Chad

It's an artist I found on Etsy. And so I have a collection of Stranger Things, Mandalorian, and I have a Ted Lasso one. My whole office is filled with all kinds of nerdy stuff. I love...

comic books and superheroes you can kind of see over here there's a whole bunch of marvel and dc stuff the hall of justice kind of photo there it seems we got superman in the mix yes you know like the famous picture of the construction workers on the beam yeah oh yeah yeah so if you look over it's marvel and dc guys and then you can see i got ninja turtles and everything over here i like this where are you at i feel like i need to ask you to guess

I work for the city of Wyoming. Wyoming's just outside of Grand Rapids. I run the Wyoming Senior Center.

We actually have all of our snowbirds coming back right now. Everybody's showing up and telling me all their stories about warm weather and No snow. And it makes me envious.

I do have a Cedar Point story. So being from Michigan, growing up here, Cedar Point was a regular vacation spot for us. I have a couple of stories. I could have told you how I got engaged at Cedar Point.

Romantic. I could tell you the time when we went in high school. And Dax, are you familiar with the ripcord ride there? No, what's the ripcord? It's kind of like a bungee jumping thing. Oh.

I have a story about how you have to be 18 and older to do that. And so we were on this family vacation and my mom and aunt and uncles forbid all of us from going on it. And my dad, who can be a bit of a rascal... signed off on the waiver for all of us to ride it.

At what age? We were probably 16, and he got caught, and he got the silent treatment the rest of the trip from the family.

No, no, nothing from that. But this story actually is about when I survived three tornadoes that hit Cedar Point. Okay.

The year is 1998, and it's summer. This particular trip was with my aunt and uncle. my sister, and four cousins. At the time, my sister was 11. Two of my cousins were 13. Me and another cousin were 14, and my oldest cousin was 17. So the plan for this trip is my aunt and uncle are taking all six kids to Cedar Point. The first day, they take us to the park. They are not ride people.

So they're like, hey, you guys go off. We're going to do the shows. We're going to eat some food, meet up with us at these times and don't get into too much trouble. So the second day it comes around, me and uncle have decided they don't really want to do Cedar Point for a second day. So they say, hey, we're just going to drop you guys off at the park for the day. Are you guys staying at Breakers?

Where are you staying? We're staying at a campground outside of Cedar Point. We're not even on property.

Yeah. So their plan is we're going to drop you off in the morning. We'll pick you up at night. I mean, it's the 1990s. Parenting was just a little different. However, I have a 10-year-old son now. And I'm like, there's no scenario where I would just send him to Cedar Point with people a few years older than him with no parental supervision. And cell phones weren't a thing in 1998.

We do what boys and girls do at that age. We split off. We're like, hey, the boys, we're going to go get into trouble and the girls are going to go do their thing. So it's about lunchtime and we decide we're going to ride the power tower. Is that the old demon drop? It's kind of like the demon drop on steroids.

One side of it will shoot you up really fast and then drop you down and keep shooting you up and dropping you down. The other side takes you up slowly and then drops you really fast like the demon drop.

I mean, that story lives on forever. I will never not remember wiping my butt with that brown paper towel.

So we're getting ready to get on that ride. We had rode the side that shoots you up really fast the day before, but Today, we're like, we need to get on the other side. The line's always longer. That's got to be the better ride. I do remember it kind of being overcast. We're getting strapped into the ride. The whole time when you're in line, you're trying to figure out when they drop.

So you're counting. You're like 1001, 1002. Do they drop on four? Do they drop on five?

We're talking about this the whole time. So we get launched up on the ride. We're starting to counting. We're looking at each other. And all of a sudden, we all look over at Lake Erie. And we just see three tornadoes coming off the water. Oh, wow. And we're like at the highest spot in the park at this point. So we're like, this is probably the worst place to be for this.

They're technically called water spouts because they're tornadoes that form over water. They're not far off. So we're at the top. We see these. We're like, oh, this is bad. And then it drops us. So we can't see them anymore. And then it shoots us back up and we see them again. They keep getting closer. And this goes on like three or four times. So everyone else is cheering because of the ride.

And my cousins and I, we're freaking out. We're going to get hit by tornadoes. We've seen Twister. We know how this goes.

The wind would kill you. It was cool to see. I mean, I'm not going to lie, but also terrifying.

We get to the bottom and we're just like, we need to get out of these harnesses. The guy unhooks us and we run over to the ride operator and we're like, hey, there's tornadoes coming off the water. You need to alert people now. And the guy's like, keep the line moving.

We know what's coming. So we just take off running. And by the time we get just outside the ride, All of a sudden, all the sirens go off. They come over the intercom and they're like, seek immediate shelter, inclement weather, take cover. Where at Cedar Point are you going to take cover?

So we knew the one bathroom wasn't far away. So we just take off on like a dead sprint. And I mean, winds are picking up. It starts raining crazy hard. You immediately are seeing garbage cans. I mean, they're getting tipped over. Umbrellas from picnic tables are flying around. Picnic tables are like getting lifted up.

It gets really intense really fast. We end up in the bathroom. Everybody's kind of like panicking and we're a bunch of boys. This is awesome. We're safe.

Yeah, yeah. Who knows? They're being blown all about the area.

So we're like hoping they're okay. So things calm down. We come out of the bathroom, we come out of the men's side, and then just about the same time, my sister and cousin come out of the girl's side.

So my younger sister, she was very upset, obviously, so I was working to calm her down through this whole scenario. Yeah. The whole park is now shut down. It's flooded like crazy. The drainage system can't keep up with how much rain hit. And it just didn't stop raining. We're walking around in like ankle deep water all day.

And I had these green Nike skateboard shoes on and they dyed my feet green. Oh, sure, sure, sure. I had like incredible Hulk feet. I didn't wear sandals for the rest of that summer because my feet were just bright green. But yeah, so we spent the rest of the day walking around and we couldn't call anybody. We couldn't leave the park.

Right. So we had some money in our pocket and we saw the one thing that was open and there was a guy drawing caricatures. My cousins and I all got caricatures drawn with. tornadoes in the background. So I actually sent that picture to Emma, so I think you guys have a picture.

Braces. I have braces and a pretty epic bowl cut. Yeah, and they went profile. My parents loved that so much that they actually framed it and hung it in my childhood bedroom. So it's still there. That's nice.

We were the only people at the park at that point. So he had all the time in the world. Was the food still open? Very select food still open. So we were kind of scrounging for the rest of the day just to get by. And then the day went on and night hit and all of a sudden things dried up. So all the rides opened back up. Oh, what a blessing.

Probably 90% of the people had left the park at that point. So we just ran ride to ride and got on every single ride that evening. And finally, at the end of the night, my aunt and uncle come to pick us up and they're like, why is the parking lot so empty?

The campground was probably like 20, 30 minutes away, not really by the lake at that point. They said, yeah, we noticed some rain.

Right.

natural disasters and roller coasters.

That's probably a good strategy. But can I give a couple of shout outs?

Shout out to all my family that were involved. So my sister, Sierra, my cousin, Todd, Brian and Katie. And then also my cousin Joe. So unfortunately, he just recently passed away from cancer. Oh, yikes.

Young age. He had colon cancer. He was a storyteller and a jokester. He would love to know that so many people are hearing this story because whenever we got together... We always talked about our Cedar Point stories. Yeah, of course. Oh, that's sweet. And then also, like I told you, I run the senior center here in Wyoming.

So my coworker and my wife are guarding the door and they wanted to pop in to say hi real quick.

Is cereal that bad for kids?

Like Froot Loops and shit?

What's your favorite cereal? Oh, my God.

This is a hot take, but I really like Raisin Bran. No, fuck.

Wait, Gary, I gotta ask you real quick about what you were talking about, just before I forget. We do know Trump eats McDonald's like five days a week.

And he's 78, he's going strong.

Yeah, we're already fucked, though. We're already fucked. We're super fucked. What about the people that say it's more expensive to eat cleaner? Because it is, right?

So what? It's fine. Wait till you see a dude.

You should have seen these girls, by the way, Gary. Not impressive. Okay, well, you didn't get any from either, so. I didn't want any. You went all the way to Bogue with me at 8 a.m., bro.

You know, Bob's hilarious, bro. You can't do this shit here. No, but real quick. You have these nights a lot, but yes.

I'll eat that loss. Fuck it.

I paid for the Ubers. I paid for everything, bro. It's all good.

All right, so... Meanwhile, wait, just to add to the degeneracy. You deserve a rebuttal. Last thing to say, the entire time we were driving up, we were playing heads up poker. So it was that degenerate. Smoked him.

No, I beat him in poker. He didn't fucking settle. I settled. Wait, it's crazy because we go to the club and you just stay home and you get just as drunk, but you just stay at home by yourself, right?

You'd think when you decide not to go to the club, that's like having discipline instead.

I feel kind of triggered. Do you feel like you're better than us?

No, 77% aren't.

Okay.

What's like the most common, I guess, like out of all the ADDs, whatever you get, what's the most common they see out of a bad diet? Anxiety.

You're sitting like that, and I feel like you think you're very superior right now.

I'll be honest with you, Gary. I feel pretty fucking good right now.

It's Kyle Seltzer to me in that deal. That's why we're the number three seltzer. I fucking hate happy deadhead. You're probably stripped out in full scent happy deadhead.

Yeah. That's sick. Real quick, I started drinking those Elevate hydrogen waters at Erewhon because of you. Do they? They're so amazing.

So what's that going to do for you though, Gary?

You see these athletes like... Let's fucking go. Let's take just specifically LeBron James. He's 39. He still competes at that level, like spends a million dollars a year, they say, on his body.

There's no... It's like a full-time fucking job.

He's done three. You've done five days, right? What did you say? You've talked about this. You've done five days, right? Like Gary finished speaking?

Bob, how many days have you done?

I wouldn't like throw you under the bus.

You mentioned Xanax. What's your overall take on Adderall?

So for stuff like with Red Light and Cold Plunge, I don't think that's going to fix what you got, though. I'm not making this fucking thing about me, by the way. I'm not at all.

So it just makes you think like deeper.

That shit's terrible, by the way. It's so fucking popular, though.

Go ahead. Do you gamble, Gary? Or no?

That's a big game.

My stomach feels way better.

Gary, you think you could actually guarantee people longer life expectancy?

That's where he goes.

Like Elon Musk and Bezos, the richest, they got to be fucking, how am I going to live longer?

How come they haven't found a way to access more of your brain?

Gary, there was literally like a tornado belt. Three or four going at a time.

Yeah, it was like the earliest thing.

I just got to eat first, but I'm in.

Sweet.

Wait, so can I ask you what's like the number one unhealthiest product that we or humans consume in the States? So what's like examples of that?

And I just want Gary to kind of get you guys on track for this year.

I know so.

So you could, I guess, predict how long you'll live and you're at 120. Yeah, I'm at 120. Holy shit.

you if you're alive in five years i don't think i'd want to go to 180 i'm gonna be honest yeah just just you can duck out would you guys want to go to 180 fuck no that's that's like i don't think that's because then you gotta worry about because like obviously fucking chicks and no but you'd be so lazy chicks

What about the rare instances where, like Bob, for instance, there are people like that that live long. Is that just genetic-based?

Yeah, they're literally killing it that day and cooking it that night. Yeah, they're killing it.

I got to tell you what we ate. What did we eat? What kind of bat was that?

Yeah.

And kill it. And then it drops down. You'd be surprised how athletic they are with it.

And they hunt wild boars. Yeah, we saw them hit it once.

Really? We were trying. I couldn't eat it. I had to spit it out. It was the fucking grossest thing I've ever eaten in my life. Not raw. They cooked it. They make like chicken wings out of it.

It was fucking disgusting. It tasted terrible? Terrible, bro.

so where are they getting water if they're on an island in the middle of i guess they're digging down yeah just like the creek yeah they have they have like little like hot springs and shit what how do you communicate with like i couldn't talk to we had a translator all right so they speak their own language these guys these guys sleep on a fucking bamboo thing this thin on a dirt ground every night no we did it that's what we did yeah really yeah it was nothing it was crazy and they've never seen like civilization

Wait, hold on one sec. Sorry.

I wasn't there. Not to expose Gambles, but he didn't even get it done on the first try. It was like sad to watch. It was sad, yeah.

Don't mind the blue eyes. He's just Caucasian. Our new proprietary roast might seem eerily similar, but don't let your tongue deceive you. It's a Butterfly Dude Roast.

It's me, your representation, Abraham Lincoln. And I'm here to tell you, don't go out to see a play.

Oh, yeah. And they're like, oh, yeah, all of this will be used in this year for the... That'll be for the lazy river in the post-apocalypse.

Yeah.

julie roe is fucking insane yeah she's crazy man she's have you seen her tiktoks i have not i have fallen into that hole man julie roe is absolutely ape shit looking great yeah i mean it she's tight as hell and she says you love all these women there's something about these dangerous ass women julie roe kind of looks like the woman who plays callie on gray's anatomy she does yeah she does and she's but the

4.3.

Tylee. Who?

Hours of this. It's very cute. Yes, thank you. It only did involve the deaths of all these children. It would be entirely cute.

Oh, yeah. He was like, owls everywhere.

Thanks, guys. Chad from New Jersey. I believe we need to normalize talking about personal finances amongst our peer groups and with our parents. Do you agree? And how do we start doing that?

You found out something last night.

Do you think that was... Go on. No, I mean, I think you could say that they weren't in their A game, but I don't think they played bad. I don't think they played bad.

well i think they can i think it's more of a question how will falcons look how will spirit look how will mouse look by then and all these other teams because i think and this has been the case with any team you know being on a run and starting an era is like all the Some of the big players around them and the big rivals are struggling at the time.

I mean, that was the case when Astralis was having it. You know, as I said, for every team, you could make that argument a little bit. But you can see that these teams are trying. You know, obviously Falcons just added Monessi, you know, Spirit. Whether they'll make an actual roster change for them. I was really excited to see them in Melbourne because they would have had...

time off to practice and everything. And now, you know, they're doing it to rivals, but you have Vitality and Falcons and Mao's all coming in from Australia. So even if, let's say, Spirit beats Vitality and wins this tournament, they're always, you know, they'll always be like, yeah, but these guys just, you know, won the Grand Slam and came back from Australia.

You know, you need to do it at another, at a different tournament. So I think Vitality, some of the more

impressive things coming out of their campus how well they've done managing sort of expectations and also not getting complacent and not taking things for granted right like when you hear them talk about you hear Flamesy give an interview or someone else you know and they're talking about Lisbon and it was important to sort of grind it out because it's been a long it's been like three weeks on the road so the fact that they're able

To win a best of five, all five maps, knowing how to approach it right when they're tired already and it's been a long couple of weeks, that's impressive. Also, I mean, look at this. This final was just ridiculous. It's definitely the best fifth map out of any BO5 final ever.

ever it's up there as the best final i mean in cs2 i think probably shanghai still takes the cake because of how close that third map ended up being out of nowhere and because it was a major But still, it's just it's crazy how they were able to not lose that game, right? Like not lose that final match. It looked like it was over. It was so many times it looked like it was all over.

And then it wasn't. And sure, you can argue that Falcons screwed up some rounds that, you know, didn't really make sense. But it still takes for you to be able to capitalize on them if you're And that's why I think for now they've done such a huge task, has been accomplished with finishing the Grand Slam, that now literally all they're going to be focused on is the Major.

Like, yeah, they're at Rivals now. They obviously want to keep the streak alive. They want to play good CS, and they'll play without much pressure, and they can still go on and win it. But even if they lose... It won't be the end of the world. Same thing for Dallas.

It's all about peaking at the major, making sure you don't get too exhausted by the time major comes in, that you're not feeling fatigued from attending all these events and all the travel. You want to be at 100% for the major. And I don't think that's going to come as a surprise to anyone.

And it feels like, as I said, they've been doing a great job of peaking at the right time and conserving some energy still, even with the crazy schedule and all of that. And I think they'll obviously be feeling confident. So, yeah, I don't think they're going to drop off significantly by the time the major comes along. But I do expect other teams to get better.

I mean, even more so when you didn't play well in the final. I mean, you know, he had his moments, but that's not the level that, you know, he wants to see from himself even, right? Like he expects more from himself, especially in that grand final on Nuke, for example, on the final map. I mean... As I said, he had his moments, but there needs to be more of them.

I mean, he was the lowest-rated player on T-side. With all the rounds that had been played, I mean, when I saw that screenshot, that was crazy. Tessus had 31 kills, and the next player had 13. He had a 2.05 rating on T-side, and then the next guy had 0.93, and that was madness. Oh, my God. That's actually gross. He had more kills on T-side than Robson and ZywOo combined.

You know, it's so many. And Nico had the fewest at eight, right? And that's just... He had eight kills in... Well, okay, it was 42 rounds, but I don't know how many of them were T-side, but let's say half, maybe 12, 20 rounds, 19, 18 rounds, whatever, to only have eight kills. Like, you just need to do better. And both him and Monessi needed to do a little bit better.

Nico was their best player on CT side, but... You know, it's just one of those games where I'm sure he'll feel like he needed to do more. There was, of course, again, a deagle round on the map where it's just I'm watching this and it was on him in the arena when he was still on stairs and they're coming down. It's like, man, can't he just put it on the guy's head?

Like, get one kill here and it's over. And then, of course, he's in windows and Zyvo's jumping around and Niko's trying to shoot him in his back, jumping, and he can't really... connect and the round falls apart. That was the one. You felt it was over. They got two clean entries on a halfpipe, they get the bombsite and still somehow lose the round. It was crazy.

felt pretty weak i mean you threw smokes outside sure and and the second wave of smokes but no one really is putting any sort of real pressure and then you just go for an a execute right like i don't know it didn't it felt like it wasn't very difficult for falcons to read vitality you know on their city side hence the 9-3 scoreline in the end right like

Also, I think Magisk denying ZywOo the 1v3 clutch in the pistol, that was huge in terms of momentum and everything. But obviously as the game went on and Vitality started stringing rounds together, actually ZywOo bailing them out a couple of times, then it picks up with the other guys as well and it's starting to look more like Vitality.

I'm sorry, but I think when you see Falcons and what they do in such a short amount of time, in a way, and we've kind of been fooled. I feel like we've been fooling ourselves. I think we've all been lying to ourselves about... for the past six months or so that Mongols could win a Tier 1 tournament or that Aurora can actually go and win a Tier 1 tournament.

Or actually, not even that, maybe they can, but that they could be a contender in the long term. I think we've just been fooling ourselves. I think that's part of the weakness of the field, though. Yes, exactly. I think it was more that it was all these...

some of the big names or teams that had some big players were struggling and are going through different problems while because of the results that that aurora was able to make or mongols were able to make you're sort of just expecting it like that's how it's kind of supposed to go right that could have gone another way in reality you can't do it without superstars right any tournament

big-ass tournament, whether it's the Major, it's Cato or Cologne, something that has a lot on the line, a high-pressure environment, your players need to deliver. You're not going to call yourself to a tournament win like that. You're going to need someone to pull off the shit that Zyvo does or that Robbs does or that Monacy does or that Nico does or that Donk does.

You're not going to win a tournament like that By having five E3s all the time because all your openings are working and you're reading your opponent perfectly. I think at the time, though, they could have.

But they were never going to beat Vitality or Spirit. Like, Eternal Fire's best chance was Pro League that one time against Na'Vi, and they had them. But that was in Malta, in a studio, you know? Like, it didn't have all the pressure around it. We saw them crumble against, actually, the Mongols in Katowice. The Mongols crumbled against Mousesports in Shanghai, right? Like...

It just sort of keeps – and, yeah, they can get better with that. My point being probably their A game is not good enough to beat, let's say, Vitality's B game. They have to catch them on a really bad day.

I am getting aroused. Oh, shucks. It's my job, sir. No, no, no. But I'm getting aroused only for like Falcons Vitality, Spirit Vitality, Spirit Falcons potentially, right? Like those are the games that I want to see. Maus is the one that's like up there.

Well, not necessarily, but actually after I saw them in Bucharest, yes. Even if, let's say, they played again with Dexter, because there they played really good CS.

Yeah, I know. But it's also, you know, that with guys... I mean, I don't know if you want to talk about Falcons with Monaco or without. If that's, you know, because of your hypothesis.

I know, but my point is that... if they get their sort of floor sorted right which it seems like they did and they're playing like proper counter-strike you always need that if you don't have that players are not helping you know superstar players are not helping you they're not saving you right like you're not going to be able to find results on a consistent basis but if you have that

then the players can give you that extra 5% that you need to be able to beat the other team and lift the trophy, right? And I think with guys like Niko and Monacy, obviously, I mean, you have that ceiling and you have that potential. I don't know if you have that potential with 9-10 and Senzu. I don't know if Voxic and Xantaris can actually play on that high of a level on the stage consistently.

Exactly. Exactly. So how long are done with that?

Also, I think age. I had this thing with ages. I saw that, yeah. It's like it matters in some sense. For example, these are not young guys as well. These are, what, 27, 8-year-old players. So they're mature as humans as well where it shouldn't have even if – let's say they were a little bit inexperienced on the stage with Islam, whatever, it shouldn't affect them as much, right?

Like it's obviously going to affect someone more who is 18, 19 years old, who hasn't been around as much. It's just like everything you experience it in a different way. So I think that's also what doesn't get him out of a bind. But now someone is going to say, oh, yeah, but then that's the perfect excuse for the Mongols because they're so young. Well, sure, to some extent.

But I also that's where I also don't believe that age matters all that much, because after a couple of times, you either have it or you don't have it. Right. I think there's no that much, you know, young and old players. There's like good and bad players. And that's it. I think the problem with why you don't have that many star players that are 30 plus is twofold.

First of all, guys who are now 30 plus have not been when they were 20, 21, 22, 25, have been putting in the same amount of work or haven't been working consistently on their game, which is why you see them drop off. And the problem with Counter-Strike and why people fall off as they get older isn't that their reaction speed gets slower. and their aim has lost its edge, and that's why they suck.

No, it's everything else. Look how many times the game has changed. Look how much different rifles were buffed than nerfed. Look at the movement. Look at how you peak people now. Like, if you see... let's say Niko playing, how he clears angles, he does it differently now than he did in CSGO, for example, three years ago.

And he did it three years ago differently than how he did it six years ago, because the meta always changes and you need to be able to keep up with it, right? For some people, you know, priorities start shifting and they don't put as much time in the game. And maybe it's things like that, right? So I think that's one of the reasons.

And I think you'll see more of players in their 30s who won't just be IGLs that are on the best teams. Like, who'll be on other roles as well. Because those are the guys who've been constantly working on their craft and adapting and...

Yeah, well, that's the thing. There's not that many players. But I mean, I think when you see guys like...

nico elige some of these other guys when they get into their like early 30s i think they'll still be able to play they won't have to become igls to keep a spot on a tier one team you know i still think they'll be good enough to just play um their positions and i will say what was it i don't know if it slipped my mind uh another thing about no here's the thing because a lot of people in that thread were like

oh yeah um but they are igls so that's the only reason you know that's the only way how players over 30 can be yeah but apex plays star positions apex plays yard the nuke he plays con on mirage right like he plays the same spots nico plays so what is the What is the problem then? What's the issue there?

Kerrigan also, I mean, sure, he's not amazing mechanically, but he has games where he saves his team's ass.

I know that recently the G2 CEO has been talking in the interview how they were trying to make the team younger, but I don't know if he made that call that you said.

No, don't get me wrong. Like, I don't think now you should be looking for 27-year-old guys out there. It's, of course, and one of the reasons, again, is because we've literally had a game change where it's just sometimes hard to get rid of old habits. You know, like you've been doing something one way for five years, seven years. Now it's a different game. And that way is no good anymore.

Like, you have to change your mindset. And that takes time. Not everyone is able to do it.

right and you know for someone like not even donk but whoever is the the next kid that show up shows up cs2 is going to be the first game he touches right and the mechanics are going to be natural to him and all these little things and of course like it anything else it's the newer generation that will always be better than the previous one but for me it's just when people talk about longevity and and you know oh if this guy anyone past 30 can only be an igl

I don't believe that. And I think like you pointed out, Jason, the main, one of the main reasons for that is like, it just wasn't, there wasn't an opportunity for guys before. It didn't make sense. It didn't compute. I think it does now. And I think five years from now, actually, yeah, let's do it for the 1000th episode of Talking Converse. We'll look back. Still looking for sponsors by then.

We'll look back and we'll see how many 30 plus year old star players we have.

They didn't tell you about the mineral deposits. No, they didn't even say a fucking word about the mineral deposits. You should have a house. They should have a mine. Could be making bank, Jason. Just repurpose the building.

For me, it also tells me that they have no expectations for this major. Right. Like whatsoever. Because when you hear them talking to Furr, I mean, that's getting a vibes, not a vibes guy necessarily, but that's like a cheap option where you have something cool happening around the team. There's going to be a lot of content around the eyes on it.

Furr reunited, Furr is whatever, like a streamer or something now in Brazil. So you've had that whole element. It's like they're not hoping for any results. Like this move didn't happen to get results. Because once the first thing didn't happen, you're getting a kinder. And one of the main reasons is he speaks the same language. He can speak the same language as Molodoy.

Yeah, the only thing worse than that is like flying for 30 hours. Yeah, you've always had the rough trip. Potentially. No, it was all right. It could be worse. It could always be worse. It could have been worse. It definitely could have been worse.

So that, you know, when everyone else is speaking Brazilian, this kid doesn't feel left out. The two of them can, you know, speak Russian or whatever. It's like... I guess, yeah, that is true. They could do that. Why are they doing that?

When you ask this question, Jason, it's as if they looked at what was the worst thing that Astralis did and the worst thing for Team Liquid and decided to combine them in their team. Switching their AWP IGL to rifle IGL and then bringing a guy that didn't work out for Team Liquid. So... Yeah, I don't really care anymore. Like, I just can't. You know, also for all of these Brazilian teams.

It's like, until you make some moves and you get the players that you're supposed to get, I know that it's not necessarily just up to them. They're all fucking stupid, right? Like, no one wants to let anyone have them, so they'll just all be mediocre forever. I guess that works out, but...

i don't care none of them is going to do anything pain is not going to do anything special furia isn't mibr isn't legacy isn't like who else is there i don't know i'm forgetting maybe someone it feels like all the brazilian teams have their ceilings every team needs two roster changes to to do something not even one no one's missing one player every team is missing at least two players which is crazy right and i think also if you're let's say furia right let's

I want to say the biggest org out of all of them, but I think Payne is actually really big as well.

I don't know how big the gap is between the two, but just do it one time, right? Because imagine if this era of mediocrity for Brazilian teams, which has been going on now for...

Two, three years, you know, more than that? I don't know, right? Because I'm thinking, oh, Rio Major was a bright spot for Fury with all of that. But that was a flash in the pan. That's all it was, right? Like, so you can even say five years, six years before, since they were like, could be a contender or whatever.

Like, imagine if you did shell out whatever it is that they want for Insani and for whoever, right? Or Big Uzira and NQZ, like Chad said, whoever it is. And you actually become a contender, right? How many fans would you get then? How many eyes would you get on your team? How many jerseys would you sell? What are all the cool activations that you could do then?

The problem is no one wants to take that risk. right because they already get like decent people following them because people in brazil are crazy about cs and all of that stuff but imagine imagine if we talked about furia as a contender right next to falcons vitality spirit whoever right like You almost want it to happen that way because anything else is just stopgaps, right?

It's just like, oh, okay, this doesn't get me excited in any way whatsoever. Sure, are they going to have – could they have slightly better results and make playoffs here and there? Yeah. Are they going to win a tournament? No. And that's what everyone is in this for, right? Any team, no matter how small they are, they have –

In their heads, at the very least, some sort of a long-term vision, long-term strategy. How will they be able to get there in two years' time, five years' time, right? When we had GamerLegion show up and then play the playoffs, and of course they're going to get blown out of the water by...

the falcons you know it makes sense but look at where mouse was five years ago you know they were they were also a team that phase would just farm then they managed to get carrigan when when phase removed them had some good results won a couple of tournaments and most importantly

had the vision to invest into an academy team to invest into their staff to pick the right people to give those people enough control to make good things happen and now you have i think two you could make two top 20 teams worth of just players who have been through mouse academy And they've sort of made a blueprint for how you can get it done, and now they're a contender.

And even they still are not a team that's the best in the world or that lifts the big trophies all the time. They're actually still chasing that, right? And Gamer Legion, you get that feel off of what Mouz is doing, just they have a lesser, smaller budget, and they're doing it on a smaller scale. scale, right? But that's who they're hoping to become.

And then, of course, on the other side, you have organizations like FaZe Clan and Falcons and G2, who in theory, you know, can then buy the player that Gamer Legion or Maus develops. And that's how they augment their roster. And that's how they become, you know, contender. And that's how they build their teams. So we have those two different things. And these Brazilian teams have neither.

They don't have good enough academy structures where they develop talent and find young players that then play on their main team and become really good. And they're not splashing the money around to grab players from other teams. And that's why they're going to be mediocre.

turkey to go to fucking balak or some shit you know yeah it happened now with the mongolia tournament like a lot of people were contacted last minute yeah then you had i think josh was contemplating you know from australia does he go home does he go to mongolia he's looking at flies he's like this is all looking like awful so he did the thing where he just like sent them a rate that would

Yeah, no, it's fine, Jason. I want you to not mention it. Yeah.

Oh, man. You showed it to me. I watched it before it was out.

He's got no whole water unit. There's nothing going on in this house.

You know what that means, Chad? He's been perpetually drunk for the last four days. So even if he did see it, he probably has forgotten about it by now.

I think the problem is just like you're trying to do an Office episode in nine minutes, right? Like it all felt... Yeah, I think if it could have been longer, it would have worked much better because you don't even have time to sort of set up some of the jokes and the punchlines and whatnot.

But those were some fun. I mean, we did tell a couple of stories about that when, you know, we're all going from one event to the other. And then it's like, all right, like we can, you know, people end up being on same flights. I traveled actually with Alex to Australia and back. I mean, we are, our paths, they were in Istanbul, but outside of that, it was me and him all the way.

fatality spirit mouse falcons that's exciting i'd say they're the best four in the world right now um what else the question is would we say that because of the circumstances in which vitality is playing this tournament that this is spirits tournament to lose because they've had so much time off?

This is also one of those tournaments where three teams make it into the next stage out of four. Give me a fucking break, bro. So... So if you're, you know, Falcons, you only need to not lose to FlyQuest if you even lose to FaZe. And if you're, you know, Vitality is not going to lose to Wildcard. But let's say they do. They only have to beat Pain. And then they're in the playoff. Sick. Yeah.

Great. Eight teams, six teams go through. So 75% of the teams go through into the next stage.

I mean, this is where it really helps if you've been able to establish a good culture and if the players get along outside of the game too. Because that makes everything else so much easier, right? It makes being on the road easier if you're having a good time with your teammates. Obviously, you're playing well and you're winning. So your work feels better, too. It's easier right now.

Yeah, exactly. When things are going well. So, yeah, sure, they'll be a little bit tired and all of that. But because they are great at having the correct mood and bringing the right energy in games, they'll still have the right approach, it feels like. And they still should be able to... have a good result here. You know, I don't think they're going to bomb out.

Someone's going to 2-0 them just because they only just won the Grand Slam because, you know, the organization sort of and what they're trying to build there that you can't have it both ways, right? You don't go and go on this great run only for that to happen. You just aren't built that way, if that makes sense. So...

Also, for what you were talking about, I cannot emphasize enough how big of a difference it is when you're able to give your players time off completely compared to having a lighter practice but online. Being able to tell people, hey, you have five days.

of no practice so they can spend time with their friends family whatever maybe go on a mini trip if they want to like take their girlfriend somewhere somewhere nice you know do something nice just disconnect uh from the game um it's a huge difference because otherwise that's been the the the main thing for me when i've been looking at you know coaching versus being talent is like when you're

on a team even when you're back home from an event still grinding work the grinding still continues you know constantly so being able to give everyone that little bit of time off and then coming back into work and and zoning in on that and preparing for your next tournament i mean it's it's huge so i i don't think it's a um coincidence it's just a simple coincidence that they're doing this and having good results

Yes, I definitely think so. Really tough one. I think I will tell you though, and I don't know, you probably don't care about this, but if you just looked at LAN series, BO3, BO5s, Vitality is second behind NIP already. Okay, because you're the best of ones.

And Liquid would have been behind Astralis if that's the only thing you look at. Well, one of those Astralis.

NIP is at 28 and Vitality now is at 19.

Yes. Okay.

Yeah, I'm not doing it to diminish the other streaks or liquid streak or anything. It's more to showcase, you know, like you just say match, right? But you look at that it's all bad, that you constantly have to keep doing it like that. I guess, yeah, I didn't really think of it the way you said it, Chad. It's like easier to get upset in a best of one than in a best of three.

But in any case, the streak has been pretty impressive. I mean, they've, yeah. Yeah.

And for me, the craziest thing on that graphic that we kept pulling up with the streaks is that in the list of top 10, there's four different Astralis streaks from 2018, 2019. That's so stupid, isn't it? And even if you include, even with this one that I'm saying, you know, only best of threes, best of fives, where it's like...

They actually, you know, with just a little bit of luck or losing a game at a different time, could have even beaten NIP's streak when it comes to series, you know, which is just sort of mental to think about. Because I'll tell you here, these four streaks combined are 24, 36. It's like 53, right? Obviously, you can't combine them all together. But if you just combine...

you know there's two of them for two of them it says 2019 and then one of them is 1819 so it crossed new years there like if you just combined one of those or like two of those it would be 29 series which would be number one uh in terms of best of threes best players on land which is nuts right the level of dominance also yeah funnily enough the the exact time when i was a coach

They were good at the start of the year and at the end of the year, last year. Yeah, the bookenders. In the middle, you know, it was more G2 and Na'Vi, G2 in 23, winning Cairo and Cologne, but then not, you know, like it was teams taking turns in a way.

The judgment is pretty good of those people.

This is just Chad saying, even if we had a tournament in Perth, I'm not fucking doing this thing with Russia. This was his first and last time he's going to get to experience this. So might as well.

It's also why I like the location for a boot camp because it's not hotel rooms that it has. It's like small apartments. So every room has a small kitchen. Some have a living room area separated from the bedroom.

Yeah, too bad Henry's in Mongolia, he could help you with the milk.

Because, you know, if you're going in between tournaments to do a bootcamp so you don't have to go back to your own continent, it might be helpful to sort of just break the rhythm a little bit. You know, some guys like to make at least their own food in terms of like breakfast or something and just have a slightly different dynamic.

Nice one, Jason. Appreciate that. Might actually just clip this and use it for promotional purposes. Yeah, there we go. But yeah, I mean, Australia is awesome. It's always a pain in the ass to get there, man. But the vibes are so good once we're down there. It was the first time in Melbourne. You know, I don't want to offend anyone from Melbourne. But it's like pretty much to me, I didn't know.

There's not much difference to Sydney, right? Like it's a cool city, places to go. Sydney has a slightly better beach, it feels like, like when you go to Bondi or something. But yeah. Definitely a lot of cool places outdoors to hang out. Great coffee down there in Melbourne from someone who drinks it very rarely. Chad's been talking about the Australian coffee for years now.

But that's what people ask me there. Hey, how do you like our coffee? They take it as a point of pride. I don't know, man. I drink it for the effect, not for taste. I got to go to KBBQ a couple of times, which for us is a huge deal.

He's always stocked for milk.

It was crazy. We went there on the day we landed me and Alex. We landed at 7 p.m. and at 9 we went to KBBQ with Chad. It was the loudest KBBQ place I've ever been to. Food was great and everything. We went to an Aussie football game with Chad where he was again struggling to pretend that he knows the rules. And everything – it's like I told – we talked a little bit about this in the last episode.

It's like baseball for Australia. Like, it doesn't feel like people care too much about the game. They go there to have some beer, some food, and so on. But, yeah, it's always, like, a lot of fun. Yeah.

tournament was great we'll get into that I guess a little bit later I was just thinking about what I tweeted and said on the last episode that you know next time they want to do well a major in that time zone Australia would be really cool like you know the crowd always comes up there's one thing though that bothers me about the Australian crowd and you can answer this chat probably you know this better than I do for sure

you know for example it was like 12-10 on Mirage or something in the final you know it's like a close game and they're chanting twist his dick twist his dick you know and it's like sometimes I wonder is it just like do these guys even at some point like watch the game still or is everyone piss drunk and like is just having a good time or they're still watching the game and paying attention they just like they just do those stupid ass chants you know because they're

I think it also makes sense. I mean, I'd imagine from a business standpoint, because there was a bigger crowd there than there is in Katowice. Like, yeah, that's a bigger that's a lot of tickets you sell, you know, so sure, it's a far away and there's extra cost of getting people there. And I don't know what the costs are in terms of the equipment and everything.

But I do imagine people run a tournament not to lose money on it, but to make money on it. So, yeah.

I think it's probably going at a good pace. Yeah. The amount of updates and like small tweaks and changes. So it gets ironed out. And I think it won't be until the first until the Austin major is over where we can really look back and say, all right, some of these things were good. Some of these things are bad and need to be addressed. And some of it is just going to be the nature of the circuit.

I mean, like you had in Cluj with teams deciding to skip out the tournament, losing some points. Other teams obviously get the opportunity to win all that prize money and leapfrog them. It feels like with the result that... Astralis had that unless they have some royal fuck-up, they've secured themselves a major spot with the run in this tournament.

They missed the last two. They're not...

And now there's more pressure. Liquid is 15th.

Yep. Yeah, I know, but, I mean, we'll have to see how it works in regards to, you know, now they're the 15th seed. Like, you go to a tournament like Pro League or Blast Lisbon, you know, okay, Pro League is different because teams see themselves, but... You're going to have to play, like, Vitality at the start of the tournament. You know, like... Just tougher runs.

Like, the runs are going to be just tougher. And then what happens if... I mean, this is what everyone is sort of figuring out. But, you know, maybe Furia. Maybe there's a South American tournament.

you know region locked that's actually ranked and there you have furia pain you have all these teams that are in the americas and all of a sudden they managed to get get some points that liquid kind and liquid is playing these tier one tournaments having tough runs because they're seeded low i mean now they're on the brink of not being in the top 16 to get invited to these tournaments

Yes, they could be out of it by then.

It seems like it's a little bit too laggy, you know, everything. You made a good point just now. The fact that Dallas is two weeks before the major. Two and a half weeks, let's say. So if that's already set, then the only thing you're playing for is obviously the major, which is the big one, and that's in April. And after that, you're set. But if they do start...

If they don't have good results, then that will start affecting invites for next season. And also, it might have the snowball effect where it becomes real bad real fast because there's no mechanisms for you to play at these tournaments.

i mean none of them do have wild card except for blast rivals or or yeah you know rivals have four they have like one for eu one for na one for south america and one for asia i'm pretty sure i'm sure they'll probably use it on liquid but again If you fall down to that, I mean, that's slim pickings. And does then Liquid as an organization say, well, fuck it. We have to accept these PGL invites.

Because other teams supposedly won't. Some of them will be skipping it. So then there's the opportunity for you.

And not more than two in one year.

Isn't golf like a lot of tech you need to, you know, you can't just come in and take a swing. That has nothing to do with, I mean, it has very little to do with power and a lot more with.

100%.

Wow. All right, Jason. Sorry. I guess it's a professional deformation for me. That's what it is.

Well, the fan base and they have the good lineups, the good rosters, the best players in the world on their teams, which is what everyone wants to see, right? And that's what they're leveraging. Well, actually what you said, viewership, just to maybe a different vehicle.

That's the only way this is fixed. Yeah, but... The orgs don't need to do that if they can find money elsewhere, which is what they're doing with the TOs. I think for me it's fine. It's not, Chad. You say that, but that's not realistic or reasonable because we've grown too much and have advanced a long way for there to be no organizations. We're in a course correction.

Because you need to... Do the salaries need to go down for players? Yes. Probably. Do some of these orgs maybe need to scale down a little bit with some things? Probably.

But the orgs still provide a very valuable service to the players themselves, first and foremost, by providing them with a guaranteed salary, by having people, coaches, managers, performance coaches, so that the players can only focus on playing. That's what you want to do as a player. You can only focus on getting better and performing on the server.

Also, for the ecosystem as a whole, having orgs, having brands, having those orgs also work on maybe creating content. For example, the spirit vlogs from the major or the comms videos from other guys or skits from someone. Whatever it is, it provides extra value. to the viewer and provides extra value to the consumer, provides some hype around these teams, around the brands, around the names.

I don't think we're at a position where I don't think we'll ever see orgs just not be a thing in Counter-Strike for as long as Counter-Strike is a thing.

he's like he's like everything is there we're just not able to to properly sell this yet to like bring in the money but he thinks that salaries are at a very pretty good pretty damn good place across the majority of the professional scene you know good for players i'll say that but also this whole conversation especially like luber agreement was different and the blasting because you were getting incentives um even if

Whatever. Even if you performed poorly. Here you have the club prize money for ESL and it's higher the higher you place, but it's only based off your placing. Like if Na'Vi is 14th in the next ESL tournament, they're not going to get a shit ton of money. They're not going to get any extra money. So that's fair.

I just don't like now this sort of narrative or something that people are saying, oh, Blast and ESL are sort of the bad guys. They're squeezing PGL out. Like PGL could easily lower their prize money for a tournament by half a million. make it 750K instead of 1.25 mil and do the same sort of an incentive structure. They just don't believe in that and they don't want to do it, which is fair.

True. I think Dinko has a lot of things higher on his list than getting around to golfing.

It's just a different sort of approach that they have, but no one is doing anything shady or...

illegal or skipping the rules it's just that Blast and ESL are sort of siding more with the orgs and trying to cozy up with the orgs and that way sort of guarantee having the biggest of names at their tournaments and PGL is sort of banking on well surely they'll have to play our tournaments because we have the most prize money it's going to impact the ranking the most PGL is Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams

Chad, do you know that the frequent flyer thing from Blast, is that counted in the VRS or no? No, no, no. So it's not like club. So that's where ESL sort of found a bit of a, I mean, it wasn't loophole now, it's in the ruling, but then that's a bit of a problem for Blast. Yes.

I think just early 20s single fucking you say fucking fucking out there slinging dick will be in Poland a little bit in Northern Ireland, Ireland, airports. I don't know. Airport airports.

You know, it's been a long one if Chad had a fucking beer.

It's all prize money. And that's why I also said in my tweet about Maus, Maus and Kluge, the highest ranked team they beat was Falcons in the grand final. They were ranked 8th before.

the event and they also lost to them in the in the groups outside of that it's teams between the from 11 to like 20 something but the point is like we can't do shit tos can't do much you know pgl can't do much from their side of things to to get orgs to come to their events but the pressure the most pressure that can come can be from within from the players themselves because if you are

you know guys on team liquid and you're like well now we're in this situation we didn't go to kluge especially with the playing field we could have had an easier time we're a new team or we made the roster change we're trying to you know get up in the rankings g2 as well the players could have made that same uh case right and you're missing out also

Especially with PGL, you look at the prize money and considering that still in most cases the players get the vast majority of the prize money, 85% or higher, you know, that's them looking at it and thinking, well, we could have gotten an extra, you know...

40-50k per player if we went and won this tournament so also to not have any real say into which tournaments you'll attend like also just from a logistic standpoint you know you're you're missing out on a tournament in Europe if you're G2 right then you'll go to actually I think they're skipping Melbourne but let's say a team that will go to Melbourne they'll go to where is it Mexico the rivals

You know, like some of those locations, it's like you're going to go halfway across the world for a week or eight, nine days to play some event where realistically how much is there in it for you compared to some other events like a Closure, maybe Bucharest from PGL, you know, like...

So that's where I think, especially this club prize money thing from ESL, if, let's say, the orgs are just like, well, that's not prize money, that we don't have to share that with the players. I think that's where... It's definitely prize money. Yeah, because it's counted in the VRS, right? I think that's the only definition that you would need to use if you're a player.

But, again, semantics and contracts, and, you know, that's where you can run into some issues. No CSPPA, less... Power, I mean, power is a bad word, but less opportunity maybe for the players to... CSPPA was fuck all even when they were around. Yeah, yeah, sure.

But still, just the fact that it existed, I mean, the players got some decent stuff from it, you know, like some basic requirements for tournaments and so on. The hotels, the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all these sort of things, just because there was an official body and that, you know, contacted with all the TOs and everything. Yeah, it's turned to shit pretty quick and...

Wasn't what it was supposed to be in the long run, but the fact it wasn't useless to them and

How did you feel about the third place game, Chad? I fucking loved it.

I think it was good. I think it will forever be difficult for teams to really find motivation. I don't know. I think JW years ago had a tweet about this as well. Sure, there's prize money. I think it's a lot about the matchup, right? If you get two teams where there's a lot on the line for them for that game, then absolutely, it can be a banger. But I think...

if you ended up having, you know, Vitality, Na'Vi play that game and then you have, whatever, Spirit, G2 in the final and they just lost the semi the previous day, I don't know, maybe it wouldn't be... I guess it's just like when you have two good teams, it's always going to be fun, right?

I mean, listen. If you have money, you don't need like points. I mean, it sounds kind of dumb, but my point being, if you're going to fly business every time, regardless of, you know, if you're going to pay for it every time, then why would you care which airline you're flying with? You're going to fly with whatever makes the most sense, right?

Like, even if they are a little bit more sloppy, lacking a little bit of discipline, I mean, that's still entertaining, Counter-Strike. So I guess for the viewer, in the end, it's always going to be...

going to be great, and I agree that it's way better than any sort of a show match or anything, although they were a little bit lucky that the game, the final didn't go to a fifth map, because it would have been past midnight, so maybe with that, you need to start the third place game a little bit earlier, you know, just to make sure that the final doesn't drag on for too long, and of course, they were unlucky with the fact that the first map was two maps, but...

There's more on the line than the grand final.

And I think also the argument you said, Chad, about the first team in the arena, if it's four best of threes. I mean, you can just ask that team, would you rather play this game in the studio? Because that's what that upper bracket last game is. I'm pretty sure everyone would answer that they would rather play it in the arena.

Yeah, I think we've seen that with Tamar 12, like, sure, there's still potential with four best of threes a day for things to go real bad and to go south and for it to be a really long day. But more often than not, it's fine. Like majority of cases, it's fine in terms of the schedule. That was the reason why we stepped away from four best of threes potentially.

a day in the arena because with MR15 and everything, it could, you know, we had that crazy one in Katowice one year where we finished at 3, 4 a.m. You know, like that was just ridiculous. But with MR, and for the majors, you had it because, well, there was an extra day in the arena because the budget works a little bit different when it's the major.

So, yeah, I think for these TOs, they can definitely... reevaluate, it's also more content for them. I mean, in a way, right? Like more arena games. I think it's just just provides for a better product.

But if you don't want to pay every single time, then accruing points and then sometimes just being able to upgrade with miles and having some of these perks, even when you're flying economy, it is nice. It does. It hits the spot. It does. Yeah.

you know yeah between second and third the difference between third and fourth is a lot more it's it's close to 70k so yeah i think it's nothing to be you know laughed at like even if the players have high salaries this is still like extra money that's coming in and and all that stuff and potentially some incentives and if you go up in the rankings and all that stuff

But yeah, I think for the tournament itself now, Jason, if we could finally get to the Counter-Strike and you can stop talking about all this random bullshit in your fucking baseball movie that no one has seen outside of the United States. Because no one watches the game outside of the United States, the Dominican Republic and Japan.

I don't need to go into a sleeping pod for four hours. I can just go into one of the lounges. They have a quiet area with like single beds where you can sort of take a nap if you want, like, you know, have things like that. Nice little perks. Everybody loves a perk. Yeah, exactly.

I think for you, it's just like you can't handle one more thing to keep track of. I think you're at full capacity.

I think the thing with Astralis is, on paper, they have too many good pieces to be bad forever. Right? Like, it has to click at some point. Like, sure, you always have Cadian having to play some silly roles with a rifle, but...

outside of that you have device you have i mean yabi and stare i don't even want to mention staun that much anymore because he had another stinker you know for the most of the the playoffs really like not delivering in a way that you would expect for him and for people they're finally seeing you know sort of what stair is capable of and he's showing it a little bit more on the

big stage as well but i've been you know calling for this guy to go to australis from 2022 in october or something that was about right yeah before the real man i was saying they would should get him in zyphon but zyphon for some reason still on tier three teams in denmark But yeah, I think he's extremely talented, good mechanics, good game sense.

I think from little I could see on Sprout, he was a good teammate as well, has a good attitude while he plays. So it might just be the trio of Yabi, Stair, and Device that are sort of leading the pack from them, but... It's all about whether they will be able to do it on a consistent basis.

You still see some of those, obviously with Cadian being the IGL, some of the heroic stuff in there with some gambles and stacks and reads and all of that. It can be very frustrating to play against if you can't get some of those reads on your own and if you keep running into those stacks and you get outmaneuvered in that way.

No, no, no. I'm not saying you're bad at it. I'm just saying you have a lot going on. So that one extra thing is just not worth it for you.

But also hard to execute that style on a consistent basis and to always kind of be right and be at the right place at the right time. So I think probably the best and the most influential result for the Astralis organization in the last year or 14, 15 months really that they've had with the implications that it's going to have on this season.

Isn't everything goofy or fun? I like Jason. Jason can't do half the things you do.

he's not in the mood at the moment i don't know i'm just i'm just trying to cheer chad up a little bit but jason's not in a great mood either so i guess i just have to you know utilize some self-deprecating humor um fun things we left the baby with her grandma for the weekend for two nights so we got a taste of you know how it is to not have a kid well you're about to have two and a half weeks of that it felt so good well just me yes

Not too much. I haven't seen him all that much, but I remember asking him sort of also about the clapping. You see Nico just fist bumps and then Dexter high-fives him, but apparently he's like... A bit of a quiet guy. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was surprised to hear that as well. Yeah, I thought he was like super outgoing, like that's sort of the vibe he gives out, but not really.

So having him, getting him out of his shell a little bit has been what they've been trying to do. But yeah, still obviously early days for them. They've just been together for two months, right? And they spent... 85% of that on the road together. They had a boot camp that was something around 16 days total.

Then you had Katowice ride and straight into Romania pretty much after that because they had to play the qualifier for Dallas. And then you had Bucharest and Cluj. So, yeah. But I think for them, obviously, a huge result in terms of making the grand final for one, and also looking at the teams that they've had to play along the way. I mean, they beat FaZe 2-0 on the stage.

They finally beat Eternal Fire after Falcons as an org lost to them the last 130 times that they played. They beat Maus to qualify for the playoffs. They beat Astralis. You know, okay, they lost to Pain and beat FlyQuest in their opening game. So I think they played a lot of really good teams. They had to play a lot of maps.

Good sign for them that Niko was in form, ended up winning the MVP despite losing in the finals. dexter had a lot of good moments and i think after sort of the first series a little bit the second series like the fact that tessis did wake up a little bit in the grand final and showed some of his form on stage from group from the group's

on the stage as well in the playoffs i think that's like what you're hoping comes out of this tournament for falcons the most that he's sort of broken that glass ceiling of his and that now he can deliver those sort of performances uh on the stage consistently because that would mean a ton for for this falcons lineup

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but, you know, it's kind of unfair, I guess. I don't know.

The Mirage one from Kat, that was nasty.

That's what I say, Chad, but it's always like, yeah, but then this and this, that and that, that. It never stops. It never stops.

Shout out to the Romanians. Just like with everything else, Chad, you did it first and then everyone copied it.

I think you can also tell, man, like some of these rounds, I think in the final things could have gone better for them, but they were losing some silly rounds. Again, having a lot of issues with the anti-force buy rounds at different times. Then you even look at Ancient losing 5v2 in the first gun round. I mean, on the CT side, just completely...

changes the the way that um ct side goes and it's crazy because of the level of players and the experience of the players that that happens i mean also some situations on on dust there was that 2v4 2v5 that they almost won with actually dexter and tessus where dexter is getting the kills with the galil on the a site and tessus gets one kill on mid and then for some reason

He pushes mid to peek window on B while Dexter is already on A and killed all the... Like, the last two players alive are the B players. And, you know, could have played the post-plan there at 2v2 and had a chance to win the round maybe, but whatever. I mean, it's kind of clear the areas in which they could improve still.

So I think also Nico talked in interviews about how they were feeling the pressure early on because everyone's, you know, wanting them to fail and all of that stuff.

So I think this result will probably be a little bit liberating for them in a way, too, where, OK, you know, you guys have shown you've been in some good teams, like you've shown that you can play and now you can maybe just relax a little bit and do some more of that.

there's nothing you can do i send some flowers back occasionally if there's a if there's a if there's a moment um i leave some notes you know you know somewhere i've done that once not very often wow that's thoughtful oh shit i saw did you see that it was all a fucking ruse which your your your gal getting pregnant it was all a lie yeah of course do everything publicity publicity stunt

He loves a fight. Yeah, but you get it on B too.

I think for them it's obviously great for the confidence of Brolan and the whole team that, you know, I think the players at the back of their head also removing your IGL, having a new guy have to step into it, like, it's not the easiest of transitions, so the fact that they were able to have a good result early on, right, despite of the teams that they beat, didn't beat, like, it doesn't matter, like, still to go and win three games in the arena and win the tournament, like, that's going to

feel good um obviously i think important that exertion had a good final because in some of those yes what jason

Go on about exertion. All right. But yeah, I think also him having a good final important because he's a guy who can have a lot of impact and has some key positions on maps and has gone missing before in some key games. So a lot of positives in that sense. Like Chad said, still to be, you know, truly tested in the sense of having to play some of these teams that are at the very, very top.

And how are things going to look that way? But I don't know. I just have, again, a hard time seeing that transpire when they get to that sort of an environment. I even saw Duncan tweet something along the lines, and I kind of agree with it, is... it almost means now, you know, it's all about firepower is the only thing that matters. Like if they pull it off, right?

Like it's just who has the guys who shoot the hardest and there's very little left in terms of nuance and tactics and things like that. If you can just get a rifler in, get rid of your IGL and still... uh, play on a super high level. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see. It came definitely earlier than I expected for mouse in terms of the success and, uh, to see if they can maintain it.

well we didn't we we just were making a gag you know like because the game was the game was going on the people were having a good drink the crowd was nice and interactive which was fun the romanian people were lovely uh so yeah it was it was it was good that's the difference like when someone like you does it it's a gag like jason could never pull it off because everyone would say just ah jason just finding an excuse to drink on the job of course ah jason couldn't last an hour without a drink uh jason this jason that you know i think it'd be only you

No, I wasn't paying that much attention.

Oh, okay, yeah.

I know that he was doing that, and of course, you know, I guess I owe an apology to Brolan and everyone, because he did say in a word when he was talking about his career, well, I could see myself being an entry fragger or an IGL. So I guess, yeah, that means he's always wanted to be an IGL, and... Finally, he got his wish fulfilled.

Maus was the organization that granted him his lifelong wish to IGL and play Counter-Strike. So it all worked out amazingly well for everyone.

If it were a finals MVP, then you could say so, but for the event, no.

consistently because he is the player that tends to go missing for mounds so but i don't think he got robbed of the tournament mvp um i don't think that would be a reasonable surmise not at all situation not at all um i think also do the mongols another choke um from them i felt like they choked at least watching the game um well if you lose new australis on mirage you're doing something wrong aren't you

Yeah, I mean, that was, they got slapped around, even won both pistols, sure lost the second round in the first half, but on Inferno they had a lead and they just couldn't close out, they lost in the end eight rounds in a row, like four in regulation and all four in overtime, and you could tell, like, while they were playing that the stress was starting to come in and all this stuff, and

It's happened a couple of times now. It's happened against Miles in Shanghai. It's happened here against Astralis. They beat an eternal fire in Katowice who choked, like, for the words of Major himself. And the Vitality lost. You know, Vitality is just a better team. Like, that's fine. So, for the Mongols, like, the choking has to stop. Like, it's fine.

I think it's a mentality. I think it's tough. What Jason? What now?

Yeah, I think just, you know, there's a couple of ways to do it, but to not get too deep into it, I think just for the Mongols, the problem was it's just five guys and a coach, right? Like, sure, and, you know, they have an organization, but when they started playing, it's the rawest of, you know, guys playing together, going up the ranks, right? I don't think there was too much emphasis on...

professions and there wasn't a big staff from the start, there wasn't a performance coach, there wasn't like a super strict regimen that they had to follow in terms of nutrition or whatnot, right? Like which is to be expected for the first team to ever do anything coming from Mongolia, right? So I think that's the reason why in these high pressure situations, right?

Sometimes their emotions get the better of them. And you can tell that with the players individually, sometimes how they approach things as a team. I mean, against Astralis, this happened, like, and they do this all the time. At 12-10, they decide to force buy, right? And it's a bad force. Astralis is not in reset territory, right? And then you have two shit buys to end regulation.

Like, why are you doing this? You know, they had one saved gun on Mzinho, the AWP, so what? Like, just...

having play he'll play with the tech nine last round or a mac 10 you know and then he can maybe pick up a gun from someone else you didn't give yourself the best chance to win the game in regulation and it's that those sort of things like need to stop and they need a little bit more finesse to their game like

tactically yes like yeah tactically i think they're good at what they do and and sort of i don't want to call it like too simplistic because it's not but there needs to be a little bit more there in terms of their slow game needs to develop like they're very good when you know they're they're Executes go well, chaos, yeah, like faking mid default, popping on a side.

If that stuff works for them, they can run over everyone. But if that doesn't work and you can't do the poppy stuff and you have to play a slower default, take map control, pull the rotations right from your opponents, I feel like that's where they still struggle.

I don't think it's going to work. It's a one-player change, but it's much bigger than for all of these other teams, right? Because multiple guys are moving around and Rain especially playing some of the roles that he played ages ago or positions that he played a long time ago, which is...

going to take some adjusting but this is it like this pro league window right where they're not playing pro league that like this is where they need to sort of figure it out and they won't have much time post that um to to to work on stuff right like elise is playing well individually i think sort of brokey is another big question mark for them he had a great group stage in kluge but uh pretty abysmal playoffs right and i think

this might be sort of the last season slash last year for him to really show to the team that he can, you know, take that next step in his game and play on a consistent level because we all know how difficult it is to have good results when you're struggling to get consistent output from your upper.

Yeah.

He's playing some of the positions that he played when I was the coach. Because Nico was on the team and then Nico had those roles.

Yeah, five. Holy shit, it's been that long.

What the fuck? Yeah. It's the liver, isn't it?

So we don't have to go back. The Imperial Valkyries experiment at the Tier 1 event. Officially probably done, right?

No, yeah, I think, I mean, just I didn't expect any wild answers. Like, I agree. I think ultimately you can't pass on an opportunity like that. And I think also having that, you know, against Na'Vi and all the and everything sort of. got them the positive response, but I think it's clear that they're not able to compete on that level at the moment, right?

Like, it's been Katowice, Bounty, and Cluj, like, first three big tournaments of the year, so I think people are getting ahead of themselves, and of course they don't deserve hate, far from it, but I think it just tells you that... realistically, it was more of a loophole that they were able to attend these tournaments, that they are good enough to be participating.

Well, it's not a loophole, it's a mechanism. I'm just saying, yeah, the mechanism, you know, the loophole is a bad word, but just the fact how the changes ended up working at the beginning of this year because they were just introduced, right?

um so that was that was just a coincidence that time yeah yeah um i think also i like for people to you know probably for the next episode or something as we get into it like how much will people notice yeah probably not much to be honest because a lot of the stuff that you know we came up with over the last couple of seasons are going to be used here well hold up yanko tom eric had the idea first we just executed it first

No, I think it's just that's just that. But we'll see. Obviously, the format is different. There'll be more games. And once you have four games a day, there's really not that much space in between to fill it with content and all that much. So just in general, focus more likely going to be on the cast, which is what we all like doing the most, pretty much.

Wow. I know.

There's three Australian teams there and two Chinese teams, and that's the ceiling that you picked for them?

I mean, I think we're fine. We might do one more from... We got media day on Friday, right? Yeah, we'll see maybe at some point.

Yeah. Or Alex.

Or Henry.

Freya?

She's so busy all the time.

Wow. Yeah, unfortunately, that's not how principles work, Jason. Unlike love.

Well, I think it's if it's a league, right? And a lot of teams in there and having to schedule everything and, you know, maybe teams having to leave for tournaments, you know, to have that flexibility. I get it. It's just now with the battle stuff, it's kind of tough, right?

All right. Let's go out here in Sweden. Yeah. Make up for it. It's about the same amount.

Perfect.

Yeah, in a nice area. In a nice area. Nice stuff around. So, yeah.

Like you either have to adjust it so that there's, you know, mini seasons and then there's updates, you know, or like every whatever. Yeah. figure out a way that it still counts because I saw someone tweet about it how potentially it's screwing with some of the teams when it comes to the MRQs for NA right some of those teams are losing points now because it's not well they don't or whatever

I think it'd be only you saying that. Let's see, guys, leave a comment.

Yeah, because, well, you know, until the team say it, you just can't, I don't know, feel a little bit unprofessional or just kind of stupid to be like, take it this way. But that's basically how we were phrasing it with that small caveat for, I don't know, whatever reason, but...

Yeah, I think for them, you know, obviously can be very optimistic about the future with the Counter-Strike they've been playing. And now you add Monacy to that and obviously him and Niko being reunited. I think it's, you know, looking great for Falcons at the moment.

But on the other side of things for G2, it's almost like everything we talked about feels like a coin flip or actually, you know, the complete opposite with G2.

Did you see the tweet from the CEO of G2 and that statement, everything, you know, the whole Monacy thing?

I'll let you find it. Well, I just, uh, talk, give my impressions about the final and I agree with you with pretty much all the stuff you said. Um, when, when you watch them play and, you know, for example, in, in bookers and I said this coming into the final, I don't think they were really tested. Um,

up until the grand final because they played uh complexity two times rare atom gamer legion gamer legion in their opening game and then vertus pro who was struggling at this tournament for some reason but they never played you know they didn't have to play falcons or uh phase and

who have experienced players, who have big game players, guys who are going to know how to stop the things you like to do the most, teams that will know how to prepare against you. They don't even have to play like an Aurora or the Mongols or anything like that. And their T side is just what works best for them. is first timing plays, right?

Like the first thing that they try to do, whether it's a quick opening for someone or whether it's them grouping up, like if they can get to do that, not get blocked or something and proceed with that plan, it's like that's their best chance of winning the round. But if that gets blocked or stopped and then they're forced to adjust in the mid-round, it does not look great.

That's where they start to struggle to organize themselves. The timing seems off. The calls don't seem as great. They can play slower rounds, but slower rounds that are more set is where they have success. What I mean by that is, okay, they will...

do mirage and they will throw you know top mid window smoke and then they will uh you know one guy will go from underground the re-smoke window they'll smoke uh top con right molly con make sure they've cleared all that and then they'll do like a b split you know and that's looks sort of it's like a default with an ending on b but you can pretty much call that round from freeze time As well.

And I think that's like the thing when you talk about eye test and you're watching and playing, this is just looking a little bit. And it also sometimes feel like they have too many things in their playbook when you watch them play. Because, you know, in a half of Mirage, you know, they would do so many different things.

But then it doesn't feel as connected maybe, you know, where you're not conditioning your opponent as much. You're just doing a lot of different things, which I guess makes you unpredictable, but also makes it harder for you to be consistent.

Here it's been amazing. It's been an amazing day. I spent the whole day outside. It was like 25 degrees. I don't know what it is in your Mickey Mouse numbers. It was great.

No, it was after that. Rumors are true. It was like on Monday, Sunday.

Yeah, so that's the issue. Heavy God ended with most kills in the grand final somehow, even though they were banged out 3-0. I got to talk to him a little bit at this event and at Pro League, and he's just a great guy, man. He's awesome. He's a stud. He reminds me a little bit of Rain in the sense of he'll do whatever you ask him to. He's a great guy to be around.

Definitely a net positive for the vibes as well. The vibe checks out. uh with him and and it's just you know skill this was his first grand final of a big event he was a bit slow the first map but all in all uh just played really really solid and i think that's going to be a great pickup for g2 for the for the future

It was nice. And now I'm here. Bucharest. Well, I guess, you know, Falcons going out with a bang. Against all odds, considering how their tournament started, being humiliated in the first two days. I mean, sure, in hindsight, the complexity loss maybe doesn't look as bad as it initially did, right? Because complexity ended up in fourth place.

Yeah, but I think also that's what I wanted to touch on. I wanted to go a little bit deeper into this whole G2 stuff and Monessi leaving and some of the things that he maybe said or alluded to. But I remember we finished the grand final, and I'm seeing this tweet from their CEO, and he's saying things like the way he's phrasing things. Yeah, I'm reading it now.

We have decided to accept the trades of our young goats of CS. You didn't really have a choice.

Ilya's contract ends in December of this year and we decided to maximize our chance of rebuilding the team our team for the future with this trade instead of hoping for a last minute turn of events it's like yeah it's ending he didn't want to extend it or resign for a very good reason right we'll get into that and then you then you when I saw

him say this, after four years of failing to lift CS trophies under the previous management, this roster and their staff have finally landed six trophies in the last two years for the G2 banner, including Cologne and Katowice, among others. Bro, this is just instantly triggered me because this is all you hear from politicians, right? Oh, it's all those guys. This is all left over.

All the bad things that are happening now is because it's left over from those guys before. Or everything that's good, that's only us. That's only us that we've done that. Even though it was the previous management who built basically the team that won these events or it assembled the core of this team.

right but it's just such a crazy you know it's kind of crazy thing to say in this sort of a yeah statement and you know it was obvious that he was becoming a bit disconnected uh from the rest of the team due to his situation it was very difficult to have meaningful conversations with potential talents without the clarity around his future meaning if people weren't sure he was going to be on g2 they didn't really want to come to g2 without niko and

without monessy and then it's the whole spiel about or they were doing it rebuilds in valorant and league and whatnot and i don't really follow those scenes um and then for me counter-strike is different and he said counter-strike will be no different while the departures are oftentimes hard and some are even painful we're looking forward to unleashing the full potential of a new roster Right.

So for me, there's multiple things here. Right. First thing that, you know, his contract ends in December. It's because he didn't want to extend. He didn't want to extend the contract because Niko wasn't on the team anymore. And he saw how you handled, you know, the whole situation with Niko. Right.

And I think also when he says he was becoming a bit disconnected from the rest of the team, I think you can definitely see that Nico and Monessi think the same way about the game, in a way. You know, like how, I mean, a lot of the stuff, Monessi thinks he sort of learned from Nico in a way, right? He was only a rookie when he joined. So I think they're on the same page about that.

I think there was definitely, you know, clashes within that G2 roster sometimes about how they were going to play or how to handle certain situations, scenarios and whatnot. And, you know, then after Nico leaves, okay, you get Javi God, which is a good player, but you were unable to get bit or someone who would have really clicked with Monacy and maybe you would have had an opportunity to,

to keep him um but i think that then nico leaves and i'm honest he's the only guy sort of like or at least he doesn't have nico anymore next to him to sort of fight those battles with him and kind of has to you know potentially play in a way that he isn't like super thrilled about

But the Gamer Legion won, getting three rounds over two maps. I mean, that's just... It was embarrassing, a word we used a lot for PGL. But after that, man, I mean, talk about a turnaround. Just what was it in the end? Six matches in a row, five best of threes and the best of five. And it seemed like they got better with each and every game they played.

What does that say about your organization and management? The two of your best players. Look at every single interview in the last... three, four, five years of players who have been on the same team with Niko, you don't hear anything but praise for the guy as a teammate, as a player, his work ethic, his approach to the team, does whatever it takes to win, right?

So it's like these guys who you sort of didn't want to, you could have, but you didn't want to keep them on your roster and then you even when he made that tweet a couple of months before it's like why are you saying these things this is not you you know this is like bad that this is your approach i i don't see like where's the thought process in that um

Because I can get that perhaps, let's say, G2 is looking at the financials and whatever, and they're saying, we can't pay these guys, which would be pretty crazy because G2 is one of the biggest organizations out there. In every game that they are, they aim to win championships, right? But let's say for a second that...

Perhaps they feel like, oh, the way to win and our approach, what we want to do is not this having superstars and having the most firepower and be what FaZe Clan was before or whatever. We want to try and take the Ents path. We want to try to take the old Ents. We want to try to take the Maus path. Where we don't have – like we have the best team. We have very good people in the organization.

We build a very strong culture. We have an academy team that brings up talent. And that's the way that we're going to climb our way.

That's a very good analogy, by the way. But I agree with you. I'm just trying to play the devil's advocate. But here's the problem with that sort of an approach. It doesn't happen overnight. Cycron was the head coach of the academy team for a while. And those players are now on his main team right before they made the switch to the main team. Then they were struggling for a while.

I mean struggling. It took them a while. to become that team. And they have still not become, you know, the best team in the world. They still haven't won the biggest trophies. They still haven't made, you know, even the final of a major or Katowice or Cologne, right? Sure, there's a couple of pro leagues in there. There's, you know, final of Chengdu, some other events.

Winning Cluj was probably their biggest success yet. And who knows, you know, maybe this year they'll be able to get one of the ones that we discussed. I don't think you have that at the moment in your organization, unfortunately. I'm sorry, but I think if you are banking on Taz and Snacks or Taz Plus One to sort of build you that...

I haven't seen enough from G2 and the things that we've seen about their game where I'm confident that, okay, they have a guy for that, you know, in the same way, you know, like I would be confident about Saul in Heroic, right? Or a different type of a coach.

you know like you're rolling your dice in this and this in this route as well but i think g2 is just like and i don't know this is the problem with g2 as well they have like one gm then the head of esports then the head of fps division i don't know you know there's so many people there and i don't know who has the final say and also you know the ceo even said that well that was my decision yeah yeah exactly so so you don't know you know and i don't care i don't care about blame like

specifically or individually or whoever's fault it is, but just organizationally. Like, look, for example, this for a second, Jason. Think of this, right? So Nico's leaving 100%. Yeah. Monacy, you can sort of... feel that you're going to lose him as well, right? Like you try to keep him, then it's just a matter of time.

And also, G2 had to have sold him when they did because if they weren't going to sell him before the major, Falcons were just going to wait out his contract and he would have gone for free, right? So that's another thing in that whole situation. But let's say you see it coming, the whole Monacy thing. And this is how your roster could have looked like if you just got ahead of it, right?

So you could have gotten Shui once he was benched on Maus. And I don't care what you think about Snacks and whatnot. You could have just gotten a younger IGL who's been with Maus, so he has tier one experience, right? And I think would have been an upgrade over Snacks. You could have also... jumped ahead and got in jambo before Fnatic had him.

That's a bit more of a question mark and a bit more risky. I was surprised they paid 600k for him. That's too much for me. But that's a guy who at the RMR and at the Major played really well in high-pressure games, seemed super calm. His body language on camera doesn't get too excited, just has that same sort of a level, which you probably like. Also, think of how young their roster would be.

Like, you would have Heavy God, Malbs, Shuei, Jambo, and Hunter would be the one veteran. That might have been your flaw, in a way, that, you know, the team is a little bit younger. But if you're trying to rebuild and build for the future, and then also, last but not least, you could have cashed out and maybe got an Ashe from the Gamer Legion and team him up with Shuei again.

And that could have been G2... For this major cycle, that could have been your G2, right? But instead, you're getting Hades. Okay, I know he's a stopgap solution, but come on. Just Polish IGL, Polish coach, getting a Polish shopper.

You know, and what now? Okay, Hades is going to be replaced, I assume most likely, after the major. Now let's say G2 with this amount of cash that they've accumulated from the Nikko and Monessi transfers are looking to make some moves in the offseason.

Yeah, absolutely. But what kind of moves can you make? Especially with the way you've been playing and the way you've looked on the server and the counter-strike you've been displaying. Who's going to come to your team? Yeah, that's it. You need at least two guys, right, to come at the same time. Probably they wouldn't come without the other guy coming. You know what I mean?

Like the players you have on the roster outside of, you know, if you remove Hades from the equation, the other four guys are not like super enticing for someone to change rosters, you know, to get a phase player over or maybe someone from, you know, if these teams are going to make changes and shuffles again.

Yeah.

I know, but it just also, that's not necessarily the G2 way, even in other games as far as I'm aware, you know, like going with and then developing over years. And that's the thing as well that, you know, Nico and Monessi are generational talents. That's why I said in my tweet, you can't develop someone into, you know, Nico. Those guys don't fall off trees, right?

Yeah, they just exist and it's obvious. It was very, you know, it was like the Luca trade in a way where... No, really, but when you're in a way, okay, but you don't see these, yeah, I'm sure there's things you're unhappy with about this guy, but he's just a generational talent, right? You might have the first pick in the draft for next 10 years and not have a player like him be available, right?

It's just kind of wild that, you know, we were talking about FaZe and ROPS and Twists walking for free, but... Even losing and also phrasing it like not wanting to retain a guy like Nico and then due to that also losing Monessi. I mean, why was Monessi's contract so close to expiring anyway? Why wasn't his contract renewed a year ago?

And I know there's a business side of things and whatever. How many sponsors do you think are going to come next year for your CS division or something when you've also lost your biggest names?

Yeah, I think this is without a doubt the best they've looked. I think they've looked better than in Cluj, even where they also had their one good result this year, losing in the final to Maus. And I think for me, it's just when you watch them play, right, it makes sense the things they're trying to do. And the way they're trying to play, it really does make a lot of sense.

And also, just to, you know, end on, Javi Gaudi said he's a great picker. I think Malb is a really good player. You can see it while Nico was on the team.

Yeah, exactly. And he needs to relax and everything. But that was the same problem with Huxley. Huxley wasn't replaced because he was a bad IGL or didn't work hard or anything. He was replaced because he was too emo. Like, he was too down on himself. He was too harsh on himself. Even though the team...

believed in him and everything you know so at some point that becomes a problem like for malice if he if he can't overcome that just the mental obstacle you know first and and just having a little bit of a different approach about it all then who knows if if he is the long-term solution yeah for them

Yeah, absolutely. I think you're looking at all these teams, them and then 3D Max kind of right behind them as these teams that are national teams and don't have like huge names across the board, but they played good Counter-Strike and have their own kind of brand of Counter-Strike that makes them distinct in a way. And I thought Mongols are the main favorites to win the trophy.

You know? But the problem is it almost felt like they were a little bit complacent, you know, and they took it for granted a little bit. They were just going to waltz into the playoffs and then, you know, see what happens there. And they were confident they could, in this playing field, lift the trophy. But, you know, just the loss to Apogee, right?

Like, that's the one that really was the killer for them. And they just haven't looked that...

Yeah, probably. And that's why I'm willing to, especially for Aurora, they have three to four weeks off until their next event now. So I'm willing to give them this one sort of off and then see how they will look like at the end of the season with time to practice and everything for Mongols.

And sure, you can talk about the first two days, but... You know, if you look at just the games after that, especially some of the T-sides on maps like Ancient, where they had to sort of come back against the Mongols in that 2-2 game in the Decider and win it. I don't know if... I think maybe even it went to overtime.

I mean, you know, it wouldn't be beyond the realm of imagination that they're just pretty content with where they are. You know, like making playoffs, being there, getting some of this prize money, sticker money, everything. Do they still have the hunger to do what it takes to keep improving and potentially, you know, challenge themselves?

for these tournaments they're still one of the youngest lineups out there right yeah so i think that's that's the main question for them is you know how bad do you want it

Yeah, avoiding sucking is a nice motivation, Jason. I can concur. But, yeah, it's been back-to-back, the events they've missed playoffs. So Melbourne, I think, in that regard, is going to be very important for them. Gamer Legion making their first playoffs. Played some good Counter-Strike.

Of course it proceeds from your highest high to one of your lowest lows.

oh it sucks for ash because there's so many cool stories around that team ash res we'll get into that a bit we'll touch on the mrq at least what's been going on so far 3d max i was just shocked bro at their approach against phase i mean in the quarterfinal i know they're a team that's very aggressive on ct and you know just keeps coming at you and keeps sending bodies but that look ridiculous in their game against phase i mean they lost so they got 13 though the first map and they

didn't change things much on nuke either rain was saying after the interview after the game in the interview you know we kind of knew what to expect from them wasn't very hard to prepare like yeah you can't be serious if that's how you're going to play in a player game 3d max like i'm just hoping that they got beat so badly that they're going to you know question their life choices rethink everything because they're not gonna do anything with that sort of an approach

Yeah, against FaZe, they had a great T-side, great performance against G2 as well. So really...

And I think that's the big question for me for complexity is can him and Halzerk continue this, right? Not necessarily the same highs, but they can't drop off now significantly. They can't fall off significantly because they both had a great tournament. I think all players have had their moments. JT seems to be rejuvenated.

solid on that map and i think for me it's always you know in that sense the eye test which doesn't really look great for some of the other teams we'll get into that a little bit later but i think that's what gives you confidence if you're a falcons fan right like what you said they definitely seem to have clicked in some of these mid rounds you know and then post-plan situations there were a couple of rounds i mean

Yeah, getting some of those, you know, getting into that apex mindset in a way, right? So for them being able to take down FaZe, being very close to beating G2, I mean, remembering how they looked at the start of the season in Katowice, at Bounty, and I think Cluj as well.

Yeah, it was looking pretty grim. So, yeah, that was a great turnaround for them. FaZe Clan on the other side, I mean... I don't know. It was like they looked better in a way, but then also they lost to Astralis and Complexity. Okay, then in the quarterfinal, easily dispose of 3D Max, and then they go on to lose to Falcons, who end up winning the tournament.

But they were too slow to get started in that Falcons game. I mean, they were down, what, 11-5, 11-6, something along those lines when the Kerrigan Tech 9 round happens, and they bring it all the way back. Yeah. It's just you almost wish they lost convincingly so that it would prompt them to maybe make a change or to do something, right?

You feel like... Especially how Brokkie played on Mirage against Falcons. I mean, he couldn't hit a barn.

Unfortunately, because he had a good tournament, right? So then you might just look at it and like, well, you know, Brokkie will say, if I just wasn't a bot, you know, we would have won that game easily. And then they would have been in the finals against G2 where they would have been favored. So... It feels kind of hard still to evaluate FaZe at this moment because they've looked good.

The eye test was good for them, right? Like the T-sides from Kerrigan and stuff. It looked good. Just couldn't win pistols or they would win pistol, lose second round. Just they were plagued by bad starts.

Yeah, and Astralis, who beats them in the first game and then goes on to lose to Apogee, and they miss out on the playoffs as well at the very end. Who did they get beat by? GamerLegion?

Yeah.

yeah you know like that's also you'd expect i mean you expect you expect the names to do more but also once you get around to the mrq they're playing right now they're playing against big they're down a map they lost 13 to 11 on map one If they lose that, they're out. And even if they win that, they have to win like two more games or something. It's crazy.

But just the last couple of teams, I guess Astralis, yeah, just, I don't know, just really, it's just disappointing. It's still not looking that great for them. Watching KD anchoring B on Mirage with a rifle is just painful.

From the game against FaZe, I know I did one at the desk, you know, where they're slowly just sort of baiting Broky's shot outside of Cave, then Kikson spams him through wood from the outside, Altacis is baiting the shot, all the while Dexter is covering from wrap with the AWP, you know, the other side of side. It was just...

Yeah. That's why when they announced KD, you could have just had Hooksy, guys. You could have just gotten Hooksy. I know. And I don't know what the fuck has this guy done in the Danish scene, man, that he's marred or plagued by... you know, that no one wants to pick him up, but he would have been the role that you need. He's played with Yabi before, right?

I mean, he's won big tournaments, in-game leading, right? All this stuff, like his, the resume is there. And then you're just going out of your way to bring Kadian back. I mean, I don't know. I don't know what happened. I don't know how Astralis is like running if they miss another major. It's, it's crazy.

So... Holy shit, man.

Imagine telling that to someone in 2019. I know. Or, you know, 2018. I know.

Yeah. What about your boys in liquid?

Yeah, I think obviously it would have liked them to have won a game, but... In reality, I know they played Legacy in the first game, and I'm going... For me, Legacy... looked the best out of any of the Brazilian teams. Furia or Payne, I think they were a little bit unfortunate in some of their games. You know, they lose 2-1 to Gamer Legion. They lose 2-1 to Astralis. They had to play Aurora.

They got 2-0'd. And this all after 2-0-ing Liquid, right? Looks in the IGL-ing role, looks solid. Like, the way they've been playing some of the mid-rounds have been really good, which is...

kind of wow Dumau and Lato showing some of those flashes still prospects even after in four years after their first major that they played over in Godsend but yeah I almost feel bad for Legacy they couldn't win at least one more game just for the VRS points because I feel like the level of play and the eye test tells for me I felt like they've earned it

But, you know, I know it's going to feel shitty that they didn't, but I think they could definitely be happy with how they've played, right? And if they can continue that, you know, I think they can make the major and, you know, keep trending upwards.

You know, looking clinical for them in a lot of these situations, you know, leading against FaZe, probably should have won that game 2-0 if it weren't for that one Kerrigan Tech 9 round, then it goes into a third map, they have a great first half, all of a sudden they're behind because they lose pistol in the first gun round and...

Yeah, absolutely. And there were a couple of concerns to me, regardless of a little time to practice and everything. One of them was some of the CT side play wasn't something you'd come to expect from a team full of veteran players. I mean, handling rounds with advantages, the constant re-aggression all the goddamn time, man. It's like you guys are in a 4v3 situation.

And they only have Ramp on Nuke. They have to come down B to you. And then you have two guys walking up Ramp to re-clear. One player is holding and gets both kills.

It's like, come on, man. What are you guys doing? That's worse and that's been a bit of a problem for them. Even with previous iterations of the roster. And then also this thing was a little bit strange. I don't know if it was even you who said that, where Shui is saying, oh, yeah, like Twist told me, like, I make all the calls, you know, I'm the boss. It's like, yeah, why are you asking it?

You know, why does he even, right? It was surprising to see them play Anubis two times, which Shui hasn't played on Maus, right? I can get it. It's a bit tricky because Liquid...

felt really good on the map but and maybe you just want to at this first event sort of just give shui a taste of how it feels like on the map and how you want to go about it if you don't care about the result too too much you know it was going to be hard to go deep um anyways but yeah uh obviously they deserve more time but well they'll have to hit the they'll have to pick it up soon right there's not that much time before yeah exactly

You know, just mentally being able to overcome that, too, I think is no easy feat. And they didn't do it by sort of yoloing it and calling some rushes or pops or I don't know what. They did it by playing default, you know, playing a little bit slower, sort of taking their time, letting the players, giving the players a chance to make plays. And they did, you know, all across the board.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel you. All right. That feels like Bucharest. Bucharest covered. Is it starting to come back, Jason?

All right, let's check out some of this MRQ stuff.

Fnatic is out, man. After bringing over Jambo for 600k.

Also, I think this is just karma for benching Krimz, man. Sort of like just saying, oh, Borb will be a stand-in for the MRQ. I mean, was it ever like... Boris, let me see this.

Okay, Krimz is set to step back from the squad due to personal reasons.

Yeah, I don't know. Okay. I mean, yeah, it's hard to tell. I mean, I don't... Either things have deteriorated in the team and he doesn't agree with the approach to play in the game with, you know, fear or whoever that he just can't be bothered to pretend or play on the team anymore. Yeah. Or something has happened, you know, personally that he can't play and might...

retire i just don't you know crims doesn't just feel a guy that would bail on the team you know before the mrq without a really really good reason right i feel like even if he is if he was unhappy with you know whatever the the approach or the direction the team was going he would have stuck it out um at least for a while

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it does feel like. I mean, who knows? Maybe he goes to the major with Metisport, Jason. The first full Swedish lineup to make the major since NIP in 2019.

NIP, Jason. I need to check. when the last major NAP who played for NAP in in 2019 at the major, it was still of course, forced to get right and res and golden and lacrosse so forced and get right. We're on the NAP line of the last time a full Swedish major may made it to the full Swedish lineup lineup made it to the major.

So that's crazy. And I think also, man, just again, NIP as an org, it's just so funny, isn't it?

Like they didn't even make it to the MRQ, right? They weren't high enough in the rankings to get invited. They went full international. Meanwhile, I think Adam was on the Young Ninjas lineup. Plopski was on NIP. Hampus was on NIP. So you have three guys that were there. Was Isak there for a little bit after? Yeah, Isak was there. He went from Gamer Legion to NIP for like six months.

So four out of the five guys were actually on NIP at some point. Not to talk about...

other players you know in other teams obviously brolan is the easy one but there's so many different names etr on game okay not going to be at the major but he's doing a good job um with uh with gamer legion lnz right on heroic they've also made it they were one of the first teams to make it uh alongside og and it's just funny like seeing it happen one more time you know

Yeah, Gamer Legion, obviously the big shocker, right? The main one, because they've been so good when it came to the major circuit. They just made the playoffs in Bucharest. First time they did that at an event of that stature. And I wonder how much it hurt them not having Ash there, man.

You know, coaches can't be in the room with the players because of all the fucking shenanigans and the cheating that was happening with all these different bugs and scandals and whatnot. So for such a young team, I mean, and a team that doesn't have too many veterans on the lineup, I think that was a big loss for them. And, you know, how...

God, I don't want to swear too much, you know, to all the kids out there. But how ridiculous is it that in the year of our Lord, 2025, MR12 online Counter-Strike, we're playing best of ones in the major qualifier, man? Like, shame on you, Valve. Shame on you, seriously. Like, what's preventing you? The calendar? Like, who cares? Add one more day to it. You know, other people will have to manage.

Like, it's online. There's no costs for the TOs for the production, you know, or at least they're minuscule compared to the whole thing. It's like, it's crazy that you could, you know, play two best. And this is also the problem. If you lose two games because there's only six spots, right? There's only one spot left if you lost two games, right? There's not eight spots. There's six spots.

So all these teams that are playing in the 2-2 games, like they'll have to play. at least one more, and one team will have to play two more games, right? Like six teams are basically, I'm very overcomplicated in this, but the six remaining teams are playing for one slot, not three slots, right? So you lose two best-of-ones,

And all of a sudden, right, you could be... Yeah, yeah, you're battling it out. Your road becomes you could have to win four or five best of threes maybe to get that one last slot. I mean, it's just crazy. It's just ridiculous. There's nothing that justifies it anymore, not with MR12, right? The games aren't even that long, the best of threes, right?

So you could do four best of threes a day, no problem. We've seen it done multiple times. PGL, bro, we would be done at like 7, 8 p.m. local with four best of threes even in the rolling schedule, so... I think that's just ridiculous.

If you really wanted to get crazy, you could pull it off.

So yeah, it was a little bit surprising how dominant Namiga was. Sure, they've shown up here and there, had some good results here and there, but I think some of their wins were pretty... 13-3 over BIG, 13-11 over BIG in that series...

yeah there were there were some convincing wins in their bed boom managed to grind you know they had the best one against fanatic managed to win it in ot fanatic lost to gamer legion and bad boom in the best of ones yeah they beat wait what they lost to bc game i know they beat gamer legion okay so they lost to bc game 13-2 they beat gamer legion then they lose to bad boom in the 1-1 game and then they lost to ends today in the 1-2 game tell you what bc game could have used that sticker money

Yeah?

Bleed, just under a different name.

Yeah, absolutely. And it's one of those like details where it is a little bit confusing to me even because you look at teams in these split of players, right? There's two European, two American and one Asian player is like, well, then they've changed the rules that you go where the more slots are.

But I see where Swisher is coming from. And I think these rules get updated all the time to try to shut down some of these loopholes. But whether it will ever be...

perfect i'm not so sure because unless you do something where you force the teams to have three players from that region right which then you're influencing how you build the roster as well like it's very difficult it seems pretty difficult to sort of build a a foolproof rule right if you will if you can always have two to one and then there's some details that decide like where you play or what not i mean

Yeah, and Magus was saying the same thing after, like, their win against Pain or maybe their second win. I don't know. He was saying, yeah, we just needed to sort of be more patient in games. We need to take it a little bit slower, trust each other, play together, not be too individualistic. And then in their wins later on, you could see that, right?

Yeah, I think that's strange, but I don't see how you police that.

Yeah, because, you know, the guy has a passport of a country, right? I mean, that's... I think it might be something, maybe something that you have in, like, sports where once you declare that you're, you know, going to play for, represent this country or play for this country, you can't change it, right?

So if you say...

oh yeah i'm german because i was born in germany and that's like who i represent then it's that but if you decide because you spent let's say your adult life in the united states and you stay there and i live there and you say well i choose to represent the united states because i feel more like that then that's it and that's i see that's how it's set okay interesting but it doesn't you know

It doesn't feel like it was as much of an exploit or that they were doing it necessarily like on purpose that just their kind of roster. Yeah, I don't know. Just one of those VRS things where probably neither you or me are informed enough to make educated opinions and we just shoot in the dark.

Yeah, I'm looking into that as well. I mean, we'll cover Melbourne, I guess, before.

There was the one in just the one with, you know, from PGL and Fury and Fury, a bench cello and bring in. Oh, that's right. A Kazakhstani. How old is he, Molodoy?

Yeah, and that's how they're going to hit the major. I mean, it's interesting. Let's see. His name was floated as one of the talented up-and-coming aupers from the CIS region. So Fallen probably feeling like they need more output in that role and that maybe he should just focus on IGLing. Although for me,

Yeah, supposedly, unless Chad decides to go on vacation again. As you put it, Jason, he's somewhere.

It was always I felt he played the best when he was upping IGLing and he IGLed the best when he was upping in addition to that. So going to have to wait and see.

Like, you could see exactly that and how they were really good at those things. Yeah. I think also something that, I don't know, I don't want to say misrepresented, but I think there's a big difference between, you know, the Monacy thing and then this whole Kyosuke thing. Like, it's nowhere near the same in terms of the level of credibility that it's going to happen.

A lot of moving parts.

Yeah, I don't know. It's just strange, man. It's also... These Brazilian teams, like, they'll just never... We'll never have a Brazilian super team ever again, it feels like. I don't know, the contracts and everything. Was it them?

It was Fiora and Payne in the race for DGT, apparently, and then Payne beat them on it, and I guess he's going to be announced, I don't know when, as the fifth for Payne, instead of who they have now, but... So you didn't get the rifle you wanted and you decided to go with the opera from Kazakhstan and change things even more with, what is it, less than two months before the major starts?

I don't know. We'll see. It still feels like these Brazil teams will keep being irrelevant.

I don't know. Brazilians are usually not late to parties, but in this case... Usually right on fucking time. It's a little bit different. All right. Cool. That was fair enough. Let's go hate watch Astralis now. Beautiful. Peace. See ya.

Yeah, the seriousness of it, right? Because the Kyosuke thing is, you know, Falcon sort of inquiring, like, what's the situation here? With him, you know, when they were looking to make changes and looking to build a team with Nico coming in. And I feel like that's you doing your due diligence, man.

I feel like that's what a lot of these teams should have been doing too, you know, whether it's FaZe or Liquid or... Well, not Na'Vi, but some of these teams that are maybe looking to make changes or looking for an upgrade. Same way G2 plucked out Monessi out of the Na'Vi academy team, right?

Because Na'Vi had S1mple on the roster and Monessi wasn't going to go anywhere in that organization anytime soon. For me, that's not like they're putting Tessas and Dexter in the same boat. I don't think that at all. I think for Tessas, it would have been a different situation.

Somewhere in Australia, right?

I'm pretty sure the team would have approached, whether it's Zonic or someone from management, would have had a quick call with him or a quick meeting there in person and just tell him, hey, listen, we're in no talks with... anyone about your seat, right? Like I think Tess definitely has what it takes skill-wise and, you know, even game sense-wise and everything. Like I think he's fine.

Allegedly having a good time, if Chad is capable of that at all. But yeah, we just didn't feel like really going for any guests for this one. I think we'll just focus on some of the bigger news and just wrapping up. Bucharest, I guess since both you and me were there witnessing it live.

I think it's just about the mental side. Like that's the only thing in a way he needs to overcome because when he is playing confident, like he's not only shooting well, but he's making proactive plays. He's getting good information for his team. He's just making plays that make sense and doesn't have to work every time.

But when your players do that, you're going to be in positions to win games most of the time. I felt like it's only when he gets a little bit too nervous or when he starts playing not to lose instead of playing to win is when he struggles. But definitely he didn't necessarily feel like he had any pop-off games that

I mean, bro, you and me know best, right?

In a way, right? I mean, when you go into a big project and the aspirations are the biggest and then things are not working, not only are they not working, they're going horribly wrong, right? It's one thing to not win. You need time to get results and everything, but to get banged out as they did, not to win a single map. We're talking about game religion and complexity.

All due respect to guys on those teams, but you have Magisk...

nico on your team right you as the coach as well like you know that this just you know it shouldn't be going like that even with everything you know everyone can beat everyone nowadays and whatnot so yeah i'm sure he wasn't feeling all too great about it but props to him i mean we heard that from the players in interviews you know they had team talks constantly he was trying to rally the troops he was trying to imbue them with confidence and

you know, sometimes all you need is a win or two, right? To get back on track, sort of to remember that you don't suck. Like you can actually be pretty good at the game. And it feel like when that, it's almost like, you know, a dam broke after, uh, they were able to take down pain. Um,

which is a funny place for that damn to break as if like you were like oh fuck yeah pain that's a scalp yeah and i think also you know a lot of narratives again being talked about oh yeah they're just going to whatever attend this tournament and not care and monacy is coming in after the tournament so whatever you know you can see that they're not trying at all their heart's not in it it's like whoever thought that has no idea what they're talking about or

I guess it either doesn't follow any of the people involved or has no idea what it actually takes to win, man. It's hard to win in Counter-Strike, right? Even just a single tournament like they did just now, let alone to achieve and win as much as Zonic did, win as much as Magisk did. Even Nico, you know, in the last couple of, you know, winning Cologne and Katowice is not easy.

And you don't get it by, you don't get to that point where you win those tournaments by taking events off and slacking and anything along those lines. So those guys were giving it their all.

Yeah, and I think – and also, okay, Dexter is going to leave. Monessi is going to come in. We still have five out of the six people closely involved with the team the same, right? Like that's not – Monessi isn't a magic sort of, you know, mulligan or some sort of a – he's a very good player, but if you have things fundamentally flawed with your team, he's not going to bail you out.

Like, yeah, you might lose a little bit less here and there, but you're not going to –

he's not gonna he can't win you the fucking trophies but he can make you look better than you are like he can overcome some of them but if there's there's a limit to his fucking wizardry exactly and the same thing with dexter you know people want expecting him to be sort of dejected and like you know whatever like hate being hate being hate having to play in this tournament you know when he's going to be replaced again

You have no idea how pro Counter-Strike works. Like, if you think that that attitude would have gotten him anywhere, no, it wouldn't. Like, this is also a guy who was going to be benched on that heroic team. So by the move to Falcons, even though Monessi was, you know...

probably always going to arrive, like that gives him a new lease on life that gives him an extra couple of months to sort of showcase what he's capable of.

He's actually a guy whose rating goes up against top 5 or top 10 teams, right? It's crazy. He plays his best Counter-Strike in those games. And I'm sure, let's say, if you're FaZe Clan, you might be thinking about it. You're wondering why G2 didn't just get him in the trade. Yeah, in the trade. And something along those lines.

You're wondering if maybe Team Liquid will think, well, Ultimate is not growing. I don't know, right? But I think, not to mention the Russian teams... Right? Yes. So, yeah, I think he definitely then, you know, he has some flaws, not maybe the best awareness at times.

Yeah, the supporting stuff isn't that great. But, you know, some of that stuff can be coached potentially. And at the end of the day, you know, you can maybe build a little bit around that.

That's sort of like missing the forest for the trees. Yeah, exactly. And those are the things that can be very frustrating for his teammates and the team at times, but, you know, you just live with it, right? Because the pros probably outweigh the cons in that sort of scenario.

And listen, the way he's played in some of those big games, the only player who could replace him with that form is Monessi, that they could realistically get. You know, they cannot get Zayvo, I don't know who else, right? 9-10 is unavailable, obviously, so...

But, you know, so it's unfortunate for Dexter, but it feels like at least he went out with a bang.

It's kind of wild that he didn't get the MVP as well.

I think so. I mean, the Falcons – I don't know if he's a sub for Falcons. I imagine not. Yeah. But if not, then he's just not registered for any roster probably. And then he could be added, I think, in that May cutoff as a substitute. That's right. Or even now in April, I don't know if the submission for Austin was before the MRQ or after. In any case, he could still play at the Major.

Yeah, I didn't get to catch any of their games, unfortunately. But, yeah, just from the results, OK, sure, I mean, they played Na'Vi, VP, G2. But when you take into account how, you know, VP didn't make the playoffs in the end, G2 had Taz playing, it's like you need to get something done there. At least it's unfortunate because it feels like they've... regressed.

They came from a boot camp as well in Belgrade. They're going back there again. So we'll see if they'll be able to sort of work on the mistakes and just come back stronger for the major because there's not really that much time left.

I think also, Chad, what you said, Odik, when they beat Pain, DGT was already here. Like, Pain lost their last two games to Odik and MIBR with DGT. He arrived. Like, he was just not there for the... First day or two, I think. He wasn't there on the first day. Two days. Like, he wasn't there for the Astralis game and the Hoth game. Oh, that's right.

Like, what are we pinning? I don't know. He's, like, been saying in a lot of these interviews that, you know, Flammas and IC need to find their confidence. They need to, you know, play with more confidence, which basically tells me that he maybe feels they don't take enough initiative at times on their own, right? When the space is there to be taken, that they don't go and take it.

And if you play that default heavy style, you know, a slower style, you need to be able to do that. You need to put pressure on the opponents to bait out their nades. Because let's say if, I don't know, Flammo says in Boiler, right, and there's a banana fight and a lot is going on there and they're playing more passive on A, he needs to put some pressure to bait out the nades.

So you avoid, if you want to come back to a bit 40 seconds left, 30 seconds left, they still have a smoke and molly, right? Like in a most basic sense of it. And I'm not trying to put the blame on them. Like that's what it sounds like from some of the interviews. I think definitely the approach could be better, a little bit more aggressive at times. I don't have a problem with slow default style.

Like that's how majority of the teams play 70%, 80% of the rounds on their tee side.

problem is when you're not putting enough pressure you know you're just like chilling instead of taking space that's that's being given to you right and then you find yourself in these tough spots when there's not a lot of time left on the clock you get blocked and that's when everything starts to turn to shit right a lot of these rounds kind of sort of make sense and then all of a sudden you see wait but how are they blocked with this much time well that's because

they weren't really putting enough pressure and then what can you do you can flash through the smoke and go break the smoke and go all those options are bad at that point in time or rotate to the other side which is kind of obvious easy to read and and also not a good option i when you say that then that coming from electronic and he's the one who also chews people out when they don't do things the way that he wanted them to do it right so

And I think they probably need some sort of a performance coach, sports psychologist. Whatever it may be. Because I feel like every tournament, they start off with a loss. Like, you know, the first game of the tournament. They're always slow to get into it. I don't know. Probably something to be said about the way Electronic interacts with its teammates. Like...

you know he's a bit more old school obviously the navi lineup with simple you know they had a a way to communicate with each other and you know even when you look at navi now like it can be fine if everyone's on the same page but if some of the guys are like just not built that way and that's how you interact with them you know it can cause them to sort of

go into their shell and kind of get a little bit emo. Then their energy goes down. The communication isn't as good, right? The energy just isn't there anymore. So you need to be careful about that when there's new guys coming in, especially younger players in a way.

So I think they could benefit from that because on paper, there is a decent amount of skill and firepower where they could be doing more with what they have.

Oh, I mean, maybe just time has passed him in that. You adapt or die. I mean, you know, because this was his sort of final shot, it feels like, in Tier 1. And sure, there's still the major coming around the corner. But, you know, there's been... They had four coaches in a year, right? Like, there's been changes in that department, too. So... I don't know.

I think it will be very clear whether they have faith in him or whether he is the problem after the major is over and the offseason comes. Because definitely there's a lot of talent and just players in general in the CIS region. So I don't think making a change would be difficult for Virtus.pro if they did want to make one.

I think it's even past the deadline for the rosters. But Dexter and Boombl4 for IC and Electronic.

Sounds pretty good.

They're still just a Brazilian team. They're still two roster changes away from being relevant.

They can win one game, Chad, because they're playing FURIA in the quarterfinal, and then it's the winner of Spirit and IP. So they cannot beat Spirit. It's just that, you know, their ceiling is the same as Shanghai, right? Like, they can win a best-of-one if someone has a live game like Insani did on that Inferno and they beat Na'Vi, right? And that's pretty much it.

They're not going to do any significant damage in best-of-threes. They're not going to make the playoffs, right? It's just going to be more of the same. Like, it's just too many average players on these teams. Who can all have moments, but, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. They cannot consistently perform on a high level and probably not at the same time.

There's just too many teams that are just better. And all these teams, no one plays some different sort of brand on Counter-Strike to try to make up for the lack of those players. They all just try to play the same way and it's not going to be successful. I wouldn't put them going from Stage 2 to Stage 3.

Yeah. Well, also, I mean... I'm going to probably have Brazilian teams at 0-3 in every fucking stage that I can put it.

I just can't anymore. I just can't anymore, man. Calling his shots ahead of time. I just can't anymore. At least the Asian teams, at least the Chinese come up with something. At least there's something there when you watch them. Even a pop-off or anything. Brazilians, it's nothing. They've become the most boring region to watch. Can you imagine saying that a couple of years ago?

I'm like one-eighth Brazilian, it's fine. Oh shit, it doesn't count if I'm the one doing the... never mind.

Yeah, like it probably did make them better just incrementally. Enough of these false prophets from Brazil, man. Like people were hyping up Snow as if he is the next I don't know who, man. He's just like...

okay ish he's fine i don't know i don't know if he's playing out of position or whatever like some people are saying he's more aggressive i don't know i don't really so he was he was in his previous teams before he's picked up i know they switched his roles when he came in i haven't like kept track of it to notice like if it's adapted or changed at all over the years so i mean they had like sorry they have like they have looks and cowers and then six months later they're both gone it's like

How are you going to be excited about this team? The players they pick up, what goes wrong? Do you talk to these players? Do you watch their games? What goes south once you pick them up? Now Lux is in Legacy and he was doing pretty well IGL-ing there, right? I don't know. It's kind of wild. That's why let's not waste any more time talking about it.

It's not fun. But I really want to see where they will end up in the ranking, let's say, after the season, for example, or before the major. Because they've been last in so many events. They've lost so many games, so many series. Surely they will be out of the invites cycle, right? If not, there's something terribly wrong.

I think it's probably the worst environment to have to play in for actually pretty much everyone on that team. Like, for... Hades, he only has like three events with the team that's undergoing changes. He's going to go through more changes to sort of showcase his skill set. And there's already been rumors of them chasing after another full-time AWPer. Yeah, exactly.

Who is definitely better than him, right? There's no doubt about that. You have him in that situation. You have Snacks, who's also most likely being replaced. I mean, you know, I don't see a world in which G2 willingly keeps him on the roster. Taz, the same thing. So the leadership of the team is changing.

And now, you know, you also had to boot, you're doing all these things, like you're trying your best, but you know these changes are going to be so significant, right? And then, I mean, for Malbs and Heavy God, they're still sort of, Getting experience in tier one, getting reps, which is like in a way fine because that's going to be good no matter what.

But still to have to go through that in a dysfunctional team might put a big dent in their confidence.

Yeah, maybe, but he had a poor first two days. I mean, some of the damage has already been done to him at the start of this year. This whole season has been a nothing burger for G2. There's not going to be anything positive about this first half of the year for them, right? It's just been wasted away, right? There's plenty of blame to go around it anyway.

At least they don't have to worry about coming on time to Dallas. They have plenty of time to get to Dallas on time.

I do have to say just about Taz that I do think G2 should move on, but I don't think that means he has to be done as a coach, right? I think it's his first foray. Yes, it's a tough situation to be put in. I know it very well. When you go to a team, your first coaching gig, and it's a team that's there to win championships, right?

And just the situation that you're going into, maybe you're thinking, you know, just the CS or whatever that I'll focus on and whatnot, or maybe it's the opposite, but just you're very surprised by what the job ends up being compared to what you think it is. And I think he definitely learned a lot of lessons from this G2 stint, you know, from dealing with...

star players and all of that stuff to having younger players and lacking a star player on your roster and whatnot so I think he can definitely bounce back in the future and still be a good coach but it does it does feel like his time in G2 has come to an end you know just with with everything that's been going on and some of the missed opportunities and whatnot that

it makes sense for G2 to move on. And especially, I mean, if they're able to get someone like Saw, I think at this point, it's really a no-brainer that it's an upgrade for them.

Bro, they were from 1.12 on K-Serato to 1.08 on Molodoy. Like, they're all in between that, too. So they're all, like, sort of around that 1.1 level, which is, you know... Good for them that everyone's contributing and everyone's doing their job. I think Jekinder, obviously, the way he plays on any team is going to be, a lot of it is going to depend on him and how successful he is.

I think it was one of the main reasons why they made the playoffs, him playing well.

Yeah, 200-something days. Holy shit, really? And they get to play against MIBR, which they already beat, right? Yes. Didn't they beat them yesterday, didn't they? Yeah, 2-1.

Yeah, I think so. Aurora has looked poor. Aurora did not look like a team. And maybe this is a great segue to your next category, however it's called, where they are. Stake your claim for the major. Aurora, Mongols and Na'Vi. There you go. So I think they don't look like a team that had a month off. They look like a team that came from a tournament yesterday.

You know, like everything is the same. They haven't added versatility to their game, you know, trying to utilize lurkers a little bit more, not death balling as much. And also just the frustration in the body language. The body language gets to me. Yeah, they don't. seem like they're having a great time or do they love being here? I don't know. It just feels off, right?

And maybe it's a consequence of starting slow in the tournament and maybe a couple of wins will alleviate that or them being back in the playoffs. By the way, they made playoffs every single tournament they attended this year. So that streak continues for them and that's nothing to be scoffed at.

And I have no idea what it is. This is the drum that I'm beating on from whichever episode, Chad. I think it was in Australia. I just think Aurora, the Mongols, we were just fooling ourselves that they can become a contender. I think we were only saying that because other teams were struggling, weren't good enough or couldn't step up.

uh now that you see for example i think they'll lose who they'll lose the semi whoever wins that game whoever wins between navi and astralis like navi or astralis will be in the final i don't know why mongols seem that they Might be closer to it. I would give a bigger chance maybe to them.

Sure, they're still the youngest team out there, but they've been getting a lot of experience over the course of the last six months or so. And if Senzu doesn't become their worst player again in the playoffs, they might have a chance. But I just haven't seen enough, you know, and that's why you even, you think about, you watch Astralis play with Hooksy, right?

First of all, Hooksy is playing great individually, but also when you see sort of Staun have a good game and Device have a good game again, it reminds you of what these players are capable of when they have, you know, the proper tools and when they're used in the right way. So, yeah, I think just would be great for Aurora. Aurora made playoffs every single time.

Didn't win a single playoff game, I don't think.

Cluj, they lost the quarter. Kato, they lost to Mongols. Lisbon, they were straight to semis lost. Bucharest, they lost in the quarter to Complexity. That's it. And probably give most to someone.

It feels like Memzinho is their most consistent player. I know he's not the best statistically, but it feels like his drop-off is the smallest, right? In a way. And sure, Senzu can have higher peaks, especially in groups, but what's the point if you drop down to, what, 0.88 rating? It's the same conversation with Stown. Yeah, exactly.

And for Astralis I think and Ston it's maybe not having the right teams and it was difficult to play to find any sort of a good result so hopefully just getting to be in front of an arena again for a lot of these guys will help them even though they have a really tough opponent ahead of them.

I think it was... For example, they qualify by beating Aurora, and they don't pick Mirage, they pick Train, right? Which I was like, well, that's a curveball, right? And Mirage would make sense against Aurora, but they were probably just tired of playing it, I don't know, and they managed to win Train and win...

2-0 in a close fashion the same way which would they lost to mongols the day before and they really collapsed against the mongols like they had the lead they had everything they lose to sort of a half buy on a after that it's like a 3v2 retake that they mess up and all of a sudden you know mongols just come back and win four or five rounds in a row st on inferno to

to win the game and then Mirage also being a struggle for them. And you can see just lacking that last 5%, you know, like a guy to step up and get the multi-kill instead of just getting one and being traded. Someone with an aggressive move at a key moment to get some information to enable them to make the correct call and make the right play. Just that last bit is missing for them.

And that felt like it was JL last year. Right.

It was the playoffs of Lisbon, I think.

It was to go to the playoffs.

At Pro League, it was a quarterfinal. No, it wasn't a seeding game. Upper bracket semi? Yeah, that's the game to get to the playoffs.

well yeah I know it's unlikely but I'm just saying I think they can is there still a chance but you can there is a chance you can say that for a lot of teams if it is what you say it is right like if that happens yeah absolutely I wouldn't say that for Mongols or for Aurora if they were both playing their best counter-strike possible I don't think they would beat Vitality

yeah i think that's also playing their best counter-strike possible i think that's also fair i think you also nailed it with saying for these two teams they have to make the final beating each other is not enough if they can make the final then you have us something that we can you give us something to talk about but if not and especially if you end up losing to let's say if astralis somehow beats navi and they're in there like you know we're just done yeah come on bro do you have uh we're running out of time you have like 10-15 minutes chad

Great. Thanks for that, Jason. Does my lighting satisfy you now, you asshole?

so ugly they put him on the bench is he benched already?

They'll probably just say, oh, yeah, the visa still isn't here, so Acre's going to stick around.

yeah something something's got to change right if it hasn't clicked by now it's it's it's not coming exactly um yeah i was going to say uh i would give him until the end of the year with hooksy potentially right like just as a sort of i don't want to say parting gift but kind of an opportunity to really prove himself but yeah definitely

you know on thin ice when it comes to that and i think you can see why everyone was everyone wanted hooksy not cadian to that team you know i mean from from besides raga from the community that was a weird one that was why would he tweet that or why would he say that whatever wherever he said it why would you say that out loud like holy fuck bro It's crazy, right?

But, well, I also saw the rumor about Barry and different teams looking at him. I think he's a great pickup for whoever. I think he's a great guy, a very good coach. So if Astralis can get him, I think he and Hooksy would work very well together. But, yeah, just for them also, I don't know if you guys caught the Hooksy interview when...

They asked him about Ancient, and, you know, they picked it two times or played it two times. It didn't go very well. It was the best map for the whole lineup. And he said yes, but, you know, it kind of felt like the only thing they had was all in mid. And I tried to call, like, the first two games kind of with their stuff and their style, and it just felt off, and I didn't think it was good.

So I just sort of called on the fly the third time, and that was the Ancient that they won. I think it was the third map against VP for a playoff spot, right? Yep.

um and they were able to win it of course which is just such a bowler thing to also kind of be uh honest about like uh and put out there and yeah i mean it's the best they've looked in a while not didn't have the toughest of opposition but that's why they're really be tested in this quarterfinals they had what nine days with hoopsie of practice so this is a great result uh for them all things considering

Talk talk 123 Astana is very warm. Very, very warm. I think I think this hotel thinks air conditioning really means just pumping air but without cooling it first. Like I've never been in a warmer room in my life being conditioned They like offer me to go to a different room on the other side of the hotel or it's not scorching hot. I have blinds 24 seven.

No, but they can't beat Spirit, right? They already played them and it got close on Train and they have that going for them, but it's really hard seeing it going any different in an arena as well, right? I think if they had a different opponent, they might have still surprised.

But it feels just Spirit, especially with the bracket that they have, like, it feels like they're a lock for the finals and then who's going to beat them in a best of five, right? Like, you want to say Na'Vi is the biggest opponent on the other side, but Na'Vi has... traditionally struggled against Spirit, right? Like, so, yeah. But that was my last game.

Yeah, obviously for NIP, it was a big, you know, they had some tough opponents as well in this tournament. Like, they play VP, then Spirit and Aurora lost those two games and beat Hotu and G2 to qualify in the end. Had some definitely good moments, had some sloppy moments too, but I think that's to be expected.

They had a different kind of pressure on them, but they sort of had to perform because this is their one big land and one opportunity to get the points and get into the invite cycle for next season. And they've achieved that, and everything else from here is a bonus.

I have seen the sun once in four in five days. I don't know. And it's the same in every room. I've talked to five different people. Everyone had this hot in their rooms. They're just trying to save money on electricity. I guess they don't want it to pump in people's rooms.

I don't know, man, because in which scenario they don't make a change? Like, they win this tournament and then win the Major, and then, okay, you keep the five players. I don't see how they can win the Major, right? Like, I don't think... What if you get to the Major? It will happen what happened in Shanghai, where, like, the teams that are supposed to be there fail and, you know, are not there.

In a way, I think Vitality is definitely, obviously, the team to beat. Falcons, Mouser are both better than Spirit at this point in time, like... I don't know. And then the problem is, well, you're letting Kyosuke go, so you have to go elsewhere for your upgrades when you want to change the roster.

It's true. You're not thinking past that. I agree.

as soon as i walk out of my room it's like 30 cooler it's actually kind of maddening i think we're all part of some social experiment i'm not really sure um i had the same thing recently when i did blast for the the group stage the hotel rooms were so warm and that's when it just started to be like sunny-ish days again

Go.

I think they have a very good mindset in terms of... You rarely get teams like this. And the fact that you're on top and maybe some of your counterparts are struggling and still figuring it out. You have to maximize this moment. They're not taking it for granted. They're still going to want to win the tournament, obviously. They're going to try hard to win the tournament.

Sure, it doesn't matter if they don't as much as the Major does, which is around the corner. But you're definitely coming in...

I don't see a way in which they how they put this like I don't mean don't try as hard or like be complacent I think that's the that's where their culture and all the staff and everyone they have around the team is like that's not going to happen to them they're not going to get complacent they're not going to take it for granted and

They're not going to think this tournament doesn't matter because the major is around the corner. Every tournament they play matters because they're the best. And they can also – I mean, at the end of the day, they can extend this fucking streak still. There's other things that they can put for themselves as goals. They know they'll lose eventually. They know it's not the end of the world.

Obviously, they would say it would be better to lose in Dallas than it would be in Austin. But you come into every game and you prepare for every – and that's the –

strength of a culture if you treat every game the same and prepare the same for every game then what's the difference in it for the players like if you create that sort of environment and where it is like that and everyone's honest about things as well in terms of you know where people are at and how they're

feeling like that's the key and they also give breaks to their players okay they had a week off after Copenhagen right then it's back to some online practice that may be a boot camp and now you're refreshed you're going to the tournament it's you know like so I'm not worried about vitality in that sense

I always liked your line. I always like your line, you know, if everything is hype, then nothing is hype. Like you need to pick and choose your moments in a sense. And then, you know, just be genuine. Like what excites you, you know, it's going to then people are going to see, OK, you're not faking it and not trying to make everything exciting because it's not right.

You still need to do justice to the teams and the players. They're still out there competing and most of them trying their best. Yeah. Right. And just because it's not the most interesting storyline or game or whatever, like for as we said, for some of them, it's their Super Bowl or is their first showing or is this or is that. And, you know, you need to sort of respect that and honor that.

I'll get sick as soon as I get there. I just already know everything that's going to happen. It's fine. But... I did the thing I asked him about, you know, can maybe send the engineer to check if it's like, you know, and the dude comes in and like turns the knob and it's like, okay. And then it puts his arms up on the thing and like, see, like, you know, there's air flowing.

I'm like, yes, but this is not, this is not cooling the room. Like, you know, if it's going to, if it's not going to speak English. So it was just like a thumbs up. I'm like, yeah, thumbs up. I guess, man, you earned your paycheck today.

It's actually even worse. He didn't even turn it off and then on. He just sort of turned the knob, which, yes, I have tried turning it to lower temperature, right? Just doesn't really do much. Yeah.

I'll sit up for you, Jason. You don't have to sit up.

We're going to KBBQ tonight because tomorrow is just rehearsals in the afternoon. Everyone's going. It's going to be a large group. Has the city been nice? Have you seen the city? I wanted to go to Astana and see the place. Jason, I haven't seen the sun, let alone the city. Probably tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be 35 degrees, of course. That's a nice day, though.

scorching hot outside somehow even warmer in my room so my sunscreen on you know you'll be all right you'll be fine yeah i'll i'll have to put a hat on put some sunnies on slip slop slap we call it in oz you sit in the shade yeah people are raving about the botanical gardens apparently everyone cares about flowers now all of a sudden so maybe we'll go and see that

It's like hearing these motherfuckers talk about the botanical garden. It's like, what the fuck are you on about? I guess if you want to sit on a bench in a park, cool. But you don't care about flora. Or fauna, for that matter. Yeah, exactly. Sounds like Yank is having a great time. I know. I'm afraid to ask. I took a nap. I got to take a 20-30 minute nap.

I got switched again to the morning shift for this last day. And again, it's very warm. So I wake up in the middle of the night a couple of times. Just sweating a little bit.

Chad and I have a different experience. For us, it's super smooth. I mean, there was no like massive, there was no delays or anything. It's just...

i love accelerated schedule is goated when you're on the ground i know jason for you it's kind of hellish yesterday was here it's awesome here it's awesome it's just like there's no bullshit just do the games talk about the games like and and that's it just do your job i think it's awesome how quickly you can uh bang him out yeah

Well, I'm glad that we could get to the bottom of that. I've seen that, too. You're using an effect on camera, though. What's that? You are, you know. There's an effect, like, on camera. Where it looks like blacker?

I think my lighting... What's that effect called, Jason?

I've been hit with it. I mean, for a guy who took the L on the, you know, hair, he's not going to dye your beard.

Chad, I do have a question for you. Oh, no. All right. As an expert on show matches. Yes. What do you think about this lineup for Team PGL that's going to go up against Team Windline? Maui. Okay. Maui on a pixel. Hugo, Harry, and Blair. Who's on Windline? Moe, Adren, Dimitri Lix, Bratishnikov, Bratishkinov, and Booster. These three guys are streamers, I guess. That Busta. Yeah, but not Buster.

Buster, the owner of Gun5. Oh, okay. Or whatever. Yeah. Who's the fifth? Bratishkinov. Oh, he's well-known. I don't know, some streamers. I'm mostly asking you, Chad, about the English lineup, right? Yeah, but that's the thing.

And then Trance and... Connor, Launders, Maui, Dinko.

No, I thought maybe you'd be placed at all different areas.

We're teething.

So Complexity's dead. Yeah.

I left the main group because the other day you I know we were spamming stickers. I'm fucking out. You left the group. Dude, I was laughing so hard.

Now, I just... I'm kinda European. Now, I've been doing the morning schedule.

I've been doing the morning schedule.

Yep. I've heard that was in there for so long. It was impressive.

No. Actually, quite the opposite.

Or if it was... That's great, actually.

18?

17.

Yeah, he's fucked, isn't he? Where's open? I don't know. Not G2, not Liquid, not FaZe. Well, Mouz could have an open.

Well, you never know. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ain't no fear there. Shut up, Jason.

Well, this is better than Jambo and you jerks, right? Because, like I said... Just because they'll play the big events.

Dexter had some good moments at the Major.

People seemed to be happy. People cheered. Yeah, right at the end. Yeah. It was a good show. They did a good job of not blowing themselves up.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't remember the exact point you were going to. Nico losing a voice. The power vacuum. More responsibility for snacks. Yeah. But Jason hasn't started talking about liquid yet.

No.

Yeah, but that's the thing as well. He likes doing that, doesn't he? Yeah, he does.

Fucking hippies. You don't do that, man. That's too much for them. You guys can't read this, right? Because it's backwards. Bottle made from 100% recycled plastic.

Mantu and Gade.

Shocking.

I want to go to bed. Yeah, I think.

You're getting painted as an alcoholic today.

Terrible twos. The terrible twos. You doing any surfing, Chad?

Except for you.

It's a podcast, not a call.

I didn't know the million-dollar man really needed the credit that much. I thought he got the paycheck.

That's what the cock chat's for.

Ah, it is a good film.

What do you want to see exactly?