, but they've got the sight.
I was always going to be a limit to what's where you can accomplish with that SMG.
And so one is enough.
Well, not enough, but that's all we get.
One is a kill.
We'll give him that.
How's have many a chance to bring this one home and run away with PD's map pick?
I never count out, you know, Jame on a comeback or PD's on a late game recovery, but this
is over.
This is feels over doesn't it? There's absolutely no life from P vision.
And there's no like hero performance that maybe can inspire everyone else, get you going.
Top to bottom. Silence.
And with how PV player, I don't think you know you can ever really afford to have it like this
where you just have multiple players who are kind of seeking that chance to warm into the game.
You can't afford to overthink or doubt anything in the James system.
And you don't really get those chances to like get hot hands, you know, with a sick sequence.
It's very slow rounds.
You saw that all throughout their T side.
And so you just feel like you're racing against a clock here that's rapidly taking down, that's
rapidly running out of time.
This was your map pick and you have been systematically destroyed across the entire
map.
But James Orton, the last bastion of hope, four blind in the middle, and stuck on the
box as well but they don't punish.
James gets a shot off and he will connect it.
No need for that smoke and the B entry comes in with ease so even though Maus was set up
on their D4 with POR outside long, that's got attempt you on this B site.
Tony's yellow left, he's put his smoke down and Zershyn's crossed on the mid smoke.
They don't know.
told rotations his teammates have a 2v1 at B right now. PR is going to come in as well.
It's not looking good here for B vision. Even that bit of spam from PR is just kind of sold
but they didn't have this mid control. Oh, okay. Position note and that's it. Entry
comes in, mouse puts smokes down. Can't save here.
I'm gonna try the boost, but I think if you're mouse, you know they're looking for any edge they can, right?
You're gonna be mindful of this a little gimmick to try and snipe one from the ranks make this retake feel achievable in any sense
But it's still 2v3 toughest retake in the game. You'll block through the doors
And so mouse victory is right there. They're just these two kills from it
Nothing being offered for free. Flit is gonna catch one.
Jane follows up. Hold on. Spinks is gonna do this alone.
Time ticking away very quickly and Jane will get the kill.
Hop on that defuse but I don't think he's got this with no kit.
That might just decide it.
Maus getting it done on Dust2 and they do so dominantly at the first time of asking.
That's PB's map pick going their way.
Maus now have Inferno to look forward to.
Those playoffs are well within their grasp.
Yeah, Dust2 was supposed to be the coin flip.
Both teams come in at 67% over 9 maps, and this was PV's map picks.
So, Jites, if you're starting from PV in this, or P-Vision I should say rather,
in this series, Mao's showing dominant force there.
Yanko, DePri, myself being traced on it.
Yeah, so much for our close game, right?
So, that's why it isn't anymore, you know, a clear and obvious punish
to pick Dust2 against Mao's, right?
They just played it so much recently. Again, they also changed a couple of players, so it's not the same team.
And you know, you'd be fooled to think that they're going to struggle significantly on this map.
It's just against the likes of P-Vision, right, who went through changes themselves.
But still, even with all that said, I definitely expected more from P-Vision.
Out of the game, I think if you look at the side of rounds, there's only maybe like a couple of mistakes that haven't been...
Overall, throughout looking at the team, they just play so well that the matter of, you know, times they would just go in and things just work in hands.
Whenever Exercio came up with a mid-round call, they just made sense to what type of space they've already gotten.
And just, they're also the openings from the likes of Spence, but also all the openings they demand to find with Torchy.
And then combined with a handful of really good gimmick plays that never been some advantage throughout the game, was just a joy to watch.
It's nice to see that this team play of Maus is still there despite of the vision.
Watching this Maus kind of constrict all over P-Vision in their CT side was pretty fun to say the least.
They were running circles around them.
It's crazy.
You're watching the map and Maus did three different things on the map already
before P-Vision even kind of took cat control really in a way.
They were super proactive, they were getting a lot of information,
getting their players in good positions, right? So even when these hits were coming, even if
they would perhaps lose the opening kill, which only happened a handful of times this game,
right, they were still in a good position to have someone on the flank, to have players ready,
to have counter utility come in, and yeah, they were just flowing miles on this map.
And just with all the things that Exersion had him doing, you know, he,
both of the times he would go up, basically, would throw that beast smoke splitter,
and then either he would hide and spawn and get in a lot of good situations,
he would catch up with Chasen and then he would put himself in a familiar situation,
then he would call around himself where he still got a lot of action,
but it also made sense with the rotation that his team was doing with how they were going to be ending.
So he continues to impress me in his new steps of being an in-game Levan.
It's good to see that also Space continuing his form from what he showed over there.
It's so crazy because, you know, he was one of the main guys,
We criticized Xershin, while he was just a player, he would disappear in playoffs and his level would drop off against tier one teams
And then he moves to IGL and all of a sudden he is more consistent and puts up better numbers
but obviously still the
Matter of playing against tier one teams and how it's going to look like them
But there's no reason to be too harsh early on with all these standing situations that they've had now
They have their full man roster and it's gonna take a little while to get
PR and Xalex up to speed in a way, but if exertion can stay similar to this level when
it comes to those playoff games down the line as well it will be such a huge boon for this
mouse team.
Yeah, and for a mouse team that had some push and marks clearly about these changes,
is this more a long line of what you expect for a VRS 19 so highly up there?
I think, for me in this game, I could see both teams having an edge, right, Maus?
Because they also made these changes that we talked about.
Maybe you don't want to put too high of expectations on them despite being bounty.
I think they're the favorite in this matchup, but they're sort of a shellacking.
You know, it feels like also to some extent, like, P-Vision yet to really start playing
on an individual level, too, with a really, really slow start as well in some of these reactions.
you know, they were just a little bit too slow, let a couple of rounds slip away.
They really shouldn't have.
Maybe we look at one of those slow rounds.
I'm looking at around 14, a P-Vision save.
They seem to know how to do that or what.
Yeah, well, it's actually a quick round in a way.
It's just a hero Galil.
Yes, a hero Galil.
We have those nowadays on Spinks.
And a nice call for, I think it might have been him making the call, right,
with the best spawn, just sliding over.
Maybe this is something they saw in Crabb.
This is the approach from P-Vision, and he gets the instakill on Ziello,
and then they just over ran on the slashes, right?
He gets two kills, but that's all he can do
and the rest of the team is setting up for Erite
but this Nade really sort of, and the incendiary
that they managed to pick up of Zelo
really dissuaded them from going for the Erite
and they just have to go and save it.
Well, such a gut punch, really,
because you know, you could think
maybe P-Vision can get rolling, but it wasn't the case.
And then the round-off and then round-fifth,
can we see again, some of the things that up or up
what I think is good about Xersion
that he puts himself in that favorite position
and get so much work done whereas his team plays around him and the small details is
obviously him hiding in the smoke and trying to find the timing, catching the rotation.
But then even when he gets the kill, he doesn't just sit and spawn and just wait for the next
one.
He actually helps the team gain more space and buys the guy off ramp, but he even throws
a flashbang for himself because he knows there's a guy waiting for him at long.
So it's all these details that he timed together that he still puts the team in
in a good situation while he also consistently puts himself in a good position.
Okay, so we've got a map pick out of the way.
We look at the next map we can talk about Inferno.
He vision statistically pretty strong there in this match up explicitly.
How do we begin to look at this picture when we've got it on starter in the first map?
You just have to wake up, you know.
True, maybe this will help.
Yeah, I didn't even see necessarily.
I'm awake now, Trace, I'll tell you that.
But yeah, you just need to do better across the board.
Right, in some of the reactions they were too slow as a team, they weren't really up to par to what Maus was putting on the table.
And yeah, I mean you lose one more map here and you're eliminated from the tournament so there's no more room for a mistake.
I think it's weird because I don't really see what type of approach to the game style they have right now on the TV inside.
Whereas when I watched them and where I think they did the best, I was back in Rotterdam where they were being like very methodical
very well thought, you know, taking duels on their terms, playing lots of gala.
Here it just seemed like, yeah, Flipp was trying to get some space on Cabo, he got eliminated
by the arm.
Okay, I'm going to try and walk up mid-time and see if I can get something done.
If the connections between the players was off, and I know that this is just early
on, and they're still building some sort of foundation, but it's not really good
sample size of what you can expect of the team.
Sample sizes, or rather there in the numbers that follow Spinks so far in this series.
one map and where are we finding litmus test obviously in the speech you know it's just
good to see the fact that he's continuing his strings of bounty where he won that in
the game middle right you know it's always like sometimes if you find a player that has
you know always wanted to you know become the star and you know he's always been the
second star in all the teams he's been playing in right in this one you could maybe argue
that he is supposed to be the star with some of the situation that he can end up in right
but it's it's for me you know also with him being a former team you know I know what
he can bring to the table and it's it's good to see that he can do that a consistent level and I hope
that this new generation of Mount is going to help him continuing that and he was very important
this matchup and I hope that he's going to continue so because they need that. Yeah absolutely
and I think he was the the main reason why they were able to take down Spirit in their grand final
like he was absolutely lights out and goes without saying that if he can repeat those
sort of performances like it will go a long way in mouse going deep in tournaments. Yeah it
Definitely 10, Yanko. I think we need to go to a break.
Obviously, they need to tune their drums up a little bit there and get things ready for this next map.
Of course, a turn-off setup, B vision, a little bit of a non-starter there.
Miles currently running the board, but is it the little Miles that could?
We'll find out when we return. You're watching the Esports World Cup Club Championships 26.
in our DNA. Whenever we let it out, it becomes our superpower. Now imagine an
entire city being built to supercharge it. Kidea City powered by play.
of all performance and it's only gotten better a 2.4 KT currently 24 and 10 he is everything
that 9z hate to have to contest with positionary advantage,
rifle advantage, aim advantage currently right now too.
It's looking good for magic and the squads looking even better.
I really hope that that's getting picked up.
Me too, dude, they're having a party right now.
This is absolute chaos.
It's making me dance.
At the Esports World Cup.
Good chaos.
A thing of beauty, all these communities coming together genuinely, it's something you have
to be present to understand.
Every community, every esport, all under one roof, all under one love.
Honestly at this point, come join.
It's awesome.
Competition of course is important, but at the end of the day, this is the beauty that
brings us together, but either way we need to see if Moon is able to continue to
fire off shots.
leg on the first as he's there for a follow-up. Very nice for a double, but two in response for
Nidzee still makes this interesting. Moon on scopes are the worst time, and a slightly missed
smoke towards Donut on a push in. Him and Moon combined, leaving Just Max in with a mid-flank
that stands no hope in succeeding. That is 12. That's map point and an important map point
as we look at the narrative of the series.
Magic are just looking really strong.
There are some factors that could be worried about if you look at that scoreboard, but
the overall value that Magic currently have in this map is unmatched.
And you know, 9th Ease fall off in the second half just individually is very, it's very prevalent.
Sure, they aren't so great.
Play is in our DNA.
Whenever we let it out, it becomes our superpower.
Now imagine an entire city being built to supercharge it.
Cadia City, powered by play.
not just a map they've been looking at play and get their reps in on but a bit
of a punish you haven't seen this version of PV play inferno yet the track
record before that was not great for the other versions of this roster had
some struggles it's safe to say couldn't find success when Hobbit was
in the event before this one and with the older versions of the roster they
were on one hell of a lost streak. So how disorientating is this? You go off a dust two
bit of a home map for yourselves. You go on a one now that you haven't played in an official
with this version of the lineup. And that's where you've got a fight for your tournament
life. Yeah, six losses in a row, 10 losses out of the last 13 played. I mean, it's not
looking good right now for P vision and considering the mouse clearly coming in hyper
a lot of cool ideas cool setups and also just great form on their individuals. I think that's the most clear difference between these teams right now
Didn't feel like anyone for P vision to get activated couple of moments from Jane
But ultimately all of his rifle is falling short of mouse. You just can't say the same about them. This is a team of five playoffs
They definitely had to work for it taking on foot
just the other day was on an easy game either, but this might just make up for that match if now is going to make it a
clinical 2-0 victory
Lock in a top 16 plays couple days off and come back here in Paris
It's bound to be a very competitive playoff. I
Think that opening that would have been very frustrating for Jane
It felt like any time he did something to give an edge to PB
someone on his squad was so willing and ready to give it away and I think there's
no worse feeling right when you're an AWPer or an IGL and he just happens to
be both. So yeah, questions around the form of the PB Riflers. For Maus, everyone
was turning up. Torsche had a blinding start and I wouldn't even really agree
with the idea that he quieted down towards the end. I think it was more
It was on rails. He felt like he was winning, taking a lot more fights, looking to be kind of cheeky with it.
And ultimately, Maus did go on to close that map super cleanly. Didn't require too much effort, not like you were ever super nervous.
They stopped his P-Vision squad from doing what they do best, which is these late in the day comebacks.
Yeah, you wonder if you can really even assign that mantra to this team right now given that obviously I haven't proven it
You have pieces that you would yeah make that case
It's the thing that's just attached to Jane really
But yeah, you're dead on this version of the squad have not proved that
Too early to tell and you know, I don't think this is should be a really
Shocking result if a fever should go out here just because of the fact that we do have all these unknowns
all these question marks for its form, sex, and just experience. All these factors I think are
really fair reasons why this paper is a match that's too hot to handle. And so it doesn't make
me lose faith for this project that people are building. You may be doubting them before,
but look at the Budapest run into the start of last season, the bounty victory,
and the string of events that followed. I mean, last time these two organizations played
was back where Ecluge where P-Vision managed to beat Maus. Of course both these old line-ups in
the semi-finals went on to play Vitality. So I've got faith for the future of this squad,
but the present is looking quite dire.
Let's find out. Inferno up next, Mouse's pick. Playoffs found if they can take it.
Everybody gets an aid.
I think Mouse would be quite happy with the T side star being the guys to set
the tone, set the pace. That was exactly what they did on Dust 2 with a very jarring pistol
round coming the way of PV. It was aggression from the get-go on their CT side and it got
them off to a hot start.
Oh, yeah, retake on B, good luck.
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's been a bit of a classic, right? The Jane Gambles,
I think this is the map where you see the highs and lows of said gambles the most with flit holding on for a double
He's at least put you in a great position to make this retake happen
It's frustrating exertion sends it and Sphinx doesn't go for the trade, but then still reswing slates
And they save it and put on a yes
They can triple kill for Torsi in the blink of an eye and that 3v5
suddenly favored now as
as P-Vision's advantage evaporates.
Alright, Toshi's got hot hands still, it's safe to say.
You thought Flit was going to be the defining guy, well Toshi won up soon.
Crikey.
kind of the worst round the worst way to lose that round if your p-vision get
the two kills on what is still a very hard post-bond and then one guy just
drive by you
I have a lot of the old Inferno games with the old versions of the roster, one of the
big pitfalls would be these solo B holds if you remember, so often just entrusting it to
one man. Thankfully, Flit was actually kind of from a bit of a similar school of thought
in that VP squad.
Yeah, I would love something here, but the util just knocks him back off his perch. Your
The two B players have both been softened up by this utility.
I think you are just saving looking for a unicorn round with Ten alive.
How many players are gonna hype the ruins here at the mouse?
How many can you fit?
Mouse clown car.
Hong Hong.
I do really enjoy how the bomb doesn't break armor anymore. I think it's super, it doesn't
really matter in this round, but for pistols it is super important to allow you to actually
upgrade because it's just something you feel like you can never control, right? Like you're
always going to take damage, some damage from the bomb and now you can still play in
one of those close positions, but not get the unavoidable expense of having to upgrade
your armor every time. It's just a nice change. I just like the new bomb in general. No?
No, man. That's great. Preaching to the choir.
I just got lost in your eyes for a second, Hugo, that's all.
They are dreaming.
Now spamming these nades on close wall, bit of a rebabs.
You have to pay off.
And so low B hold again, another appearance.
As a gamble of four over the wards a
for PV
It's really try to make as much noise as you can
Try and scare them away look like two people. It's pretty scary
I thought you were doing a bear attack, but this is a mouse attack over towards this B bomb site.
And it doesn't look like him popping his chest up has worked.
And a mouse trap at this B site.
Ooh, okay.
Okay.
of that what you william
and there's what give it a go.
Hey, bye next anyway, right?
This is what you saved for and
it's got you to a good position.
Still they lose Jane at the very
first turn around the corner out
is spam kill on perspinks either, but will follow up with a bit of success. Now the last
man remaining low HP on exertion leaves it to chance.
He had a kit as well as we had a kid and that won't be one more bullet. He wins that round.
That came down way too close. I thought my mouse felt they had already won it and sure
I guess they do. That was a single bullet away from a devastating retake. A really nice
I think he just thinks he has more time to have to re-swing off that molly.
Sure, all laughs here for mouse, they are 3-0 up.
P-Vision bringing guns.
Oh my!
Well, that's something now is what I'm expecting right bit of aggression from flit
And a different look to this be hold and what now is are anticipating they used to a PB that gives them a lot of room a lot of
Respect not often wants to go and fight for that banana control
That's what flit is bringing to the table
So instantly into a 3v5
I'm still slowly gaining space out towards banana
Again leaving it to the solo hole four players reinforce this a side of the map
Right at least spray is James left this four man stack that's when miles move in
You know they killed a B player. I think that might tempt them into this mid to B
Spinks is holding on kills gonna come to him. She gets spotted but leg goes out Spinks is low
They're gonna commit to a now avoid that or 25 crossfire up
Our site player just gets to go on a tear slacks the jazz gets them back turned
And this round is impossible for spanks low on health low on time
going into a lost bomb site. He just wants to play to evade.
This didn't have to wait long. The P-Vision to get on the board.
Counter-terrorists win.
Right, hold for Saxon Chairs. Sway just full tucks in the pit there.
Felt like there was going to be the insurance policy, but not required.
Top of up. And of course, Flick to start the round as well.
That is like, you know, potentially the only kind of scary thing here for Maus is how much
has changed.
Now that Flit is in this version of the roster, they saw the...
Come on, with Hobbit in and Slaxoje's play, one map here, but are you anticipating that
Jayme hasn't changed things from his old squad with this new one?
certainly setting a much more aggressive tone out towards the B-side of the map
than we used to seeing from PV.
Well now Miles is using more Util to get this car control, not punished before.
Miles does look into that flash and so you can just stay on this B-site. I was
waiting for retake utils so they can do the same themselves but block it a minute. Two
smokes remain. Now he's tempted by this A site, the chain is here. He sees the long
execute he knows where they're going. What does he?
In that?
Oh we didn't expect that full send from exertion and they just drop into the pit.
Oh man it's not enough. I can't believe exertion just full runs in chain.
Are you really tempted?
Just on the team we're watching, you'd say no, but they certainly
look to have a bit of intrigue here, grouping in top mid.
As they wrap into the apartments, I think it is just a save call.
Hanging out close by.
All right, I thought you had his number you weren't already in your head
Flits at least looking a damn sight better than he did on dust to true
Jane really just expected a bit of respect there off to showing you up on the corner and yeah
nobody's able to hold their own, this way gets dropped on from behind.
It's a nice execute for Maus. Full smokes are long but only one player committing.
And money. Now again a question for P-Vision, if they don't win this round they are in the dirt.
Down to Eco.
Well, Jame handed one as they tried this contact walk and you see Jame here.
You know you're going into a stack.
Oh, old school smoke.
So you lurk here and at least it's supposed to, but Jame's blowing it open, lands a couple
of tags on this spam from that AWP.
Played dead after one.
You want to believe that this is enough with Jame here.
They go up, they go over, player even makes it by into the spawn.
is battling through this B-stack and with Sphinx set up ready to cut down these
rotates. Time's a tough right now for PB. He wasn't ready for a second player late
spawnside. However, they give Torsche his weapon of choice onto the AWP now.
And 1B1 to keep this lead building for Maus.
10 seconds.
Diffuse tapped. Torsche closes in and this guy is not in a forgiving mood today.
Torsche with a big clutch.
Now let's keep making strides towards those playoffs.
These rounds are looking so easy for Malz right now.
I mean, they're playing a great Torsche.
Four confidence, decisive move to hunt down Jamie Coffins.
They do it together, picks up that orb,
and Molly is not a threat.
It just guarantees his location.
Walks straight to a CT and shoots away in the back.
Unfortunately, no kit for that round,
and now nothing for this just James here are all on eco takes a deep line down
banana where he visually have had some of their only kills on this CT side flits
even in front of the half wall could catch you off guard this
my mouse they want to fight back good name flits spotted jame want to die for
this. He manages to escape with the skin of his teeth. He's still early in this round.
Miles goes searching elsewhere. Even the Orp's not hitting now.
And James is certainly feeling a certain pressure to try and perform here. Right knows that
this half is where he's meant to have his impact on the Orp. He was the one guy showing
up on dust. That's why I had a number of chances at moments on this AWP.
Cool gamble here, though.
They don't believe it.
It's a problem of having no eyes on the other end of the map.
You do feel susceptible to these kind of light fakes, just one smoke.
They try and rush this util on the long side.
Hope they can catch Maus in a bit of the chaos.
They cannot.
Let's recover it for PR. I just missed the pre-aim, it just hits the shot, so I can't do it.
Just, I mean, again, it feels in a way akin to Dust 2, where even in unfavorable jewels, mouths are winning them.
And at a certain point, if you can't win your fights, Yellow's just had a terrible series here.
What are you meant to do?
James desperately trying to save this AWP.
Miles can allow it, they don't have a lot of money despite the 6-1 lead, but because of
the 6-1 lead they're gonna run at him.
Just not enough chance here for James, multiple missed shots and Miles hunts him down.
Torsche exertion and Spinks have as many kills right now as Yellow does in the
entire series so far.
6 and 15, map 1, yet to frag here in map 2.
And I think, you know, all teams, I don't think you can name what.
All teams are going to struggle if you have multiple individuals going missing,
but I think it stands out so much more in these jameload squads.
Well, it's about being, you know, super methodical, having faith in each other to kind of get yours in the round.
Without that, it starts to look really ugly.
Because you do just kind of feel like you're walking around, losing fights, and the game is just slipping away from you.
I've had a pace here and I was feeling very confident.
I mean even the fact that you're able to kind of push flit the top performer away from his
stomping ground which has been over towards B, I think that feels good for Maus.
They can feel that they're forcing more and more respect out of PB as time goes on.
There is this retake of Toppinana, but it's not something the PV can stick to.
They'll throw it in, they'll waste some time of Maus who have to now re-clear this.
The Maus don't even waste you till in this endeavour.
They feel that they have the room, they walk right through, and you're looking at another
one of these contact b-hits blocked by the smoke, they will have to rethink it.
Spinks leaves the option of going back open as he maintains this presence out towards
old mid. At least from how things are looking. Mao's not really showing any signs of coming
back to join him. Now if they get a tell that there's more players here, maybe that changes.
Oh, Spinks ready for that. Spoiler Peak out mid. 30 seconds. They're going to run back.
That's great.
I think that's all this room. It's just Jane, but I guess you wouldn't want anyone
else in this position. Couple of well play shots can win P vision this round.
All right, there's the first for Jane. Spinks long lurk and Spinks has done
everything for mouse in this round from the opener, taking the space and then
rolling out the red carpet for this a play at the final few seconds. And you get it,
right? So I suggest he's trying to play smart. He's trying to play safe. He's
trying to, you know, not overpeak in that position, not expecting Spinks to be long to
be honest, but when James gets a shot off and reveals position, Spinks is able to punish
and Slax is just gets nothing from it.
Yeah, he just had to swing.
I think we're in a bit of a, you know, like vicious cycle as well and the Maus are
feeling so confident, right?
Like you're seeing it in how they take these positions.
I think if this was a way closer game, Spinks gets that one kill, hangs around,
priority is kind of on keeping him alive so the bomb can join him but he's having a great
game it feels like everything's working you know you've got pv down in themselves and so he's deep
up alongside ready to be involved in that a it's also just mouse puts so many resources on taking
b early and pv know that so of course they're gambling b they're pretty heavy b
it's a perfect rotation call off of sphinx's entry and rough round that he can even find jane
here as well, with no punish.
Look at that.
If we go back years, this used to be one of the best maps to watch
Jamon for his reads, for his gambles, but I think this was one of
like the very first maps he kind of lost touch on those reads.
And I think it is one of these maps where you see
PB look kind of ugly largely because they're trusting the
intuition in these blind gambles, but that's what a lot
of their CT side comes down to.
I
Can't imagine what it feels like when you are such a
Kind of read focused IGL like james and you keep getting them wrong. What does that do to your confidence in terms of the calls?
Because you are getting pulled around this map right now on mouse's say so
Three players through CT and the B-stack
Well, it's getting sandwiched. They've got no idea
It's crazy when you see this position
Fall a gun that down you got two players on these and you're holding them from CT spawn
And we're even looking at you don't even have to plot the bomb in that round
You you win it all just catching all the PV at a position
This has to be the most disorientating and awkward CT side you maybe have ever played
I just never seen this position. I look at what look at your screen right now
When have you ever seen this minute on the clock? They're in CT spawn killing the B anchors
Look at this. Look at the smile. I'm as if they've never seen a round play out like this 3b in that round Harry
I'm not even looking
Perfect read gap found
Playoffs five away
Just a clinic here from mouse top to bottom, like us too.
I mean, is that like Salah Boiler here?
Jayme is AWPing.
Flash is good, he's got to abandon.
More room for Maus in the middle.
Four players here.
He are trying to sell on B.
Okay, I'm waiting on his...one of his favorite lines.
So much paranoia, there's no where to look.
Every possible timing going against him, right?
He's on that line, the second he unscopes, they hear it, they move in, exertion deep
up the long side and it's been these long crunches that have been a problem.
Jane is able to beat it out and goes on a tear with this AWP, leaving it just on
PR.
right now for mouse hasn't really been a requirement in this game does he really
have a 1v4 in him on that bomb they're coming his way
PR gets it so damn close but just beaten back by Flick who doesn't let James
efforts go down in vain my goodness Flick had to be flitter one rifle the
stepped up in this second map he had a troubling dust to but he was there from
the beginning of Inferno stops that clutch that was happening there for PR
straighter 1v4 in this bomb site with some excellent shots but a bridge too far
flick keeps a p-vision from complete embarrassment and now they just throw
their lives on the line straight down banana into the setup double entry
round done house choose not to jump the gun they call it off in a three-on-five
just get grouped and go again there is almost no way it can stop you
Now let's get a bit tricky.
J-Morphing B, long smoke, but Spinks won't lurk.
He's already thinking about the end of the round.
And there it is.
Can't get a read on this game.
of
Terrorists win.
Slaxa just takes one more, but dies at the end and only one gun survives here.
So for bad to worse, two rifles and an AWP.
lost round of their CT side.
I feel a few miles you just feel like nothing's off the cards right wherever you go you've
been winning stacks or not.
Very hard to stop a team that feels this fearless because it lets them do things like this
hide three players in the long smoke play on the fade now they have all this space
out towards the long side.
They wait for the apps player, Spinks just to cut down on that long control.
There's so much room.
And they pick PV apart.
One more man down in the pit, exertion, B lining right for him.
Dude, I mean, look at that round.
They peek short with two.
They walk back.
They peek along with three to get spotted.
They walk back.
They peek short with three more.
Spinks gets a kill because PV have no control, no information.
They don't know where Maus are going.
They're just walking around.
It's just so suffocating.
That's yellow with a...
...fragless half.
Oh, man.
Honestly, he was in a pretty good runner form, heading into this event, had some good games.
That in the XC Pro League where they made the final.
But here, most kills you've seen from this guy in a series was 12.
Been pretty underwhelming in this series right now, and the whole thing, he has six kills.
But it's not really been a story of one man struggling, the entire team have dropped off.
In this series
Hard to watch honestly great to see miles look this strong, but it's been a minute since I've seen a team get just as
Decimated as PV right now
They look terrified
Shrinking back
And mouse, I mean this is no multi kills against mouse in this entire game. It feels like they are
Straight up winning every duel every trade
Yeah, I think you could probably count them on one hand
Had a couple of multi kills out of flit had the jame 3k on his orb I can't think of anything else
Here we are, oh headshots, but maybe hiding out, two more players at the sandbags and
a third of the corner is the baits the mouse wanted.
They fall back, or do they, is that like still here?
There's a chance.
Spinks, couple of misses, five shots left in this USP and they're closing in.
Ammo's running low and with it, he'll fall.
No Swift 2.
Nothing's impossible.
Never give up.
Now, yeah.
Sometimes give up.
But I don't know Hugo, he was powered on by self-belief, why didn't he win it?
Just a save for Toshi.
I don't know when to force, because it's probably better than winning the pistol at this point.
That's exactly what they did on Dust2 if you recall.
Fell down in the pistol round, hit you with a one-hero gun.
What a bomb.
Block round.
Oh, he would have had it if the bomb explosion hit him.
It's worse than aim punch.
The ultimate aim punch.
Seattle wants to get his first kill of the map here and it was an entry up through banana.
Let's go.
We're back.
Force by scare me five sevens.
Terrifying.
He's alone, calling a stack, throwing multiple nades.
Look how many sets he has.
He's another nade of coffins.
He's going to just throw everything he's got here on B, force me into this A play.
I really put the fear and p vision and send them into this mid hold it holds coming to
them. Oh, right. A slacks to jazz left. And the Odyssey there has been moments that felt
a lot like this where it's just been a game of millimetres for PV. So I just is still
holding they have two guns on the angle. They might even force that opener. Suddenly
they're in a good spot.
Coming B though.
Resmoke, but you're not in a position to respect this.
So PB come right through.
Oh!
In past exertion, reinforcements starting to arrive.
PR first on the scene, dead right away.
A lot of one by one's here for miles.
I would have liked them to just go together.
Could have actually been winnable to be honest.
There was some damage done.
but we've had three players go one by one by one so no hope here for miles with
lesser weaponry but look at the damage they've done man bit of a wasted
opportunity here
what's she looking for guns on the way out jame four kills into this round
should be dead to bomb here unless you know something I don't
seems like he does zero damage thought it was higher than zero
how do I play this map? like if one guy was gonna spend days after that update
figuring out all the cheeky pots to save him it's James zero is crazy I
thought it was gonna be like 10 it's a thick wall I don't know how thick
Halfway to school.
But...
...big enough.
Clearly.
If Donk doesn't play this map, why the hell should I?
Well, it's to live by.
Let's go back. Long road back here for Beavision. Very long road. Let's see if they can give
us any reason to believe in it.
Alright, Torsche put up on the boost.
Don't want to nullify this by giving too much away out towards a spink's core getting
aggressive.
Got to push for Zellex all the way down alt.
Oh, he blocked the smoke, but yes he widely heard it, deleted, he's gone and any hope dies with it.
I mean the margin is certainly shrinking you've got a gum round now to go up against if you're
PV but win this one and suddenly you're getting the swear out of mouse again.
Considering I thought this series was gonna just end in an instant PV have never really
looked in it.
actually in an interesting spot here. Chance to close in on Maus. You will not
get many of these. What did I say in the pistol Harry? Had to give up. That is what
you said. So in a way this one's on you.
very much down to fight that's been his whole story but trapped now between two mollies
didn't know this yellow is edging the smoke there very nice position able to punish the
repush here from PR. So Maus are in an uncomfortable spot where they need to make
a gamble and I'll leave a second player on this B site or she still holds mid or
hoping. I'd think he would just walk it into B but two guys still outside of the
apartment. Is he really going? This is just a search from Cielo. He's gonna put
his life on the line here and investigate what this B site has. He
could walk through coffins? Yo, holding for the kill, but backed into dark. Such a weird
move.
At least now you know the stacks there, so you're going to try and get out towards a
torches or patrols and roams this half of the map. So we're able to put it down on
an apps line.
Yeah, I mean they're going to win it, so it's fine. I don't know why you wouldn't
walk through coffins and just try and get behind the CT player that you know is there.
I think he just caught a little glimpse of him and felt like if he backed up further you get that kill faster I guess.
You want to leave time for the option to rotate the bomb if needed.
Yeah, it makes an assumption that it's just that one player out towards CT to worry about, and that was not the case.
Still, it's around for PB, and an important one of that. We said this first rifle, you win it, suddenly the game starts to close up.
Well, they've done that now.
Definitely. Easy to write this off, but PB did a four-round game here.
And Mows have been very gung-ho in trying to just end this decisively, now in a banana
fight, shut them down there with a convincing set of kills, win the round, but they've not
been winning these engagements for it, getting these openers, the yellow actually being
involved in a fair few of the banana fights too.
And so mows, finally burning a time out of their own.
It'd be a great time to show you're not those guys who get psyched out over the pressure.
Because it's starting to close in.
Why have you done that?
That'd be a new team, Harry.
Same old mistakes?
Don't worry, it's not like they're up against a comeback squad or anything.
Bonanno has been conceded for all of the CT side.
E-Vision take it again freely with just two molotovs.
Yeah, I think early doors right, you're... oh, wait a second.
Flashing themselves back in.
They re-clear top banana, taking it by force.
There's not all the usual bells and whistles like the smoke.
Quick pop flash and a walk in get out of this things quick rotate that ak
To players moving over leaving just searching here with the smoke trusting himself
Four on a I like that change from ours there right no longer risking the banana fight on kind of a first timing
One the PV you're ready for going a little bit later
Make it feel a bit more jarring
That's an hour than advantage
And see if that's the edge mouses have been needing
because they are still working with less here
final bit of utils just come out over towards B and when Saksa jazz
removing one and leveling the playing field stress is still very much there for
mouse
okay still on A so Zershan's gonna have to go big mode here in the smoke they're blocking
Xelo realizes it's at entry PR's not in the site he threw the util down
they know that 15 seconds what makes it it nothing he can do
or now smoke shots won't connect and despite that advantage PB will get right back into B
that's twice over the desertionist put a four stack on A said trust me and got
nothing done I just felt like you know just a one or two kills or even just
staying alive, would have been more valuable.
So I think it's, you know, the opening kill can make it feel a bit misleading in a sense
because Inferno 5v4 but with no UTEL and mostly pistols is like still a really tricky
spot to be and you're feeling a bit desperate, you're trying to call a gamble, you've
used all the utility you did have at that B bombsite and you're hoping that's enough.
There's a reason you're gambling despite a huge advantage on paper.
Round by round, from what was a 10 to half vision, giving us some intrigue here for this T side.
Oh, the Utah's punishing, but battling through.
PV, keep this one even in a 4-on-4, Jame is very, very low.
Flip might want to try and react here, but Smoke falls in front of him.
That's going to taper off this banana regression.
This is really the space that Maus are kind of looking for here, right?
like by conceding it they're giving PV these options to go back to the late
B takes with all the space with all the room it's a staking it to a bit of a
banana fight they'll know they'll get engagements here
Spinks holds on doesn't reneg on the banana control expecting another man but
can't seal the deal on foot too low players but PV now have the advantage
and they should hear that smoke connect as well as Torci comes through
And they're realizing that A is the weakest site now, so Cellex, who does have four UTIL
notes, is on his own.
Central 1B4 in this site.
But this UTIL can be high impacts.
Jamin Flitt, shot from death.
Smoke Goose down to 25.
How much can Cellex do?
You've seen the trajectory of that underhand.
know he's in the site somewhere. One kill for Zellex. Low health on the next guy facing him,
so Aptfire is to drop on in. That was flit desperately hoping for a bomb plant because
time was low. Thankfully, Zwei saves the day. Look at Jane. Jane low on health. Another
field looking for one kill before he departs. PR's got him with the backstab. It's
Sway left in this clutch, PB on a five round streak, hoping for the most unlikely of comebacks.
And if they want it to stay flawless, Sway has the clutch big, dead on that first turn
around the corner. And Maus finally course correcting and breaking this streak.
Oh yeah, they're really feeling the pressure there. The fact that Flick goes to that
bomb plant, he's just killed a teammate back at pitside, his smoke's clearly fallen
shorts cannot get any safe passage there needed to prioritize the kill but there was 10 seconds
and jade was walking up arch he wasn't offering any help that was a disaster on that hit considering
it was just lx how much value that one man does and that is mouse on the board a little
late a little labored but early enough to close this game cleanly and sycron pauses
So let him know guys this is your opportunity this is where you have to step up and win the game
Stop messing around
It was a nice round opener as well, you know, we see mouse retaking banana
That's your money for PV
No rune to error.
I'm gonna force something over on A.
It's been the least explored avenue of aggression for miles.
I think you can always feel pretty nerve wracking to try and force too many fights on that end of the map.
But you know that PV are putting a lot of resources into this banana control.
Still nothing given atoshi on the back of that peak, it's a triple B lean, four miles.
Certainly breathe the sigh of relief that Zellix is able to get the spot there, drop in the utile and then just fall back.
If he dies, round gets very complicated.
slow burner of a midtake but you can't overreact to anything here if you're the mouse squad
sure you dismantled the triple B not two players there smoke down if your pv hit that smoke
at top banana you know you've got a lot of free real estate here we go B pop whole game
on the line whole tournament lifeline on this play shout for PR exertion first to play
on the back of its second flash to try and help the captain why not a third out from
the spawn and exertion is good for a double. Oh, Toshi. Massive. Did a lock on that spam
as Zwei reveals his position. They've got Jane trapped at the car. That's nearly the
collateral. James threading needles here as he falls back that orb, continuing to put
the hurt on Maus. And they give Toshi a chance with that jiggle, but it's one to
the dome he's bored down low and reluctantly has to just bow out of this 1v2
it used to be a problem here for mouse they just can't seem to hold it down even
when Zershin actually gets a double kill this time when he's had trouble in
the past on these side hits it is still not enough to win out on that
retake. It's getting uncomfortable now for mouse. If you lose this round you lose all
your money with it, PB suddenly nipping at your heels and trying to force that
third map in a game that felt done, a 10-2 opening off, a T-side from mouse that
It felt like they could do no wrong.
But old habits dying hard, struggling to close.
Here's a change deep in on a smoke
You know, a part of ours was really hoping PV would call their bluff on this and just
play right through it, but not the type of team they are.
An exertion calling for a heavy A-stack.
This has been an inferno game that has almost exclusively been B-focused.
I just expected that eventually that's got to change.
That's the gamble. Finally pay off for exertion. Oh no. Torsche full blind. Zellex backstabbing
the apartments and this is starting to come unraveled. 3v5. He'd be back into that orb
And with Torsche delivering a fleet of kills,
Zellex finding his timing on the backstab.
It's only Jane left.
This streak, this comeback, now called into question,
as P-Vision will need four in a row
to try and force through an overtime.
Really hurts.
It all comes out of that mistiming in apartments.
Torsche playing more aggressive than they were ready for.
And with 5v3, committing to the site here,
it was never gonna happen here for P vision.
And after the 1-4 cooling,
it let exertion down so many times.
You finally get rewarded for it.
And that is the one nice thing
about having a first half that was so strong.
You know, you can flub three rounds
for every one that you win.
You've got the room to do so.
And so Exersion was telling himself it's only a matter of time until this pays off.
Well, it does there and now Maos have four chances to close.
That's just enough, isn't it?
Everything needs to play with everything to play for.
On this T side.
One multi kill away from going home.
RP vision, Porsche locking down banana alone in this one.
Zersh begins his rotation, and I trust in Torsi in this position, Jumper spotted, and back they go.
Whoopsie, that might be enough for P-Vision to cool it off.
Just going back to an APOP.
And now I still have numbers here.
I'm trying to keep the porch light on, another option open, but it's actually Zellex to give
away an opening.
Push into the apartments, had his timing there in the last round, this time he gets the
better of him.
I pull an extra player away from B. 30 seconds here.
for PB and they're coming back with the bomb.
Smoke's gonna fade in 10 seconds.
I kind of have to run through it.
I think that penny is dropping now for Maus
who hit nothing on this A site.
Rotate coming back to Torsche.
Can throw a high flash and PB just have to go
through the smoke and in to the exertion crosshair
waiting for this Torsche even catching one on the spam.
Okay.
Does enough to keep this interesting.
Bomb's gonna go down with seconds to spare
and James holds for that reaction.
knows that Toshi is going to try and seek that window to stop a bomb plant.
And that's the issue on these B retakes here for Maus.
Every single time they've been put in this position, they've gone one by one by one by one by one.
This one is no different.
So, downside of these solo B holds.
And P-Vision make the right call.
They execute on it.
They get a 3B2 where Maus are just trying to squeeze something out.
They're not going to get a thing here.
PR just kills on the way out to keep that money low, but this is P-Vision living to fight for one more round.
It's a high-risk call. The fact that they commit to it when Flit hears that smoke come down at 30 seconds.
But it all works out.
I'm pushing again trying to force one of these APICs but no one's running carelessly up
mid when you've got to come back at this magnitude that you're trying to attempt.
That's so awkward. Flash leaves Zelex blind and spanks. Unable to trade. Careful. Exertion.
Falling back has a teammate here ready to support. It's PR swinging, only good for the first.
Don't have to rush this, P-Vision. So if you want to beat a no, but that bomb isn't there yet,
Torche's got inquisitive.
A lot of the map open here. They could be anywhere. That third player unknown.
With a whole minute left, Torche knows that for this squad he's up against. That's an eternity.
They could go back. They could go anywhere.
He's got to play to deny the cross out to A and call with the pistol down there in lower.
Why not the orb? Doesn't have a perfect position for it.
A side open. Are they going to pull back to B though?
You see him a bit.
Careful, Xershin gets his kill.
He starts to rotate.
Mine game's here at play.
And he's not in a bad timing either for this rush.
He's gonna hear them coming up B2.
Oh, Miss Shot for Jame.
Xershin made it goes in.
Why am I worried?
There's a bit of chip damage.
Can the captain do it?
There's the first Xershin.
And those playoffs in his hands
swings out, brings him low,
but can't get it done.
And Flea just trusts his aim again because it's felt like the only reliability in this map, right?
Just taking the fight heads up straight up into CT spawn.
Jame jumped into the wall.
What the hell is going on?
P-Mission are still winning these rounds. Like it or not.
And did I gotta say, you know, Spinks in this trade work has been really rough across this CT side.
Actually, the number of chances to have kind of round defining trades from that missed
Jame one rounds ago out towards banana if you remember is double there out towards car another swing and a miss on the
Trade out in the apartments. These are really important equalizing kills
And Spinks keeps coming up short
Either taking a couple of seconds too long to actually go at that one. He tries to play immediately
Push down all the way through banana. This is bold
hold. Zershin realizes he might have to do this himself, and it's that pressure that
puts him on the receiving end to flip. It's been a lot of this half, hasn't it? Okay.
Still need to refrag. Spinks is going to get it. Dink comes in on Jane. No commit to be
now. That was your chance to trade with the orb, and it's missed. Spinks gets to
block, and everyone gets to take a deep breath, and there's three on three. Hopefully
This could serve as a nice little reset for Spinks because
Power position on this smoke fade
Just whittle slacks against down, Nate goes in, his time's up
James gonna do this alone
Toshi on this line has it in his pocket and Maus it is labored
It takes a while from the 10 to half but they get the job done, playoff secured
A grueling battle on map 2, a very different story to how this series started.
That's right, Hugo, I agree 100%.
Just not really to come back, you can get all the way through and through from the side of Key Vision,
but naturally, as things rocked up, and as my analysts do the same exact thing here.
Cool stuff from the side of Malice.
I mean right now it looks like they get just a little bit more breathing room inside of fetish in here on the second map
The series because there's quite contrast from first. I think it was just they had a big lead and then sort of
This was a matter of time before they were going to be able to close it out of low in this particular round
I was like why didn't they even buy you know like instead of going for a half by then having up
Have everything for the final round, but they knew something. I didn't
We're able to put the where it pulls it out 1310 and yeah
That was a super convincing series from Maus, which I think was important to bounce back obviously after the loss to Futh and still make the playoffs.
I think not making the playoffs into winning Bounty would leave a sour taste.
Yeah, definitely. I never really felt like the win was in Jeopardy.
And I feel like Maus had a lot of good idea.
I think like the connection between the players was very good.
Like whatever they made a move on the one side of the map, it would just cohesion to the right play on the other one.
and then just all the individuals having some phenomenal players here and there.
So it's good to see that Maus is still picking up the form
and also just the fact that this type of game can always be a little bit scary
when you know it's a new team,
like you don't really know what type of team you're going to be doing in the games.
Like the identity of James' team has always been kind of similar,
but with new players things might change.
And I think like for the vast majority of the T-Sides that the exploration manager pulled out,
he caught P-Vision in some very uncomfortable situation.
You had situational draft, there were three guys in spawn and they had no idea and it's just, it just felt like he visually throughout the game had a lot of issues too, no, hold on to that.
Yeah, he called a great game mate, felt like Maus is getting an extra element to their T side with exertion because you're doing some of these instinctive plays like reads, contact plays based off of what he was able to call in previous rounds.
few rounds in there in the mid to late part where they're finishing and they're finding
the weaker side. You know, three players were towards B, they go towards the one guy on
A, so some good leads in there from exertion as well. Yeah, all around super solid series
from Maus. And it doesn't seem as though there was a
terrific struggle from the side of Maus in this series. I mean, sometimes we can
see them have to do the bounce back from the ground floor, but in this series, after
map one just how much of a tone setting present setting was that you just feel
that they were on the same page for the entire game and that's what really stood
up to me that all even in the rounds where they had like a like a partial
bias shaped guns they would all have a good idea how to approach these type
rounds and it was never really you know up to you know the remnants and it
also just be since the team plan assistant that Cyclone has really tried to
implement into the mouse team here and it just feels like a unit that has
come up to a really good start and has thought to believe a little bit more in
one of the things that they didn't believe in the past season.
Yeah, it is time. Let's hear from Mal. Spinks, Freya, what do you got?
It is indeed, yes. Congratulations to Mal and obviously to Spinks joining me here,
making it through to the playoffs. Let's be honest, it was two quite different maps
so let's start with the good on Dust2. Very decisive CT side from you.
What were some of the reads you had on P-Vision there?
I don't know if it's to read some peri-vision.
I think Tosya had a great game, especially in terms of communication, moving around.
And the city-side us too, when the MVP is doing it, it makes the map just much easier.
And yeah, we worked on this map a lot. We were pretty shit on it on the path.
But we worked on it a lot, and yeah, I'm happy to see the flowers blooming.
You're being a bit humble, Sphinx. You had a great first map too, no?
Yeah, I had some good rounds. Everyone had some good rounds.
but yeah I think it was a full team effort everyone at the moment and I'm
just happy to show some good dust too because we had a rough year with it and
then we move on to that second map we have a 10-2 first half you and a
ferno Suity side gets a little bit trickier there what was a p-vision doing to
make that one bit harder for you to close out in a quick fashion I think in
general in ferno is a map that fits Paris vision a bit it's a slow map and
and it's their playstyle so it feeds them pretty good
and yeah, I think on our city side,
the fleet did some good job on the banana as a team
and maybe some rounds could go the other way around
but maybe we managed to have a good lead from the T side
so we have some space to let them have some rounds.
It felt like they were just going B, off to B, off to B.
Why do you think that was?
I just think fleet is a great banana player
and that's following our guy.
It's also pretty common, it's pretty meta to just fight banana again and again and again.
And yeah, it wasn't only on B, we also died on A a bit, we also fucked up on A sometimes,
but I simply brought ourselves into some good situations.
And just because we were a bit slow and a bit slow in rotations, it was a bit easy for them some.
And was that what, I saw Sakuram was calling a timeout, I want to say it was like round 18,
round 19, you guys were 11 to A up, he called a timeout.
Was that what he was telling you guys? It was being a bit slow to react?
Also this is not to react and also to see what we need to do, what we are doing and sometimes
also just chill out, we still have the lead, we have good economy now, we will buy it around
until the end. Let's see what the players will bring up and let's go with it.
Top 16 secured at the very least for you. We've seen some of the other kind of bigger
names take. Let's call it the scenic group going through the lower bracket and talking
about spirit, vitality as well in the same situation as you. Where are you placing
mouse in terms of that top 16, considering you just won a trophy in Malta.
Yeah, it was nice to lift the trophy finally, but of course we didn't play in Malta the other big teams like besides Spirit.
I think everyone looks a bit shaky at times. Vitality qualified 2-1 Spirit as well, last as well.
I think it's the start of the season, everyone getting their throne back in a way.
And, yeah, where we are in this press conference, I don't know, we'll see you after the tournament.
Is it a bit of a proving ground now moving into that top 16 you said in Malta, you know, didn't have to face all the top teams?
Do you think this is your chance to prove that, okay, we can take them down?
First of all, we have a thing from the coach that they always say, yeah, we can only beat what is in front of us.
And that's what happened in Malta. We beat whoever we face. That's it.
And yeah, I don't know if it's a goal, we are still a new team.
I think we are just, let's see what we get.
I just wish to go to the A-Corina again, good experience.
It's still an only way to go, but one step at a time.
I'm sure there's some great memories.
Hopefully awaiting you once more in the A-Corina.
Thank you so much, Spinks.
That is Miles at the top 16 at the very least.
Yeah, to be honest with you, you know,
I don't really much care what Launder said about you, Spinks.
I think you're all right, fellow.
And speaking of which, that's why we continue to move forward and look at exactly what he's done here for this squad.
Yeah, you know, I think one of the most important things for the squad is that they have actually just started believing a little bit.
And I think that has haunted them a little bit with what they achieved, not last season, but also like last year, you know, so many second places and, you know,
they may play us all in time again. And from that given moment, you know, they probably have been thinking,
when do we get better? Like, when do we actually move that extra step so we start fighting?
Oh, I was going to do it right now.
And I remember I texted Sibyx asking me, like,
what's the plan?
Like, what are you going to do?
Like, are you going to try and find a plan?
He's like, yeah, but as you know,
as a coaching team, me and Saiko,
and our responsibility is to keep the guys
believing in the project.
And he did that for six months,
and then they stopped believing, right?
And then they had to make these kind of changes
and then start in the sea for the Wheel of Rebels
to win.
And it's just good to see that there's a little bit
more like, believe in the team.
And I think that's also what's going to move them forward.
Well, let's keep the ball moving.
We've got some rounds to look after, and I'm looking at one of the earlier rounds in this game.
A bit of a misread or misplay leads to Jayne's death.
What happened here? You got a counter behind.
Yeah, at the recent round, you can see the buy isn't great for Maus.
It's a super important round for them to win.
Jayne sees the smokes for RAPA, falls back, is going to fire off a shot here.
Exertion actually gets the angle on him.
But what I love here is a lot of players would like,
ah, Jiggle, worry about Jayne sort of re-peaking with Yop.
Exertion just sends it because he knows like if James is worried about him that his teammates will be able to get to trade and get the side
And if not, well, he'll be able to be a big factor in that split
You can see that he got jammed in the back. I didn't completely sort of didn't expect that whatsoever
And it was an easy round in the end for Miles where if they lose it
They will have to eco and maybe we have a different result here on inferno
Just maybe we do and press you learn more about this result from the p-vision side. We have to ask him for it
Yeah, try as P-Vision might to be pushing this one to the third. Ultimately it does fall down on Inferno.
Dustin, commiserations. I just want to touch upon the T-Sides on that Inferno because it felt like you guys were putting the puzzle pieces together.
Flip was getting some great openers on Banana. What happened in those final moments that meant you couldn't push this one?
On the T side, I think at the end even we had 5v4 and we just no need to rush things
and just finish like late-time and cast because two players already was half HP but this game
was start on Dust2, it was three big mistake rounds with no pistol rounds losing to Eco,
then 5v3 losing and Dust2 too many mistakes.
But on Inferno, I think it's three rounds not enough, maybe if it was five or four it
will be better.
But generally, I'm not, it's pretty good result, most are hard team now, and we have
more invites on this season, and I understand that Salid need a bit more time, he didn't
played half-year and Slux is still young, even no experience on Inferno.
And we need some time to play better. And today, mouse was better.
I think that's totally apt. I just want to leave with one question then.
What are the takeaways from this event?
What are you reading into this to move forward in the year?
For this tournament, we prepared...
Like, we worked a lot on cache, we worked a lot on other maps and...
We didn't show today, but generally we came here. It's our first tournament.
We feel good, normal environment, we have good opportunities and our goal is major.
There is nothing, it's a good event, nice feelings and every opponent was very good here.
No easy opponents. It was Maus, it was 100 thieves and even bait, bait, winning Vitality now.
Well, thank you so much for your thoughts as always Dastan, unfortunately, that is the end of the road for P-Vision here in Paris.
Yeah, tough cut of the draw there. You heard some pretty good words of the sparse.
Reslotting some of these players in where they want to fit them in with the game that they want to show.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, they're going to take some time to get up, speed, slack, chest, and even play Inferno really.
I think Dastan is into talking about the acimals, he likes to face it, maps, your Dust2s, your Mirages, and what not.
Getting that experience is going to be key for them to improve later on.
Yeah, the man is positive. That's the thing, you know, he just saw it as a good opportunity for the team
and it really felt like they didn't have any expectations coming in with the little practice they've had in the first event together.
I guess it's fair to ride with what they're positioning. Could have faced easy team, could have faced worse.
I mean, it's a little bit of a dream, but there are some mistakes that need to be done, that's for sure.
Yeah, and you know, some of the individuals just weren't there today, Xielo.
I know Jacob was talking about our level compared to bait, but I'm not so sure about that
But you get to pre in there for zealot. He's gonna get you a couple
I was gonna get you a couple on the inferno if you put him in right now trace
I think you're I think you're spot on like I think there were some rough moments in there were if you're in that position
Like man, please please just let me find one. Sometimes it's just not your day
He was the guy jiggling on dust in that round where spring slide
Kills him with the with the galil and you know just have one of those days every night
Let's look at round 18 real quick.
Jane gets lost in the post plan a little bit.
Yeah, and it's one of those adaptations from Maus that I just really liked.
Throughout their CT side, they did end up getting banana control a lot,
and now they start to fight a little bit.
And that does result in actually a conversion here for the Paravision.
So they turn their attention around, go back to the A bomb side,
and you know, Silex is left to his lonely here.
Like he doesn't love to just try and drop utility to conceal that there's more people here.
But in a true P vision fashion, you know, it is just Jane playing very slow.
very slow and that means that he's needed to force you to go and find the bomb at 7 seconds left and
he has to get the double. Then the question mark here is even though that's way gets the bomb down here
we have James stuck in the corner with an AWP like he's just like walking around like
it would have been better if just would have stuck with the guys maybe staying along long
maybe holding mid control but here he like he doesn't add any pressure he doesn't do
anything specifically and he just ends up you know going down and it's like he tried to overcook
a little bit in this situation it's one of those situations where you hopefully he would have
Yeah, this is where you can see that they are just somewhat disjointed too, because when
they're hitting the bomb site, you know, Slaaq just sort of, where is he looking at?
I mean, every player has to be really site, James covering long for him and that's where
he's aiming.
And also he's the full HP player, but with the low HP, probably should have just gone
in first to get the information on that one guy, you know, that's supposed to
be in the A bomb site.
So those small things really start adding up.
Is this something where, yes, as we put a Riven and Bow on the time P-Vision spent with us here at the EWC26,
is this something where we can at least say, okay, Flick showed up? That's pretty cool. He was here today, he came to play.
We had a sick Inferno, I mean, slow Dust 2, but a sick Inferno, and lots of praise for him from Spinks too,
and how he approaches Banana and what he can do, and I think that's what you expect,
that's what you would like for Flick to do on a consistent basis for this team,
And if he can then yeah, it will prove to be a crucial part of the team
That's why he was brought into team to get a little bit of that experience, right?
You know they tried that with Hobbit, but they also knew that Hobbit probably was gonna be something for the future
So yeah, it's good to see fit coming into this role with with the all the new guys
And I think that's also just one of things that I actually thought was really nice with P-Vision
The beginning was that Jim picked up so many young talent to try and find the new one to bring into the fray
and it worked for a while but then you realized okay we're still making too many mistakes when it gets
the most crucial that's why we need a little bit more balance and then Flick was probably the
obvious one since you know they know what they can get off him also from from the side of Dustin.
Yeah I think also some of those deep runs were really more a testament to how poorly other
teams were playing at the time because but P-Vision was good at really was minimizing mistakes
and then having solid fundamentals and not throwing away advantages right and that's
That's all it took for them to rise to number three in the VRS.
Well, the show shouldn't get you very far, right?
Yeah.
You probably want to win that many trophies.
Yeah, and now that, you know, other teams have sort of gotten their stuff together
and made some changes and made some improvements, you know, now that
going to be really hard to sort of repeat some of those performances,
which is, well, I guess for us to say goodbye to P-Vision got close.
You had me in the first half, I'm not going to lie, I had me in the first half.
We say goodbye to them, mouse, move on into playoffs.
We let's actually just kind of look at the brackets as they are at least within group C
We still have group D games being played but for group C. It has unfolded quite much like this vitality
Sending 100 thieves down to the realm of shadows where in which they also met another shadow
Yeah, I think it's it's clear that it's actually pretty much all of the teams that we expect to go through like
You know vitality was never really in doubt once they dropped the low off road bracket that they would go on and just
win a game in a very one-sided game and just nice to see that Maus also made it
and I guess the biggest surprise to me maybe is a spades going through in the
all-break it. Yeah BT Vitality obviously the surprise package of the tournament
and but ultimately would have said that last spot is in between them and P
Vision probably with the caliber of team so definitely earned it and earned a
high seat which well with how many teams are in the lower bracket at
least they won't be able to get Vitality or Maus but you know a
The spirit is also going to be lurking in there.
Yeah, Foot having beat Mouse to one also,
I think on paper probably looks like a stronger matchup from the mouse side.
Yeah, it was a close series. I'm happy that Foot, you know,
didn't regress too much because of the player change,
and then honestly X-File fits like a glove.
That's wonderful.
Not just like on the server, but out of the server with his sort of temperament
and personality, I think he's a great fit for the team.
So looking forward to seeing foot in the playoffs keys being crushed you preach
Tell me what this makes you feel on the inside. I mean I I said it before I always wanted to try and do this
I've never played at EWC, so I don't know how it feels, but it must be nice
You know what you kind of hey, this is the last key before we can make playoffs
I'm gonna crush the key so I think I like it's more the fact that you get to pick
When you win the event you get to pick the three keys that you want down there
So you can like doesn't even have to be a team that you play
No, just pick the teams that you know you have a bit of a grudge against but looking over at group V yesterday
We had fury and Navi take care of business
And advanced to the playoffs Mongols earlier today took out the pain
For a spot as well and 9z and magic are playing right now magic actually won the first map and a 1-0 up in that series
And we'll see if they can pull off an upset pretty sure right now though in map to 7-4
Yeah, 7-4 for 9-Z. So there's a little bit of a bottle there. I say that they drop two people in the score bot.
Anyway, if you guys are cool with this, I'm cool with this. We can continue to move the show on, maybe get ourselves to a break, set ourselves up for the last
best of three here on the A-Stream so that we can watch Astralis play the ninjas in pajamas right here live from Paris, France at the Esports World Cup Club
Championships 2026. Yanko, hit it!
Well...
Play is in our DNA.
Whenever we let it out, it becomes our superpower.
Now imagine an entire city being built to supercharge it.
Kadea City powered by play.
They're gonna have three real estate over here
They're not going to be quiet about it.
Also Peek should know at least the possibility of presence here.
He going for a mid clear while this is going on.
This is perfect.
The CT force is going to be here for when the hit comes in.
days now. A block smoke. We've let the cross for a moment. Also one of the sites. Straight
through the smoke. Max is 5'7". It puts a good word. An absolute chaos as Max is still
going to try to get the bomb site. Max has slipped the defensive line. Moon trade's
back but bombs are not planted. No one else on the site. That's 90 stealing one robbery
in broad daylight! That's a rough one all awesome again just real good utility to
slow that walking push that encroaching T side tied up ramp a single smoke divides
them makes them think any better you get yourself a nice angle to work with from
elevator and just goose in general and they made it work and it looked really
good mitigating all the losses in 9z with the investment of a scout and some
Kessels is now one themselves around and they're back to a two round lead
Another technical pause
As we look towards the performance of the players so far
Denzi not losing a single step 14 and 7
AW on the other hand a bit more struggles on this map than the previous five and six
The side of 9z max leading the way 12 and 7, which is not too far behind 8 and 7, and
I dip down from there.
This was kind of a worry, you know, if Tenz and AW Bolton performed to that spectacular
level, it was unknown about how the series would go.
It's still a close series
Ten is still having in the maximum performance. Yeah, it favors 9z especially after
Be a bonus round denial
Right now it does seem like Gen Z top in the server followed closely by max 12 kills
The rest of the team, for both sides, fairly lackluster in the way of supporting these guys.
Each player having that standout outlier, for the most part, that's being matched fairly
closely.
But somehow, 9-Z just squeaking out this two-round lead is feeling a lot heavier on
the shoulders of Magic than it might, should they?
Man's got his headset back on so hopefully not too long before we get back into the action.
You'll find him well.
And again if this does go to a third map, a third map would be Inferno which is a lot
scarier for the side of magic than it would be for 9z.
Not a team that tends to try to veer in that direction too often, new on 9z.
Quite experienced on that.
10 maps in the last 3 months, so...
Take that as you will.
We still got Dust2 to settle.
And maybe we won't even have to worry about a third on Inferno.
Maybe not, but if this Accounting 4 Magic will be broken, obviously.
And the most they have is $100 on Fate 8.
Collectively the team has 250 dollars so not much left in the bank to make
progress if this round doesn't go with their way and you know obviously getting
that bomb down would be nice.
It would be very nice.
And maybe a chance through an explosive play.
that does seem what they're trying to set up towards cat smoke about a fade
no plenty of delay utility
50 seconds on the clock well this nade might hurt this nade definitely gonna
heard it against their own. Yup, smoked down low. A lot less damage than maybe thought.
The double up doesn't feel too good either. Tenshi drops down and out of hit comes Zane
Moon. That's a good way to open up, but you've got two players that can test for that long.
This isn't a plant for chat and also peak takes out 10 z and come down to a 4 on 4 moon and
a W he players beforehand down low fade 8 out iron next to find one of his own and
nozzle towards me then I think this might be all she wrote here for this
round and it is for alive somehow forward 9z with a
No loss retake
That's now into a three round
Beat let's see how that bomb plant though
Something to be happy about going into the next
Although no matter how happy or doesn't stop the fact that you're still
Very very poor
Yeah
Yep, and it does seem like time's starting to run out to gather money because
9z are kind of in line to hit double digits here, unless these Deagles can
really do something magnificent, but one already gets deleted straight out of the
round as well and it's two bodies out in the first 15 seconds and maybe the
hopes and the prayers that we had to this maybe being around that match can
find. I have to wind all the way to just moon. Just moon and it's trusty deagle.
Let's see what you got. Nothing. All right. 10 to 6 double digits secured. Put the
South American side.
And now a buy back from Magic.
A very crucial point in this match, a very crucial point
in this map. Honestly, a very crucial point in this series.
I said earlier that the team relied too much on Tenzi
and AW having astronomically amazing performances.
And now I think these are the repercussions that we're seeing here.
Tender, you still have a great, great game, but AW only being 5 and 8?
Seems like the team still can't really pick up the pieces without them.
Yeah, I mean the problem is that just there's no one else on the team that's able to recover
even fracturally compared to the performance that AW was able to put up.
8A at least finds an entry, a very important entry.
It's the first time Maddie's had a player advantage in quite a long time, Blocks mode comes out.
With a minilef still plenty of time, the T's to wiggle their way around the map.
But as Tenzi rotates over, you have to assume it's just going to end on A.
Lookin' like that.
And you're kind of taking that opposite route.
Here's how Nine-Z takes a B, B, B, and then B again.
Smoke for that cross, now going out.
Flash to hold off just a little bit more, got it.
Iron finds after a skill at one state.
Roswell just not wanting to cross with only a 4-1-4 now,
and all the guns focused on that smoke, Max finds one.
A-W going for the high ground,
but then Molly gonna slow him down enough
to where he's not gonna peek in.
Oh, what a spray coming in, but A-W.
He can't die after time.
Oh, this would be absolutely detrimental.
This max swing he dies oh and moon gets the trade, but it doesn't really matter
Oh, there's no money on a w now. No at all. Yeah, don't want any no weapon
And we 90s off an ultimate point
Crush it mean you got tech 9s a Mac 10 and an off well glass cannon at that it's
Oh, that's quite a lot of damage on a loot shop, so at least the op that saved over doing
good work.
But we'll be followed up by any of the pistols, perhaps the SMG of Mossfault.
I'll call it out, Max falls back, there's a bit of damage.
We were there for every click, every clutch, every respawn.
We were there for the years of grind, and we're here.
Now the proud founding partner of EWC, powering the biggest event in gaming, shoulder to shoulder
with the world's best.
Making history.
This deserves a stage.
Lenovo Legion.
Reach your impossible.
Well, for our next and final matchup here on the A-stream, we've got two historic names
with modern rosters and one playoff seat remaining.
Strauss have had more time to prepare after the Falcons loss and, well, I guess from the
Ninjas and the Jama side arrived from a 2-0 elimination win over Beth Boom, powered by
one of the best performances we've seen all of it, long in the size of Kopersky.
The oldest looking 20 year old, right?
Well, if you want to...
He looked like a killer in that game, Trace, and showed a lot of people why they called him...
Why he's held in such a high regard.
Well, let's do it this way. Because we're talking about identity.
You know, which of these teams has the clearer identity right now?
It has to be Astralis, you know.
They had the same lineup for the entire tier 2026,
and even though it's them switching international at the start of the year,
That still gives them an edge in terms of team play cohesion just familiarity, you know being on the same page
They did make some changes to the staff right obviously bringing new in bringing a
Performance new performance coach as well
But even with all that you feel like this is a game that they should be waiting. Yeah, they definitely should right?
It's it's also just a little bit in the the problem of the back to play material
I'm also thinking in the odd directions like through severs is down still being a very new guy that has picked up the office
He himself doesn't offer wherever. Hey, he's just like so some sort of like identity crisis. I don't know
And how did that one turn out for Rollins, right?
Yeah, no joke. I mean we do have a
Danish Darby all census conser all which is weird. It's since it's considered
Uh, yeah
It's not every day you get to see both the hooks he's there and y'all be going up against the likes of snappys down and shush
But if you had to pick one or the other yank out, let's just say the dynamo. Yeah, 3v3 fight straight up
In the server in the server. No, yeah, I was like way
I was trying to think which team is conflict one, but he was high
Yeah, I mean it's interesting. We got those like the Danish IGLs going up against each other
We also have a couple of coaches, you know
We used to play for a long time on a really high level exist behind them
a Pia Nio behind the Stralis, but yeah it's been an inconsistent season for
Stralis. We've seen flashes, we've seen some really good games, obviously at
Crow League, being Spirit in that quarter-final, but then at Rival, struggling
against Gamer Legion and the likes. So yeah they're just looking to find more
consistency in the second half of the year. One of my biggest concerns when I'm
actually looking at a Stralis is specifically their Mechul, which is not
really looking that great right they've picked up cash to play that month they
haven't picked up a win on those two yet they have a scrappy one on the rod with
one win and one loss and then when we look at their nuke that used to be the
map that they really like to pick you know that then but ever since like the
last three months they've lost a one out of seven and their 4v5 conversion
sits at a listen listen you know one two percent what two percent is the way
conversion it almost it almost feels like it's a title right but it's not
That kind of sums up that if you lose the first try, then you have a 98% chance of losing.
Yeah, I guess it's one of two things. Either they're all winning a lot, so when they lose like the first guy, the round just falls apart.
Or they're really struggling, you know, to come up with solutions if they lose that opening kill.
It is on the T side, to be frank, so we don't put them too much under the bus.
Yeah, I don't know. I look at, at least on the side of Astralis,
I think there's always been this sort of question mark around what sort of vibe
Hooksy can bring to a team and keep alive within a team, within a weird confines of our
weird community that we call home, right? There's always some thread about Hooksy,
there's always something being said about how he's leading and steering his team.
How do you think it's going thus far? Oh, fine. I think they have bigger problems
than Hooksy's vibes. Yeah. You know, like, sure, at times you can have like,
whether a player is taking it too far with the criticism and what should the
Focus B, but also on the flip side of that is if the players are making mistakes all the time
Like what are you supposed to do as the leader like you need to sort of get them in line call them out to some extent
So yeah, I think first they need to take care of the counter strike before they can worry about all the vibes right in the team
And we previously talked about also that Rokas now we're in their move and I think it helps. I think that helps
I don't I think there was an issue between between him and Rokan
and maybe how they saw the game replayed, so Neo coming in is also gonna help the team I think,
but I agree, there's more to it than just Xuxi, we know that he has issues sometimes fricking, right?
But Nabi also has that.
It's true, they definitely do. Speaking of when you are Xuxi, moving around pieces of Xuxi.
They just write GL, thank you really.
Really, just the Danish thing.
No, English me, because we...
Oh, okay.
Don't put me in that way.
Because I thought...
I'm not English, I'm wrong.
How about Xuxi manipulating Ryu and moving him around the map, the way he needs to?
I mean like Rio is one of the guys that I didn't know too much about before he was actually picked up.
You know, he had his time in Monsen and I think he started out really strong in the astrologers.
And I think he got a lot of love specifically in Danish community because there was a lot of, you know, issues there when people got very upset that they went away from this Danish line up.
So I think he proved to me that he was really strong and obviously he does put up a good amount of frags and a good caddy on Nuke.
but I mean like, Nuka's a man about the team,
it's not about the individual, so it's just not enough.
And I still think Rio has a lot to bring to the team,
but if it's enough, I'm not sure,
but I'm more concerned with Fuse if I'm...
Yeah, yeah, I was going to say like that's probably
the bigger one you keep an eye on
because he's shown flashes early on in the year,
but lately it's been really a liability for the team,
you know, from missing sitters to just struggling to make the correct decision in some of these mid rounds, right?
And we know how important the Opers are in Counter-Strike forever.
And it doesn't matter what the map has, the Opere is always going to be a focal point of the team.
And you know, you saw what he's capable of and against Spirit in that game.
Pro League, right? Completely shutting them down.
So, like, Keez needs to do that every single game.
Every now and again, you know, you need to be able to raise your floor and then it just hasn't been there for Fuzi
Look on the other side Nip went from losing 5-13 the legacy to sweeping back boom
And I guess that would beg the question is to what changes, you know
How does that go from such a shifting sand?
That is that is the issue with NIP like you don't really know what NIP is gonna be showing up
And they have a game against people that VP sorry where they looked hey, why it looks
Why they look really solid, where they get a lot of things done, and thankfully to Kavursky, Zodja did a lot of good things in that game.
But, you know, it's a conflict at this point. I feel like it's literally when you look at how Znabi approaches his default and his system.
And also that's what happened in Falcon. Like, some games we would have ideas and we would have some really good game plans,
but it just requires so much of your players and they're not hitting their shots and you're not going to get anything out of the game plan.
And he doesn't have the star power to bail him out.
Yeah, I think we saw, you know, obviously you can't bank on Kaspersky having a game like that.
Not a single time, but he is a super solid player and mechanically, you know,
just incredibly sharp, incredibly quick with that first bullet too.
So, yeah, the concerning thing is when he says, like you mentioned,
like we don't know which NIP is going to show up, right?
So that's obviously a problem because when you have such huge volatility with your performance,
how can you count on anything?
Like how can you establish consistency?
You cannot.
So it's about figuring out how to raise their floor, get like similar performances from the players
so he can then see what works, what doesn't work and how to keep building.
Well let's go ahead and hear from Stown.
It is just about time for us to get in the server.
So we need to hear from him now.
Now while our second series of the day is still going on, I've managed to catch the
man of the hour in stone and there's a reason for that because let's address the elephant
in the room.
You're going up versus former organisation in Australia.
Can you tell me first of all the emotions that brings up for you?
I mean it's going to be a fun game.
I mean playing especially against Järvli because I've been teaming with him for
so many years so it's going to be fun playing against him.
We're still really good friends with him and it's there as well, so it's not like a grudge match, I would say,
but it is definitely more like, there's more emotions for sure, like you say, and it's just going to be a fun game,
and one of us has to go to the home today.
Yeah, of course, do or die time quite literally for both squads on each side of the equation.
When you're preparing the game with Snappy, then I know it's in a different Australia system,
that it's international, but how much kind of help can you offer him with maybe some tendencies
tendencies that your friends, former teammates might be filling in the server?
Yeah, I mean I think I know them obviously more than Snappy does, right?
But then again I also think that they also changed up a little bit how they play,
especially since they went international, right?
So I think, I mean I can bring some stuff, but overall it's just like preparing in the other match,
I would say, but obviously it's fun to prepare against the guys.
you want to start upon your newish role. It's been a couple of months now you've been primary
auper. How well do you feel that you've adjusted to this role?
Well, I think I've done a decent job, I would say. I mean, I still think I can do even better,
but I mean, obviously time will help, I think. But I think it's been fun so far and I enjoy it
and I think the team is also happy with it. So I'm excited to keep going.
And just final question touching upon that. What's been the most difficult thing about
becoming the primary opa?
I mean I have gotten a question before I think it's hard to say what exactly is most difficult thing
I think in the beginning I think it's like when you miss some of the easy shots because obviously it is like
The easiest weapon to kill with in a way and also maybe that it is the best weapon in the game
So when you sometimes miss the easy shots
Then compared to when you arrive for example after a game when you sit in the bed at night
I don't know what to sleep it maybe you can think about us at maybe a spray you may do with but it's a little bit different when you're like
It's the all but so that it's like a different mental thing
I would say but I don't know anything on that
So I'm gonna let you get your head back in the game because you had do or die time between Astralis and MfP going down very shortly
Ray I don't know about you, but it sounds like he's got his head in the op game almost a little too much there
If you were thinking about miss praise you would never get to go to sleep. Yeah. Oh, I think you so much for that
But I do still live in the Purgatory that is losing to Frankie on Land and Guy in Beijing.
But that's a totally different story.
That's not here.
That's not now.
What is here and now is the fact that we need to know our three maps.
Gentlemen in Astralis vs. Nip on the last day of this stage of the event.
Yeah, and we see an MP getting rid of Dastunov and Ubis for Astralis and this is where
you wonder like, is MP actually going to pick Nuke now?
And yes they are.
We mentioned Astralis and their track record on Nuke in the last three months.
It's been a weakness for them and on the flip side we see the Inferno pick for Astralis.
Snappy didn't play it for the longest time in his teams but they picked it up with NIP this year.
He had some decent results on it early on, a couple of wins so we'll see if they can keep rolling against Astralis.
This one is just to feel like if you're a starless and you kind of know that you're going to go play in New Brighton.
That's always the pick that I mean decides to go for.
And then I think they're very much looking at the entire map on the win ratio.
I think you could make sense that a starless goes in.
This is what they picked up to map wins.
So it's also maybe just like narrow down to what do we have to feel confident on.
And then obviously getting rid of ancient and for the likes of an IP saying who's what are we playing?
Well, I think that's going to be in there for the last one because you know it's a map that both teams has picked up.
So let's go!
We did get to see...
Well, we made it.
Made it.
Well, not gonna hit ourselves.
Nothing we will.
Okay, so Cache, third map.
Sweet. Nuke and Furno Cache.
Guys, let's throw it out there now
what we could say are predictions of types.
I really want to just be seeing...
I want to see someone that can back up Stalip in here.
I want to see Fuzi winning that head to head with Stalip
because Fuzi has, regardless of his results,
had issues but I still want to see more of him.
I'm going with a Stralis energy twinkle system.
Okay, EWC play, match, pick-ums, or predict-ums, as I like to call them, there is a QR code.
You go ahead and just grab it right now. Do it right now, because it's time to play the game.
and I'd be versus Astralis and with playoffs on the line years ago this
minute a mega-high mega top of the food chain type of match up but all the
things have changed so astound in the interview
talking about what it's gonna feel like to play against the Astralis guys
for this remaining spot.
The last one that we're going to get to cover over here on the A-Street.
And that's thing we know, we're into the playoffs, bigger stage, more crowd, more states, single
elimination, kind of 16.
A lot of money on the line.
Head to head that we haven't had since last year.
He's had some great moments, hasn't he, on the AWP.
So excited to see what he can bring to the table today.
I haven't smoked on this execute, but it lands quite shallow.
Maybe trying to make it look like an outside play, but they're going for this top bomb.
Yeah, but uh, won't come to matter all the kills, but long enough that NIP boos he does
what he can, but he's getting sandwiched here there on either side of him.
Fenty.
And that leaves it just on Ryu.
Up the vent, good for one.
But Oskarspersky right there and loaded ready to go.
Yeah, I like the nib just to cool off the possibility of going for that plant
In that hectic A here, they realise like the kill's gonna come to us.
Let's just wait for it.
Is it a thing this is a head to head with the only Swede on the side of
Astralis and as many Danes in NIP as that of the Astralis squad?
It's true.
It is with the Danish flag behind NIP.
But why not?
Exciting note today, Harry. This guy is very clutched. There was a period when he was in
the Young Ninjas. He went on a streak of 31 one-clutches. 31 from 1v1s to 1v4s. In a
row! No lost clutch. How do you do that?
No, that is crazy.
How do you do that? It's got to be the record, but it was broken of course coming into this main team.
He still had a few strong maps in the short period of time.
This is sneaky for NIP. They made it all down B. Four players in secret.
No one rotating yet for Astralis, but sooner NIP go, the better.
Reo's on his rotation, and there's the door open, and wow, he grabs the eagle, but with
the lobby contained, bomb should be going down.
I think we get Yabi versus Stown.
Foozie gets rid of note. Oh, and there's a follow-up from that Foozie Deagle. This is
ex Kaspersky though. Don't count this guy out. Full gold on the AK, got the drip.
Does he have the metal to back it up? There's the double. Can't quite round out the clutch.
Yabby there to complete it. An Astralis looking to steal on back straight away with this force.
Wooo! Saved by the bell there, big digs from Fuzi and Yabi is such an important closer.
Shame that in Lobby, weren't ready for more than one. Multiple players flanking hut there.
But despite Shush climbing Hoaxy, he still turns around after this kill, and that's what opens up.
Even just a possibility of a retake.
Fuzi and Yabi make it a reality, and that is a force by one for Astralis.
who's getting hyped.
No rest for the wicked here.
And I'll be on a force fire.
He's above you.
Flashes in, Fuzzi arrives to support Riu and no issues here holding onto the rampside 5v3
Pistols are closing in and the cover of Fuzzi gets eliminated.
Maybe I'm just a fend for himself but doesn't crumble under the full weight of NIP.
I'm sick from pre-firing the last guy as well.
I'm going to be keeping an eye on Fousey as well.
Been a tumultuous time, I would say, right?
Really exciting prospect when he got into Astralis.
We absolutely loved the mileage you were getting out of him and Ryu kind of the new duo in
the squad, right?
But undoubtedly kind of hit a bit of a rough streak recently as I've been putting up
the same crazy numbers that he went near as consistently thinking back to the time
at the major.
really rough showing from him. But, hopefully, that was a bit of a focal point in the break.
And they won a single map at Cologne. It has been not much better since, sure, made it
to the bounty semis, but with the back of online games that they should have won and they did.
But I think there's a lot more expectation than what Astralis have been giving us in the last
three months. Especially when you consider you look back to like the daughter of this roster,
remember they beat Spirit Pro League and that's when we really took over this team.
They destroyed Spirit Pro League, should I say. In a playoff game.
we saw Fusey look his best in this roster so trying to recapture some of that for sure.
And it's the strongest we've made big changes over the break but not necessarily in the playing
side of things. Bringing in Neo, his coach, bringing in Navi's
psychological manager, try to make the right turn. Performance coach, there we go.
Fuse has just got bursted there.
The armorless snappy on this galore.
Turns out the taps do have mileage and when you're at the mercy of stare, there's miles
run out.
So, Astralis 3-1, conversion is found, but a gun round right around the corner for
NIP
Snappy no stranger to be on the last weapon
No stranger to Ukeba, and one of his favorite maps throughout his career.
Full ramp.
Nobody home.
Outside lurker picked and that's moving into lower notice free as you might be
expecting Yabbi in here the whole time waiting for his chance to strike snap he's
gonna get his upgrade eventually but it came at the cost of the entire team
the one kill in the round on that wrap in this lower take but now they know
he is and so feeling like he's trapped in a box here and that's because he is
foozy no messing that one up Astralis still clean 4-1 yeah I love that Rio opens
the door there for yabby just full baits for him no reason to check that side
of control just able to mow them down here on this B hits too love just the
the amount of kind of old boys you've got to see across CWC from the open qualifier even
now as we approach the end of the groups. Neo and Exist behind these teams. Of course
Snappy himself is one of the old boys too. Older than exist.
36 years old?
I want to let that get in the way.
Snappy dead first in this round.
His shots were foozy but shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Already got Ryu down here at low. He's pretty alone in this endeavor. That's the one scary thing. Perhaps they're gonna get past him
And that gives rise to a bomb plant for an IP three players rampside on this retake
How do you win this right? You need tech lines in your face. So Stan's gonna do a heavy
Lifting here on the ramp later landing backsides down. They're sure to get a clear this
Spins around but too many targets three on one for shush
just waiting in the door. They've got eyes on it as well. They won't play until they
absolutely have to. They lose the up close but they can be on it and so that's when
punished. And 5-1 lead, Astralis looking good.
This is MIP's map pick. Gonna need some T-side rounds soon.
Yeah, I think for an IP, I'm telling you something, if you still get out of this hall, you know,
with just a small half full of rounds of remain threatening, you've seen kind of to no end
for this Astralis squad some T side woes for them on this map.
We all kind of begrudgingly remember that one EPL.
Two-zero round halves.
Yeah.
You know, that was some time ago.
It's gone a bit better.
They no longer get zero.
But CT, undoubtedly, where you put in your best shift.
Seven out of the last eight games on Newcastle have lost, right?
But I think that's been something that's been pretty clear about EWC.
When you see these, like, massive holes in a team's map veto,
a lot of them have looked improved for obvious reasons.
So I think some of the punish picks have actually not worked at this event in these BO3s.
You also just think like after the major run that Astralis got, it was clear that a lot to get rebamped.
They lost you over and over again in those tier 1s and BO3s.
How can this room stay around? The R2 kills Deep already. He's done a boatload of damage on a snappy.
He's gonna try and escape and that is when Kaspersky closes in on him. He'd like to say he's done more than enough in this round
And the blink of an eye a down over 2v4 snappies wounded and donning that AWP
So ex Kaspersky would have to do everything if you want to make this round happen
The snappy plucked out of the back line and it
it. Real choke point set up
over the wards main. They get
funneled into those Astralis
crossfires. You're just not
seeing Astralis rotate too much.
They don't really feel the need
to. They haven't felt the threat
of being given it up in
multiple rounds and had no one
lower and they still want all
the retakes right so just
not really feeling any fear
about this beside the yard
smokes on forcing rotates.
Everyone's still hanging out
outside and stairs feeling good
about that one after a lot
of damage in the yard.
He's gonna have his best here when he gets you a little bit jittery, where he gets you a little bit nervous, and...
...calling some of those rotators too early, leaving a lot to the imagination, but yeah, you're dead on it, that's Raleigh, sir. Not budging.
But they have their idea for how this game is playing, and they are sticking to their guns.
Nodder, massive advantage.
Ration never let off, outside his nose will fade.
Stare can swing, but nobody's ready for that re-peak.
And so trying to carve a way back into this round, so I'm in the door, get to Naked.
Well, it may vary, but this is still a scary spot for Astralis with damage done on a Fuzi.
And Ible's having to go take control over the yard after Stairs Death.
And was a little gap opened up out towards Rampant.
So finally, NIP have some holes to try and exploit here.
Oh, Ruse dropped in.
So they're going to push Lobby together here.
They know about the Ramp Gap.
checked it earlier but this lobby timing is awkward for notes can he find the
kill as they enter the hut he's aware they can be here
was it going both ways good shot for notes mom is crawling into B but as we've
learned from this game and I can't really be certain about anything
they're getting flanked as well this is hesitation that buys Astralis time to
rotate lower. And you've got to cover this plant. Notice back on roof bomb going down.
No playing very late, but look at the timing of Yabbi. He's right there.
She tears so quickly and so quietly. Exkazbersky will get the spot. Oh, follow up onto the
low HP Fuzi and Ryu, who was holding for that late lobby player in note, has to just
abandon his post and come on round because they need him for this retake.
He's walked in.
All the way down.
There's Bersky with the spot, and now you've
got him iced out in the open.
NIP, one gap found out towards ramp,
and they do a hell of a lot with it.
That's a kill in the yard, forcing rotations out of Astralis,
leaves an area of the map open for a moment,
and it is immediately used against them.
That's a nice one to pull you back into this game
if you're NIP.
Yeah, absolutely needed that round, didn't they?
nice to see notes get a lot of value out of his luck he's just a thorn in their side get
to kill libs doesn't offer a 2v2 that could maybe allow astralisks to speed up on that
v1 side so good shot at him and exkazversky to guarantee that round for them try to
break astralisks' money before the half is over a couple more gun rounds are gonna
be needed. Straight out the door, denied, I mean this position has been locked out by
a straw list so, bold call to make when you consider a shish got spammed out last round.
Doing the same thing.
I'm gonna go back out the odd smokes
Let me feel like you kind of have to put in
Rouse, you know, I start this is just gonna take their eyes off the odd
That's anything gonna mean you face more of them later. It's actually just a door smoke. That's what I've got
Got one more bit of utile birds
Strozz don't even really have eyes outside there allowing a secret cross.
This is the worry, right?
You kind of can't afford to discount a little bit with none of these smokes down foos.
He's left his position.
He's just kind of roaming over towards Heaven and Hell.
He'll be available way faster as a rotate.
Rear.
Great position.
If he doesn't play it too early and the AXE comes in, his flank is going to be
mobile.
They're not even looking.
Double kill.
Rear drops too.
And he lives to tell the tale 5e2 nip, nowhere to go.
Been cut off.
Disastrous round here.
Yeah, it just gets really hard, like, you didn't have the utile to really do a lot there,
you lost the opening challenge out through door, you're instantly in a bad spot, you
don't really feel like you have the resources to put appropriate pressure on Astralis, that
left the gap that Ryu went on to exploit and from that moment I did the rounds over.
No way of misdirecting that.
Astralis kind of had a very keen idea where an IP could be at any point in time in that
round.
It's really burning through these timeouts in there.
You know, it's not like you're
going to get a shot. Sorry is
this talking there at the star
maybe offering something up and
outside perspective here just
to try and help snap the a
little in this endeavor because
this tea side is getting
shut down and we said you
know, a strong as they've had
their fair share of struggles
on this tea half. You still
don't want them reaching
double digits by the end of
this half.
round he plays starting with his sword.
Even a third round just makes a world of difference, meaning a pistol does not decide your fate on me.
Good damage there. Spam connecting on a Hoocseed.
And these yard smokes a little bit later. This was what was missing last time they sat back in the lobby.
As you see the player pathing with it, break on that smoke and it gets one out in the open.
And go up?
Yes.
is too much but job done. Excellent shots. That's kind of in the story for Astralis in a lot of
these moments right just one player offering up two kills and then you make the argument well
he's done his part in the round just down to the rest of it just kind of see it through.
Another random timing push here for Astralis that's done them so well right they've had
real pushing ramp. Now it's Yabbi in door. Oh does catch shush. Nice shot. Locks out Lobby.
Now you know both are outside and Ryu can just wind around on this fight, not even expected.
Ryu has just been a force of nature in this game, they have not played ramp at all.
Strahle is for the most part, don't want this position and Nip aren't doing anything about
it.
They've had a couple of walks down B, it's led to one round, but by and large, Ryu
has just been a mobile terror on the CT side.
I would say this is kind of the ideal Astralis
score line when you look at it, right? Like, hooxy down on the bottom of the board, sort of way you want him.
You have, uh,
stairs.
Your rock piece just looking solid and then
Boosie and Ryu, like when they first moved into this team, what made Astralis so exciting?
Putting a hole on it.
I'm just shocked they keep going in for door pressure because they've not got a single kill at this position and...
Portious, right? Just getting sent to his desk every single time.
Oh, another break on the smoke. Finds a kill.
5v3, and another round petering out in front of you.
In fact, you've just been in so many of these positions. 3v5 after losing two opening duels.
At this point, no one needs to push, right? Just lock it. 5v3.
Just get your shot, fall off, okay? A bit of a miss, but not a problem with Rio still in B, looking at him waiting. Full baiting.
Charles have had, like, some very good unorthodox positions. They're getting baited in right now with Buzzi missing these shots, and Yabi's only gonna sell it further. You are completely discounting Rio in this position as a result.
He has been the joker in every round of this game, right?
Why don't secret coming up secret pushing ramp hiding back ramp box be twice in dark
Just been great positional play from Ryu and I mean it's not just it, you know, Stralis are allowing this
This is the plan. They're putting in these positions. They're noting the gaps and they're not letting these gaps be a problem
Even when you get control of the ramp Stralis no
92 and just the perfect game from Astralis and again dude, like another new position.
Just never know where to expect him.
And watch them go for garage control, they just can't avoid it, they're running into
me through the smoke, he's nice.
We're just spamming from back garage but that reload will cost him his life.
You'd like to think, here it is, 5v2.
Alright, you've done the hard part. You finally have an overwhelming advantage. Just don't go giving this away.
I'm scared.
Hoopsy back of the site. Fuzi ready to support in Heaven's side, and this 3v5 is happening.
Oh dear.
2v5, down to 2v2 in the blink of an eye. Hoopsy couldn't line up the double.
leaves it now on the shoulders of foosie event drop to stown just trying to
play for distance and ex-caspersky holding on for this rotation and IP they
narrowly get through with three on this T side recovering a 2v5 that was
getting away from them can't even really feel good about that surely get
the round but every part of it terrifying and three rounds on your
T side I know it starts with that T side problems but this looks like a
very different Astralis today. Looks like a well game plan for Astralis. With good ideas,
with good form and that idea of just running into brick walls. This is not a cartoon, they're
not breaking through.
Now even if you've had your struggles on Tee-Habs, the idea that you could win a pistol
and that would be enough, it would put you on that finish line and all you'd have to
to his cross it. Heavy Nade stacked in towards the top site hoping for a main kill. They try
and flood over but Shush has other ideas. Doesn't like Yaddy doing extra spurs. See Dolboret is
aggression, net him another but there's more players back here in the lobby. They will
catch him. Completely unawares. 3v5. So is N.I.P. kind of jostle for this control?
It's going back to aggression, Dolborette is through the door, Stam thinks better of it.
That third player is reset and I think Snappy's realised he's pushed deep from where he was
on yard, now starting to flank.
It's a nice play but it can leave you completely out of position because of how long you
need to walk.
If Astralis plays soon, Snappy's position has minimal value.
Only information now.
I know Astralis are about to walk out of A or walk out of Ramp.
Which one will it be?
It's down inside of Hearts. They crunch lobby together.
It's a great timing on the hot push.
It ends up behind them, but they make it down the vent.
It's a gamer cat and mouse.
And the mouse is getting away.
Note with the spot.
Oh.
It's down dead on the vent drop.
That hurts.
It's said coming into this that Note looks to be a clutch player.
We need to show that now. Runs the door right in a stare. Desperate times feeling like they call for desperate measures. Leaves it to a fight.
And now it's just Snappy. Does have to do all these, but they are toying with him. They are playing with their food.
Snappy gone. Astralis with a pistol. And they can make this a very quick opening map.
Phil, this game's not meant to be here for NIP, doesn't it? Right? They hit all those timings. It looks good.
What do Astralis do? They just drop down the vent. They just take that free bombsite.
Stound continues to walk behind them on good timing, but they're ready.
I mean, dude, if you're NIP, it feels like Hoopsy's in the team speak with you,
the way that he's maneuvered his troops around every single play that NIP have tried to make.
They still pushed in the 5v3. That is one thing Astralis didn't really do,
and they had their advantage. They locked in the rounds in this first half, so Nip did feed them a bit.
And now Stralis wouldn't come for the just gonna start charging that will cost them to deal shots connect from the ramp
Oh bird will do it nicely
One more man still to face him
No, it's Meroics can't afford to be in vain. He gets three snappy with another
And it's left to stay in what was a 1v4. I mean they sort of trolled this 4v1 here. They'd now split up
up. Just trusting his timing, but still looks back. He catches him. Look at the wrong way.
I mean, this they swang in, they gave him the chance to win this round. And I think he
just might. One V one playing the patient game, hoping Shush comes to read clear and
look for a weapon. He knows it's NIP massively on the back foot. Shush throwing into a one
V one. He feels like he never should have been in. If there was any time you're
going to get caught by a position like this. It's now. And so he plays the patient game,
waits for a swing, waits for a jiggle, and he's got his number. Stare with a 1v4, keeps
it in check for Astralis.
Best Stown is kicking himself, is swinging through that molly hell, right? Notes fighting.
He is committed. Stown's trying to help him out, but that gives him another 1v1, two
more isolated fights. Excus Bersky makes a play on his own. I mean, yeah, it's,
You can see how it happens, and it happens so quickly, but that's just fundamental mistakes
here for NIP, cost them the worst possible round.
Like that, just that looks too easy to step.
Way too easy.
And after no does this...
Boom.
From that kill, this rounds off.
even just extra Spursky walking up alone like
especially when Shosh is holding lobby yeah hold a very hateable round really
from NIP
you'd think at this score you really try and secure that one but here we go
Astralis, just gonna run at them
Yeah, you tell yourself to win this one you've won the map and since sure they lose these first few fights
But that has not been enough for an IP Kaspersky lost back in the lobby
But there's a player to deal with this doozy late on the lobby side
Kaspersky goes looking for him keeps his wits about him
Flashes out that late lurk lobby side bomb now planted
Lying up, that's horrible
No, Kaspersky gets skewered. Not meant to be is it?
4v2 after losing a 4v1 and it's a Stralis hunting format point.
Hoocsi here's the footsteps, knows he's gotten right where he wants him.
He needs the ace clutch if he's to pull this off.
And Stown taps that bomb but Hoocsi does not take the bait, goes out now.
No kit for Stown, no round one.
Hoocsy with all the kills and the clutch to back it up.
Yeah, excellent shots for Hoocsy and how often do you say that?
He shows up massive in this round.
The Mac 10 lineup.
My God, it is meant to be for Astralis.
Four kills and a captain's clutch to put another round on the board.
Just back-to-back daylight robbery rounds from Astralis.
NIP not in playoffs not with a game like this
Yeah, it would be one thing if you're just getting dominated, but you've actually been in multiple winning positions had multiple chances
Let every single one of them get away
way.
Best thing they've done here is be a textbook example in how not to play these man advantage
rounds.
It's been hard to watch.
This is what they're left with, collection of pistols, SMGs and a couple of rifles.
next to no utile in this four-nip.
They're at the full mercy of whatever Astralis are trying to run.
Stown, that's the AK, dead first, out in the yard.
In the molly as well.
Oh, a note steal!
Not again, right?
They just hop away, but they can't escape the headshot somehow that connects.
4v3.
Counting nothing out here from Astralis, look at stair.
Scaling heaven.
Bomb is not resetting Lobby despite the control here from Nip.
Who is he?
He's ready to go main.
Give some time to Stare to get in position.
He's playing impatient.
Now he's coming up through secret so if they try and give too much time, oh, Scare's
ready for that.
Okay.
Collateral through his teammate.
Now Scare's where you dead.
Shush coming up the ladder.
Scare's waiting for it.
One more man out through the doorside.
Kaspersky wasn't spotted, and no, he's gonna hit this timing.
Now, his Deagles had to do so much in this game, but they're still demanding more.
It's onto the Gaville.
Oh, the turn!
Stare has a feeling!
And he wants those playoffs.
It's another attempt at the ace.
Swing out wide, Stare's gone.
Boosie in this 1v1, and one bullet seals the deal.
There it is for Astralis.
They pick NIP apart.
They dominate them on Nip's map pick and Astralis now sit just a map away from those playoffs
Beautifully put and a beautiful ending for the Astralis side
But of course this series still has a little legs to it
Maybe that is of course admit besides to stand up from the table and play the game fight missing there a little bit
How do you say that's what you get for picking you up against me?
Yeah, I got a 4-4 up, taking a good line.
That's not as sexy as I thought it would be.
I think that's maybe what, you know, Pixie was shouting out there, but yeah.
That's a complete dismantling.
Oh, then if you buy a Stralis, I don't know if he's mapping.
So, let's look at it this way.
You're sitting back, you're watching this, you're watching a Stralis kind of just dismantled it.
break that down for me in the minutiae in terms of how did it all begin coming around I think it
all started obviously on the team side when the people are not be really tried to you know work
with what he did against BB team with playing with more layers of playing out the yard you know
creating space for the players you know to create the rounds I didn't really succeed because
they were literally shut down and pretty much everything they tried on that department of
the map and then he reverted to going back playing a little bit more set stride which
which has always been this kind of identity.
And they've lived in like three rounds,
but once you turn your attention to Chichisai,
you know, they have chances, right?
They had a chance in the pistol,
and then the second round,
they managed to throw away what we fought against there.
And I mean, I guess I just want to give you a shout out.
This guy is just really, really good.
He improved that in the last round, you know,
out of nothing, he creates the round,
and just wins it off for Trilus.
All the clubs also went the way for Trilus
on the other side,
but regardless of that, you know, NAP never really fought there for the year.
Yes, they're absolutely the real deal, right?
I mean, a lot of players have really strong mechanics nowadays,
but what separates the really good ones is, you know,
the understanding of the game, the awareness, the concentration,
and in that final round, he definitely showed all of that,
just being a thorn in NAP's side.
A thorn, to say the least.
How many more did live in a game like that?
He's had a locker or something. He just smacks people.
Yeah, just how much heroin you lose like that?
How much did it hurt your feelings you lose like that?
I mean, it hurts more in the way that he does it, right?
He gets a flank in heaven, which is really good.
I think his reposition was really strong.
Then you see Note coming up the ladder thinking,
okay, he got the play.
And then he turns around in that given second when he's about to flank, you know.
And it just haunts you because you had the upper hand.
Like throughout the entire round you had the upper hand
And then you just fall to the top by one guy that just hits all the headshots and makes the right plays.
And I think it's not really what you want to be looking at if you're in a P-moving fall in the series.
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if someone who was dead said,
watch out one more, haven't right played, because the way the first guy played,
and also note was still alive and he was the ramp guy.
But yeah, great round that Astralis was able to put together in the end.
Yeah, let's jump in and round.
Early on, things began to start taking a tumultuous turn,
and I do mean that Shush is jump jumping around.
Yeah, it's like really important.
Obviously, once you win the pistol to be able to convert,
win against this force, you can see, they go outside.
NIP, they're going to get down secret
without any issues really whatsoever.
The bomb is with them as well,
and it's just Shush as the lobby player
who's on the other side.
They get the trade kill here on Rio,
who's the Ram guy as well, right?
You can see the response from Astralis
was to push Robin.
If you don't get Shush here, like Rampguy dies, he kills the one player, why is he like looking towards Ramp, why is he jumping around?
Like, you should expect that reaction when Yard was so clear and you killed one player, and now in this post-plan, there's no crossfire.
Everyone's playing one by one by one, you know, and Fuzi hits two really good shots with the deal, he had a good game, and then it's first game of 1v3 that he just isn't able to finish and you lose the all-important second round.
There's no business with you losing this one, because with all the space you've gotten, and you didn't take a single point of damage up until you get that first fight,
like this should be in the books, like, 100% of the time.
And I think I agree with Shoshik, it's like, he's scared of what's ahead.
He should be aware that he's the one that's going to get hunted down, right?
You know, with all the space that his teammate has, the bomb is down, he is the one to be targeted.
And it's just weird, you know, but that's one thing, but I think the crossfire was probably the most crucial mistake here from NIP.
shoot a couple mistakes there I'm sure I'm sure there are mistakes and you know
obviously that resets their economy and then I get it like they drop an AK for
Kaspersky because he's playing so well to try and make something happen but you
you're spending a lot of resources at that point on so if when that doesn't
work out once you get to the gun round again someone has a galile someone has a
Mac 10 maybe snappy feels pressure to call something a bit more risky and it
solves then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because you're
You're just playing into the hand of a Stralis and you're making these rounds not as difficult
for them to defend.
And you just throw this out of your hands because let's say that they would have went secret
and they had like a massive gamble of four players and they just get squeezed and they
just lose it.
Okay, they had a good read.
But this situation was like so much in their own hands that it kind of felt like a steal.
Yeah, a steal, a stare, perhaps, a step by round 14.
I'm pretty sure that's what we're talking about, a stare yet again.
He's just like a main character of Astralis, and I think at this point I didn't like the
call from Astralis, he was rushing Ram because rushing these types of rounds is sometimes
kind of scary when you don't really know what's happening and the staff finds himself in a
1v3 here and then he just plays it up, he literally wins the round by just winging.
I didn't know that he would make the first mistake here by getting a massive triple
kill on Ram, but then decides to go and fight for that last one, it's just like
either have fallen back or let him, you know, that work is his time and, you know, well played
by Stapp, but the mistake something that he was just, again, too late.
Yeah, that's why we talk about their inconsistencies, right?
Like, when we saw it against BB team, they were so good at the decision-making, you
know, individually they were sharper and here it's just the complete opposite, right?
Outside of Kasper's key, not really much that we've seen from the other players
and then also this, it happened multiple times, especially on the T side.
obviously pointed out round two but you know just a lack of awareness of where the opposing players
might be if you're just dying like a kill on the side players the spacing isn't there like these
skills probably should be traded right but the lack of awareness is making it impossible. Also like
what you brought up yesterday I believe was when like what is the worst thing that he can like
what's the worst thing in a peak if you can stay on this situation yeah that like go away
let him work out the route you know I just camp something hold an angle don't feed him the
because then he gets to be in the main carries of the round.
Gentlemen, if we go into Inferno, and I tell you that it's something like
Nip don't love this map per se, what are the odds Kuperski can bring on right out of the bag again
and pull this right back around?
I think the weight might be too heavy for him to carry on his own.
He would definitely need some help if NIP is going to come back into the series,
But yeah, it has to be almost a 180 compared to what we saw on Nuke, right?
In terms of playing as a team, in terms of just concentration levels for the players, you need to step up.
Yeah, it really just feels like there's a lack of communication, a lack of awareness,
and also just a lack of, you know, maybe focusing in the right kind of moment, understanding the situation,
instead of, you know, trying to be the hero of the round or whatever it would be.
It requires quite a bit of research because there was opportunities in the game
but they just threw it around right around the time.
Those 3v3's make or break games, like Snappy, you know,
your ideal is sometimes going to win you around by falling,
sometimes he's going to lose you around by falling,
but most of the time it's these post-plants, right,
and how you play in the mid-round, situational counter-strike,
but basically clutches most of the time, right,
and that just wasn't there whatsoever for NIC.
We didn't even talk about the second half.
The 4v1, the 4v2, another 5v2, like it's like what's going on here, you know?
One more question for you guys, if you really have time for that.
And I guess it just stems back to the big picture of this Bessit 3, the Granitas, the weight of either advancing or going home.
Which exit here would be harder to explain, looking back at it?
Astralis, and if they were to lose, you know, that would be a bigger shocker, right?
We mentioned that they were together for longer, right?
The NIP has been going through some changes,
Ston in the off-road note,
which I still don't know if he's like standing in or is he the fifth, right?
I think he's the fifth in this one.
You know, because I don't know if I missed it,
but that was clarified initially he was just supposed to be a stand-in,
but yeah, still some stuff there for NIP to figure out.
Yeah, I still think that Astralis has had more experience as a squad
to make it count against NIP, and you know, it's...
And with NIP being such a coin flip,
I also feel like it is kind of the serve for Astralis to move on regardless of how they have looked in the past.
Well, I know it makes you happy to watch Astralis do well.
At times it does. Well, when they play like this, that's cool, but I've also had my heart broken a couple of times. I'll put it like that.
And that was while you were on the team?
That too.
Okay, yeah. We're going to dive into more of that here in just a second, but we do need to go to a break.
Turns out Nip want to try to play Inferno after all. I don't know. It seems as though they actually have to.
And that means that we go to a break,
we come back to Strauss, Nip, toe-to-toe, Inferno.
Who stays alive here at EWC 2026?
We're back.
The location is red mayor the chance to rotate back though. Oh, oh or a double back
By as much time as you can
Also, we'll know what's up, but at least no chance to contest the bomb
And they're gonna mean CT
You're gonna be right here right now
Long angle taken from Osvald, but Mayeron hears this all
Also doesn't even clear the angle goes back to the same spot that works prior
You know what if it ain't broke don't fix it. Nice. You find themself a third a
very difficult half for them
But not down and out we know what the squad can do
Every round round by round
Sometimes you got to look at a smaller picture instead of a big and right now the small pictures get more rounds
Gonna point this out now tens and a W combined 32 kills
32 and 12 they are combined. I mean damage both around 1500
While everyone are watching the 20 over for each of them through a half camera strike
And I mean even if you look at the rest of that damage too across the board, you know
700-900 a thousand damage, so which means the teammates are there
They are helping their softening up the targets with its utility or anything else in between they can they're doing their part
They're helping and making this easier for this explosive deal to do what they do best
I'm gonna have to see how this t-side works out. This also peek already pushed down
Here the man it will double up for kills for themselves. Make it one more. Why not?
I'm already down. Just stayed 8.
He has to tap away on the apartment's player.
It really doesn't matter. It's a hopeless pursuit at this point.
Blackburn's out of bullets. A quick
clean efficient round for 9z. Not a kill to fall.
And now this is the point where we need to see the mental magic.
Obviously, very well on their CT side, but if 9Z, you know, they win this pistol, they're going to have control of the early game.
Is that where magic bends? Is that where magic folds?
It's hard to tell. I mean, they seem strong right now, but strong is also included when rifles are in play.
And if 9Z can just kind of hold that off for at least a little bit
Maybe they can get a little more comfortable in that position whether it's financially or mentally
You know they seem kind of run down by this duo and hopefully we're seeing that shift a little bit here
That's ready. You can leave this charge to the tech nine
It's gonna be fossil peak with a quick little double as that from us comes into play
I got scared by the dink for a moment, but it is just moon
No bomb for him. He's about to walk. Next to Luchov. Probably doesn't work in Luchov's
favorite. Moon doesn't even realize the timing of it all. At the end of the day, I've done
round already. Pallied up to 9-5. You got armor, you got some utility, you got a pistol.
Well, if they're not going to haunt you, definitely try to save it.
I think no matter the outcome of this series, I'm sure by the end of this tournament, Moon,
or excuse me, Magic, have plenty of new fans.
I'm one of them.
This team is very exciting to watch, so much potential, so young.
Only the jerseys were better looking
You know you don't like them
No, I should watch back the longest route possible
I mean hey, I mean try to do some more damage. I don't necessarily blame them
But at the same time that's probably not the best
But for money purposes to make everything all smooth and evened out
Might be a call there to maybe try and take away some rifles and then just you know make it at least a little bit harder for the CTs
Right now magic up by four. They got some rounds to give but that's slowly starting to dwindle away at this point
They're down to glocks, deagles and a mixed mash of just guns
Big names in the mid
They didn't get in the front of it.
Man, let's get a backstab, shot in the back of the head, and double up on a Moth Vault.
Another round where magic doesn't really have much of a chance with anything going
into it.
would be huge for them but it's barely any damage even done. Now the score gets
closer and closer. Three rounds being the difference of six to nine leads still in
favor of magic.
No opto for rooming this time around. Just an AK.
Offsvade 8 takes up a little and he's the only one with one
Downside is
Myron he's got uh, he's got his big green his weapon of choice and he's been actually pretty solid with it thus far
Yeah, yes
See blue child is able to have the same success AW did in the previous half-svade
We should do that Molotov
A risky play, for sure. Doesn't net anything.
Man, unangled at the right time.
AW, half of the dynamic duo.
Kicking out of the round.
Man, just trying to go out on the site.
Little to no headway being made.
We were there. For every click. Every clutch. Every respawn. We were there for the years of
grind. And we're here. Now. The proud founding partner of EWC. Powering the biggest event
in gaming. Shoulder to shoulder with the world's best. Making history.
Greatness deserves a stage.
Lenovo Legion.
Reach your impossible.
The game is in our DNA.
Play is in our DNA.
And whenever we let it out, it becomes our superpower.
Now imagine an entire city being built to supercharges.
Kadea City, powered by play.
This ain't no ready to be, came for the ring
You know what I mean, you see my name on the lights
Get it, you right, I'm shabby
Astralis with the playoffs in their vision, only a map away, we head to Inferno, NIP,
Shambolic star to this series. So absolutely nothing back on nuke. It's meant to be their go-to
To try and steal away a map in this series and set us up for a decider
But it could all be decided here on Inferno a map that's only recently entered NIP's playbook this season
Long as trawlers have a decent track record on with this roster in
2026 since where it all ends for Nick
is Astralis, can't really question the form after that first game, looks like a good day for them.
Yeah it really did, I mean everyone was showing up right, you were getting everything you want from the individuals of Astralis
and then it was all neatly tied together by Hoopsy at the helm.
For an IP, I think the discussion would have gone something like this, we had a number of good spots there lads,
Can't give away this many man advantage rounds
And so the goal here tighten it up
Because if not even a 4v2 feel safe and what does
The worst 4v1 as well this corner
back on you.
Snappy does get his smoke down as astronomers get ready to execute, but no more utility
to stop this hit on the B site.
Pushmasnappy gets denied, they've got no to contend with and you know his pistol is
no joke, he's deagle, back on you, a force of nature.
Dead off to the double and that leaves you in a 2v2 with the bomb planted.
Abby's seen on that cross and it's down, eyeing him up.
It's Abby Duo, sword in half.
Oh!
Wow.
And Yabi was found.
Stare fakes it out.
I'm trying to call the bluff, but can't do that forever.
And Stown able to tap him from the pistol, defuse grabbed, pistol picked up, NIP on the
board.
Didn't really believe himself, did he?
He took the steps, but then changed his mind.
I mean, I was getting a bit worried when I saw that bomb plant position.
That's for sure.
It would have been nice to just see Yabi not peek at all and force him to come
and clear him.
comes very close. Even Stare could have waited a few more seconds and still cleared the bomb.
But maybe some fear of a kit in play. Big round for Stown. Had a poor first map but the
orb is out now in round two. Against the force is a risky move. Just wants to get going
I'm sure you really have the chance to last man.
Didn't really see that all.
Oh, so they would love to found that entry.
Just opened up.
For a be here.
It's bombers ready.
the
they're going to end here as well
the re-clear immediate is nice
But walking down, no right in to kill me.
I could have been an opening still.
Stare provides one on the other end of the map.
Stare's off getting here in time.
I would have hidden the herd a little before they make it to Exkorspersky.
That's not over playing.
That was really nice to just slow down there, wait for your team to scale in with you.
They're not out of the woods yet.
Korspersky pulling back.
Stare trying to force this kill, but lots of guns here in the church.
Going back, checking the flank, but they've got to deal with this assault and coffins.
Fuzzi connects a deagle. It's a catchable round now. No kit.
Three bullets in the AK as well. And no time to get that reload off Fuzzi.
It's got to be tapped, so that lets him down.
He didn't know. He did not know that was a three-bullet AK.
Ooh, dear.
Definitely tell me the reaction he was caught off guard.
of
the
death
of
the
death
of
I mean you kind of live and die by these decisions. It can really shake the early game. Look at this rush.
Super fast explosive up through the long side trying to hit. NIP is something that you're hoping they're not ready for, but shush.
Holding the line with a double. Scounds AWP giving it a chance to shine as well. Feeling a bit of pressure now as they're on both sides.
Look at this, his teammates arrived. They take up the long side. He deals with Shaw.
with Shaw. Okay, three doubles for Stown. Very nice start to this game after a slow nuke.
This is huge from Chesh as well.
As they were starting 3B, that was a good read from Astralis, but no entries come through to
back up that play.
And while it's a map that Nipavoni just started playing this season and so don't necessarily
have the track record or the history as a roster, because it's new, it might be refreshing
in a sense.
bring you ideas. Lovely timing. Team kill in there as well. What did Rio just do? He
He's just got three kills, including a teammate.
He just went bang, bang, bang.
Kind of insane.
I don't think the start of anything for Ryu
is a show away from certain death.
If he gets a timing, anything is possible.
It's a bit coming down to luck here.
looking for a technical ace to win this three kills to his name already two more in front of him
it's a hard clear oh i saw him go both ways i want to see that again i hope we have it because
that sounded ridiculous
see the big pitfall there with that double force bite
It's a crazy sequence.
Rifles making their appearance late in the day for Astralis.
Alright, that's three Nades seen out towards this B site.
a Hootsie with an early warm-up kill onto Shush in that apps cross.
Just getting into the piss in time.
They had the mollies ready to go on this.
Now I'm going to lob them in now, but Kisperzki's still good for his, and this mid hold works out.
Ryu, important double. You know, you've lost one member of the pack.
No Racine roaming out here in mid.
But as Ryu tries to give chase, now there's got on one hell of a Ryu.
Snappy gets his.
Riyu chasing this missing player, timing just off the mark, but looks to get it the second
time around. Riyu doing a hell of a lot for it, Stralis. Been Red Hot since the D-Ground
and with an AK here it's twice as hard, gets him on the board, it's single-handedly.
Oh, kills for him. I mean Red Hot on Nuke as well. Think of some of his positional
play back on that map. It's a really nice clutch. Note-checked his back twice and
they couldn't find him. That's a annoying round to lose for Nip who feel like they had
the right setup, traded favorably on A and even had an idea as to where he was in the
clutch but Ryu comes up with a big round for Astralis early in this game. That money
He would have been in a lot of trouble without that.
Yep, no fear of banana, lots of control here, it's down open long now and Stronus playing
very slow holding on to most of their utility.
Oh, Kaspersky hoping for a little avenue to try and peek around this molly going on the back of a flash.
No responding kind, and that is one hell of a catch from Hootsy!
From the back as well. They're just gonna go jump on it
Now it's only snappy here
Feels like maybe the most exploitable piece of this squad so you charge him down if you get him alone
Gotta be safe
And the abyss waiting for that
Orp will get out for now, but Astralis they get given an entry and they run away with it
Sometimes jumping the corner is the worst thing you can do. Look at how it catches him off trying to escape there
But if Kaspersky just runs he makes it but
Offs his head up over the logs
And a frustrating round to lose I had the flash play but there was a play close to them he was ready for
Well, Houssi's always been pretty surprisingly good at those kind of snappy looking shots
too.
I don't mean that Captain is up against this.
It's alright, that's strong start for NIP, well Stralis had put to find their own way
into this T side.
Hoosy feeling determined now with back-to-back rounds.
And a sense that... ooh, it might look to go back to some of these B-plays. The Nades find great damage.
everyone had some it's been more than I came from you've harassed this top
banana control so much that nip kind of have to respect it they pulled no over
as well. It's down hoping to make an
incision. Aggressive line on that AWP
but a good one. Catches Yabi walking out
into his crosshair. Lots of clear here
for astronomers as they reset. 45 on
I mean this AWP has been the problem, right? This AWP has been the main issue.
And they are playing over towards it right now with this A-Player going to the under-defended bomb site.
But this is where both the big guns are for NIP.
Third player now even padding out this side of the map.
and no seagulls just being in great form all day sure they'll get past him but now
you're gonna get passed down and shush in this crossfire and that is not
happening I'm just deals and doubles doesn't hear another multi kill on this
AWP forces foosie save
I'm loving what we're getting out of notes in this series despite NIP's woes
But now they're picking up the slack
By round CT side already. Also, you're seeing a bit of the downside right making it so clear that you're leaning heavy into this banana control
Stan just feels like he has a lot more freedom as a result floating around there and it gets to on that aggressive line by Niavi
Usually you kind of feel like
The presence of players out towards the apartments, the threat that you could just get killed on
guys walking up kind of spooks you out of going for those peeks in the mid-round, especially
when he was all alone in a two-man hold with the orb.
When you're seeing and hearing three or four players start banana, well, it feels
that there's a lot more options open over on A.
Good return on investment on those mollies with stair-copping, a bit of extra damage.
Re-block out towards middle.
Astralis are looking for this space. NIP, more than ready for it.
Three players here ahead of the smoke, one guy, even in reserve behind.
Now Snappy with the Util. So a bit of a read here.
Three.
No, we're getting aggressive.
And this one, lives and dies.
I'm getting past the quad mid-hold, bomb lost.
Yeah, surprise Astralis still commit so hard. I mean, pretty early, they figured out there
were three there. First player peeks, sees no close, gets spammed by snappy. Here's the
orb. Like that's insta triple mid hold. But Astralis, I guess, feel pretty committed
into that play, push right into the stack.
A nice variety of A setups in this city-side for me.
They've locked out Banana all game long.
Strollers don't feel like they want to play first timing
in Banana either, so left two limited answers here.
Maybe a tech nine round where you feel a bit more
freedom to go fast straight up through that molly chasing down an IPU here it
coming they won't over commit and Stralis without a clean entry gonna have
trouble getting into this bomb site
just pushed all the way down
oh and here's that deagle that was fighting ramp reload on banana and that
he's gonna signal him to push.
He's got multiple players back turned.
Just walking in, yeah.
And holding the shot as long as he can,
it gets out with a double.
That also removes the utile from the sight hit,
just layers of problems there
with Shush in their back line.
This is more like it from NIP.
Yeah, I'm not playing too scared.
Would have been easy to doubt yourself on that play
and just take the one free kill
The shush knows he can get a lot of value from their positions, four frags on the flank.
Beautiful stuff.
Straalus, full buying now. Feels like they need to stem the bleeding in Banana.
They need to take this control back, and I think NIP know that as well, because three players start in D.
Again, the hell stop on Nade. It's very deep molly down middle. Forces you to commit.
Straalus, do pre-smoke those mollies.
Here they go.
Flash is great and it gets Hootsy past that AK pushed up in banana.
There we go.
Again, you feel it as if you want to play here so you're just going to charge past Snappy
while you can.
Yabbi's had some really awkward fights on these lurks in what should be powerful positions.
Yeah, at least they'll just shut the door there, turn the key, smoke mid-off, and the
Swarovs don't really need this hunt that bad, they probably shouldn't go for it.
Rather keep their money in good standings has been tough on this T side.
last few rounds are integral.
Wonder if we see stout b and any of these rounds.
he has just been consistent output when Astralis come his way.
I feel like Astralis is going to stay hitting this B site for the remainder of the half, two rounds remain.
It's the only thing that's worked.
I think right now maybe you're feeling that you need the kind of multi-kill potential over
here on B, so Stown, they're using him just as a solid piece to shore up this AD fence
while he is about to get handed a very fast round, tucks himself into the boiler.
He hears players make it by up the long side, down to the pistol though and that's
not enough for Stown.
Dead with nothing done.
One more player boiler side.
It's a fast rap from Shush.
Oh, and Hoopsy's got his number.
A decisive win out of Astralis in this one.
Yeah, Nip just with poor starting positions,
because Astralis ran that exact round earlier,
but what happened? Shush was in Boiler.
He got a double kill as they ran through the smoke,
and Stam was on the back of the A site with the AWP.
He also got a double.
So, this time it's Boiler orb, and it's Shush in apps.
Nip not in position to stop that rush
You see how it was meant to look for Astralis
I like that they have the goal to call that round back out again
Knowing that Nip will start 3b as they have in the majority of these rounds who makes a nice call
And Astralis execute it perfectly
Yeah, just a solid read right and
And, you know, like it's not too uncommon to see team start 3B for the very first few seconds, then that rotate guy drops all his util heads back to A, once you see it's not a rush.
And so if you want to exist in that window where you're hitting an undefended A site, it has to be that fast.
Great time for the pace change, great time to repeat that call.
And a chance to recover on the half for Astralis.
This is slow goings out of the gate.
On a credit to Hootsie, for the Astralis side, he leads the way in opening ghouls by some margin.
6 kills 4 of them being openers oh my goodness triple name there's one way to get you'll be
ended every time they first you guys they go you know what one guy here it's snappy let's
charge you look at snappy just sit down in his chair man it's just been the same thing
because Exkazbercy is dead, the round is over on me.
They have full centre every time you go to it, respect it, honestly.
What a nade stack.
And to Astralis, they were in the hole in this half,
but they have dug their way out in these last three rounds.
No way back in, you'd like to think the flash gets the orb off the line,
but you still want to take space back.
We got multiple players hiding in the back of the site to Molly's don't do a thing as the fight comes in
Not long for this one
And it's gonna be five at the end of the half here for Astralis a great recovery
And what was a tricky start to their map pick? Yeah, you see in frustration set infinite feeling like they let Astralis back
In to this half it was seven two in their favor
But that final three round streak suddenly gives Astralis something to hold on to I
I don't think it's a nice feeling either for Snappy and Ko over on B, probably a mixture of frustration that Kaspersky was on the receiving end of so many of these openers and then that feeling that you're being targeted, they're coming at your bombsite, they don't respect what you're able to bring for the table.
And why would they? I don't think he ever got a kill, where he maybe got one kill in a couple of these and never malty, never stop them.
Strong out defenses.
and the worry re-enters here to NIP who are on the brink of elimination
I hope she's been a driving force in that first half but this is where it's
got to become everyone else's game it's their turn to bridge that gap of
firepower because we had no weak link for astralis on map one
Can't afford to have anyone go quiet on your CT side of Inferno. It can start to feel punishing real fast.
Midtake for NIP.
Gabby dead as he tries to swing in for a fight there.
And a fast wrap through this long smoke. No one's even considering it right now.
Fuzi will get that spot out of the apartments.
Here's players coming in short side as well. The Fuzi D'Operette is forced to be reckoned with.
with. They haven't even dealt with these pit players yet, haven't dealt with the guys in apps, the rotates arriving, the sight's starting to feel like you're really boxed in and there is nowhere safe to turn, there is nowhere left to run, Astralis clamp down on that A here.
don't chase anyone. They're just kind of AD-ing, looking for fights after those first two deaths
on the Juleys, and that just gives time for Astralis to rotate in, and I love that they
keep the pressure on. Those two surviving players make sure they stay alive, and then everybody
comes to motosmoke. Astralis clamp down on that A-hit, and NIP, despite the entry,
nowhere fast good vibes for Astralis who are definitely on a road to
recovery now
force by without a plant it's feeling desperate here for Nip
just means you're gonna have something perhaps something planned right looking
like a beef plate maybe they feel like this is the exploitable site and
around like this one and they will be ahead of all this you tell they already
threw it okay oh he gets out with one that I'm lucky still one more player
who see with the spam puts the advantage in Astralis his favorite for all you
take but who's he stops it he's feeling it right now is the Astralis
captain and you know with no plan you don't go to move yet these smokes have
faders. They know the bomb
drop position too. So, waiting
for that next play. Ryu's very
scared of ruins, but they both
cross back into the site. Bond
is okay. Ryu can need it, but
he is so concerned about the
ruins. I think they might
overlook Stown in this round.
If he doesn't peek out, they
go to get a nice swing. And
He is scared of coffins. Look at the prompt position. It looks like he's gonna misread this one entirely
Good patience from stown doesn't give away his position until the round is right there for the taking
Yeah, or you had a clear image in his head of how the round was playing out, but
Feeling he had that anxiety about the ruins proves not to be well-founded
It's a shame because he has the HE if he lobs that body wins.
So he's right there for the taking.
That was a good one.
That was a good one.
That was a horrible one.
That's the roughest moment, right?
That's a round winner.
You get that 3v1 with the bomb down.
That's going to put a bit of pep in your step.
Man, there was a no plant forced by a win here for Nip, so massive relief of tension.
Doing even more damage, but still yet to get kills foosie post abs being considered, but he still feels with his
Low health for snappy as he rounds the corner will survive the crossing but has to recross again to get this bomb
No punish out of Ryu Alex not to go this info has no ammo
So that's giving them a bomb plant to play with. The setup here is for Stalm to try and
clutch this and he's got great timing through Boiler. Ryu just might get shot in the side
of the head. There's the spot. Stalm! It focus the other way and it's Ryu with the turn.
Snap here 5 HP, can't do this! And so Astralis are swift with a reply of their own.
So unlucky for Stalmass, so unlucky he gets a spot on the short player, but as soon as he goes out to clear him, that's when the long guy comes back around and Ryu and Fusey with 5-7s shred in this round.
Excellent work for Ryu to let Hoocsy cross as well. High risk, high reward.
Oh Hoocs, they're snapping.
And so yeah, whatever Nip do, Astralis do right back to them.
Low money, force by win. Back and forth we go.
Stereo galilz here for Nip.
Onward.
Oh my goodness, Yabby, what are you up to?
Wait, they ran into him, but they didn't think it was suspicious.
Stown and Yabby were right next to one another, but this whole play, this whole kind of element
of surprise he has has come unraveled because his teammates in the site are dead.
Molly at least stops that bomb, Plom buys you a few more seconds, that's one who's
gonna burn another player out into the open.
I know one guy's site.
Shush now reveals his position as well,
smoking to the pit just to try and lock him out of this round.
Shush is gone, spammed out by Stare and Long,
and Exkaz Bursky needs a massive clutch, can't do it.
Stare delivers and Astralis are finally converting,
but with a bomb plant, with one player surviving,
I don't know, you could make a very good case
for another buy here.
It feels like that kind of game, right?
we're just seeing really fast rounds in the second half so why not if you've got another pocket strategy
just throw it out there I think these are very winnable rounds for both teams
Fuzi is getting some rough ends here some rough fights
big shot from stair to save that and then I'd be having a tricky decision to make they're
They're going to use a timeout first.
It's got to be tempting.
You see a timeout? I feel like...
If you're a Strylus you have to think this means they're buying.
Definitely ready for it.
I think a Strylus would probably appreciate this break as well,
because this back and forth has been high stress.
The two rounds in a row and they can absolutely destroy Nip here.
Poozie gets the don his orb. Doesn't have head armor.
I think that's a good thing though. This rifle has been really ugly in the last three rounds.
You got that nice pistol 5-7 round butts.
The retake on ruins and right here in pits.
It's not ideal so
gonna find some more comfort here in the CT side. Get out there.
They don't fall by it.
Spurski drops the AK to stown and he's going to play to pick it up.
Kevlar Glock.
So it's not scary for Stair?
Oh, I guess not. I guess it's not a tool.
Not scary, not one bit for Stair.
With the glow-up he's had since getting onto this CT half.
Random spam through the smoke.
Hello.
And now you tell to try and help him out.
Here's that tag. Stair was hoping to punish even more.
Too spotted.
The orb stays in place.
There's an AK handed over.
Oh, try walk into your lovely Pufusi. Just what he's been waiting for.
And no, just needs a heroic moment here.
Snap his on. 13 health.
Just knowing that you don't have a flash to help the AWP off the line, you kind of feel like you're walking to certain death there around the corner.
But it was the only option they were left with and so now for the first time Astralis are the ones moving into the lead
9 8 up that was after a
7 2
Store line for an IP such PS or something from stairs just over the top
Finds out a K player as well
I mean it does just feel good though right the fact that you have a player like
Stare who kind of in these crunch moments in these pivotal moments is rising
at the occasion and you've been doing that for a while in Astralis.
Yeah it's definitely a good idea if you were gonna poach an Astralis player it would be him.
It's not only he's done it in lesser roles, but now in star positions, still succeeding
and still standing out.
But in this round, destroyed, one more man in the site and it's a bit of a look like
Astralis' T-Side, just a double entry into the ground, feels decided.
It's happy thinking of himself, not so nice Hoopsy, is it?
Yeah.
one guy in this peace site getting targeted.
Great fleet of openings out of Kaspersky and even the hunt here at the close, NIP sent
three players to go in Rome and remove these guns.
You see how quick this was in the round as these Astralis players are dying with nearly
full belt to you till that was a real high tempo Adam and IP so the back and
off his back after three round absence and IP keep this game level.
What's our support this game? All the way back.
But is it in vain?
As we've seen from Nip on some of these low econ rounds, win or loss, they've managed
to put themselves in decent positions.
That's a weaponry.
One snappy go for us here.
You caught him a little off balance once, but can you do it again?
They'll be ready for a high tempo now, it's so early nades, I'm hitting banana.
Nice.
Oh bang, we'll kill here.
Look at the damage done, Fuzi's not exactly healthy either but...
Peace for the orb.
There's not a lot of Uto left in this round, we've got three smokes on NIP.
They're filling force to be hit.
The Abbey is holding some Mutile as well. If he can hang around in this position, it starts to rotate out as MIP lay up this hit.
A shot from Poozie Zorb.
I wonder if you've even just seen York here gives you a bit of hesitation, maybe worrying that you're walking into a stack.
Reblock the banana and they chose to respect it, didn't go with the room they had.
One smoke, one flash.
So this is what it's left to
Know at the front of the pack
Boosie flashback off the angle trapped behind this smoke, but it starts to fade now
Won't even get to fire a shot on the orb stare
Just needs to try and stay alive here if they do want to leave this to a retake
He's quick to join him they keep stare alive
They wait for Hoocsi on this flank. There's a hard round for Astralis.
Two flashes, one of them is all the way down to Banana, so they lob out this one, cough inside,
and that's it in terms of assistance. Stare off it up first.
Hoping a teammate could trade this. Hoocsi putting pressure on up to Banana's side.
It's Kaspersky that they can't seem to deal with.
And Hoocsi comes in with a massive hat-trick.
just a slow burning back stab from the Astralis captain and that's all it takes.
I mean that first kill was excellent right? The only player who's really in a position to stop him,
who doesn't have to worry about anything else but Banana and Hootsy just knocks him out.
That was a 5v4. It smoked down into a popcorn. Hootsy steps up big.
I mean, he is topping the server.
He's just had so much impact in this game, it feels mad.
A number of opening kills, some really important swing kills.
Hoocsi really is the reason they're in this position.
They're going to be wrong.
had a glow up in the second half but Hoocsi has been consistent throughout.
There's a gap of hot shots but push back off the snip who is speeding up the pace and
then off of their own in the middle. One more natively disaster but that's why Stowner
barely standing in this round.
Hooxie.
aforementioned man.
In the right place. It's good spam to put Yappie low.
He's gonna get flashed for that repeat though and there is no support. Through the smoke comes XKRuspersky.
4v4.
Got to hold down this site with no support.
Hooxie, well, he's always wanting more.
Swing there would have meant a lost round. Ryu is hiding out.
Mate's into the pit. Hoopsie still doesn't play yet. Bates him in a Ryu. It's the spammer's
down on that AWP. And so Ryu, feeling a lot of pressure and just lining them up, knocking
them down. Didn't feel like the most necessary swing for Ryu. He had a really strong position.
site but walks right into the line they're holding. Could let that round breathe a little
bit more I think. Important kill from Stown on the orb. We had a really great start to
this game but obviously it hasn't had that T side AWP. Not many want it. I guess that
a warbank kill at the Hootsie that opens up A.
Fuzi save and the strawless not exactly wealthy in this round.
And I have to go around this.
That's the one to get crazier.
You could get two M4s of Fuzi drop some real buys.
I think that's tempting, actually.
I imagine it's tempting.
It's so late in the game.
It's a risk of 10.
And one more at less in this game.
It's just all on the pie.
This is, you know, you are all in here.
You have to give up that point if you lose this round, or you have to save something.
Well, here they go, all inning.
It's on this risk that now essentially the entire game rests.
I don't think Nipper is going to be ready for it either, because of how back and forth
this has been. They go rushing, could be really dangerous. But no, nip all a bit of a pace,
the util would give it away. Fuzi's orb, forcing that kill, will give up a mana voltage.
I hope they can get it, but they've blown it back with a axe.
Nice work.
Double-nade.
They knew what they wanted there.
Fusey has just dropped off of a cliff.
Yeah, he's had a horrible map.
You see him head in hands on the camera.
Knows he was the guy who had to make the difference.
And now this all-in decision that astronomers have made off to a horrible start.
You feel like that one swing and a miss has cost you everything.
I think you just have to triple save now.
Stare's gonna lose, B. He's only got a 5-cent AD goal.
Oh, that's a jump.
What could go wrong, though?
The only way Nip Lose is if they overthink this situation,
which they definitely could after that kill comes in.
because now you know you lost that timing you're worried that the rotates have
started but they are just gonna double pump this and go against the right cool
a lot is being demanded to stay here the whole round on his shoulders they were
closing in on banana in case he was able to get one more but when that doesn't
happen save is called for Astralis and who's he find the open shoulder through
at the map but probably just gonna bodyguard here so now as far as we're
in quite a predicament because they all end kind of off the back of the orb if
who didn't save that gun they would have saved this round they would have
bought next but now they've got a kind of giveaway map points hope that these
rifles can get you through but this has been a very B focused game. It's time to get Foozie
off that site. This is where Infono can be really fun though. Very late in the game when
there's a lot of conditioning where you're now guessing whether there's a triple B,
Do you want to pick up the pace?
Or do Nip just go back to what's been working?
What about Quad B?
It's mind games, no no bounce.
Stare, hoping H.E. can make his rifle's jobs easier.
Pistol's gonna try and play on the flash.
Bit of damage done, you see one of the rifles now as well, in tow, and he gets one.
Yabby gets his out in top mid, but this bomb's been retrieved, and so now you're left
looking it's Hoocsi tucked into a corner at the sandbags had a fantastic game has the
Astralis captain get that rifle kidney they're walking away who knows what they'll
recommit they're gonna make sure no one pushes an extremity and no Astralis split
one-one and they fancy their ult on a longer this goes the more shaky Hoocsi's
gonna get and that is the perfect time to push. It's got himself a rifle. It's not
gonna go any further. Still this is on Yappy. I mean, it's essentially a 1v3.
Pitside. No Molotov, no need to flush him out of position. Would he? And so you're
just hoping you can deal with him quickly. Yappy down here in the pit, dead at the
first swing it's ex-conspiracy at one HP. Not a bullet. Oh it's a good save. Very good save.
That's Hooxie just feeling it dude. Full ego peak in the three on one. All right,
Fuzi, you try call something for a round because you got a new offer. Hooxie, hoping to get out
with this AWP. And now... As the Stralis now need overtime if they want to close this in
two unlike it's a good save man but if
he doesn't do anything with this orb it's
gonna feel rough isn't it look at how
much the Stralis have put into making
sure he is set up here forcing around
his orb here saving this one again
they're gonna get four rifles but this
is nip coming back in this series
got to be noted this has been like
we've been talking about all the
potential of the Stralis here in these
last few rounds as they made a comeback on the end of their T side, but NIP are right
there with the address all the way to three maps.
Cash or decider, a lot of unknowns come that third, and NIP are just right there for
they're taking two chances.
Messy.
Did they just jump on this?
No, they go back and...
Stroll is no waiver!
Nip expector stack.
Instead they're walking into it.
Oh, timing's rough, Poffoozie.
He's going to try and force a fight, recommit to that, but they're already up the short side, running right in a rear cover, not there from Yabi out on long.
It takes Fuzi moving over to help him.
Death with the AWP on that swing out wide.
Why me?
Huxi 1B3 not happening.
Bomb planted down on the line and no reason to overpeak this.
No reason to overthink this for NIP.
Molly forces one guy into the open.
But is it really going to take their captain?
have to do all this to try and save the day.
Stown's got his number, NIP clawed it back on Astralis' map pick.
And this one goes the distance.
Cash representing a lot of unknowns.
It's all up in the air as NIP bounce back.
NIP with the bounce back and a response to what was ordinarily
a not good first map.
Arguably, probably not.
But just straight up, yeah, probably not a good first map.
Second map, totally different story, tightly contested down the wire and up to the point
where Strahlo simply didn't have a response in the form that would give one to Stockham.
Great for NLP to show some resilience as well, winning four rounds in a row on T-Site,
close it out, five of the last six, I believe is incredibly important for them, right?
After what was really poor, showing on their own map picks to sort of keep the
belief and then keep at it and being able to extend the series is just a great
feat for them. I just want to I just really had hope for us to have like
small times and we like try and do it with my play for this one because it's
two different MPs showing up here that they're not turning for no. I think it was a lot more
compared to like you know they I think snobby just stuck with a lot of the
death ball like you just went a lot but I like forgot men and then forgot
so they didn't really like try to overthink things and you know that
just a little bit of a fire in the fire, it's like the line being like, I don't know who's the man,
throughout these games where he just disappears, and there's so much resources going into him,
you know, getting off so many of the rounds, and most of the rounds he gets nothing done,
like he didn't have the round where he would have the up safe, but then I just go like searching
wide and another attempt, he gets just overrun on the B bomb side, it's like so much
resource going into him, and he just doubtful that he's just not good enough right now.
Yeah, that's the problem, right, like the inconsistency and then it becomes a liability.
You know, it's always nice to have an offer who goes for planes, right, tries to find that.
In fact, the problem is, you know, if you're constantly failing to convert those aggressive planes,
you're not even putting your team in a bad spot time and time again.
So, yeah, just one of those situations where Astralis wasn't able to close it out on CT side.
And just to kind of provide context once again,
perhaps you're just joining us from around the world
wherever you find yourself.
We are an elimination matchup on the very last day of this group.
Both these very hard fought battle,
but definitely one that you want to win in this position,
especially now that you've given it an actual battle,
they could decide in an IP.
Yes, you know, it's both teams have been live on Jebedi,
you're right, it's about making play out right now.
With what is probably short of new, it looks very dominant,
It really didn't look to me as a mid that would turn up, but they turned on the heat on Inferno
and it was also a strong throwing away sound advance that they had the overhand in V.
They even had to leave right, but they couldn't really convert it.
It was like they had a tough time hustling out where NRG was ending.
And that's also Kudo just now, but he switched it up between the sides.
It wasn't just necessarily five man banana all the time, but it was also switching up.
So he would take turns on hitting the bomb sides.
and also he kept them boxed in and also played with the information,
not allowing Astralis going for the information place.
And you know, that sometimes is also why Inferno is a hard match to play.
It's like the team play also fizzled out for Astralis.
You know, some of those A-Hits, like they're not really, there's no setup,
like there's no agreement, there's no protocol in place.
It's like, okay, your sidetime pit, so I'm going to have first contact,
then you're going to play right, there was a round where Rio was smoked inside
and Stair was on the long like Stair is fighting then he was like swinging all the way from side to take the fight with the headshot guy
It's like these are not the fights that you want to be taking right and then probably something that
Astralis will have to look into moving forward. Okay, so we have round 14 B-pop by Ned
Yeah, it's one of the rounds that really gets me kind of I would say back in the game because they do have the lead here
But they're converting the second round is very important
of his enemies. One of those very notorious hip hops that Snappy is so happy about doing.
And you know, there's completely caught off guard here. We'll have to right-click advice
and try and salvage just like a little bit, but he gets one kill, lucky rim, and then
you look at the health bar and the utility that Astral has thinking. Well, it's still
pretty good, even also in the fact that Hoops gets two kills through the smoke.
And especially because the only right thing here going through the smoke, but this
is the kill that I'm like, how does Fuzhi only deal one damage to Kesha
And then Jappi gets another chance where Kasperoski shrinks, he doesn't track him and just well played by Stan, you know, playing this unknown entity, not showing his position.
And that just evens it out to playing a field, right? It's a 2v4 essentially, where Kasperoski gets all the job done by just swinging with an M29, where Fusi had the first chance, completely blows and drops the ball, and then afterwards it's Jappi as well.
I mean, it's like all the B players get all the stuff done regardless of the team being caught off guard.
Yeah, it's no surprise after what you just pointed out that those two are the lowest-rated players for Astralis on
Inferno in the Senate P-game right like Fuzi with only nine kills, Gabi with 11
And you know they both had some opportunities to
Swing the rounds more in Astralis' favor just couldn't convert and in the end it is those like small things that make the difference
So here's the situation gentlemen
We've got legacy MIBR about to start over on the B-stream that is the last matchup over there for us
Stralis, Nip, jumping into cash for a third map decider.
We're going to cash. We did get cash.
There's that going on.
Tell me how this starts to play out in the beginning.
It plays into the fact that it's the newest map in the map pool.
Who has put in the most time in this game, Matt?
We've seen NIP already and it has been looking that great.
Stralis has played it three times, I believe.
One, two of them.
So it's also just comes down to, I think, in this given matchup right now,
who has looked the best and that's what I think is so hard about that's a conflict
where it goes both a little bit and bad so it is a massive conflict so I do
wish we could actually do that but I mean I still have my hopes for us Charles I
still think as a team Stacey way out for you you can always say that no one's
gonna kind of come now but yeah I think it's not coming I think for me it's
and I hate when when I say this but it's gonna come down to whose sort of
weak links can step up more, right? Like because Terry's having a great series, so it's Kaspersky,
you know, but you have on one side snappy and Shush hasn't done all too well and then on the other
side you have, well, Huzzi on the second map, Yabi a little bit, Hoopsy was okay on the, on, on
Inferno, but like those guys also need to step up, right? You can't just rely on your star to
carry all the way through. So my appreciate your time. We do need to take a quick break
before we go into cash but also allow me to tell you at home about our bracket draw that will be going on at the very conclusion
Of all the games here within the CS2 stuff at eSports World Cup
So yeah, let's go to that break cash and funds. We're gonna have to have it separate nip in a straw
So be there on the other side. You're watching eSports World Cup Club Championships
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Titan Evo. Ergonomically engineered for you. Gamers. Hybrid workers. Artists. Lacking you every move.
Welcome to another edition of Chicken in the Box here with Astralis. Here with Stare, player one, player two.
stay coming in very confident to this one he's obviously going to get to look
inside his box and discern whether or whether there is no chicken really you
want the chicken that's the goal you've got to get it out of his hands or maybe
you already have it who knows we're gonna have to find out let's open the
box I'll in the box I'll see I'll have a look
okay your initial reaction I didn't use the script already
So your ship was with?
The ship was with those, but he's trying to throw me off right now.
I know he's speaking a lot.
So you got the chicken?
No.
You don't have the chicken?
No.
Really?
You sure?
Yeah.
I was wrong.
So what's in the box?
Maybe it's not a chicken.
Nothing in the box.
You sure?
I think so.
Should I look again or not?
Yeah, you can check it out.
Let me just make sure.
That was a quick clue, though.
You don't want to show anything, you know?
Because you have the chick on you, do you?
I don't feel anything.
That was a really quick look, you know?
I have an understanding.
It's if you don't want to look, you know?
You don't want to give anything away.
I saw it already.
I had to double-check it.
It's a day, it's another day, you know?
No, I really think it was a very fast one.
You don't want me to see anything, do you?
Should I check again or what?
Yeah, check again.
OK.
You show no chicken.
Oh, no chicken.
I don't know.
Something's throwing me off here.
I don't see anything.
He's been a lot from the beginning, you know? It's weird.
He's quite quiet. I think he was not alone.
At the beginning, he was a little bit, you know, like,
he was trying to throw me off.
Now he's confused, you know, because I know what he's doing.
He's walking it back.
I didn't see any chicken in the box.
What have you said on the truth, though?
Have you considered both options?
I'm an underman, you know?
I'm a very underman.
That is a lie. That's why I'm going with...
I want to swap.
I want to swap. I think he has the chicken.
Yeah.
Are you sure?
I am very sure.
Stare, you were correct. You plucked him out properly. You swapped boxes. You had the chicken
to hold.
I was comfortable.
We'll come back better next time.
Good game, I guess. Take hands and good luck in the tournament.
Chickens in the bottom.
Yup.
This P250, a little bit of freedom with that smoke in place that he can't get peaked
towards Mini.
We got Trey coming up through secret stairs right away. That's Insani that's going
be brought down. I see a USB shell from ART. Venom Zera removes. We're now looking at a
3v5 here for MIBR. I'm going to try and recover it and they've done well with one at least.
Thank you ZetaBall. Matt, same board won and he slipped away. Try and get and pull the
trigger. I like the trigger discipline though. It's not a confirmed kill. It's not going
to be an easy one, but oh MIBR is clawing this back. It's been slow and quiet. Good
find. That's the spot and that's the bomb drop. So now you have the success
of the Glock kills, but having the upper bomb site no longer matters and damn, ART
some bangers. Yeah, it really is. Yeah, having the bomb dropped in an unrecoverable position here,
for Ellen's is going to also weaken the second round by from my view. So the plan is to, is to
have that smoke up, have them walk past the mini smoke and walk around to wrap towards heaven with
the cover of Ellen's, er, excuse me, of Insani's Pete's 250. Art's move in secret is the exact
checkmate for that and a hard timing for Insani to read of when he's supposed to watch secret,
what he's supposed to be covering.
And the round just unravels from there.
So, pissed around the side of legacy.
Well, as he's just taken some fights, eventually tries to round it out, so try with two.
From R as well, and closed out by Nissab. So,
I'll end up being the first round of play, and obviously no bomb plant, which means we're looking at a
weeks now here in the second round for M.I.P. you're gonna be fully go with Glocks and a 2-0 start for Legacy.
Getting the song, CT side of Nuke, fighting the pistol, having the second round is
the ideal start here for Legacy, the world in which they can snowball this at some point.
I think it's very interesting that you've decided to go international, but for one player
for the rest of the project, I feel like that hasn't really been done before
too often like you don't see like a team go out there okay it's such a hindrance
not speaking our own language but we're gonna do it for one player and bring an
LNZ I mean it's possible they haven't been able to find any good Brazilian
options to step into that role as the IGL right is there's that element of it
to yeah go an international it's not a it's not an easy thing to pull off
especially if you're not one of the top dogs of the region right Fury pulled
it off because you could go out and buy oh I mean they took the risk on
Malinor but you went on to find your kinder who at the time of stock had
dropped it so far you had a huge reward potential there and everything panned out
well but not easy to kind of just make that happen out of a region gun rounds
are live here on nuke round three AK 47s out for MIBR we're getting the door
broken open we're gonna fast play from Breno yeah straight in towards the side
maybe Latel first the SMG working well like you see Dad the two kills
come in straight away here from MIBR look at that that is a dominant win
as the aggressive of relief play coming through the ramp room gets shut
down completely and try can't get anywhere near the action so ends up
being MIBR taking their first round win. It almost looks like legacy kind of
understood the potential for that kind of a call and wanted to get the ramp push
going so they could have the fast flank. Lovely read MIBR as well just so well
prepared for it. Great utility work, phenomenal trading coming into the upper
bombsite that second defender tucked against Hutt completely blinded for an
easy kill and then everyone from MIBR was ready for that flank out of
radio room. Looking to hunt down this last M4 but not a whole lot of money built up from
IBR so they'll be, I think, content once they clear out Ramp Room to not go investigating
too much further. And their first round is on the board.
I think I was so happy with the way that it went. There's a four-play staying up.
You can start to build some money up straight away.
Oh, that's gonna be a tough game.
And on the poor of the T side, gun round straight away and have a chance.
Not a bit of a streak because if you break the money here of Legacy,
now it's a week by coming up in the next one here.
This is how the round comes out, so...
Quicker calls the reaction for Legacy to try and send two players around for him into the lobby
lobby and they get stopped by waiting players. Still a strong buy here for the CT side. AWP
for Tries off to a 5-0 start. He's going to be going up towards ramp. Outside smoke's
deployed for my Bjarne. One player playing around them and inside him. He's not going to
be pushing all the way towards secret. He just wants to get some outside presence.
chilling for the moment. Tries off with the off angle everyone else on the MIBR
so waiting for the smoke to fade now that it does try once a deeper angle.
Creeping up into his position now easy shot for him. Doesn't want to stick around
for intel just drops down immediately to the lower site. Ramp room is lost and so
is Venom Zera. Yeah he's gonna be sad about that no one close enough to get
the jump on him for the angle try plays a lot. Sands down to safety. Yeah
And I guess now, MIBR have a decision to make.
Normally, you'd want to try if they were going to have
ramp room with all five players who are able to get the kill.
They'd want to meet downstairs with the outside player
or turn them into a lurk.
Now, I think everyone's going to have to activate.
You have a flank for Heaven.
You have a flank for Mini outside.
You need the other two players to have some kind of strength
and power hitting into this upper bomb site
to take attention away.
40 seconds on the clock.
Not a lot of time here for MIBR to work this one.
Brenna trying to get into a good position at hell
and Sany into the smoke, Nism is watching for this.
And Sany goes into the open,
Bruno to get that kill, so you're alerted to look towards Heaven
and Lato quick to that headshot.
Second player's up next,
and Bruno going down to Nism's hand and Dumau
able to clean up on NQZ.
So two players stay alive for legacy,
they get another round win.
Yeah, really good hold, but that's a nice attempt
from MIBR to find that kind of a situation.
Everyone kind of working pretty well together.
You could see how that would have panned out if MIBR
were able to turn it in their favor.
This is how it started.
It holds from Lato behind the smoke,
swapping out as well.
and the rafters are really strong defensive position. Now thankfully in the previous round
at round 4, MIB Arga, or at round 3, MIB Arga got a clean win, so they can buy right back up
and Insani's got a Mach 10, look for something pacy.
Well, NIP able to course correct on the Astralis map pick they take Inferno and now we get
a little weird, a little wild, maybe wonderful with it. Let's see, we're on cash as the decider
Hugo.
Yeah, two games logged for NIP, three games logged for Astralis. What's funny is the
NIP have started both their games T side, Astralis both all three CT side and well,
But I'm surprised they had great success in those opening halves getting 11 rounds in one game, getting 9 rounds in another game.
And IPA, can I have trouble on their T half?
I just saw them losing knife round as well, so it feels like they're going to continue with this stat.
And Astralis, get the favorite side.
At the same time, she's a very T-sided cash games here at EWC, so I wonder if an IPA have been in the lab and can bring out their best half yet.
When he found four and five rounds respectively in their two games in this opening half, it's gonna need to be different today
So big and spirit rage on on this game on this map brother last night and
Big showed us just a kind of genius T side
Do snappy and Hoax you have cooked up
And can't foosie recover. I mean safe to say he was the liability back on in Toronto
Couple better rounds for him and you feel like this series would be over and Astralis would be in playoffs instead hips still have a shot
It's time to go
The NIP individuals started this series off slowly and they've warmed into it now.
Now it's been impressive, had some highlight moments on both maps really.
Stan with his AWP, great to see him finally get to use it in the series on Inferno and
boy what an impression it made.
down the the better all between him and foosie it's not even a question not even close
zero middle i think you kind of expect nades before a mid take so the fact that nip have just
snuck out as soon as don't know they hear the vent pop and now they know this is a b-split coming in
in. You see? Good for his one. Stare was trying to give him a
bit of chase there through the smoke. Now be getting active on
this flank. Trapped. And you've got three players pinned in at
the bomb site. It starts to feel very small, very claustrophobic,
shush. Not long for this world. You were talking about it
coming in here. We've seen some very T-sided games of cash here at EWC. For a
strong list of their matches, it's actually lent CT-sided.
Yeah, really strong opening halves in all their games on this defensive side. So we
haven't really seen them tested on the T-half.
But let's see if we even need to.
Force by comes in here from there.
Kaspersky on the AK.
In fact, rather than one time-strikes did start T-side, they got three rounds, they still made an OT.
He's peeking, you see? But Hoopsy was waiting for this move. It's optimistic.
This spot over here.
It's trapped back site, support for the vents.
He needs to hunt down Ryu now if they want any chance of winning this round
and Shush's creeps under the shot. Stair runs out from the CT smoke.
It gives Ryu a chance and he seizes the round.
Stare sacrifices himself for the greater good.
And Astralis stopped that B-pop in its tracks.
Stare, do that to the CT smoke both times, right? Just barreling through.
See a lot of squads really get bottlenecked behind that U-Tilt.
Stare doesn't seem to want to.
It's the best time to retake the site right before they have it, don't let them get imposed
whilst don't let them put the bomb down, just keep the pressure on.
Stown returns a favor that Kaspersky gave them whilst Matthew hands up an AK in this
eco.
Insta-nade and main hurts.
I see no, I see a deagle.
He has my interest.
And that rifle,
that as soon as it tries a boost,
sends down up, see how he gets on.
And honestly, buying himself a few more seconds
on the Molly ricochet around gets him that kill.
Now be strong position, though.
They can't clear it with you till.
You're going to counter boost.
I mean, I'm going to cancel that.
There's players out there.
You have to be doing a great job.
Two kills.
It's down.
DTA's.
They're flanking him as well.
You know, his misses felt like they'd shaped up that last game, I don't know her.
Yeah, both AWPers armed and deadly.
Stunner attempts that mid cross shot.
Always a really nice way to get involved early.
Look at them go.
Insta main take.
and
You tell out for this mid-take just a blanket of fire, try and get you in and now he decides
to go.
Here's them dropping over that boost, feels like he's got a window and he is dead on in
that.
Now the stacking bait, they know with no one aim in or door where this bomb is going.
Grabs the back killer now and if you know the jig is up, they go in, they're going
in to the belly of the beast.
Having shoots down at the back.
With the flash, you can fuzzy wall bang kill.
There's just too many players here for Nip to handle this round.
Just a great move out of Astralis really, right?
A series of them.
And it's that instant main take that puts them on the track to success.
I knew what Nip were doing before Nip were even in position to do it.
Does feel like the most important part of the map, doesn't it?
Right, like not many mid control rounds on CT sides here at EWC, but loads of a main takes.
Whether it be insta pushes or just in the mid round using that deep smoke to cross left side.
Every team has a different way to do it, but the same result, just choke holds, the T's.
Just gonna go for the pop here, we got the backside smokes, or shush.
Heaven. And the orb cut off. Full retake for Astralis!
Good molly. Time wasters. They've got another.
Oh, what do you do? Molly's in the fire now. So much so, Astros is doubting you, they're
checking their flank, but smoke fades and Stound hits a shot. This round's on. That's their
own smoke actually putting out the Molly that would have stopped the plant, but now nip
out a shot. I can't believe Ryu has sat there and waited for one guy lurking this
whole time snappy dead in mid meant to be a guy causing chaos in the back line of
Astralis instead gets jump-scared and now it's just no good moments on the
pistols but he's got a foosie all that legs him down low and they just run him
down together really nice to watch Astralis retake that site there after
Ryu gets the kill, just good spacing, Stegos over Toxic to Cliff or Cliffed.
Everyone's hot on the trades here, Astralis, don't let them get too dangerous.
Considering how much room you've had, they get so much of their time wasted by those mollies.
They're around for Astralis, 5-0 start, and we're seeing those T-side woes that we anticipated for NIP continue.
Yeah, the difference is, both times we've seen them play it, it is these T-harbs where
they've done a little better on the side of NIP.
Sure, they've been pretty dominant losses against them.
Who's he yet to die?
Another attempt at this A main but they come for the boost.
Why three players?
They're double boosting?
Hmm, I can leave him there.
Ouch.
Who's he dead?
4v5.
Hugo's searching in that box smoke.
Might stop this split for a moment, but...
Somehow survives back on this site.
Him and Stare together.
I think NIP have got a different plan here, and so we do get to see the yabby boost
on A.
not so great if they come up highway.
Just telling yourselves there's no way they come up highway, right?
Here they are charging up.
Oh, that's it!
Drops down!
Hoopsie good for his as well.
Keeps this one even in a two on two.
It's down long range on the AWP.
Had a chance to stop stair on that crossing
and he's actually going to full commit to the backstab
way through main. And with eyes on, you'd love it if one of these two hits this opener.
Stown gets his reposition out onto the forklift and gun on in time. Stown collects a huge
triple kill here. Stown has been up and down in this series, but perfect time to
deliver nip around. Not too late in this half to come back.
That's a really nice try from Yabba, just had zero support as as far as went for the B-stack.
Very slow margins on that shot, but it's down
Tries to force it opening on that smoke shot and just comes up short
No one outside of B for NIP
Very heavy presence towards this a bomb site again the Abbey here alone does have support close by on highway
front side smoke for yabby just to make it very uncomfortable for them to get on
default they can molly him but they can't see it
double-nade, dunks NIV and now all poking sightline this shot yabby still
here back side stairs drawing fire for him how do you get in here jump a
shot by hoopsie the cry now loud and no trick shots will save you now it's
It's going to be Astralis locking down the A site.
Love that front-side smoke on the execute.
What are Nip meant to do?
Feels like right now you have to make the rounds a little fakie,
try and misdirect them because whatever you've seen these set pieces out of NIP Astralis
know exactly what to do to disrupt it.
That's so much Utah.
Right, that was a double HE doing over 100 damage.
Nade on the smoke to give Fuzi at least vision, and then Front Sight smoked a blocknip.
So much util here, and we're going to go for a B-pop now.
These XX haven't been your friend, they haven't been working.
Double Sight set up for the Hootsie dead right away, that leaves just one guy home.
Ryu gets the double, they're burning in that molly.
He's dead after two.
Bomb crossing in, Fuzzi.
They know a chance to stop it,
and they will look to give chase here through the smoke in CT.
They can get out as well.
Abbey hunted down,
Sappy pushed his spawn and Stare needs to find his one-on-one.
Pronto, player right below him, just crossed out.
Now smoke, if anything,
is going to create more problems for Stare as they can play behind it.
He's not getting given a single fight, clearing the wrong side.
Time is expiring and X Kaspersky here is the step, Steg, it's back side but wait a second
no one can stop this but he doesn't even stick it.
He could have won that.
I think he could have won that.
round, but the instant exit actually works out.
to the B-take and they've got vents as well so Ryu...
Ohhhh they're over it!
No one even checked!
Ohhhh no!
That's rough for Ryu!
He will take it, there's smokes everywhere!
This is such a messy game now!
So much UTIL, I mean Nipah just calling out of spawn and hey, it started to work back to backgrounds on B
I love watching Saffy's cam when he gets killed just sinks in his seat
But hey the call worked
Nip is still here and not a lot of weapons saved here for Astralis so it's going to get better for Nip before it gets worse.
Considering they were getting kind of dominated here they would take a chance to split the half.
Money now gone in the Astralis camp and so you'd like to think it at fourth rounds right around the corner.
just this safe gun or a shot.
I hurst for it because he let like three guys pass and then he just felt like he had to take the shot.
And he actually revealed his position with that missed shot.
He walked behind him. There could have been something to that.
It's down here to banger.
Fast over the boost.
And again, more of this.
They're already up my way.
This is why they're using three players so they can silent drop off.
That's really cool.
You make noise if you come off the yellow box, but if you go off a teammate's head, it's
lower.
That's a nice idea for a straw.
It is sick, but ex-Kaspersky's already up and down his throat.
Cool trick, cool gimmick.
Kaspersky don't care.
Yeah.
And then getting that rifle back, that's up on top of the boost, trying to hand
over the Deagle, player remains snappy still lurking out as they hit this B site. It's
a bit of a lump of shop, but no Deagles connect, backside pistol for real panic and it's going
to get knocked out by Shush. This is a crazy gamer cache.
You know what? It's working. Nip. Four rounds. Three in a row.
I don't know how you call around this if you're a strawless they were doing great is shutting down these a heads for beers a bit of a problem now
Yeah, I think you're a strawless pretty time yourselves like doesn't
Doesn't feel like bees as much of a problem as it is like you had the Ryu awkward
Situation in the one before yeah, boozy like chasing through that CT smoking
what was actually an advantageous position for Astralis when it was the eco for an IP.
True.
They've kind of fumbled in two very important swing rounds on that beef side of the map.
Would love to see vent control on this CT side.
Get up on middle.
Either breach from B or just, you know, get close mid,
because it's not like mid coming out middle, with the exception of the last round.
Just keep going for this.
Close main control.
It's not a bad fight.
The exkyspersky is ready! He uncrouches as Yadda goes wide!
So let's try and get the advantage.
Don't you open that door, note?
Oh! My goodness!
You hit it!
Well, one door opens, that same door closes.
Oh, just just allowed to look out over here towards checkers and the devastating effect
thought to be ready for one more right every time it's been two sites
Smoke might change your mind. No first
Seriously
Who's he's here not for long though
Beaks his own flashbang
This game is cursed.
Winnable.
What can the Abbey do?
He's down on the line.
And so, NIP on one hell of a streak.
They're running away with this game.
They are.
Astralis are cooked.
Again, like, you kind of just feel like you fumble the round if you're Astralis.
I imagine that's how they're recovering.
They go, they get the opener from a nice move out on A.
He also heard the guy, the main who stepped.
So Rios in the open, they heard him.
Rios in the open watching main, but he crossed checkers, that's why he stepped.
Fuzzi just walks through the city smoke.
The rest is his.
Which I, yeah, that's like the most egregious one.
Yeah.
He's done that like three times now.
Okay, like this position from Yabi, if they open the door, he's covered.
And Yabi has been very dependable, his bombsite has not been the issue, he's in a fight into
the door, straight places with no...
You've seen some fumbled moments over on B. Yabbi has not been making these same mistakes.
Okay, you can't lose this round. You're not allowed to. It's 5-3. Timing is good.
Snappy, frustrating death, but this round's over and a half will fall that way as well.
Astralis 7 rounds, not a bad T side for NIP considering how down they start.
But I think Astralis, they get to feel good about the end of their half there by winning that final round.
It was a messy few in the middle.
Very strange cash game.
It's all on the line. This last half, elimination and going home or playoffs here in Paris.
Yeah, is this small cache of rounds that the NIP are able to collect on their T-Side Endeavour enough
to make it them with a shock win?
And I think it would be kind of shocking how this series started.
It felt like NIP had to hit hard from the get-go.
It kind of seemed like they needed to leave an impression on Nuka. They did not.
Individuals were slow to get going. They gave away a number of man-advantaged positions.
But then turning it around on Inferno and now the uncertainty of cash aggression out towards
B main.
Try and set a tone in this pistol.
It's down.
It'd be nice to see him make noise on his way back.
I feel like they're still going to be aware this is a possibility.
But no, no he's looking, yeah he's just got the full flanker room.
Now it's just on a walk, he's rambling.
Oh there's the spot, stairs keeping eyes on.
Oh, everybody.
Good pick back up for Shush and that bomb is running towards B which was left entirely open.
open.
Shush has to clear this quick, that's a nice kill, but there's two players below heaven,
stair trades.
Smoke comes down, big gap on this B site, after notes push, and it's one that NIP are going
to regret.
Through the smoke and snappy nails it, can he stop that plant, this jump goes back to
main and he needs support, it's not coming in, flank denied.
headshot. It's ex Kaspersky with it all to do here in this one on two as Stounders walks
away ex Kaspersky plays and not on the same page in this 2v2, the bomb gets put down.
Well, absolutely no reason for Hoocsi to fight as that's down crosses yabby holds and there
you go they swing it together nice bit of composure for yabby and Hoocsi restoring some
order to the chaos that has been this cash game.
I think it's just it's you know a lot of situations you haven't played before a lot of new rounds
Some unfamiliarity
It was a great cool first try to get back to be after getting that kill. I didn't expect it to be that free
But they exploit it the big question for me was just like if snappy doesn't flub the jump
I think it's such a different round. Yeah
Looks like it feels rough, right? Like you had it trapped back-site.
So, Astralis, lead grows.
As a force by comes in from NIP, this round punctuates in with a little time out.
of
very heavy in the middle
of
the ice
of
All the makings of a B-split, isn't it?
An NIP are learning this now too, with aggression in towards A main.
Shush alone here with a scout.
About to be at the full mercy of all five Astralis players.
I slow it down for a moment, waiting for this U-Tile to come in, but not long enough for
the Rotates to arrive.
There's one shot of all, but that smoke is huge.
I wasn't getting a chance to react here.
Probably should be saving this force by as the Strylers have put themselves in the winning position.
Strylers looking composed on this T-side.
Not in a hurry.
They're no-deagle. Still no-worthy.
Oh, he's so good with it. That's full at the end, but not before he's double.
Still, Astralis are licking their lips because it's just these saved weapons to worry about
Scout Famous pistol that's what an IP have to go for in this next round you're
eyeing up double digits
and really only one rifle round away from feeling like you're on the finish
line
haven't had to do too much either rounds kind of coming to you this one will be
the same with triple B push it's gonna give it away he sees everybody there
I went really in the best positions to try and react to that info so it's not like you're
instantly going to get bounced on over here in A.
Snappy.
There's him up above him.
I mean the longer this goes, such a paranoid inducing spot for Snappy.
He has to hold mid at the same time.
There's almost no way to sit in this position
without it looking a little ridiculous, right?
You have to bear everything in mind.
Here we go.
They've abandoned him.
You're on your own.
There's no split on this B site.
Stay here. Oh, I'm going to follow him.
He's going to give the spot, but gun drop.
Snappy still just runs away.
They're pouncing on B.
Oh, trying to get the stack here quickly.
Stap is down with a follow-up.
And with multiple players peeking in and around these smokes,
that one is a convincing shutout from NIP.
Banger on the scout there from Stap.
He's going to get his AWP as well into this game.
Stap has just been so much for them in that position.
Here's the rotate to B, calls for the B-stack, gets the mid-kill.
About everything you could have hoped from your captain.
Look where it's done.
Strylas with a couple of casualties at the end of the round.
Pire for notes.
Now we only have one AK in this fight.
Gotta go rushing.
It's down.
Oh no.
Dead after one.
Deague finds him.
A site crumbles.
But as I've gone here, the backside smoke is still in a limit.
This retake now for NIP.
Enriu gets a strong reposition in this site.
Three players all from the same place.
Happy if he spams.
Could find these kills on the cross.
Waiting for his time to strike.
Stand next to another Ryu's position.
Comes up with Fru and it's just shush.
Gotta walk away.
Four on one.
And only a single AK-47 but the pop on this A-Site works big entry for Yaddy.
Stressful round to lose here for Nip. All the hard work of winning the eco stripped away.
And they hand over an orb.
Final time outburned as pressure sets in for MIP.
Eco win or not, they've ended up in the same place, opponent on double digits, Astralis
eyeing up those playoffs, and this rifle round is the best chance you have to change that.
Come up short, money runs out and you're 11-6 down, and all but guarantees is Stralis,
match, series and playoff point.
It's just been little normal flow in this game, it feels like any round winnable or
I feel like you're never out of the woods and that applies to Astrolis too even now at 10.6 as Orp comes in.
It's a decent enough buy here for them.
Gonna pop through this smoke.
Spurski escapes from that molotov.
And the Nathan checkers.
Oof. He is very low.
Just gets out.
Beep-op.
Ready to...
Do you now overlook this second player?
No, you can't. Can you? There's so much room.
Snappy steals himself away around this smoke.
Yappie's got smooth moves to come in past him and we touched on the money coming into this how it just wouldn't be there for an IP
They have to bow out of this round. They have to go and save these guns
I don't imagine you see a straw this hunt. I don't think it feels worth it
But anything that gets removed it just doesn't get to come back for an IP
I love that round for Astralis, they go for the mid-pop, they force NIP out, they throw
a deep highway smoke which makes it look like they're just scaling up for an A-split, NIP
lose all infos, just get boxed in at the back of B and it's a 5v2 with no support available.
I think even if both those players get a killer piece, you're still done for in that
post-blog. This feels like the map of pocket strats. Astralis have long sleeves. Looking
very good now to take this series and go to the playoffs. Two rounds in a way.
lovely shot simple as that
uh-oh
made a step and they punish yeah you can kind of see the fear taking can you
he knew he messed up
can't say forever so they're just gonna throw their life on the line that's a
kill back in for ex-Kasper ski hey this might have started as a bit of a
desperate hail Mary but that opening kill goes a long way oh he's got it and
And this 3D5, they're going to give it a go, barreling in, it's another 4 snappy.
Two players in a crossfire here, and Stown slow as he approaches on this AWP.
He's running out, 4 nip, and now they learn about this player under heaven.
There is no attempting it for Stown, Astralis, match, series, and playoff point.
They have six chances of waltzing into those playoffs.
Definitely most more comfortable on this map.
I had ideas shut down a lot of those A plays in the first half.
B was definitely a weakness.
NIP figured that out.
I feel like too late in the game.
And now this T-Side, just abusing the B-Side as NIP once did,
looks to me enough to get them over the line in this match.
Great map out of yabby, great series out of Ryu.
Stroll is right there
Oh look at Yabi go
doesn't die in that and ex Kaspersky really trying to chase this kill so
stout that they're super dedicated to this it's not just the one guy in mid
but a second player has now been bought down low
so Astralis decide you know what we're done with middle
Tuck tail and turn away and grouping for this a here
Well, they're not that done with middle
And back to the Astralis CT side just how this a site was able to withstand every hit
It was leveled against them right now nip have two low players two wounded players all in position
And a 5v4 to boot.
I think they've done enough.
Ryu trying to open a backdoor, missed shot from that foozie orb.
And a round that just peeters out.
Two chances there to get away with a steal of a round.
Both players missed their shots and save as the right call here for Astralis.
One more before all is said and done.
Double warp taken as well, why not at this point in the game, we've got nothing to lose.
One for each bomb site, right?
Honestly, if I fell from B, the U2 has been very impressive in this game.
this game.
The Strahlers take your time out, because they don't want this to get close, they don't
want to feel any stress.
Still feels like the entire playbook's open.
Tried one mid-take, didn't really pan out, put you on shaky footing to start the round
and it never recovered.
Maybe they just go back to what's been working.
These set pieces.
How long can NIP stave this off?
Any five more to reach OT?
It's down orping mid, Rave's just got spammed on that B push, Astralis we're setting up
for a B split but it's going to make it a little bit more difficult, should she's now
orping the vent.
Pressure on this highway to fake out an A split again and it has drawn three players
over but this orp is still a problem or a missed chance for Fuzi.
would have been the opener that should have sealed this game. Now Nip get the chance to
fight for this B site.
Snappy started this round with Smoke Spam to find the advantage, but no chance for him there.
Shursh on his secondary orb, fighting to stay alive only gets out with one. The rotates are arriving.
For Utile down, for Astralis, they get to move in with this bomb. It ends in a B side retake.
So, so far, they have to come out together, but one by one through this smoke is a big problem. Staying at a reposition.
Here's Lowke, announces position, and one by one they come crumbling down.
Nowhere to go for Stown. This is Astralis hunting down the final playoff spot.
We know it, Stal knows it. It is a matter of time.
And Astralis do it in three. A very difficult series and all is said and done.
Inferno goes the distance. A comeback here for NIP, but Astralis at the final hour showcase a strong cash.
Great defensive half. Stal MVP and they do go through to the playoffs clean.
Yeah, after their woes at the major this new season. It's back-to-back playoff outings for this Astralis squad
Brenna
Brenna P. Hugo will just hit the cough button on his
It's actually a comedic fight something. Yeah, nonetheless
Astralis gonna get down here at the very end of the line at least for the group state
You know, if you're in straws manager hooksy you like this
You like there's a lot not only just because you found success but because it was a good story
Yes, indeed and a very important to men for Astralis right like they're doing okay in the grand scheme of things
They come to realize the next major and all that but as people pointed out back-to-back playoffs to start the season some consistency
That has eluded them before
And also just being able to stay in it
Mentally not get too frustrated after how their own map pick went I think goes a long way
for this Astralis team and I think they could be they could be very happy with this women
I feel like throughout the series it was never really doubt who were the better team and I think that Astralis showed
not only the resilience and the men's game coming out of a let's say like a
Tiny bit of a throw on in Bruno, but also when it came to cash
They looked in control and just like the better team for the majority of it and it's just always nice to see style players
I think he's a guy that we we should be mentioning you know
they will give this match but also throughout the tournament so far.
This guy is just one seller, right, and you know, it's very rightfully so that he's also the guy to, you know, carry them all the way.
Yeah, I agree. Rock solid, one of Magic's favorite players and this game I feel like could have been closer.
I don't think NIP was terrible. I think they, in a couple of key rounds, they had their opportunities,
but those rounds were so one-sided in a way that they brushed over them.
You know even in the second half here on cash yes, they lose pistol, but they managed to win that force and
You know after that
Astralis comes in with an a rush with pistols and sort of just you know you lose that one round strong hand and all
In that tracer nothing ends up that was really the round that seat to be here or crossing them a little bit of district
Bylight that's one of the issues with
That seems that if they would have won that one it would be the 97 they could have brought it back
with a full eco on the throttle, that would be a chance that they could actually pound
straight, but no, that wasn't really the case.
You can also feel after that round that specifically no, I believe it was note that was called
out by truck.
Ah, really really totally.
So tell me a little bit about how Cache played overall, I mean we've seen a couple
reps of it now, how do we think it plays maybe in comparison to the old school way
of watching Cache or perhaps even just what we have now?
I think it's, I asked Dan, go to question lag and bring in lag, what do you think
if it's going to be like a CC map or is it a T-map and I think I've seen both right there like so far through this tournament
I saw how big they will demolish people on their T sides when they just know spend a lot of their time really work in mid and
Having these B splits which really hard to you know work around but right now
I mean like it's it's left off a grab which I think it's honestly more T-Side than a CC side
Well, it's hooksy sided today. I can tell you that much and that's pretty much locked in
So what does hooksy have to say after they win?
That is exactly my question indeed, Trace Astralis locked and loaded into that top 16.
Congratulations, Hooksy!
I know it took the full three maps so let's tackle this one in a linear fashion.
We're watching the first map of Nuke.
Looks like you guys can do no wrong.
Did it feel like that in the server?
I mean like, I feel like we could do everything wrong on T and then somehow win anyway
and it was nice to close out the game fast in that way because you know if we lose those rounds
rounds maybe it gets tight and then maybe it's the same as an inferno and we lose 2-0 and
so I don't even want to think about it.
So talk to me about that inferno then.
Your pick into the series, what did NIP present that was a bit tricky for you to deal with
there?
I mean I think on T side we lost both forces.
We should have won the second time we forced the show.
It was just we didn't hit just and then I had some bad calls but made up for it
with some good kills in the end of T and then on CT we...
It was like back and forth, and then I think I did some bad calls with having the obon B
and I mean if we just played our normal game I think we would have honestly beat them to
zero, but yeah I'll take that one on me.
We needed cash to settle the score between you guys, got a little bit chaotic at times.
I know you've played and called a couple of cashers now, it's in the map wall.
How did this one compare to the other that you played?
Oh I think we played pretty well, did some good pushes and retakes together and I
I mean, on the C side it was honestly pretty clean with the entry and like with the open stuff and our execute, B-splitting, it looked good.
I don't want to ask the typical interviewer, you know, how you feel they're making it to playoffs, but it is important for you guys, right?
Because you're looking at those VRS points, you want to be making it up to the major and as deep as possible.
So in terms of making it to top 16, is this a limit for Astralis? What is the bare minimum you want to achieve there?
No, it's not the limits. We can go way further if we want, but I mean
It depends on who shows up on the day if it's the good or the better stylist
But I think today was good so we will try to catch the moment
And I hear you're very excited to crush NIP's key. Is there anything personal there or you just want to get your hands on it?
I mean, I know most of the guys over there. I've played with most of them
So at least some of them so of course it's a bit it's a bit more fun to beat them
So, yeah, I'm super happy.
I won't keep you waiting.
Then congratulations, Hooksie.
That is Astralis making it through to top 16.
Yeah, Astralis doing it.
And for Hooksie, you know, a little bit of a sigh of relief.
It did take a little bit of an effort to get themselves here,
the very finished line at the end of it all.
But yeah, he says he's pretty familiar with Nip's game.
And for Nip, well, what game they had today,
maybe left a little bit to be desired.
I mean, that's what happens if Kaczbrowski has a bad game
point of view, right?
Kaczbrowski has been knocked out a few ways.
It's like, don't have a bad game for spirit.
Yeah, that's what I mean.
Yeah, it was rough. Unfortunately, they lose both pistols, deal with bad starts.
They did a good job of adjusting in the first half.
Spreading out around the map, they were getting flanked early on in that half.
I managed to find some solutions, but, you know, if you do end up losing both pistols,
then you have to take advantage of all the other opportunities that you have.
that you lose to that A rush against pistols that proved too much to overcome for an appeal
cash.
Let me shift the combo just a little bit here towards the coaching staff over at Nip.
Now I know that Nip have gone through some very turbulent times over the past couple
of years for X amount of various reasons, but the coaching staff over there and IE
Richard, I'm talking about existing self.
So this guy in terms of pedigree, he's done a lot of things in the earlier days
of counter strike.
You've seen it.
Right remember him saying don't pick cash against me
Like now and now different things are different. I was I had a small step with him in work when he was actually my coach
You know, he's uh, he's he's quite different from from what I've tried in in likes of Sonic obviously
He's a little bit more quiet. You know, I don't think he's always the one that wants to like dictate the game
But it's more like I wouldn't say he's just only a vibe coach
But sometimes I missed a little bit of people like your power for like this is what I want guys. Yeah
Well, look, it's only appropriate as they're on their way out of here. We're gonna hear from big rich right now
Yeah, sadly the end of the line here for NIP it
Don't exist sticking around for a couple of words after that one obviously a very long series for you guys
But I do just want to throw it back to your choice of new because it looked like a very calm star to say the least for you
Guys, what was your perspective on that?
Yeah, I mean, I think maybe we focused a little bit too much on the game plan instead of the thing are we in my guess
Obviously they also had a pretty good game plan. They used the swung yard kill us and they
They swung main kill the center again. I think we just died a little bit too much
And then on CT. I mean we I think we throw two big advantages
So obviously we make up many mistakes
we cannot make the comeback happen.
I know it ends up in a loss ultimately anyway, but what did you say to the guys between Nuke and Pharma?
Because I think we would have totally understood if it was just a monumental collapse from you guys,
but you showed some resilience, what were you saying to the boys between them?
I mean obviously we just have to reset, but I think it was key to get them to communicate more,
especially dead talk. If you are in a big advantage, 3-1, 4-2, the guy who is dead,
or the guys who are dead, they need to talk and tell them to play with a bit more discipline
more discipline or try to control them a little bit more. So yeah, communication was a big part of
I think why we managed to close that inferno. I just wanted to ask a wider question in terms of
your perspective because the desk touched upon it obviously you've got a quite a history with cash
back in the day now it's come back into the map pool how differently do you feel it's playing?
I don't think it's that different quite similar strats of course with the blitzes and it's a bit
different when you can blitz smoke's open right but it's pretty much the same the only
difference is the results. I think we're 0-3 on it now, so not our best bet. But we have to keep
working on it, try to find new ways of playing. I think at times maybe we're playing a bit too set
on T-Side. It could be a lack of experience. Post plans are also pretty poor, so yeah,
it's just like details that we need to work on. Just to round off, I know you guys have been
on one hell of a grind to be trying to get as many points as possible. Of course,
all eyes on the major at the end of the year. What is next for NIP?
I think we have some online qualifiers and then yeah we just need to try to qualify for another
to one land and I think that's how we need to qualify to the major.
Well thank you so much for your time with us. Convisirations won more sadly,
no longer here for the Ninjas in Paris.
Yeah unfortunate realities Freya also won my favorite songs all things considered.
I mean like, this is exactly the interview that I was actually expecting out of Exist and
mainly the thing that he talks that sometimes it feels like they're playing too set
and you know, bring you right back to my Falcons time man, that was not the greatest time of my life.
You don't say. The one team you didn't make, maybe you don't say because it's actually
funny you said that the Falcons did win the Rocket League tournament.
I don't care about Rocket League, we're talking about Falcons.
I'm gonna say it, Falcons won that and I think you needed to know that.
Well, it matters for the eSports World Cup up-champing.
That's the case, right? Because they're in direct contention with AGAL, who they've now jumped over,
and AGAL doesn't have a Counter-Shike team, so that's where the Falcons can in this tournament also
do their org solid and maybe help them secure third championship in a row.
21 million combined. Not bad, not bad.
Not saying Dupree has won that much.
Not even.
That's close.
That's close.
Gotta be getting up there.
But, uh, yeah.
Dupree, you are at spot on though.
I'm not gonna say that you're completely wrong.
Yeah, we're talking about Counter Strike over here.
So, hold on the phone and the other stuff.
As far as for Perky,
because Perky not being in server goes a long way.
Not very far in terms for Nip.
Yeah, they're in Hurston, right?
He's their best player.
Like, quite a mile in my books.
You know, he opens up the maps.
He also closes out the rounds.
he's the guy that you want to be turned into and with all due respect, I mean, he can only do so much, right?
I think he showed throughout this tournament that he's definitely a player to be looking out for in the future
and rightfully so, I think he had some very important rounds and some very important maps
and I know this one is going to stay a little bit right, he didn't really show up with this one
but all the other ones, he was the reason why they probably even got to the point of playing Astralis
And I just want to turn my attention again to to hope playing to said and I think that is that has to do with not a system
I think he enjoys having a system where he has an X amount of tactics
Then there's a couple variations and and if the if like the default of the workroom
That's what he turns his attention to and if you can't get that to work
Then he can't really do that. That's it. Right. That's it. Why you know, he's running out of ideas
Yeah, I think I mean the biggest issue for this NIP team has been stability, right?
were the roster ever since it was first assembled and there was changes every
couple of months. You know like you do that to change the portion
stack I think ultimately like this whole snappy experience didn't turn out what
you hoped it to be and I think come next transfer period I think you need to look
towards that to leadership like also I mean it's 36 or something something
along those lines right so if you're not delivering in terms of results you
We would benefit from making the team younger, giving someone else an opportunity and sort
of getting into this new era, let's put it that way, of NIP CS.
And that is really the issue that it comes to when the repo hasn't just really panned
out the way they want it.
And I feel like they've been trying for so long, right?
And it's again one of those organizations that are also pretty, they're probably
honking a bit for their past results, right?
It's just hard to kind of get through.
It is true and that I mean they did go international right so there's that reality
Sure there's more
NIP project itself. Show me group A brackets please. Let's keep this party moving along
Still got a big bracket draw here for the tournament side of the playoffs
So we have that going on still but for group A it has come to a conclusion
Yeah, no real shockers
I mean maybe the order in which the teams got there right spirit
Hinty goes through that lower bracket after a best-of-one loss to GG Howe, Aurora beating
M-80 and GG Howe to make the playoffs G2 through the upper bracket and big, unfortunately,
you know, had to go up against Spirit in that final game after being dropped into the lower
bracket by G2 and whole series but couldn't finish.
Yeah, made it entertaining, to be fair.
Yeah, I'm looking at Gableington, actually, just to look at that one, you know, beating
Luminosity and GG Howe, then you're in the playoffs.
I mean, like, must be nice.
That's what I mean by, you know, they had a poor result at their vapor, so it's nice to go here and get a bit of a bounce play.
It's a terrible counter strike, so let's see how they do.
That's what I mean.
Playoffs, baby. Finally.
It feels like there's been a lot of counter strikes at this point.
Now show me that Group B if you don't mind on the other end of this telephone line.
That's the thing. It's beauty right here.
It is indeed. The Falcons continuing to fly hot.
Yeah, well, out of doubt, you know, the best team.
I think the most stable team that we've seen in the tournament so far, so I mean, there's a lot on the line for that team, not only for the club championship, but also, you know, for the team continuing their campaign after the major.
I wouldn't say surprised, but happy to see FaZe Clan in this one, and then we're still having Legacy and MRPR battling out for that last spot, now that Astralis managed to clinch a victory against LIP.
So right now, Legacy being up 1-0 against MRPR, that's a bit of a bang this one.
Yeah, we'll see if MBR can bounce back on the second map.
And yeah, Falcons with how spirit and vitality have looked have emerged as the main favorite it feels like for the trophy here.
Would anyone like to say the final words for the NIP key, which will now be crushed?
So long.
RIP nip nip nip nip nip nip.
Say it in what Hoopsy would say, but say it in Danish so we have no idea.
Come here noops!
Wait, I thought that was...
That sounds good.
That's something, okay.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
Anyway, yeah, there goes that key.
They're going to go ahead and dismantle Nip,
which is unfortunately, you know, we talk about Nip almost
until we're blue in the face, but to have shown the performance
that Perky did the other night and then have it kind of go out
softly at the very end.
I think it's rough for them because they don't have as many opportunities
as some of these other teams like we heard from Exist, right?
So it would have been realized to have been able to make the playoffs,
right, get some extra points, make their lives easier down the line.
But unfortunately, you know, this is the sort of team they need to beat to get into the playoffs.
It's not like they had vitality in front of them or a Falcons, right?
Like Astros should be a beatable team for NIP.
But in the end, they just made, you know, some mistakes at crucial points in the game that cost them the series.
And it's back to the grind for them.
But, you know, looking at C, I think looking at the lower bracket,
That's a pretty dangerous lower bracket qualification for both Mousons and Matali.
That's probably going to haunt someone once we get to their 16-year-olds.
But regardless of that, Bate qualifying, I think Bate deserved that one after beating Matali.
And then Foot, still a team that I think is worth looking out for.
I think the X-Flow edition has really, you know, having a little bit of setback for them.
So I hope they will continue performing as they've done.
Yeah, and it's funny you should say draw because we will be doing that here shortly.
So if you're joining us, it is an appropriate time.
We just go through a little bit more here.
Got a couple of paperwork and forms to fill out behind the scenes.
And then they're going to have that right out here for us
to do the draw live for the tournament playoffs itself.
Show me the D. The group D that is.
There it is.
Slowly merging.
Navi.
Navi taking on the Manga Street, also qualifying.
And I think Fury also rightfully so with their win against 9C
despite being a little bit close, also making it
as one of the fairs through the upper bracket.
And then quite surprisingly to me,
that Magic beat 9C, I did not see that one coming.
And then lastly, Mongols taking out paint to qualify.
Yeah, that's probably the biggest upset
in terms of who's not in the playoffs, 9C,
playoffs of the major, right grand final of the XC tournament
over in China, losing to Piravision in the Vest of Five.
So yeah, we'll see if Magic can continue
to surprise in the playoffs.
It's already a huge win for them, again, also in terms of accruing the points and getting
to that Singapore mate.
That's crazy how much the VRS, you know, it's just like, for some of the teams here, the
VRS seems to be like, even the most important thing, like, I know it's important to get
fire and tournament just, you know, to create a resolve, but it almost feels like the
VRS is the most important for the long term, right?
Yeah, because, you know, there's two million in prize money, so you get that factor,
there's a lot of games because of the format, so you get the landmine component too,
Honestly, there's not that many tournaments from this point on in terms of accruing those points
or teams that are not in the top 12, right?
That are not in the invite time.
So for someone like Magic, huge step.
It is a huge step, just like it's been a huge step all day for me to ask you all at home to use the QR code
on the very bottom of my screen.
It's still there.
It's a brand new one or it's the same one.
I don't really know.
I don't read QR codes myself, but if I did, I would still try to do that with my cell phone right now from home, just like you are.
And that is for you to get your pickums in there. We've got to know who you think is going to be winning the whole enchilada around here in Paris
We still got a ton of counter strike to go because the playoffs are just on the cusp
We're gonna be doing a bracket draw for that here really shortly, but first
check this out
I
I
I
I'm hoping to funnel them towards this single rifle.
That's what they want. This is the only chance they've got to have something significant in this round.
It's LNZ, who's actually done very well to get that first kill, so two miles will fall, and LNZ will drop back into the B site.
So utility, landing forward, smoke for the cross, utility flying in as well towards dark, and behind the fountain limiting some of the strong positions that LNZ could have been standing in.
They know where that rifle is. It's flying all the way back behind the coffins, but it's the destructions out of different sides.
They haven't checked the new box, and he's come through with a kill on the USP, but it doesn't matter.
The kills do come through here, for like you said, they get into the site,
and you'd imagine the AK is going to have an easy time to think of handling the pistols down, Banana.
If L and Z was alive, so I'd say there might be a little bit of a chance,
but he's trying to spam one down through the smoke, make it easier for the pistols.
Well, nothing else, they have made them respect him, so they're going to drop back,
and AK can be picked up again for NQZ, and Brenner's got one too, so you can slip away with both of these AKs, that'll be amazing, but...
I mean, actually, I would tell both of them to stick around.
You're buying next round no matter what.
Yeah, the AKs are great, but take all these guns away from these guys.
Don't let them get out of here for free.
It's so painful losing all the AKs, losing all your rifles in a one round,
so NQs, you're gonna try and do it at the tail end.
Good fight from Try.
Well prepared, he'll open up the escape route.
A three to two for legacy as they gain the lead.
Remember, this happened on Nuke too.
We'll have to see how this one plays out.
But in the first half of Nuke as well, it was MIBR kind of grabbing
like two cheesy rounds early on to keep things close, to keep them within reach, to keep them
battling back, to keep Legacy honest, and then eventually Legacy just blew the scoreboard
wide open.
We're kind of at that same stage right now where I might be off the pistol in second
round.
Keeping it close, not in a bad place whatsoever, but there's a chance Legacy just crack
it open here.
Up in the hands of NQZ, try as well on the T side.
I see NQZ's AWP's out, so...
chance to show us what he's made of again if we get to see from the last map, but...
it's a good aggressive start, I mean, that was some of the moves we got to see from him.
On Nuke, he was confident to go for these picks, try and challenge, and he's costing the opening kill.
And that's what I wanted to see out of his defensive, he was gonna have a good hold, is get that AWP working again,
And now that you have an opening kill, the thing that killed you on Nuke was legacy players
finding a frag, taking the space and taking the initiative and finding gaps in the defense.
Now you have the pick, so you're not going to see as many wild individual plays pressing
the issue as much.
Standard brackets control for legacy, left mid is smoked off.
3-2 split on the defense, within Sony and LNZ at the B bomb site.
Art going through the motions wants to make the sounds the noises as if they want to
take banana control to get the staging area for an execute here.
It's pulled NQZ into CT spawn just a little bit further away from being able to help on this defense.
No, 30 on the clock.
Venom Zera in the site, Bruno down in the pit.
And you'll hear those steps charging towards him like he's gone for the final move here, round six for 20 seconds left.
Trying to get into the site, two mouth, the battering ram as he so often is, but the rotation has arrived for CT's son.
Let's try having to take him out of this.
He can't find Venom Zera, he just can't get to this.
The time that is taking is allowing the rotation of Insani to arrive as well, but he gets that too and just enough time to think about the plan, but LNC is not going forward, he's lost it, he's lost it to time, tries right out of it, LNC was far away, and try does so well to get himself in a position where he could have clutched up, but he ends up playing himself.
absolutely admirable effort and I can't even fault him for the fake tap and
plant you thinking maybe there's the last retaker is gonna be coming from
that position you think he's gonna be right there and you might be able to
lure him out into the open low HP as well trife might have felt like that
was his best chance tied up at three here we are again my PR just barely
hanging on fingernails gripping tightly onto inferno tightly onto their
life in this tournament at the Esports World Cup.
Try just running up towards top middle.
Oh, there's the chance. He just couldn't connect it.
Almost got it back.
Yeah, he did.
But this is the attitude now. Do you want to take that space?
Look how fast you've got mid and brackets control.
I was going to start moving back, but Tri's moving forward.
Smoke will block out the apartments for the time being.
There's the peak from NQZ. Not going to work out.
Brennan had to train. He goes back again.
Good reposition. Couldn't quite take the kill though.
Although, the Venom Zero tries to rotate towards Moto, but he's caught in the open.
Lato moves through the smoke, the risk's been taken here, paying off for Legacy, and forcing away the MIBR defense.
So that's going to be Legacy up to 4-3, claiming the lead of the game again.
And then where Insani is, he doesn't feel like this or it's possible.
It isn't possible just yet, and it won't be, because Nelson rips his head off, and Legacy looking for some high-fives here.
It's right. Is there a back in the lead again?
Yeah, really good find. I don't think M.I.B.R ever thought for a second that that positioning from tries off so early on in the round was going to lead to a timing hit at a minute and 20 seconds at this bomb site.
There was no real intensity, there was no urgency in the rotation back from the triple B start.
I think they thought that was just going to be a pick attempt and then it would fall until like a slower pace run as they've seen throughout this half.
You might be onto something with them kind of working in these pace changes that clearly aren't there yet when they go slower, but you can see when they go faster, man.
The players just know exactly what to do.
And that's their rhythm.
Right now, Inferno is their jam because there's about to be a 5-3 lead.
No issues from IPR being presented.
They don't have anything worth talking about.
And then the job right is for Brenno.
He's on the adventure, but he'll take one in a second to really get this one going
and get a dink.
They see the aggressive plays and they've got Venom's arrows number here.
Exactly just B, they start to drift back towards the A site.
They might actually beat this play if Legacy continue moving forward.
No banana control for Legacy, they'd have to move back into it and get it late in the round.
Looks like they want to use most of the clock and let these MIBR players who don't have any weapons kind of get nervous with the timing of everything.
See if they can bait out some peeks, some aggressive plays, it's coming right now.
I'll just try to kill towards top mid and I think he's finished off, we'll see Jumao run up through short, try to clear out the final two here, he's already sprung away behind that truck eventually, take it up at USP, just hold the phone right there.
Hold the phone, right?
Oh, yep, the USP did a burn-off, and that's going to be enough to know exactly where he is.
So, allowed to prime himself and get ready for the kill.
Alright, five to three.
Pistol round goes the way of, or I should say, eco round goes the way of legacies.
So, now we buy back up NQZ with the AWP M4s being snatched for the rest of the MIBR defense.
Literally fine, probably made this round feel a little bit scarier to legacies than it actually was.
Probably made him a little bit nervous to see what was coming next.
I think every round has just had like a little moment of fear, right?
It's never been clean. It's never been comfortable for either squad.
Four of the last five in the favor of his legacy offense.
They're cooking right now. Boost up with the AWP over the top of the smoke.
And this is a worry when we got to a furno once the gun round started.
It might be our final this start. Get the pistol in the early rounds, but
as soon as you see legacy get onto the guns and how comfortable they are on this very map,
So I'm going to see them show their class.
You're now going to be challenging this B-bomb site setup.
There's four players here, they might just go with this.
But I mean, at least for the moment what they want to do, they like applying this much pressure early
because it's forcing out the utility earlier than MIBR would like,
which means late round the stockpile is going to be softened up and depleted for a re-execute.
Yeah, they're going back because obviously the bomb's still in the T-star, so they slowed out for a moment.
And because you got that kind of control and applied that much pressure,
pressure. Now MIBR has to be nervous this entire round that a hit is gonna come in.
LNZ has one more smoke to chuck out. That'll delay things a little bit further
depending on the timing of it. So right around the 30 second mark if legacy
want to finish at the B bombsite that's when that smoke fades. Three defenders at
this bombsite as well and without them even investigating this round not
without them taking brackets control or showing any presence there. It's gonna
It's going to be a hard fought battle to break in.
Advantage of utility to Legacy.
L and Z trying to disrupt the CT smoke.
He's going to play through it.
It's true, players here.
So let's see what MIBR can do with 20 seconds left.
You don't have a huge amount of time to clear this.
If you're Legacy,
Miskier work massively in the favor of MIBR.
Do now always find a way to charge through
but his teammates are not following it up
just yet and then all of a sudden they do.
Nisman try where the impact kills right at the end to put that bomb down with just enough time and
NQZ alongside Brenno have to try and retake this but try has got the deep position the deep angle all the way down towards CT spawn
Yeah, that's just giving it up as I say so
But at this point my PR are not really looking all that likely to attack this because they don't have a kit nor enough utility
Well, they're not gonna risk NQZ actually see me. He's the one being the most aggressive coming from banana
They are sliding in. I don't know why they're trying to get up here.
Unless there's a kit dropped inside the bomb site that they can pick up on the way, there's no time for this.
They're over the top and they're just losing their weapons. They're just throwing away their guns.
And Bruno didn't get the AWP. He's having a runaway here.
That's going to be a strange decision there from MIBR at the end of the round.
Yeah, all that attempted retake really accomplished for you was losing the AWP.
The AWP moved in, died, and then you can't recover it.
So that's a weapon you don't have moving forward.
So you add scratcher there from MIBR.
Yeah, I think that's why you get a timeout because you're making decisions like that
You know you got to get everybody back in the same page a little breather because you're not making the right decision
Crucial points. Yeah, potentially they just lost some focus and maybe felt like they you know
It's around where they could be a little bit more patient with things
Either way time to talk things over because as we kind of foreshadowed it is feeling very similar to new call of a sudden six of
The last seven rounds in the favor of legacy three in a row
And MIBR's ability to stand toe-to-toe with his legacy squad seems to be slipping as time
goes on.
Look at this late-round trades coming in.
One of them threw the smoke as well.
Just layers of legacy players streaming in on the execute, constantly with the information
that their teammates had passed over to them.
12 kills on try, 10 on Nysim, the only two players in double digits inside the
server.
Zero kills on art.
But he's got six two rounds on the board. You know what I think he's fine
He's happy that you'll get his couple of impact kills at some point this half you got that feeling about it
Hey, it's giving us that care. We're gonna look right now
Here we go Brenna over the top
Legas are able to close this with a statement when
Resulted and I am I'd be arguing the double figures and close out the series
I think you could be really interesting to talk about and what they can do going into the round of 16
team into the playoffs at the event. Because they are super fun teams to watch.
This is dangerous.
Well, AK is holding the angle. Venomzara is right here at the doorway. And there is a little bit of a trap
set up, but you can't break that apart with you till you can force them into the fights.
And luckily that grenade comes up from this end.
I don't think they saw LNZ though. They're gonna think Boiler is clear, could find.
Yeah, two more able to make sure LNZ is out of there. So NQZ and Insani left.
In a 2v3, it's still a doable round to roll with some from RBR.
So you're starting to slowly pull that bomb away and again it's that same story
We've been talking about all Inferno even though legacy are winning these rounds
There's always moments where my PR make it difficult for them
Yeah, I mean there's been some real real tough rounds of legacy if had to grind themselves back into that smoke doesn't cover mid
So NQZ gonna get spotted but not caught
Gonna be coming back out in Sammy and he does have a beagle ready to go
Smoked off, Coffin's getting smoked now, Legacy not missing any details.
NQZ is rotating over in case this D.V.L. makes something happen.
Oh my god! That is a sharp start, isn't it?
Two miles ahead, shredded off the top, but try.
Group position slightly elevated on top of first oranges, able to respond to Insani.
But NQZ, we talked about his 1v2s on Nuke,
get a couple of them where he stepped up.
They really need this one, and they're just gonna deny even that chance.
There you go.
Art gets his kill.
I was going to say, the only way he wins this one is if they really screw something up,
as if Art just never peeks, and he's able to spray him both down behind the box,
but that bait and switch is so hard to deal with in a 1v2.
It's up to a four-round lead now, legacy of fake and complete control.
Guns coming back in for MIBR, two more rounds in this half for them to scrape together whatever they can.
The last couple of rounds, I mean, the score line was 9-3 in the first half of Nuke, I managed
to bring it back to the final round of regulation.
Possibility that we see that very score line again here.
Right now, some of the apartments, no scope away, NQZ fully committed the pistols out, it's absolute chaos
but it's all coming up legacy because they thrive in chaos!
Another round victory, gonna be found here, absolutely no way into the round for MIPR!
They are just getting completely outmatched by legacy and it comes back to what we were saying, kicking off this game today
we were saying that there is a real possibility to come to the server and we watch legacy blow them out of the water
Yep, and it's happening as we speak.
Got all the answers dictating the entire map.
Showing some classier legacy over their countrymen.
Extended to five, and this I'm gonna try and hunt down these M4s.
And yeah, unfortunately for MIBR, the story just continues still.
Although, I like that we've seen a couple things that we can at least latch onto positively.
Obviously, it's hard to get super hyped about it with the score lines being the way they are.
There's still plenty of progress for this MIVR team to make over time.
So the potential for a comeback when we switch sides is just hard to build that confidence
after we saw the T-side on Nuke ineffective.
And now the CT side which was strong on Nuke is just getting overrun constantly.
Last round of this first half. Try 15 and 4. What a happy sadness in 12 and 5.
I'm too far behind at all.
I think that was something you were highlighting as well from the first half of Nuke. It felt like I might have had a number of close round losses.
One of those government favourites could have been a different story.
It seems now you're here on Inferno in the first half.
Different feeling like there were some there's been some close around like there's been there's been some close rounds
You're right earlier on in this half that they could have won maybe Soneka rounds
But I think more than anything it's like on nuke some of those close rounds were like gun rounds here
It's like they've had some five seven rounds. They've made a little bit sketchy
USP stacks out coming into a competitive spot
I started the game
Saying that oh, I hope that my pure speed offense can be strong once the guns come out because big problem is dealing with
the aggressiveness that Legas are going to throw at you and it just didn't really stand
in.
Part of it is they've played most of this half like really passive back into the ball
side.
We've never really seen them pushed out towards sandbags, pushed out towards cars, so there's
been like no real, no real attempt to dissuade Legas from attempting to take Banana.
Like there's never been like a round where they just killed three and it's like, okay,
well now Legas has to try and break into A to soften up this kind of a stack.
So I think if you talk to Legas, I think you know guys like Dumau, guys like Art
with that kind of clear freedom and banana throughout this half, they're gonna say
that's the most fun we've had on Inferno in quite some time when you don't have to worry about it.
Well, Art really didn't have to worry.
All nine through again.
Like you see, hoping they can just close it out from this point and not allow that comeback to come through.
They do so.
Into the playoffs, they should go, they'll knock out MIBR.
Stay in the Esports World Cup.
That's the double-puncher.
Art, okay, he waited till the end, he got his first multi-kill right there.
Lovely, that's the thing of beauty.
Three kills for Art in the half, nine rounds for Art on the scoreboard, three for MIBR,
and yeah, Legacy just looking like they're just going to march to this victory and send
MIBR packing and take their spot in the playoffs.
Tri has 17 kills and four deaths, and this one has 13 kills and five deaths.
Great showing for Legacy too when you talk about...
We mentioned it just very briefly during the veto process the last time we saw these guys play
I mean they look great in their opening game here at EWC
Faze stepped into the server and kind of embarrassed him a little bit
It was like a nice wake up call bucket of cold water onto the face
Yeah, and then they've come in here and they've kind of helped us wage any of the doubts that we might have had
lingering from that phase match
Well, I'm looking forward to going to that draft segment of the show right now and figuring out what games you've got for the playoffs
I think it's an interesting tournament so far because some of the big names in Counter-Strike
have looked pretty weak at times.
There's some shakiness at the top.
Yeah, and that does open up a cool conversation when it comes to play also potential upsets.
Yeah, I mean I guess the two of the teams you'd point out as the shakiest so far, vitality and spirit.
I think that the shakiest, but shakiest considering what makes that program.
Shaky compared to the standard, right, the usual standard that we've been used to for such a long time.
Both teams you'd say would have a good chance to lift in the trophy
Well, I might be ours creeping close to the step up to the mid ramp
Try with an off angle towards boiler. This is an art playing double pit the side of spots to jumping
Might not get away or it's got a defendant hold them back, but he's dead now good shot for the one
Another yeah, well again these these kills are brilliant from tribe, but the responses are there for my PR
They're gonna walk in with a couple and that's the site taken so this around so important here for my PR
Obviously, if they have any chance of coming back into this in legacy, they thought a lot of utility available for LATO
But getting back into this A site in the Pistor on just seems so tough
Especially with dualies. I don't know how you're gonna do it and no kit as well. So it's got to be fast. I
Not even try might just look for some exit kills for some extra money moving forward into the next rounds
Keep the armor preserved keep the utility preserved
I want to start running.
They're coming through the archway, and Doomow got to be finished off by LNZ.
Right now, 9-4, I mean, there is this the beginning of the MIPR comeback that we've seen on Nuke.
It's going to take a special T-side calling out of LNZ here.
And we're going to see immediately, like I said, she forced by him.
We know how chaotic the rounds are being so far in front of him.
We've seen a lot of those in the first half.
So, wouldn't be surprised if we get a real tough round coming up here in front of my PR straight away.
It feels like a bold force by, though, from legacy.
You're kind of putting a little bit of extra of your lead into the pot in the middle, you know, in case you lose this round.
Extra round you'll have to sit back, so it's going to help that my PR close the gap quickly.
Good information for Art off the pot flash.
Another one as well to keep hold of top banana.
Really nice control for Art and Dumal. They're gonna stay paired up at the B bombsite with
half wall smoked off. Dumal has another one to replenish it. And if they wanted to take
a risk they could just bail out at this point, drop another smoke, one player leaves. But
now the move from MIBR up mid, and the rotation now will be late coming in from
So this hold at the A bomb site itself, better be spectacular.
It's all quiet now, but we know it's about to erupt.
Try.
Ripped off the balcony.
Latto in the site.
5-7.
Rouse to the chest.
Miss him also getting one of his own.
Realized he's being peppered from below and above.
And it ends up being a situation for this and we just can't handle so the four spot has not worked out here for legacy
They're gonna have to back away the tail tuck between the legs and
It does open up that chance for my beer to get a really strong start of this here in the second half
That's really well managed from my beer as well
I think it would have been simple to panic
I wouldn't even surprise me to see them panic a little bit in that situation when the wrap around the bomb
Side is taken away from them by the CT smoke, but just leaving a lurker re-smoking library and falling all the way back
around with the rifle stand composed
Except for a nice easy close out and legacy to lose out on that kind of a second round force by instead of waiting for the third
So they'll save next
And I might be our of a chance to get up to six
Before legacy can buy back into the rounds
It tells me it do really wall to get those kills actually am I gonna lose every single member?
Oh, this is interesting. Okay, that this might change a lot moving forward
I don't think legacy is going to take this round to force up. That'd be way way too much, but you've taken some money away from them.
So there's an element of where you might want to continue applying pressure because you know they've lost so much.
Oh, this is gonna be divisive. Okay, so Art's picked up a lone M4.
And his thought process is that a little extra punch in this weapon to get a couple extra kills, still hurt this economy.
Maybe I steal a round away and he spotted two.
The kill for art. He's just snatched that one. He goes back in though and now he kind of sucks
The classic. That is the classic. We can't just take the advantage
We got it. We got to go for a little bit more. Oh, that was so easy. Let me get another one
I've handed that one right back and that's why the household was wins Jason
Yes, indeed. Well the question becomes now
It might be our handle the previous round really really well legacy have the wrong read on this
They think after perhaps spotting the M4 at the A-Bomb site,
MIBR might shuttle themselves across the map to the other side and attack B, but they're dead wrong.
Arch through Palace, defense has vacated the premises, so an easy sixth round for MIBR.
And Dumao will be left to save the M4, so no harm, no foul into investing in bringing that weapon into this round.
They don't lose it.
I don't know, I mean, again it's just a slow build up to actually when the second half truly starts, which is when legacy get a full buy.
She's coming up soon, but there might be a loving how quickly they're closing the gap again.
Yeah, and I mean, this isn't, I'm not ready to get to call this a start of a comeback.
I mean, they are closing the gap really nicely, but you know, you haven't gotten, as you've mentioned, it's the gun rounds yet.
That's what we're going to see if you can actually overcome the defense when it's got all the weapons to fight back.
But a really nice start everything you could hope for
Four players surviving here not bad you're building up some of that money that you lost in the previous rounds
This is art and a hero and I'm being zero shit away
So, unfortunately, I'm not able to make much of that.
Here we go. Into the gun rounds for Legacy.
All good, come on for try. There's a heater here on Inferno.
I'm going to try and keep that heat going.
That spark as he looks down the middle.
Some flames towards his face and we'll have to peel away.
Yeah, no one's swinging wide on mid.
Then I'm zero over in Boiler.
I miss him right around the corner. Flashbang is out.
out nobody spotted just yet very mid-centric defense two at the corner one
boosted up one underneath the balcony as well this is in front of the flame so he
doesn't have to give up his position he can maintain this right against the wall
that's Sarah is going to win that engagement though to mouth stepping out
in the open a crazy play it's not worked out for him at all luckily I was
there but you've got information three players are stacked towards top mid this
gets hard now though because the defense is the one who has to panic it's
the defense moving around the map and reacting to what MIBR has shown. I think,
okay, Art slips into the bomb site. I thought they might just go save. Once again,
though, LNZ with the perfect call, bringing his team against the weakness on
the defense, and yeah, Art is going to slip back, and he just says, this isn't
worth me sticking around. This round isn't worth us fighting for, and yet,
again, legacy. You have to back away and concede.
Four in a row for MIBR now to start this second half.
Four very convincing rounds to start this second half.
Yeah, and if you have a legacy, you're just like, how can we not just close these out?
It's again, you're letting your opponent back into the game again.
You might be able to prevail still.
You might be able to still pull this off towards the end,
but when you do this, when you get into the playoffs,
if a situation you're playing against a better team,
you let them in when you have a big lead and they are going to punish you.
And MIBR could still punish them here on inferno, it's yet to be seen.
One step at a time.
MIBR, close the gap to just two.
That's when you highlight the fact that you did throw a little bit more of your lead in now when you were going for a force fight.
Yeah, it closes the gap really, really quickly, doesn't it?
And I mean, also, you had them in that second round with eliminating all of them in a victory.
You took all the weapons away. You made the economy very very weak
But you've kind of let them off the hook in that regard as well with the back-to-back clean wins for them for players surviving in each of them
So now you don't even have that real that thread to kind of latch on to
We reinvest the losing bonus was fully built up for the legacy side
Three weapons saved one bought one dropped over and we get underway in round 17
But legacy yet to get started on the CT side
I won't give it in the space of banana, I'll let you see not challenging it, I'll try
and play with the AWP around long, it's a bit switch as well between him and R2, it's
tucked in the cubby.
Nice and creative.
Running right on top of LNZ.
He's down to 41 health off the back of that.
He's helping him throw it out by legacy.
Yeah, really good chip damage for sure.
Soffins him up for later.
They have to cross this AWP still.
Four smokes available
for MIBR's attack.
And Sony's going to be a little bit of a fake element
over towards the B-bomb side.
Throwing a CT smoke.
Trie's going to get aggressive with that Molotov.
Destroyed Ellen Z knows exactly what's coming. That's a really good opening kill and that's the all gone
And now two defenders here and no longer do you have this strong cross fire the art had the base switch rather you
Really have the off taking the first shot them running past focusing on that and then you have arched them behind
He's now isolated stuck in this corner having to worry about crossing into the open and he gets spotted as he does
So 30 seconds left. This is on his own. He's isolated trying to step up with just an a1s
His teammate smoked the white, this one gets one, it's second head shot but not enough damage to bring down the victim and art steps out instead
And a lot of damage done to the balcony player and sprained through his two now
So it could work for art and do mouth and that has put really difficult situation in front of MIBR
I can't believe they've even given himself a chance to win this a great chance at that
You do have a molotov on Lado that looks like it's gonna go into the bomb site
Oh, no towards the paper and QC burns out a two it's up against the back wall dropped
No, Brenno's all on his lonesome inside of the pit. He's low HP. You've got three players. You're just gonna swarm him surely
One player gets on to the site. Can I get on that deep fuse? Brenno hasn't been checked yet. He could spam the box
He's not going for it. Brenno not looking for it. Spray it away
Now where's the body bought two-mile steps in if that deep fuse comes through last second on the clock as well
Legacy pull it through and it's art who does so much there from a position
You just don't expect him to get anything done from yeah
I mean, that's not a fight you love taking whatsoever.
If you're R, you feel like you're dead any second
when you're taking those engagements.
He gets away with one.
A quick kill down on the ground,
down in towards pit, critical.
The damage, the dink, and then the smoke pops
and it's hard to find him.
But that damage opens everyone up
to make that retake much, much easier.
And finally, a round on the board.
It took him five rounds, but they've arrived here.
10-7, three-round lead for Legacy's CT side.
Yeah, try getting across.
So we seen NQZ making the same play earlier
In that first half, I think he's able to take a kill from it, not this time.
Or try.
Malveston receives a grenade, but we've seen how effective the utility was.
Don't tell them to see the last round, they're gonna do it again.
It's the one going over the wall.
A lot of sound cues outside the B bomb site, though.
Pulls Art over in rotation for support.
And as he slides into the B bomb site, MIBR dip away.
and
showing mid control
the defense not reacting are still convinced
this is going to finish at this bomb site plank far back in ct with the
support of flash bank trices nobody has the smoke breaks open
so legacy convinced now that the people on site is the final play
Two Malop on top of the coffin, he smoked away.
There's a good shot from Breno, trying to charge in.
Two Mal steps up, sprays away.
It's a very committed position and a very committed spray.
That only results in the one kill.
And that does leave that B bomb site very weak indeed.
There's no one home.
Arch trying to slow them, trying to delay,
but his teammates are implanted safely inside of the A site.
They will not move away from this.
It's gonna be a legacy save call.
And MIBR battling through the B bomb site,
which we talked about being such a strength for legacy,
didn't look that way then.
You know, both these teams have been playing pretty relatively passive CT sides
from what I'm used to seeing at the B-bomb side, well at least in Legacies' case, right?
Like, I feel like Legacies, that's in we know, Jumao is going to be battling.
And some of that probably comes down to the fact that they've played each other, you know, four...
This is their fifth series they've played this year, including...
There's a best of one mixed in there as well on top.
So, they've played each other so many times, stylistically, trying to shake things up,
trying to make the opposition a little bit confused.
But the decision to play banana passively round after round is just given.
both teams such a strong staging area for a set piece.
Money for both teams.
So legacy buyback into the rounds.
Two round lead, 10-8.
And this is cool because we left Nuke saying man, LLNZ and MIBR had some cool ideas on
T side a few of them didn't pan out but they looked really it they looked like
they were the smart play the right call just didn't actually fall in their favor
here on inferno it's the same thing except this time they're winning the
rounds
no one wrong when I might be on tied up the score so two rounds away from
doing that we'll see if they can do it now
He's got some legacy, he stops hanging him there, getting enough money to buy him.
Coming out looking. I think they've got a chance at it, but...
Yeah, there's burst through middle from IPR, couple of players already up through top mid.
It's just two though, so I mean it's a little bit more strength behind this fake.
A little bit more concern in the legacy defense as they feel the pressure.
Flashbang's gonna come over, Dumau's gonna have to back away, drops the smoke, sticks her out at the half wall.
They're gonna have to barrel through it.
If they want to get into the B bomb site, they have to come through.
Okay, there we go. That's more like it. It gets two headshots from the spray.
Trying to get back to safety while crossing that smoke.
Pulling started to come through, panics a little bit, but he's able to find a comfortable spot to hide in.
45 seconds, the last ditch effort. The attempt to get into the site
is felt, and it's just Breno stepping us through. It's an inevitable doom.
11 rounds to it. That's more like it from Legacy.
legacy. There we go for Dumau and Lato and that time you could see a little bit
more willingness to fight for that half wall control to just have a presence to
just be a nuisance, slow it down, throw some obstacles in their path and
successful as they prevent MIBR from getting a clean look at the B bomb
site. 11 to 8. This time MIBR this comeback haven't as you mentioned just
now haven't been able to actually tie it up the way they were on Nuke. They've
gotten close but legacy not letting them get to that point just yet.
Maybe lured in by the fact that they haven't encountered any defense in that part of the map. Nobody really looking right whatsoever as that smoke is broken open but it was a desperate situation.
Once Lotto gets the kill on the other side of the map and that smoke drops down from Dumau, that's your timing. If you don't hit it, you lose.
So force into that play through the smoke to their death and now a three-round deficit.
Money running low as well for MIBR.
Running out of cash and runway in this series.
Elimination just two rounds away.
Oh, try. 19 HP, there's Nysim. Could headshot onto Venom, Sarah. Opening kill here for Legacy.
Searching for map point for playoff qualification point.
Brenno's in the smoke. Two players on the other side of that smoke.
And his teammate's making their way up Banana.
Oh, there's the break.
Yeah, it just comes in. Brenno's going to be spotted. Couldn't even get a chance against Art.
start. And Doomouse keeping his head down away from those flashes that eventually are
going to be coming over the top, still very effective in blinding him. And he's going to
go back into the open, blind again, running through the smoke. And Sony making the hero
play and a second kill on Doomouse really opened this up in Sony fighting down CT spawn.
But eventually Lato able to wrap around the back and put an end to Insani's antics
and ask NQC once again to step up with a clutch.
is not planted he's gonna give it a go and push that down on the ground now steps
into the next fight but Lato has picked it up and legacy at series point really
good job from Lato I love the work from art as well breaking the smoke over on
wrap side not letting his teammate rotate away not letting them sit there
without the information of what's going on inside that smoke and good work
on the rotation over legacy closing things out convincingly at the tail
end just like the first map in this series three of the last four in
their favor and that round wind takes so much money away from MIBR they've got a
Galil and AK-47 three tech 9s to fight with and what is potentially their last
round at the eSports World Cup here in Paris
It's always a brutal way to have to qualify by knocking out a team from your own country,
but it happens so often.
The South American squads like to see the team that definitely have more promise once
to get into the deeper stages of the tournament showing their class right now
against MIB Yacht. Try waits inside of the library about to silence Brunno.
Oh he just moves off and gets towards the archway instead. Actually he's going all the
way to B. Going all the way to B. Yeah they're very very quiet. Now he's there.
Now try should look but has he realized they're already in the passageway?
He has to worry about that but he has to go back and get the bomb. Lato dealing with Insani.
They step forward again the bomb is loose what's more on the ground
Bruno has got down speedway that will allow a kill but the element of surprise now gone
Latteau backs into the corner trying to get away with it on the right foot and he will
Legacy shall move forward into the playoffs into the top 16 of the event
Unfortunately have to knock out my PR on the way there, but they're gonna be very happy with the performance. They showed today
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We're gonna be doing a little bit of a playoff racket draw.
I say we because the whole world is watching and also these two gentlemen here am I right?
We got Moses, I've got Dinko.
This is our first time we're gonna go here at EWC.
cool guy, you having a good time? It's been a minute since I've been on a
trip, Dustin, you trace? Yeah. Welcome back. And who is that more you or me?
Welcome back. You, you, it's been a minute, it's been a while. Yeah, welcome back, man.
It's been a while. Thank you so much for having me over here on the A-Stream. I
thought it really does feel like the whole world is here. You've got every
player suddenly appeared over there. I don't really know what's gonna happen,
so I'm kind of along for the ride here. It's gonna be a real surprise and
hopefully get some good surprises too. Now I would ask either of you guys if
you want to take a stab at explaining what's going on here. We can do
that if you'd like no I'm good I'd like you're welcome I think you have it
written down on that sheet of paper I do and I have it in the most variety way
I could possibly put it right and explain like I'm five sort of variety the Eli five
all right so 16 teams are left we started with 32 yeah cool so we've got 16
teams left that means we've got eight matches we're gonna be making that means
the round of 16 pot one will be qualified through the upper side pot
two qualified and survive the lower side. One pot, wait, one pot, one team draws, one
pot, two trades.
There's like a nursery rhyme that you're busting on.
Yeah, it is. Then it's a single elimination. So that is a nightmare once we get there.
Perfect.
Essentially, one pot is going to have all the good teams, right?
Yeah.
You should do, but it doesn't, because we have some weird upsets that kicked off
the tournament. So team spirit and vitality are straight in game one too.
That is going to be super weird.
That's the most interesting part about this is how does that shake up the bracket?
with those two teams taking those upset losses and kind of finishing differently than what we expected,
where's that going to shake up the matches going into that round of 16, that round of 8?
How does it mess with the brackets playing into the grand final?
And those are all just because of the good old BO1s in the very beginning for the most part,
or do you think it would have been?
And of course, GG Howe.
Yeah, GG Howe really did make an effort to make it interesting right here.
And Bait, don't forget Bait.
They also did that.
They never forget Bait.
Yeah, Bait's best of one is also the break, I think,
because a big factor as well, in fact,
some teams obviously didn't have a break.
And we've seen Faze, who just had to play every single tournament to make it here.
So made it and it paid off. Yeah, looking really sharp though
I mean the consequences of that like yeah, it's a tough road and it's frustrating and you want to have that break
You want to get that time off?
But you can see the level of their play looks so much sharper than what I expected to see them coming in straight away
So obviously the time that they've had grinding is has done good work for the team and looking strong going into these playoffs
Let's do it this way. We've got our qualified teams. I did tell you 16
So perhaps we can look at them visually to help you all understand and home or follow along
You'd be pure here with us tonight
uh... the group winners in the group runner ups
now we did talk about names that
don't normally look like this in these positions yes steams here over there in
the group of options we alluded to it's uh... it's vitality down there as well
to some extent i think i think some of the like legacy to me a little bit
surprising
but i see magic in there they play some good counter strike falcons offer their
major championship
uh... coming in following that up and getting through the plans of the top
as well
uh... so yeah there's some cool results and again it's just what is this
bracket going to play out
Like we felt like we knew who were the trophy contenders coming into this event and it's all gotten shaken up
You get a weird matchup
You get the likes of game legion versus vitality and actually could work out coming in as a second see what interestingly it could
Could work out for these teams like spirit and vital they could get a matchup that makes sense for them
But I think for the group winners
The only real surprises there are the likes of game legion and bait coming through and they're gonna end up being higher seats
I think the best-looking team so far is Falcons and that the highest level team and coming off the back of the
and then face clan from the game, we got the scene look really good.
Yeah, they look sharp. They look really, really good at overtaking legacy.
I mean, I'm just excited to see what they're going to look like come to playoffs.
But same with like coming into this event, it was questions about like foot with their roster change,
what they looked like last year, where they're going to miss this step.
That's nice seeing them mouse as well.
I think they're worth stopping and talking about making it through to the playoffs also.
More experience exertion at the home of that team.
And hasn't dropped off the way I would have, I would have kind of thought it might.
They've actually looked much stronger than I expected.
So I like seeing this run in the playoffs.
I like to see what they're gonna be able to do against the best teams, you know, because it is these sports World Cup club championships
And the fact that we did have such a crazy draw right there
The Falcons could stack up between a spirit mouse vitality right out of the gate, which is pretty scary stuff
So let's just see how this movie plays out chat. Let's get it going
Yes
Thanks, Trace. All right, I'm here to take you through the process of this bracket draw
I've got the keymaster Jacob here to select the balls and as Trace mentioned
We have two seed pools closest to me. We have the group winners and on the other side
We have the group runners up both teams consist of eight teams
Two from each group and so how they progress to this point
We got the group winners punch their ticket
Exclusively through the upper bracket or the group runners up had to progress through the lower bracket now at random
We will draw eight group winners and place them into the bracket from one to eight top to bottom
And we will then draw from the group runners up pool to establish the round of 16 matches an important note before we draw a
Lower bracket team cannot be matched against an upper bracket team from the same group. So we've established that let's get this one underway
You've already looked at the teams. Mr. Keymaster. Jacob. Could you please draw the first ball?
It's the first team to populate match number one
Will be
G2 East Force okay first
team to populate the bracket.
Now for match number two, the
next team to populate will be.
Furia. Okay, so G two and
fury at both in the top half
of the brackets left to draw
their opponents. We have after
team number three. See that
half of the brackets. Next team selected is
Gamer Legion. Okay, that's the top half of the bracket populated. Let's get into the other side.
Next team selected will be
We'll be...
Navi.
Okay, and we'll populate match number 5.
We've got G2, Furio, Foot, Game of Legend.
Navi, 3 teams remain.
Next team will be...
Team Falcons.
Some more names to draw.
the next team selected is
base clan and that leaves us with one final team to pull out of the hat.
The final team of the group winners, the high seeds will be bait eSports.
So we populated the group winners into matches one to eight.
Fiora, Foot Esports, Gamer Legion, NAVI, T-Falcons, FaZe Clan, and Baites.
And as mentioned, we are going to select the next balls in a moment.
We just need to populate the bracket before we draw.
I'll get Keymaster Jacob here to shake this up.
But just to remind people before we draw them, the group runner's up for looking like...
Excuse me.
There's my page in the mix here. The internet's a tough thing, isn't it?
Okay, the group runners up the lower seeds for group ads.
It's gonna be spirit and Aurora for group B.
It's legacy in Australia's for group C.
It's fine.
Tidy and mouse and for group D.
It's Mongols and magic again.
I just want to draw to people's attention.
A lower bracket team cannot be matched against an upper bracket
team from the same group in the case that gets drawn.
It'll be placed into the next available matchup.
And if it works out in a scenario where we have a certain set of
teams stacked on either side of the group,
It will determine the placements. Now we're going to grab our first ball to determine our first matchup
First team selected will be Aurora gaming now Aurora also herald from group A
They are not able to play against you to e-sports, which means they will take on Furia
So Furia versus Aurora the opening match there Furia obviously
the next team. Next team
selected is.
Astralis. Charles coming from
Group B, which means they can
match up against G2, so G2
versus Astralis will play into
the winner of Furia versus
Aurora Charles taking down
Astralis. Charles coming from
Group B, which means they can
match up against G2, so G2
versus Astralis will play into
versus Aurora, Charles taking down NIP on the last game today to secure themselves a spot here in the playoffs at AWC 2026.
And G2 making light work of that group stage to lock themselves in through the upper brackets.
All right, we can draw our next ball to determine who's going to be taking on foot.
Remember it cannot be a team from Group C.
Next team selected will be Magic from Group D. So we'll have Magic taking on foot.
Magic today, you're upsetting 9z, probably the biggest emission from the group so far to the playoffs.
That leaves in this upper half of the bracket. Game Allegiant will draw to see who they'll be playing.
M Legion will be taking on
Maus from group C, so Game Allegiant vs Maus that leaves us with G2 vs Astralis, Furia vs
Aurora, Foot vs Magic, and Game Allegiant vs Maus for the top portion of the bracket.
We can start populating the lower half, let's select the next ball please.
Stuff is the Mongols from Group D, they cannot play against Na'Vi, which means they will
be taking on Team Falcons, it'll be Falcons versus the Mongols.
And for three more matches to populate right now, three more teams to select, Na'Vi
phase and bait looking for their opponents. Navi from group D, phase from group B and
bait from group C. I'm going to throw this one over the desk.
Yeah, okay, some cool matchups out of the gate. Falcons, Mongols, we just established that
one. Gamer Legion, Malz, I'm also looking for a G2 Astralis and Furia Aurora. Binka.
I'm worrying about the other shots, the bracket that the ones that haven't been
drawn yet. That's the big ones right away. They're still waiting on Vitality and Spirit
to come out and the likes of Navi and bait are going to be looking at that as a game that
is very worrying face still that way for the opponent. So that's the scariest part right?
I actually think that foot versus magic game is actually just going to be fireworks. That is just
going to be fragging. It's just going to be in your face trying to take every fight. That's
going to be a fun match to watch. I would definitely put a little leaf on that one
to tune in for that whenever that one gets scheduled. I like G2 Astral. I think Fury Aurora
is going to be an interesting test for Aurora and Fury the Shaking is some of the we've
seen but Aurora with the new roster coming in a good test for them early on
against a strong team that was just in the major finals. And we're gonna hear
from the Falcons and Mongols here shortly to my knowledge absolutely that
I do feel like we're in a situation where the Falcons may or may not get
tested by the moment. Yeah that's one of those games where I mean they could
show and just blow it out but you know what Mongols have shown us so much
resilience of all through all these roster changes is still being able
to somehow muster up good games and being able to stand up against some
of the top teams that I'm gonna at least give them the benefit of the
doubt and see what they look like when they roll into the game that day
But yeah, you don't want to be drawn the reigning major champs when you when you get your first game with the playoffs in the round 16
That's not an easy match for the Mongols to take on
Yeah, they at least won't have to play vitality once we get to that stage already obviously played them in the group stages got the
win so you won't get that rematch yet
So that means you know you're looking at other scores
You're looking at faith potentially get a vitality now of a vitality
That's an opportunity in this series and obviously spirit still up for grounds there for base
So your reward for being a good team
It could end up being having to play spirit in the first round of playoffs
I think that G2 game for me is a lot of fun, because I like this G2 roster, I want to see where it goes, but when we casted them on the opening day, I believe it was the Wrinkle who played excellent, so all the conversation about him stepping in for some pious, Wrinkle looked really good for the squad.
Let's hear from the players right now, and let's hear those reactions.
Yeah, lots of excitement when we're looking at this draw, not least, because of course we've got Falcons taking on the Mongols, Techno, do you remember the last time you played up against Falcons?
I think it's on Pigeon Astana maybe and it was sweat rematch and we were winning I think
and we lost unfortunately in that time and I'm happy to waste them again and after that
they became major winners it's a really nice to play with them.
What about you Karaga, what do you make of this as your first matchup in the playoffs?
I think whatever happened in the draw, I think it's always going to be tough.
And I think Marcos is a dangerous team because of the two new players.
We know out of their region, they have brought a lot of great players up the last two years.
So it's going to be interesting because last time we played it was in Stanna, and like I said,
they were pushing our limits in the beginning and hopefully we can maybe control the game a little bit more this time.
Just one final note. Obviously we're looking at the club championships as well.
A lot's been changing as of late when we're looking over at Rocket League.
How much pressure is there on your shoulders now to kind of keep the form up for Falcons?
I think the pressure is more on ourselves.
We want to prove that what we did in the major, we can replicate that.
We didn't do it beginning of the season, so we're here to show what we're capable of
and so far so good.
But Marn is going to be a tough task and hopefully we're going to play great and
take it from there.
Gentlemen, thank you so much.
I'll let you have a little fist bump before we do indeed be heading things back to
the next match up. I tell the
spirit yet to come out. Next
team selected will be legacy.
That means they can take on.
Na Vee legacy versus Na Vee.
interview. So this side of the bracket leaving us with spirit and vitality the last two teams to be drawn and I think
well that puts us in one position in one position only but we'll draw it to make sure we've got the right names in the
hat as next team out will be team spirit and I believe that means they will have to take on bait as vitality are not able
to take on bait again in the round of 16. So that would mean the final match we have is FaZe Clan
taking on Vitality and that does mean that we have Falcons, Vitality and Spirit all on the same
side of the bracket. Now this is turned out let's just double check make sure throwing the final ball
and of course it will be Team Vitality taking on FaZe Clan to round this out. So from top to
We've got G2 vs. Astralis, Furia vs. Aurora, Foote vs. Magic, Gamelige vs. Maus.
And then to populate the lower half of the bracket in those final matches we were just going over.
Navi, Legacy, Falcons, Mongols, FaZe, Vitality, Bates, Team Spirit, and we'll throw this one back to the desk.
Thank you very much to our Keymaster and the Gatekeeper of Chad Burchill, the Gatekeeper of the bracket.
Yes, that's his nickname, that's his middle name.
Yeah, middle name, okay.
that's a yeah okay so regardless cool match up virtual yeah really cool
matchups I think phase obviously feeling rough about the fact they've gone
vitality straight away in the round the 16th they are playing really well I was
hoping to see some great potential but if you're if you're phase generally
played against a great opponent yet where you play against good teams you
should certainly have but now you're going up against team vitality in a
playoff environment this is the true test of the new guys yeah it really is
you couldn't get a bigger one than this I mean what I want a hard thing to
draw on your first one but you know what I think with the way they're
playing right now. I think Twist has got to almost be relishing this opportunity. I
think he's got to be looking at it feeling confident with how his guys are
and looking over on the other side just have a vitality drop a match here in
the group stage. Kind of looking your chops here and saying you know what if I'm
gonna get an opportunity now is the best time for it. Well well done, Bate. You've
beat vitality in the group stage. It's a massive wish, but you get into the
playoffs. Now you've got team spirit. But you cannot possibly tell me that you
feel like Bate doesn't have a chance of that match, right? Like again,
spirit with getting upset as well in the group stage and we've seen some
of those struggles, the tough match that they had to qualify through, and you
You have a young team bait that shoots really hard,
get him into the server,
and that can easily be an upset.
I think that's a pretty scary prospect for Spear
coming into this, not playing the best Counter Strike.
Yeah, it sets us up, I mean, just all across the board.
I am low key thankful.
We've been touched on, sorry,
Navi Legacy as well, is like a sneaky banger.
Like that could be really cool.
Legacy trying to make some more tactical gameplay in.
Navi as that tactical mastermind team,
but then you have Legacy that has like this brute force,
like just fragging in your face style to it.
There's some contrast in that
that can make an exciting Counter Strike.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
So I just got jacked up for a second.
No, I saw that, man.
That must, that was crazy.
Ginko, you got anything you want to get jacked up to?
Well, yeah, let's let's head down to the stage.
I'm pretty sure twist flames frail.
What's up?
Some good energy going on down here.
Of course, flames twist from phase and vitality.
Respectively, we're looking at this match up head to head.
We'll talk about the bracket in just a second.
But what do you make of these phase guys?
you remember the last time you played against him?
Atlanta, and then before that, the Major, I believe.
But yeah, of course I remember FaZe.
He doesn't remember playing against FaZe.
And I'm excited.
Are you excited to face Vitality?
I mean, they haven't looked so sharp,
no question it says so loud.
But what do you think of them?
I mean, we would have picked them anywhere.
I'll let that one hang right there.
Looking at your side of the bracket, though,
I mean, we've got, like, his spirit.
We've got, obviously, himself, Vitality.
We've got Falcons on the bottom side.
So this one's gonna be tough to get through no? Yeah for sure
I think we we're sending it to step up the game because we've been playing like shit the the last few games we did and
But yeah, if you want to win one of the biggest events you gotta win everyone
So it doesn't matter who you get the early or later
It's just kind of striking everybody's competitive nowadays
Where she's taken on the ultimate captain on her flames you pointed out
You're the one that's come back to represent face time leaving by example here. Yeah, of course
I'm looking forward to the game like you just said you have to play everyone anyway if you want to win the event and
Yeah, looking forward to a true test gentlemen. I'll let you shake hands and we will throw this one back over to the desk
Too lovely lads can I can I call them lads make sense? Yeah, I mean, you know personally
Yeah, I think so I like to think so at least not maybe too personally
But I would say that in the server those are two fun guys to have in the server
I think this this storyline is full of personal story lines as well, right?
any vitality were untouchable for such a long time doesn't feel like that is the case right now
phase are getting confidence building building and obviously I'm just excited to see you know a chance
for vitality actually lose to face man for once like a couple of weeks ago a couple of months ago
you would never say this is possible at this time but now it is actually a real possibility that
phase can give him a very tough time yeah I mean in that that's obviously going to be the
marquee matchup of this round of 16 that is the one you look at you're just like oh my god
that what a game that can be I think as well for phase you know you look at twist in the way
He's evolved as an IGO. We saw him call a lot of plays for himself
Call a lot of plays for his young players as well
This will be a good test if you can maintain that faith and your kind of young rookies if they're gonna deliver for you against
One of the best teams in the world and a team that has been the best for a long time
That's gonna be a test for twist event that trust can maintain throughout the entire series
Are we kind of thankful to be did we then?
Sorry, we're getting tackled by players. It's this was worse full
Are we kind of happy to be didn't get this vitality spirit sort of thing happening
I mean, it might very well still happen, but...
It could, yeah, I mean, it could happen now.
Obviously, being in the both losers on that side of the bracket
at least could match up with each other in the round of 16,
but it can match up with each other in the next game.
It's definitely possible.
In fact, that's the most likely outcome.
But it's obvious that one side of the bracket
is a lot weaker than the other.
But I think the other side of the bracket,
although it may not have the biggest names,
I think it has a lot of interesting matches
that will still keep us very entertained as we move through.
Yeah, it's kind of like the bracket is, like,
halved to make it so all the teams
of a certain experience level or certain level inside the server are like in the same half
of it so it's going to be really really grueling. I mean even if you want to add Navi in there
because it'd be Falcons Vitality Spirit would say the teams that would likely to win the
trophy but Navi would be like that kind of like AT or team that you'd also have. That's
a ridiculous half of the bracket trace.
It is. I've got just nine minutes after 10 o'clock on the 16th of August gentlemen
I think we call it right here. It's been a long day of some counter strikes.
You have nine minutes? That's 39 minutes.
Yes, nine minutes after 30.
Oh, okay. I gotcha.
Anyway, from Alabama, what's your excuse?
Let's call it there.
I hope you all enjoyed the show today.
Tons of counter strikes still to go,
but that does mean the playoffs are set.
The brackets are all there.
So let's call it right then and there.
Good night everybody, we'll see you on the other side.
I