Author: Nik Ranger

Tarik Explains His Move to MiBR and Sends Touching Farewell Message to Cloud9 and Fans Cloud9Now former Cloud9 player Tarik “tarik” Celic has finally opened up on his move to Made in Brazil (MiBR), and sent a touching message to fans of Cloud9, thanking them and the organization. Rumors began to spread of tarik’s potential move away from Cloud9 following their disappointing finish at ESL One Cologne, which coincided with another poor performance from MiBR at the same event. With his former C9 teammate Jake “Stewie2K” Yip on MiBR, and both teams struggling, numerous sources claimed that tarik was seriously considering an offer to join Stewie2K on the otherwise all Brazilian roster. Cloud9 announced on July 12th that tarik was leaving the organization, sending him off with a touching tribute video which of course highlighted the team’s Major success in early 2018. Although tarik remained quiet on his move initially, he has now sent out a message to fans explaining the reasons behind his move. He will replace Ricardo “bolts” Prass, who moves to an inactive role on the roster as the team heads out to the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier. Cloud9 are now left in a tough spot with the tournament coming up on July 21st, and will likely resort to bringing back in currently inactive player Pujan “FNS” Mehta. You can read the full Twitlonger from tarik below. NOTÍCIA DE ÚLTIMA HORA: Os celulares não param de tocar. Bem vindo à família MIBR @tarik! BREAKING NEWS: The phones have been off the hook. Please welcome @tarik to the MIBR family! #SomosMIBR https://t.co/9gNiERzD6H pic.twitter.com/nXQolHHuGI — MIBR (@mibr) July 14, 2018 To be completely honest, I thought Cloud9 would be the last team that I compete under. They are an amazing organization that truly went above & beyond my expectations. Many people are unaware of what goes on behind the scenes, but I really want to make clear that Cloud9 does all they can for their players. It’s very difficult for me to make this decision but I’m confident that we will meet again at the top. Tim, Tyler, Soham and Will are people that are much more than teammates to me, and I only wish them the best of luck moving forward. The first American team to win a major, no one can take that away from us. Although this decision was incredibly hard on me, I can’t help but say that I’m very excited to start working with my new teammates on MiBR. The sole reason I want to make this change is simple… I want to win, and I will do anything in my power to make that happen. Having the opporunity to play with the legendary core of SK and reunite with my former teammate is extremely thrilling for me. It won’t be an easy road, nor do I think we will become the best team overnight, however I’m willing to bet that we will make it work one way or another. To the fans, I hope that you will support me on this new path because without you none of this would be possible. And so the Clouds settled over the horizon… an Immortal was born.

Tarik claims CSGO is “harder” than Valorant after nitr0 return struggle Veteran CSGO player Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik claimed that Valve’s FPS is simply “harder” than Valorant after witnessing nitr0’s struggles on his return. Some of the biggest news of the CSGO offseason heading into 2022 was the return of Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella to Team Liquid’s Counter-Strike squad after a stint playing competitive Valorant. His debut saw Liquid beat Evil Geniuses in their first match, but the team wasn’t able to finish against FaZe and were eliminated by NAVI in BLAST Premier Spring. “Motherf**kers in Valorant weren’t shooting back” While tuning into NAVI’s 2-0 demolition of Team Liquid during the BLAST Spring Quarterfinals, tarik joked he would consider going back to Valorant if he were in nitr0’s shoes. “Nitr0 was farming these motherf**kers in Valorant, now he comes over to CS and he’s having a hard time – it’s f**ked,” he reflected.”At that point, i’m considering to go back if I were him. Motherf**kers in Valorant weren’t shooting back.” According to the CSGO veteran, part of the reason for nitr0’s struggles could be because CSGO is simply a more difficult game than Valorant. “It’s hard to adjust for sure,” tarik added. “CS is just harder, it’s just harder.” The debate over whether Valorant or CSGO is more difficult has been raging since Riot’s FPS came out. However, nitr0 is one of the first players to go from CS to Valorant, and back again, which could make his performance a very interesting case study. To be fair though, the two matches Liquid lost were against FaZe, who are leading the pack at BLAST Spring, and NAVI, who are considered one of the best teams in the world. It will be interesting to watch and see how nitr0 and the rest of Team Liquid fare in tournaments down the road though, after they have more time to scrim and practice together.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: TACO, Brazil’s most decorated CSGO player Taco takes absolute control with the Razer Viper – you can do the same by starting here. When people talk about the Brazilian core that ruled the world of Counter-Strike from 2016-2017, the conversation is usually centered around: Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Marcelo “Coldzera” David, or Fernando “Fer” Alvarenga. All three are larger than life figures. FalleN is the Godfather of Brazilian Counter-Strike. Coldzera is the best player Brazil ever produced. Fer redefined the limit of aggression in 2017, and his personal story is among the most dramatic in esports history. Yet no story of the Brazilians can be complete without Epitacio “TACO” de Melo. TACO is the unsung hero of the squad. He was never the star or leader, but his contribution and impact were critical in helping his teams succeed at the highest level. Joining Luminosity Gaming Like many other CS:GO players, TACO started off the game as an escape. At the time, his mother was diagnosed with cancer and one of his coping mechanics was to play Counter-Strike. That coping mechanism eventually turned into a career as he continued to grind at the game. The first time TACO met fer and FalleN was in a match. In the MLG X-Games Qualifier, he and Coldzera made it to the finals on Dexterity. They lost the series 0-2 to FalleN and fer’s KaBuM.TD. In 2017, Coldzera joined FalleN and fer on Luminosity, while TACO played for Games Academy. Games Academy was a project started by FalleN to support the Brazilian scene. Before other big organizations came along, it was a lifeline for Brazilians with aspirations to play professionally. In the second half of 2015, both TACO and Lincoln “fnx” Lau were on Games Academy, and this put them on Luminosity’s radar when the latter was looking to make roster changes. On Nov 23, 2015, TACO and fnx joined Luminosity Gaming days before they went to the FACEIT Stage 3 Finals. After going 0-16 on Dust2 against Fnatic, they made it to the grand finals – where they fell to Fnatic. It was a period of growth for Luminosity as they jumped from a consistent playoff team to championship contenders. In their first few outings they couldn’t get over the line. Getting top 4 at StarLadder i-League StarSeries XIV, 2nd at DreamHack Leipzig, and 2nd at IEM Katowice 2016. While those were heartbreaking losses, it was also crucial experience for the team as they learned how to be champions. It all came together at the MLG Major where they won their first title and started their era. While it only lasted three months, it was impressive nonetheless, lasting from MLG Columbus to ESL One Cologne. After winning the second Major, it looked like they would be unstoppable for the rest of the year. Instead, the team stagnated. They were still a consistently great team that got top fours and finals, but they had stopped evolving. Fnx had lost his motivation and by the end of 2016, he was kicked and the team brought on Joao “felps” Vasconcellos. 2017: The Felps and Boltz lineups After bringing in felps, the team worked through stylistic and internal issues. They tried a loose aggressive style early on that got them 2nd at DreamHack Vegas, but SK then bombed out of IEM Katowice 2017. The team went back to their initial style from 2016 and went back to the grind. From CS Summit to ESL One Cologne 2017, the team grinded back to the top. They reinstituted the same style of play, but with fer taking on the aggressive star position instead of FalleN. The move worked as they vied with FaZe and Astralis for the top spot in CS:GO. The summer was blazing hot for the Brazilians with multiple wins leading up to the PGL Krakow Major: 1st at DreamHack Summer, 1st at ECS Season 3, and 1st at ESL One Cologne 2017. They were the favorites heading in, but Astralis upset them in an epic quarterfinals match. After the Major, the team once again deteriorated as felps lost his motivation for being a role player. SK replaced him with Ricardo “boltz” Prass towards the end of 2017. The team instantly kicked into gear again as they started winning more tournaments. 1st at EPICENTER 2017, 1st at BLAST CopenHagen, and 1st at EPL 6 Finals. Closing the Chapter and Moving to Liquid After the end of 2017, the Brazilians started to drop off again. This time though, there was no easy out as buyouts had increased exponentially and it was no longer possible to chop and change the fifth player in SK. The team was in dire straits and after WESG, TACO decided to leave the team. In his twitlonger, he wrote a farewell statement, “Today I am closing the last chapter of the most beautiful book I’ve ever written. Today was the day I’ve decided for myself, taking the hardest decision in my life.” The timing was fortuitous as Lucas “steel” Lopes had left Liquid and they were in need of a fifth player. It was an easy transition as TACO was a better and more experienced support player than steel. As for the Brazilian support, he seamlessly fit into the Liquid system and they became up to that point, the best lineup NA had ever seen. The lineup was: Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Keith “NAF” Markovic, and TACO. The Liquid team became the second best team in the world in the latter half of 2018. They were incredibly consistent as they got 2nd place at six different events, top four at three others, and only ever got eliminated three times in the group stages of a tournament. Unfortunately for Liquid, they were the second best team in the Age of Astralis. Astralis are the greatest lineup of all time and this was during their absolute peak as a team. Astralis eliminated Liquid at five different finals and once in the semifinals of the FACEIT Major. During this period, MIBR hit a roadblock with their international mix. They eventually decided to try to reunite the gang back together. The idea of returning to save MIBR was too attractive and so TACO returned to MIBR. MIBR have continued to struggle throughout 2019 as they’ve faced internal issues and tried to find a way to reinvent their Counter-Strike. TACO’s impact as a player Throughout this article, I’ve avoided talking about TACO as a player. This is because you can only understand him as a player through the lens of his team. As a support player, it makes it much harder to pin down what he does as the support role and its existence in CS:GO is still debated to this day. There are no spots or positions that designate what denotes a support player. It can change from team to team or player to player. The most common scenario used to describe the difference between a star and a support is a typical two-man flash setup. The support player is the one who throws the flash grenade while the star player uses that utility to take an aggressive duel. This breaks apart when you talk about the Coldzera-TACO dynamic as Coldzera was often the one flashing TACO in to take aggressive duels on the CT-side of LG. While counter-intuitive, this is a support action by TACO in the context of the LG/SK system. Coldzera is at his best in the late rounds in small man scenarios. In that case, when the site with Coldzera and TACO needs to make an info play, he can best enable Coldzera by being the one to take that initial aggressive duel. Coldzera can then bait him for information and it leaves Coldzera alive in the late round situations where he shines as a superstar. That in essence explains TACO’s entire philosophy towards CS:GO. He is someone who always places the team ahead of himself and is willing to do whatever role they require of him. This exact mentality was one of the reasons FalleN picked him up in 2015, “We needed someone to be our entry-killer and TACO had the right mindset for that position. Also, he is very dedicated and seemed the correct guy to pick up. He is very friendly and was coldzera’s old teammate for a long time, which helps.” In game you can see this with his sacrificial entry style. He will sometimes go in running and jumping to create crosshair space between him and the player following him. His time on Liquid was different as he was a wing player who took passive control of the flanks, got info, and let the rest of the team take control of the map. On the CT-side in LG, TACO played the most sacrificial positions where he had to split his attention between two different areas, support his team, and facilitate rotations. On Liquid, TACO continued to play sacrificial roles, but was given a bit more flexibility. Sometimes he got to be more aggressive and be the secondary AWPer of the team. When you look at TACO’s positions across LG, SK, and Liquid, you get a better understanding of what the support role actually is. There is no fixed position or style of play that designates the support. It is a mentality where a player buys into the team system completely and does everything he can to make his teammates succeed. This mentality bleeds into intangibles we don’t see in the server. For instance, he calls setups for his sites on the CT-sides. He did this with Coldzera in LG/SK and NAF in Liquid. When Valve announced the changes to the CS:GO economy system, the support revealed that he had been keeping track of the economy for his team through his entire career. I used to read the economy and also communicate the opponents’ money to my team almost every round. Today I announce that I’m retiring from this position and will focus only on playing CS:GO. — Epitácio de Melo (@TACOCS) March 14, 2019 Finally, TACO is held in high regard by all his teammates. The Brazilian was the most criticized player during his time on LG/SK/MIBR and Liquid due to his poor stats. Yet all of his former teammates have nothing but praise for what TACO did for their teams. In a recent interview, Coldzera said TACO was the best teammate he ever had and in an HLTV interview he explained why, “We chose what we want to do, we play, he trusts me and I trust him. That how it works for us. We always create something and we always have a surprise for the opponent, so they never know which setup we have or how they need to play against us. That is the biggest impactful point during the matches.” TACO’s Legacy If you look through TACO’s games in his career, you’ll realize that he rarely makes macro mistakes. He almost never plays selfishly and constantly sticks to the system of his team. He has been a pillar of support which has grounded the teamplay of every team he’s played in. This is partly why MIBR’s clutch factor disappeared after he left the team. His impact on their natural teamplay hurt their small man situations and diminished the aura of invincibility in clutch scenarios. The same thing could be said for TACO’s time on Liquid. It’s hard to remember now given how much success Liquid has had since he left and Jake “Stewie2K” Yip joined, but Liquid made a huge jump when the Brazilian initially joined as well. Liquid were a potential top 5 team at the beginning of 2018, but after TACO joined they became the second best team of the year. If you use the eye test, you can see that in some ways the previous TACO lineup was more consistent than the current Stewie2K lineup on maps like Inferno or Mirage. So when history is settled and when people look back on the Brazilian core that took over the world, TACO will be remembered as the ultimate team player. Someone who sacrificed his ego for the betterment of the team. He was someone who did everything he could to make his teammates shine while he toiled in the shadows. Though he will never get the plaudits or accolades of Coldzera, fer, or FalleN, he and his team understands the value and impact he brought them. After all, if you were to tally up all of the results, TACO is the most decorated Brazilian player in CS:GO history. His career is proof that there is more to CS:GO than aim or tactics. That being a teamplayer can be just as critical in being the best in Counter-Strike.

Taco Responds to JW After He Reignited Feud Between the Two Following ESL One Cologne Exit The feud between Swedish CS:GO player, JW, and Brazilian pro, Taco, doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon. The two high profile players have been locked into a war of words after Fnatic’s JW called out Liquid’s Taco at the ECS Season 5 Finals in June. JW accused Taco of not being humble before their match, and after beating them to knock them out of the tournament, the Brazilian responded in his own post-match interview. JW decided to take advantage of the situation and Tweeted out if anyone had seen the big bad wolf. As expected this achieved a response from Taco. AHAHAHAHAHAHAH man you are still trying… stop, find someone at your level, or i’m gonna humiliate you AGAIN in front of 8k people — Epitácio (@TACOCS) July 4, 2018 The pair continued their exchange, with JW sarcastically claiming he wasn’t on Taco’s level. It all ended with Taco claiming JW needs to run like a little girl. The saga continues.

TACO officially released from MiBR contract StarladderBrazilian Counter-Strike pro Epitácio “TACO” de Melo announced on January 8, 2021 that he’s no longer a member of MiBR, becoming ready and able to join another team right away. TACO was released from MiBR’s roster, along with teammate Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga and coach Ricardo ‘dead’ Sinigaglia, in the wake of massive drama over the use of banned exploits in September of 2020. Dead, who had been with the team since March 2020, was one of the slew of coaches implicated in the scandal once it was discovered that he, along with 10 others across the esport, had knowingly used a bug to gain a spectating advantage on opponents. TACO and fer became MIBR icons after joining the org in 2018, along with fellow star FalleN, who also left the team shortly after his teammates were cut due to his disagreement with how the whole situation was handled. On January 8, TACO officially announced on Twitter he was no longer under contract with MiBR, and free to pursue other options. “By the way, this week I managed to get out of the contract with the last org,” de Melo tweeted. “I’m READY to sign with the next one! News soon!” It remains to be seen exactly where the 24-year-old will end up, but according to some reports he could be set for a reunion with dead as the two join up to create a new Brazilian team following the shakeup at MiBR. Dead did have a 6.5-month ban leveled on him after the observing scandal on August 31, which would make him eligible to return to coaching in mid-March of 2021, so we might see an update — if things do pan out — around then. A propósito essa semana consegui minha saída do contrato com a última org (muito obrigado @GuedesGroup por tudo) e tô READY pra assinar com a próxima! Novidades em breve! 👀 — Epitácio de Melo (@TACOCS) January 8, 2021 TACO is one of the most decorated CSGO players in Brazilian history and has an undeniable reputation for putting the needs of the group above his own time and time again no matter what org he’s on, the definition of a true team player. So, even if the ‘Brazilian super-team 2.0’ plan doesn’t work out with dead, he should have no problem finding a new home somewhere.

TACO Lists Three Key Reasons Why He Believes CS:GO Majors Have Lost Their Prestige Team Liquid’s Epitácio ‘TACO’ de Melo believes that Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Majors are losing some of their prestige. The two-time Major Champion has been critical of recent Majors in a Twitter post, arguing against the switch to the Swiss system format that has replaced the old GSL-style groups. He also complained about the roster lock rules and the decision to include stickers for teams competing in what used to be the “Major Qualifier” stage. CS:GO majors lost its prestige The first step back was changing the format to Swiss format Second, creating non-sense roster locks rules Third, making stickers to teams that are playing the qualifier (my team is also challenger so i’m not being jealous) and few more things — Epitácio (@TACOCS) July 11, 2018 The GSL-style groups that were used in previous Majors would feature a double elimination pools of four teams, with best-of-three elimination and decider matches. The Swiss system, which has been favored more recently, sees teams always playing against other teams with the same record (1-1 teams play each other, 0-2 teams play each other etc.) until they have three wins or three losses. Read More: Coldzera Responds to Recent MiBR-exit Rumors – The major complaint with this system is that it doesn’t use seeded draws for each round and can often result in runs for some teams that appear to be significantly more difficult or easy depending on the randomness of the draw. I see people misunderstanding Swiss format again. Swiss is basically a triple elim bracket. That’s better than all group formats, but the current fully random draw makes the “”bracket”” have terrible seeding. We wrote about how it could be improved:https://t.co/ei74AHgEhJ — Petar Milovanovic (@Tgwri1s) July 11, 2018 There has also been criticism about the lack of best-of-three matches in the Swiss System due to time constraints. Some members of the community, like MLG’s Adam Apicella, stating that using side stations and streams with best-of-three games are preferable to best-of-ones all on a single main stream. I do not like Swiss at all. More “”fair”

TACO calls Fnatic’s JW “a f***ing liar” over CS:GO radar bug exploit CS:GO pros Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell and Epitácio ‘TACO‘ de Melo traded shots on Twitter after a conversation of an old radar bug in the game devolved into accusations and bitter words ahead of the IEM Katowice Major. The bug in question allows players near or in smokes to use a key bind that makes the radar scale full size in order to make the enemy indicator bigger as the smoke dissipates. Although it isn’t technically a cheat, some pros view its use as unethical. After TACO had requested ESL to make a couple of rule changes prior to the start of the IEM Katowice Major, many notable figures in the scene chimed in. But an exchange between Fnatic’s JW and MIBR’s TACO saw the MIBR rifleman fire off an expletive-filled response to his competitor. I have been using this radar bind because I’m tired of getting fucked by idiots crouched in the smokes waiting for it to fade. Make CS fair again! — Epitácio (@TACOCS) February 11, 2019 TACO had made a few snide comments alluding to JW’s supposed history of using the bug. JW defended himself by telling a different account of his time with the bug while also advising TACO to essentially stay in his lane with the accusations. Taco didn’t appreciate the response. “You’re a fucking liar, you have 0 ethic,” TACO said. “I don’t give a shit for what you have done in the past and this topic is dead for me.” Call me liar if you want, disrespect me if you want, you can ask all my previous teammates if i have ever had some special settings or whatever you are accusing me for. Expected more from you big bad wolf :yes: — Jesper Wecksell (@JW1) February 12, 2019 The reaction came as a surprise to many given the seemingly out of nowhere response from TACO. JW kept to his argument after TACO doubled down on his accusations, but the response from the MiBR player seemed to mar the bigger conversation at hand. I have never defended the bug at all, i dont understand why you think that. All i said was that the “”bug””/””problem”” is deeper than a simple radar zoom bind. I havent disagreed with anything said. Please read — Jesper Wecksell (@JW1) February 12, 2019 Both Fnatic and MiBR will be competing at the IEM Katowice Major, and it will be interesting how this interaction unfolds as The New Challengers Stage for the tournament kicks off February 13.

tabseN & gob b agree to historic new BIG contracts BIGBIG have announced that star player Johannes ‘tabseN’ Wodarz and coach Fatih ‘gob b’ Dayik have penned new contracts with the organization until 2027. The announcement brings an end to speculation about the duo’s future after they were briefly rumored to be on G2 Esports’ wishlist. tabseN and gob b have been with BIG since the organization’s founding and are both shareholders in the company. In a statement, BIG hailed their key contributions to the “achievements and milestones we have reached over the years.” tabseN had already indicated that he didn’t see a future away from BIG, writing on Twitter that he would “never abandon my child.” gob b, widely regarded as one of the best tactical minds in Counter-Strike history, has held multiple roles in the organization, from CS:GO and Valorant player to team manager and CS:GO academy coach. In May, he announced his retirement as Valorant player to take over as head coach of the CS:GO team. After the announcement of the contract extension, BIG Chief Gaming Officer Christian Lenz couldn’t help but poke fun at the rumors about the duo’s potential departure, writing on Twitter: “These 2G´s are not G2´s!”

CS:GO legend Xizt announces retirement: “An amazing and unforgettable journey” Adela Sznajder/DreamHackRichard ‘Xizt’ Landström, who was part of the iconic 87-0 NIP CS:GO squad, has officially put an end to his career as an esports player, though he still hopes to remain involved in the scene. The Swedish veteran, 30, has called time on his playing career after almost a year on the sidelines, having played his last competitive match in November 2020. “My career has had its ups and downs,” he wrote on Twitter. “But looking back, it’s been an amazing and unforgettable journey.” Xizt added that he is excited about the future and stressed that he is not “walking away from CS yet”. In an interview with HLTV.org, he revealed that he is open to a variety of roles in the scene, including coaching, analytical and managerial positions. A rich career Xizt came through the CS 1.6 scene and played for a number of Swedish top teams, including H2k Gaming and Fnatic, before CS:GO was released, in August 2012. His career took a significant upturn following the new game’s release as he took charge of the new NIP squad alongside 1.6 superstars Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund and Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg, and two players coming from the CS:Source scene, Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg and Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson. That team dominated the scene during CS:GO’s infancy and achieved an impressive 87-0 map win streak on LAN — which still stands as one of the most impressive team records in all of esports. NIP went on to win the ESL One Cologne 2014 Major in a triumphant swan song. Later that year, the iconic roster officially broke up as Fifflaren retired, and the team struggled for consistency as teams like Fnatic, Envy and Luminosity/SK Gaming took center stage. After stepping down from NIP in February 2018, Xizt had a brief but successful stand-in spell with FaZe before returning to Fnatic in May of that year for a second tenure. In January 2020, he reunited with his former NIP 87-0 teammates in Dignitas, with Fifflaren now occupying a head coach role. But after a spate of underwhelming online results, he and GeT_RiGhT were moved to the bench later that year. Xizt made only one more tournament appearance, as a stand-in for Gen.G in Flashpoint 2.

Swag announces CSGO retirement to pursue future in Riot’s Project A DreamHackThe prodigal son of North American Counter-Strike, Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce, has announced his retirement from CS:GO on February 27, instead setting his sights on conquering Riot Games’ upcoming Project A release. After over five years in Valve prison with a permanent suspension, Swag is finally releasing himself to try and go pro — in another game. The CS:GO prodigy is allegedly swapping allegiances to Riot’s upcoming FPS title Project A, with the player retiring from the Valve title on February 27. “I have decided to take a step back from competitive CS,” he said. “Although I may still stream CS in the future, my main goal is to await the release of Project A and put my ambitions of being the best in the world to fruition.” “Thank you everyone for your support and I hope you guys will continue to support my journey,” he added. “It’s been a fun eight years, and 22,000 hours from 1.6 to Global Offensive (yikes, but I don’t regret any of it).” Swag’s professional CS:GO career was cut short by the iBuyPower matchfixing scandal of 2015, where the then-18-year-old was banned for life by Valve. This ban was lifted by ESL and DreamHack in 2018, but swag was never made eligible to play in Valve-sponsored Majors. Thank you everyone for your support and I hope you guys will continue to support my journey! It’s been a fun 8 years, and 22k hours from 1.6 to GO (yikes, but I don’t regret any of it) — brax (@brax1wnl) February 28, 2020 His ban has been the subject of a lot of controversy, with many players petitioning for it to be lifted. However, now that he’s moving on, many of those same supporters are wishing him all the best in Project A. “[Good luck] legend, big loss for all of us,” said MIBR star Gabriel ‘Fallen’ Toledo. “You deserved better but we will be following you no matter what.” “Riot will be very lucky to have you and azk competing in their game and maybe down the road, you’ll work for them as a game developer when you fully retire,” added CS:GO observer David ‘prius’ Kuntz. Gl legend. Big loss for all of us. You deserved better but we will be following you no matter what — Gabriel Toledo (@FalleNCS) February 28, 2020 also gl, smart move tbh, riot will be very lucky to have you and azk competing in their game and maybe down the road, you’ll work for them as a game developer when you fully retire — DJ (@priusOBS) February 28, 2020 Project A — or Valorant, as leaks suggest — has no set release date, but more information regarding the game has been made available to players in the last week. Those leaks revealed what some of the characters will look like, while a trademark was filed by Riot for the name Valorant, which could be a hint at the game’s title.

Super syrsoN: BIG shock Vitality & Astralis I Richard Lewis reacts at IEM Global Challenge Richard Lewis reacts to the second day of action at IEM’s Global Challenge, which saw Team Liquid book their spot in Group B’s Winners’ Match, while Vitality cruised to a do-or-die Decider Match in Group A after brushing Complexity aside. But BIG’s Florian ‘syrsoN’ Rische was the star of the show, leading the troops to a convincing 2-0 win over Astralis, who will now meet Vitality in Group A’s sudden deathmatch. Read More: Exclusive Cloud9 ALEX interview – There’s so much to talk about, from Team Liquid’s win against Heroic, or Vitality crushing Complexity. The former is a huge upset due to their current world rankings in comparison, and Vitality’s easy defeat of Complexity due to their stand-in surprised no-one. But these are all expected outcomes. There’s something much more interesting to talk about – BIG’s performance, and one player in particular. In the summer, BIG was considered to be the number one team in the world. With the ongoing current global affairs bringing about LAN issues, teams aren’t quite at the top of their game as they once were, and BIG was no exception. Watching the demo of the second map, though, it’s clear syrsoN is an absolute star, with some incredibly showstopping talent on display. His skill brought the team right through to the very end, bagging them a phenomenal win. His skill only further proves that greatness awaits on the horizon for this fantastic team.

suNny parts ways with ENCE CSGO as org looks to rebuild in 2021 ENCECSGO professional Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi announced on Twitter he had come to an agreement with ENCE that allows him to search for a new team heading into 2021. Finish esports org ENCE has had a bit of a rough go as of late, losing Jere ‘sergej’ Salo after the 18-year-old opted to leave to serve his required military conscription in Finland instead of continuing to play. It seems like sergej wasn’t the only one looking to get out and make a change, as suNny announced on December 22 that he had come to an agreement with the org to look for a new home in 2021. Hey, ENCE and I have come to an agreement that I am allowed to search a new team for 2021. Please contact me or ENCE’s gm @willkey87 since I don’t have an agent. There is talks going on, but nothing has been decided yet. Thanks for the support!Miikka — Miikka Kemppi (@suNnycsgo) December 22, 2020 “ENCE and I have come to an agreement that I am allowed to search a new team for 2021,” SuNny wrote on Twitter. “Please contact me or ENCE’s gm [willkey] since I don’t have an agent. There is talks going on, but nothing has been decided yet. Thanks for the support!” So, while technically still signed on the roster, the higher-ups have now given the 26-year-old free reigns to look for a new team, though there doesn’t seem to be any of the drama that came along with sergej’s departure. ENCE is far from the only European team in the midst of the rebuilding process heading into 2021, so while there’s no telling yet where suNny will end up next, there should be plenty of opportunity. Team Liquid is obviously making moves, with Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken announcing in the post-game interview of the IEM Global Challenge Grand Finals that he was headed to a new org in 2021. Former MiBR player FalleN has already been hinted at for that spot though, so the chances of seeing SuNny in white and blue, based on what we know, are pretty slim. As for who’s going to fill out ENCE’s roster, which is now down to three players, that remains to be seen as well, with the org announcing they would “further communicate our 2021 plans after the Christmas holidays have concluded.”

Summit1g’s infamous Molotov fail voted worst CSGO play of the decade A fan poll has decided Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s worst play of the decade, with Jaryd ‘Summit1g’ Lazar’s classic self-inflicted Molotov fail taking the crown. A new year has begun and CS:GO fans are looking back at the previous decade with glee as their game rose to the upper echelons of esports. Valve themselves even sent players on a trip down memory lane, opening up a poll on their twitter to decide on the best CS:GO play of the decade. While some were appreciating the best plays, others were enjoying some of the biggest fails, and have decided on the worst play of the decade. In spirit of @CSGO, I’m trying something for the other side. What is CS:GO’s WORST play of the decade (2012-2019)? Reply to this tweet with clips and I’ll pick out 4 to put into a poll and we’ll decide who had the worst fuck up together https://t.co/onx2doMoJz — kostya (@karpinism) December 30, 2019 A fan poll ran by ‘Don Constantin’ became incredibly popular in the community as he handpicked some of the biggest fails to face off against each other for the title of ‘worst CSGO play of the decade.’ This included iconic moments like G2 forgetting to defuse against Astralis and losing the map at the StarLadder Berlin Major, Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev’s failed knife against Liquid, Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s USP whiff vs Envy in 2015, and Summit1g’s “1G” Molotov fail. However, there could only be one winner, and while it was a close race between G2 and Jaryd, the latter was victorious. Winning by just 2%, @summit1g burning in the molotov against @clgaming wins the WORST @CSGO Play of The Decade! 🎉 CONGRATS pic.twitter.com/JPvxh0wg86 — kostya (@karpinism) January 2, 2020 For those who may not remember the event, Summit’s Splyce were about to eliminate Counter Logic Gaming at DreamHack Austin in 2016. The American had already finished off his opponents and only needed to defuse the bomb to claim the 16th round. However, he made a massive blunder, running through his own Molotov, taking 40 damage and eliminating himself. He still had plenty of time and there were no enemies around, meaning he could have played it carefully and easily won. In the end, his team was eliminated in over-time and the moment has haunted him since – even now, almost four years later, he’s still reminded of just how much of a fail it was. The “1G” curse has also followed him to other games too, with Jaryd’s variety streams occasionally leading him to being engulfed in flames. During a play-through of The Last of Us he somehow set himself ablaze after beating down an enemy, and once again eliminated himself with a failed Molotov in the latest Call of Duty. Perhaps it is destined to follow him forever.

Summit1g rages about CSGO’s issues after bizarre death summit1g/ValveTwitch streamer Jaryd ‘summit1g’ Lazar highlighted one issue with CS:GO after an unusual death in-game during his March 28 broadcast. Summit1g has built a massive following of over 4.3 million followers on his Twitch channel and is known for playing a wide variety of games on his stream. The Twitch star initially blew up on CS:GO, however, and after making his return to the popular FPS title, summit explained why the game still had some problems that needed to be addressed. During his March 28 broadcast, summit1g made his return to CS:GO competing in FPL Pick-up matches alongside the likes of former Cloud9 star Freakazoid. Read More: How Golden saved Fnatic CSGO twice – While holding the A bombsite on Mirage, Summit burst into rage after being killed by an enemy who appeared to be in mid-air during their gunfight in Palace. CS:GO players are often left with very inaccurate aim for a brief period during and after their character jumps, but these rules did not seem to apply to his opponent, as he explained just how ridiculous it was. “Let me tell you what happens if I jump,” he said, jumping out of his chair to reenact the event, “This is where when you play and when other people play it’s different in Counter-Strike.” “When you’re watching that guy he jumps, lands, insta headshots you,” summit explained, “even if he doesn’t land, he jumps, insta headshots you and then lands.” When explaining what should happen for “normal humans” in CS:GO, he pointed out how inaccurate his opponent’s rounds should have been and claimed that the game doesn’t make sense. How is the Sig allowed to be like this in CS for so long…..and you wonder why I’m hyped for Valorant. — summit1g (@summit1g) March 28, 2020 “To normal humans like us, we jump, we land, our guy acts like he has to settle his body, then you can shoot your AK, cause if you shoot it any earlier, it’s not accurate at all, it doesn’t work like that I’m telling you, it doesn’t make sense this game,” he said. After making his return to CS:GO, summit1g also voiced his concerns around the infamous SG 553 or “Krieg” rifle suggesting that it has been too much of an issue in-game and revealed that he was looking forward to seeing how Valorant fares against the popular title.

Summit1g explains why Valorant makes him miserable compared to CSGO Riot Games/Twitch: summit1gThe discussion about Valorant being the new CS:GO has overtaken the gaming scene, with many seeing CS:GO as a dying community. However, ex-CS:GO pro Jaryd ‘summit1g’ Lazar explains why he prefers CS:GO over Valorant. [jwplayer ZyCTJZ95] Many FPS fans hail Valorant as the new and improved version of CS:GO, with a host of ex-CS:GO pros such as Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo moving across to Riot Games’ shiny new FPS seeking more lucrative professional opportunities. However, other players much prefer the more straightforward gameplay of CS:GO, where there’s no magical abilities making life a misery, and no flashes going off every two seconds. In a recent stream, former CS:GO pro player summit discussed his feelings towards Valorant, noting that in his eyes, CS:GO reigns as the supreme FPS title of the two. Why does summit1g prefer CS:GO? Throughout his stream summit1g says that he finds playing Valorant extremely difficult both due to the gameplay and the effects that it has on him while streaming. When talking gameplay, the FPS wizard describes Valorant as “making him miserable” and that being flashed through walls and hacked through tiny spaces make the game difficult for him to enjoy. Additionally he highlights the fact that the game is less rewarding, as finding plays using smokes and flashes in CS:GO is a part of the art form of playing the game, whereas these are in-built aspects of the agent abilities in Valorant. By having overpowered flashes and smokes built into the agents’ kits, he argues that it removes some of the tactical aspects of the gameplay. The final point that he makes is regarding streaming the game. Describing the irritation after “feeling like a God one day and then feeling like you’ve never played a day in your life,” it’s pretty clear that Valorant is a tilter for summit. Expressing that he doesn’t enjoy the game and therefore fans won’t enjoy watching it, it doesn’t make much sense to keep it as a main feature on his channel. So, it’s a case of watch this space. Maybe summit1g will get his Valorant mojo back, but until then his Sea of Thieves streams are continuing and he seems to be having plenty of fun on it.

Summit1g explains why CSGO’s Krieg needs a major nerf Twitch: summit1g / ValvePopular Twitch streamer and former CS:GO player Jaryd ‘Summit1g’ Lazar has hit out the game for its “stupid” Krieg meta – and even called for balancing changes to the weapon, claiming that it’s “not CS:GO”. Summit’s time trying to top the Counter-Strike mountain may be over now, having moved on from Valve’s first-person shooter to streaming a variety of FPS’ to a legion of loyal fans, but he clearly still has a certain affinity for the game that gave him his start. While playing a match with the likes of 100 Thieves star Joakim ‘jkaem’ Myrbostad, Lazar spoke on the Krieg – or the SG 553 – and explained why he believes, like many pro players do, that it needs a nerf. “I don’t play competitive Counter-Strike,” he started. “None of these guys can play competitive Counter-Strike sitting on this stupid Sig meta when it’s clearly overpowered.” He continued, saying that “everybody knows it’s overpowered, but everybody still uses it,” and saying he “can’t wait until we don’t have to worry about that bulls**t.” Though he says he doesn’t compete in the game, he calls it a joke that every time he tries to play it. he “gets one-tapped by this dumb**s weapon.” Later on in the stream, someone said that the SG will be nerfed, an idea which summit seemed to scoff at. Read More: How to fix VAC authentication errors in CSGO – “How many tournaments have to go down before the SG get’s nerfed, dude?” he asked before reeling off a list of reasons why he can’t care about CSGO anymore, mentioning how long it takes to fix things, how long it takes to recognize that something needs to be fixed and how long you “sit and deal with the same dumb**s bulls**t over and over again.” He concluded that the weapon is “not Counter-Strike” because you can “zoom in and one-tap” enemy players with it. Summit’s thoughts echo that of many of the top players in CSGO, including the likes of Team Liquid’s Nick ‘nitr0’ Cannella, who calls the meta “mindblowing.” The fact you can still get 2 kriegs the 2nd round after bomb plant is mind blowing — M80 nitr0 (@nitr0) April 5, 2020 Whether or not we see a nerf to the Krieg any time soon is a mystery – it has been a huge topic of discussion in the community for months but not changes have been made yet. Needless to say, it’s something that some of the biggest names in CS want, and Valve will start upsetting a lot of people if they refuse to nerf the Krieg – when they decide to do it, though, is another matter.

Summit1g claims CS:GO has been “ruined” on Twitch amid Valorant hype Summit1G (Twitch) / Riot Games / ValvePopular Twitch streamer Jaryd ‘Summit1G’ Lazar has issued concern over Valorant following in Counter-Strike’s footsteps, explaining why it could “ruin” the game. Scores of big names have been streaming Valorant’s closed beta on Twitch, with creators from all corners of esports flooding into Riot’s servers to showcase the tactical shooter that is tipped to alter the landscape of the FPS genre. Namely one of these is none other than Counter-Strike veteran, Summit1G, who has been at the forefront of Valorant’s incredible viewership figures on Twitch — with an average viewer count of over 190,000 and a peak of over 310,000, the 32-year-old is definitely reaping the rewards of Riot’s unique beta access model. With the streamer’s background coming predominantly from Counter-Strike, he has previously had a few choice words for Valve in-light of their timely Krieg nerf — a gun which controversially dominated CS:GO’s meta prior to its recent nerf. Read more: Why CSGO players will dominate Valorant – Now on the opposite side of the fence, Summit has a word of warning for Riot not to follow in Valve’s footsteps in light of how Counter-Strike’s viewership has been on a steady decline in recent years, despite the number of hours streamed increasing year-on-year. With multiple tournaments running already, such as 100 Thieves’ Valorant Invitational, Summit has sent out a call to arms not to “let tournaments ruin our game category like Counter-Strike did.” Valorant. Don’t let tournaments ruin our game category like Counterstrike did. Thanks. — summit1g (@summit1g) April 13, 2020 In a subsequent Tweet, Summit responded to claims that he was “burned out on CS” by implying that a game category shouldn’t be dominated by tournament streams and instead should have a healthy mix of creators and tournaments alike, stating that it is a “ruined” category. I’m not burned out on CS lol. Tourneys ruined that category. Wanna know when a game is getting unhealthy on twitch? When the top 5 channels every single day is a tourney. — summit1g (@summit1g) April 13, 2020 CS:GO pros, Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz and Óscar ‘Mixwell’ Cañellas agreed with Summit’s point of tournament “oversaturation,” by implying that Counter-Strike isn’t an ideal game for content creators. I agree with both, I literally said the same thing in an interview a week ago. CS might be the worst game to start streaming or doing content on, I feel like it’s gonna become what Dota is to league of legends, the only relevant thing are tournaments, I still love the game tho. — Heretics m1xwell (@Mixwell) April 14, 2020 Summit made an apt reference to the Super Bowl, one of sport’s biggest tournaments, suggesting that it would become mundane if it were to take place every day. If the Super Bowl was everyday. Would you watch everyday or do you think it’d eventually get boring? — summit1g (@summit1g) April 13, 2020 Of course, given Riot’s pledge to make Valorant as competitive as possible, it is likely that they will play a similar role in the game’s esports scene as they have for their MOBA. League of Legends is arguably the most successful esport of all-time, and with a decade’s worth of experience at the very top, Valorant is most definitely in good hands.

Summit1g attacks Starladder for getting CSGO streamers banned Summit1g – Twitch / StarladderControversy has struck CSGO esports amid the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, and now former pro player Jaryd ‘summit1g’ Lazar has gotten involved. On August 24, several top CSGO streamers were hit with bans on Twitch while they were re-streaming one of the official broadcasts of the Berlin Major. According to Erik ‘fl0m’ Flom, the bans were a result of StarLadder filing DMCA complaints against anyone streaming the tournament on their own channel, even if the casters were muted and the streamer’s personal sponsors were hidden. This clearly pissed off summit, who did not like the fact that some of his peers were being hit with surprise bans without some sort of communication ahead of time. “Yo StarLadder, why you have Twitter account if you no use?” he tweeted. Summit’s bashing of StarLadder did not stop there, as he went on to call their decision a “shitty move,” considering some of those affected were top streamers of the game, not to mention ex-pro players themselves. “Yeah, a pretty shitty move to not just speak up,” he wrote. “Especially to someone who’s been around so long as you have, making that category last, while tournaments have turned to shit.” Read More: Stewie2K pulls off insane 1v4 ace clutch – He took another shot at the company by essentially calling them greedy: “They’re getting that big streamer money bro! Can’t have you taking it.” At the end of the day, rules are rules, and if StarLadder own exclusive rights to broadcast the Berlin Major, then it’s also their prerogative to censor those who are also streaming the tournament without consent. What summit’s issue with the situation appears to be is that the company approached everything with a hush-hush attitude, instead of offering warnings and explanations to these former pro players whose streams are what keeps the game going strong on Twitch.

Subroza explains why Cloud9’s CSGO roster was “dead” before he joined Cloud9 Rifler, Yassine ‘Subroza’ Taoufik, has stirred the pot after taking down his former teammates in a grudge match versus Gen.G during a CS:GO qualifying match for IEM Katowice. IEM Katowice is one of Counter-Strike’s staple events on the competitive calendar. February 25th will mark the start of the 14th Intel Extreme Masters World Championship, and teams from all around the world are getting their qualification campaign underway. With three European teams already locked in, a host of North American talent will be looking to make their way to the Closed Qualifier on January 7th. With teams such as Envy, eUnited and INTZ all looking to grab one of the two available spots, there was stiff competition. Following the departure of Cloud9’s core three in Damian ‘daps’ Steele, Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta and Kenneth ‘koosta’ Suen to Gen.G, Subroza’s fate has been hanging in the balance. As fate would have it, Taoufik’s side ‘Just For Fun’ faced Gen.G in the Open Qualifier, which saw Subroza and co. edge out the win (16-14) on Train. After announcing his victory to his Twitter following, the CS:GO pro was prompted with: “Why couldn’t you do that on C9?” after dropping 35 kills (with a 136.1 ADR) versus his ex-teammates. Subroza responded by claiming that the Cloud9 roster was “dead before [he] even joined,” and going on to say that the team “didn’t practice a single day” after failing to win a single match at the BLAST Pro Series event in November. Beat @GenG 16-14 in the IEM Katowice Open Qual w Just For Fun (@no_onecsgo @vanitycsgo @WARDELLCSGO @currydtx )😊. We play @Envy next ! — TSM Subroza 🇲🇦 (@Subroza) December 11, 2019 lmao team was dead before i even joined, didn’t prac a single day and faced astralis navi faze. Good comparison. — TSM Subroza 🇲🇦 (@Subroza) December 11, 2019 Cloud9’s blunder at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen was the final blow after a string of poor showings, which ultimately led to the roster’s demise. After Subroza’s Tweet gave his following a glimpse into what was going on behind closed doors, the post sparked interest and received a flurry of responses. The Cloud9 Rifler is no stranger to being under the microscope, having previously endured a slew of cheating accusations while playing under Counter Logic Gaming banner during his debut season on the pro circuit. Just For Fun went on to take down Envy and will be facing Riot Squad on December 11, in the semi-finals of the single-bracket tournament. At the time of writing, there has been no response from Subroza’s former teammates after an early exit from the Open Qualifiers.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: What EG’s Dust2 victories over Astralis mean Evil Geniuses – Twitter / ValveEvil Geniuses won ESL One New York, which cemented their place as a championship contender and a top three CSGO team in the world. During their run, they beat Astralis twice – once in the group stages and again in the finals. Overall, Evil Geniuses went 5-1 against Astralis. The most intriguing map to me was Dust2. The strategic and tactical adjustments EG made minimized Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz’s impact on the CT-side and were a good characterization of the best qualities of EG as a squad. Why Dust2 There were a few reasons why Dust2 stood out to me. It was one of the two maps that EG and Astralis played twice at New York along with Inferno. It has historically been one of the best maps for dev1ce. His mobile AWP has made him a terror on the CT-side and he proved that in the first run-in against EG in the group stages. In addition, that meta of the map itself speaks volumes about the stylistic matchup of EG vs Astralis. Broadly speaking, Dust2 has been characterized as a skill-based pugger map. While it certainly lends itself to that style, in 2018 Astralis were able to tame the map with heavy map control through dev1ce’s CT-side AWP and utility usage. Once those innovations disseminated through the scene, the map reverted back to a more individualistic flavor. While teams can add some small tweaks or stylistic flairs, for the most part everyone understands how to play the map. This made it theoretically the perfect map for EG to pick into Astralis as the biggest differential between EG and Astralis is individual player skill. I suspect this is why we saw EG use Dust2 as their first pick in both map vetos instead of Train, which has been their best map overall. From Dust to Dust The first encounter on Dust2 was fairly standard. EG played their typical style. They like to play around the standard default, 4-1s, and changes of pace. While they have a good sense of tactics and team play, they like to play around their individual skill. In a slower spread out default, they have a fairly well defined order of action. If Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov wants to go for a pick, he gets first priority. If not, the team will have Tarik “tarik” Celik, Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz, and sometimes Ethan “Ethan” Arnold take the aggressive map control. On Dust2, Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte can go for an aggressive duel towards long, but largely plays a passive role until the team decides to go for a site hit. When EG played this style into Astralis in the group stages, dev1ce had good impact on the CT-side. In the fifth round, dev1ce got to play his typical transitional defense as EG took control of short before hitting the A-site. While dev1ce didn’t get any multikills, the space he created let Astralis get into a 4v3 situation. EG eventually won the round anyway through brute force. In the ninth round, EG went for a fast 4-1 with four players rushing short while stanislaw tried to pressure long. Dev1ce killed stanislaw and put Astralis at the advantage. In the 11th, dev1ce got the opening pick, but Astralis couldn’t convert the man advantage. The 15th round, dev1ce got the opening pick again and this time Astralis won the round. The first game ended with a 8-7 half for EG, but if you consider that EG won the second round forcebuy and some of the tactical positions that EG found themselves in, Astralis played the better half tactically speaking. In the rematch, EG got a 7-8 half, but I’d argue that it was strategically superior to the Dust2 map in the group stages. EG once again won the second round forcebuy after losing the pistol. Throughout this half, dev1ce’s AWP wasn’t a factor. There were multiple reasons why. Dev1ce himself had a bad run of form throughout the playoffs and finals which needs to be taken into account. EG also made it much harder for him. EG started to use run boosts to clear the short position, and focused on the B-site hits. When they did go towards the A-site, EG had changed their approach. Before they were taking control of short and then hitting the A-site from there. In the rematch, EG took control of long and then had stanislaw and ethan fake an A-hit from long before going B in the 6th round. The other time they hit the A-site, it was an exploitative mid-round call. Read More: Release date for Cache remake revealed – In the eighth round, dev1ce had used a molly on short to create space. Stanislaw and tarik recognized that it was unlikely that dev1ce was holding the angle with an AWP with the flames down, so they did the run boost and forced him off the position, then rushed towards A. This was an ad-hoc adjustment as the bomb was way out of position to exploit this call and this eventually cost EG the round. Overall, EG played a fairly standard in their first run-in against Astralis in the group stages. In the rematch though, they made a strategic changeup to their style of play. They stopped using the 4-1s and hitting the A-site from short. Instead they used different approaches which never let dev1ce fully get into the game. While these adjustments were important, they weren’t the biggest reason why EG won both matches. It was individual skill. Economic Control The EG players were on fire throughout the event. All five players had big plays and moments. In contrast to them, the Astralis stars were having a rough time of it. Dev1ce and Emil “Magisk” Rief didn’t play up to their usual standards and this created a gap of firepower that teamplay, tactics, and experience could not overcome. The difference in skill individual skill translated into the server in two ways. First, the majority of the big moments went towards EG. Secondly, this allowed EG to wreck Astralis’ economy and deny them their control style. In both instances of Dust2, EG won the second round after losing the pistol both times. They were then able to take control of the games, while Astralis often had to scrounge for cash. The economy gives Astralis the utility and AWP they need to forcefully control the rotations and movements of a team. This is especially important against a team like EG who like to use fast paced rushes to take map control early on. If Astralis do take control of the economy and have comparable form, they can shut down EG before they can get going. We saw that exact scenario play out on Train at StarLadder Berlin Major. Dev1ce won an impossible 1v3 in the pistol. This let him buy the AWP in the second round, which he then used to crush EG’s (at the time NRG) forcebuy in the second. From there, Astralis built a wall of rounds through a double-AWP setup that EG only broke through at the end of the half. In essence, the best way to stop dev1ce is to never let him have the AWP in the first place. That is why highly skilled teams should have a better matchup against Astralis as they have a higher percentage chance of winning pistols, forcebuys, and ecos. The more chaos is thrown into the economic game, the harder Astralis struggle. EG’s Overall Strengths When you look at EG’s two T-sides, you can see a lot of EG’s strengths as a squad. In terms of overall firepower, they are a top two team in the world (only Liquid currently compares). CeRq has been a powerhouse since stanislaw has come into the team. Stanislaw’s form has resurged back to the time when he was leading OpTic. Tarik is no longer a star, but still has impactful rounds. Ethan has a brilliant mechanical ceiling. Brehze is the crown jewel of the enterprise as his consistency and impact make him a top four player in the world. As a team, EG oscillate between a loose individual style and complex set pieces. In one round, they will just do a rush full stop that makes you recall Tarik’s Cloud9 squad. In another, you see them do a complex tactic that has three or four different steps. They also do tactics that are somewhere in between the two. The most notable example of this was in the 10th round of Dust2 in the finals, when CeRq rushed the mid doors looking for a pick. EG then pulled back, let Astralis retake and put a man near mid doors. They then retook the area and executed a strong mid-to-B split. At StarLadder Berlin Major, EG showed that they had the potential to be the best team in the world, if they could get over their pressure issues. They’ve proven that they can at ESL One New York and have put themselves in the race as a candidate for best team in the world.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: A Three Way Race for the Throne ESLFollowing the events at the recently-concluded ESL One New York, CSGO has become a three-way race to see who will end the year as the world’s number one. ESL One New York has ended and Evil Geniuses won the tournament with a convincing 3-1 victory over Astralis. This victory, along with Astralis’ win at StarLadder Berlin Major, has changed the dynamic of top tier Counter-Strike. In the midst of this, Liquid still look to recapture their form from earlier this year and continue their era. The case for Liquid Ever since the player-break happened, Liquid haven’t looked the same. When Liquid were in their prime, they dominated the scene, and all five players were in fantastic form. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski was the third best player in the world. Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken has exceptional mechanics and at times played at a superstar level. Keith “NAF” Markovic had massive impact. Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella at times could be the best player in the server while being the in-game leader. Jake “Stewie2K” Yip was a marvel as an entry-fragger and found renewed form. This form combined with their roleless style of play made Liquid unstoppable monster in mid 2019. Their raw skill meant that they were never out of any round. Their overall teamplay and tactics were top notch. Nitr0 and EliGE on the CT-side are perfectly in sync with each other’s movements and actions. EliGE and Stewie2K on the T-side were the best entry duo in the world. As a squad, Liquid played 6 of the 7 maps and had a ludicrous winrate on every map they played. Liquid were so good, they speed ran the IEM Grand Slam and arguably established an era. The Major looked to be theirs for the taking, but the player break affected their form. On top of that Astralis had prepared an ambush for Liquid at the Major as they unveiled a Vertigo pick and constructed an incredible T-side Overpass that broke Liquid’s CT-side. At ESL New York, Liquid got to rematch against Astralis again and once again fell short. This time they went 1-2. They lost on Vertigo and Overpass again, but won on Dust2. Read More: OpTic stun Liquid at DreamHack Malmo – In terms of overall results, Liquid are behind Astralis and EG. However, there are still reasons to believe that they can still come out ahead in this race. At the Berlin Major, the only player who was the same before and after the break was EliGE. At ESL New York, EliGE and TwistZz were both at their pre player-break standards. Liquid seem to be gearing back up to their mid-2019 form and if that happens, they are the most skilled lineup in CS:GO history. In addition to that, Astralis could just be a bad stylistic matchup for them. Liquid have to ban Train and this lets Astralis pick Vertigo into them. Liquid haven’t figured out a way to crack Astralis’ CT-side and take A control, which means that Astralis will likely have a 1-0 advantage in any bo3 series played between the two teams. Liquid will likely win their own map pick and Overpass currently looks to be slightly Astralis favored. However Liquid don’t necessarily need to beat Astralis at all. Despite claims from some Danish fans, Astralis isn’t close to their 2018 peak level forms. They are shaky in group stages, their map pool is fundamentally different, and their overall individual form isn’t close to what it was. If another team eliminates Astralis before Liquid plays them, Liquid could win the tournament. Especially if they continue to ramp up their form. The case for Astralis In terms of results, Astralis looks to be the frontrunner of the pack. They won the biggest event, the StarLadder Berlin Major. They then went to the finals of ESL One New York where EG beat them 3-1. In terms of individual form through 2019 and now, they are the most vulnerable. The last time we saw peak Astralis was when they won IEM Katowice Major 2019. Since then, they’ve been a shadow of their former selves. They took a prolonged break that hurt their individual form. Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Emil “Magisk” Reif were close to their 2018 levels, but the rest had fallen off. Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth had stopped winning every clutch possible (and to be fair, that was never sustainable to begin with), while Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen hit slumps in 2019 which hurt the aggressive potential of Astralis. This declining form coupled with their losses to ENCE at BLAST Madrid and FURIA at ECS Season 7 Finals lost them any psychological advantage they could have leveraged against opponents. By the time the player break started, there was no reason to believe that Astralis was ever going to regain their former level. Read More: Top 20 highest earning CSGO pros – In a sense, that is true as Astralis spent the player-break revamping themselves. They gave up on Nuke and moved to maps like Vertigo, Overpass, and Train. Overpass and Train in particular were trouble maps for the team during their 2018 era, but they’ve revamped both of them as maps to resurrect Astralis. The plan worked at the StarLadder Berlin Major as they ambushed Liquid with a Vertigo pick and used incredible tactics to break Liquid’s Overpass. They then beat NRG (now EG) on Train and Overpass in the semifinals to secure the Major. They then followed it up with ESL One New York. That tournament alongside the group stages of StarLadder Berlin Major has exposed flaws in the idea that Astralis are back. Among the three teams in this race, Astralis look the most lackluster in the group stages. This is particularly dangerous as there are multiple teams rising up in the scene now and if they don’t play at a higher consistent level, they can get upset. At StarLadder Berlin Major they lost to NRG and had a close series to CR4ZY. At New York, they lost to EG. Another potential flaw is the inconsistent firepower. This has been a consistent theme throughout Astralis’ 2019 and at ESL New York, both dev1ce and Magisk had a hard time in the playoffs and finals. Both players were key factors in their victory at StarLadder Berlin Major. With neither star playing close to their potential, EG was able to overrun Astralis in the finals. Another problem for Astralis is their map pool. EG have beaten Astralis twice on Inferno. When Astralis played Liquid in the semifinals of ESL New York, Astralis banned inferno in the second map rotation. These are indicators that Astralis have lost their home map of Inferno. Inferno was their most consistent winning factor through 2019 and this means that they have to find new answers in the coming months for where their team wants to go. Read More: New X-Ray scanners in CSGO – Another problem for Astralis is the EG matchup. EG have no fear of Astralis as they’ve beaten them multiples times before. When Damian “daps” Steele was in the lineup they beat Astralis at the EPL 9 Finals. Once Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz joined, EG have beaten Astralis in three of their last four encoutners. Their only loss being the Major playoffs, which is a stage that cannot be replicated outside of the Majors. While Astralis have a good matchup against Liquid, they seem to have a bad one against EG. While they can still be competitive, it will depend on their firepower and right now EG’s firepower is far more explosive and consistent than Astralis’. The case for EG If we’re looking at raw form and the eye test, EG look to be the best team in the world. Their firepower is comparable to Liquid. Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte is a top four player in the world. Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov is a top five AWPer in the world with a wild aggressive style that works in this system. Ethan “Ethan” Arnold has a high mechanical ceiling and can be a third star for the team. Tarik “tarik” Celik was once a star himself and is good at creating space and impact for the team. Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz is one of the best individually skilled leaders in the world. What’s interesting about EG is how different they are compared to where they were pre-player break. Before the break, they were largely similar to the daps-NRG lineup. However during the break, something changed. Stanislaw started to implement his system and this created altered the team. In terms of individual skill, CeRq went from a potential liability to a superstar. Before the player break, he was one of the big reasons why NRG was failing at the big moments as he didn’t put up the big superstar numbers in high pressure moments. Under stanislaw, CeRq seems to be hitting every shot he wants and his aggression is currently catching other teams by surprise. Brehze was already close to a top 5 level, but that has enhanced due to the collective team getting better. The biggest change was stanislaw himself as he’s regained the form we saw brief glimpses of in the compLexity Major runs. Read More: What EG’s Dust2 victories over Astralis mean – This incredible form works perfectly with stanislaw’s calling style as he likes to oscillate between complex set pieces and loose aggressive rounds. This combined with his mid-round calls and changes of pace make him a hard leader to predict. Even more so as EG have a 7 map pool and are currently pick and ban based on who they play rather than any personal preference of comfort. There are only two things stopping me from saying EG is the out-and-out favorite in the race. The first is that we haven’t seen this EG play against Liquid yet, so we don’t know how that dynamic works. The other thing to consider is that EG is in their honeymoon phase right now. No team has a good grasp on how EG like to play and his inclusion has changed so much that the old data teams had on the daps-NRG lineup isn’t that helpful. All to play for All three teams have something to play for. Liquid’s run in 2019 is one of the test cases of what the community considers an era. It is still up in the air as to how the general consensus will side on that one. Liquid themselves want to establish that era and put their names alongside the greats like NiP, SK, Fnatic, and Astralis. Astralis want to spite Liquid and prove to the world that they can regain the number one slot. As for NRG, they must recognize the fact that this is their moment to take it all. Brehze, CeRq, and Ethan have always had the skill to compete with the best, but now this is their time. Both tarik and stanislaw are hungry to get back to the top and prove that they can be the best in the world. It is a three way race for the top and what is even more exciting is that there is still more to come. Mouz could continue to develop and be a danger to these teams. Vitality and Na`Vi have made roster changes to bolster their lineups and both feature two of the best players in the world: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. With this many top tier teams in contention, it will be more difficult than ever in becoming the king of counter-strike. However the greater the difficulty, the greater the prize. Should a team conquer this period in dominant fashion, they will be hailed as one of the greats, just as Fnatic were back in 2015. The game is on.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The s1mple Question StarLadderThe great shame of Na`Vi’s 2018-2019 run is that they had the greatest player in history and never became the best team in the world. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is the greatest prodigy that Counter-Strike has ever produced. We’ve seen players like Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs, Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, and Nikola “NiKo” Kovac be the best in the world without being on the best team. However, no one has reached the levels of peak consistency that s1mple has. As Na`Vi transitions out of the Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko system, they have to ask themselves the s1mple question. What is the best way to utilize s1mple? If they can answer that question correctly, Na`Vi could be the best team in the world. Transitioning from Zeus to B1ad3 This is the best time to ask that question as Na`Vi have made a clean split from the old Zeus system. Zeus has retired and Na`Vi have replaced their coach, Mykhailo “kane” Blagin, with Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy. B1ad3 joined Na`Vi in March 30th as the esports director. From interviews, it sounds like B1ad3 was setting up the foundations for the future team as he helped set up training and scouted players. The biggest example of this was when Na`Vi added Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov. S1mple described what b1ad3 did in an HLTV interview, saying: “B1ad3 watched a 100 demos of Boombl4 and he watched the position of Edward as well, he compared all of this, he watched other players too and gave us three options. In the end, we decided that we want this player because he is like a leader, Boombl4, he talks a lot in-game, he is an entry fragger, but he can lurk as well” With Zeus retirement, Na`Vi needed a fifth player. They had two choices: a rifler or an AWPer. The choice depended on what role s1mple was going to play in the future. Whether he was going to be the primary AWPer or a hybrid player who could secondary AWP. This is a question that has defined s1mple’s entire career. The s1mple Question When you look at s1mple’s game, there are a few things that stand out about him. The first is that he has one of the highest mechanical ceilings of any player in the game. He has incredible flick speed, aim, reaction time, and precision. His versatility is unmatched. He can play every gun and on any given day is the best AWPer in the world, best rifle in the world, and best pistol in the world. Throughout his career, he’s played a variety of different roles. I’ve seen him be the lurk, the entry, and the AWPer. He plays passive positions, aggressive positions, and has good teamplay. What’s brilliant about s1mple is that in this last iteration of Na`Vi is that he has taken on two of the hardest responsibilities of any player. He is responsible for aggressive opening picks and for closing out rounds in the clutch situations. With this level of talent, the question becomes how to use him. In s1mple’s career, we’ve seen two approaches. The first approach was almost mathematical in perception as teams used s1mple’s talent to try to maximize the firepower potential of the team. This defined s1mple’s time in Flipsid3 and Liquid. The second approach was to maximize s1mple’s own potential. While not wholly accurate, this second approach characterizes s1mple’s time in Na`Vi 2018-2019. The two approaches to s1mple While subtle, there is a fundamental difference between these two approaches. To understand what I mean, we’ll have to take a look at Flipsid3 2015. The team at the time was: s1mple, B1ad3, Georgi “WorldEdit” Yaskin, Yegor “markeloff” Markelov, and Vladyslav “bondik” Nechyporchuk. Before joining Flipsid3, s1mple was the primary AWPer of HellRaisers and had impressed the world with his stunning debut performance at DreamHack Winter 2014 Major. In that tournament, he knocked out Fnatic in the group stages with an awe-inspiring performance that foreshadowed the player he’d eventually become. So when he joined Flipsid3, the team had a choice to make. Should they continue with WorldEdit as the AWPer or give it to s1mple. They decided to give the AWP to WorldEdit. In basic terms, the calculation they made was that WorldEdit’s level was about 7/10 with the AWP. If you put him on anything else though, his form dramatically dropped. S1mple could be 9/10 on the AWP, but he was also 9/10 on the rifle, so Flipsid3 decided that for the betterment of the team, they’d rather have s1mple be the star player on the rifle. This is an oversimplification as there were other factors that probably led to that particular decision like B1ad3’s structured style, comms, and personality. Even so, this basic model is something that I’ve seen a lot of people use when it comes to roster construction around s1mple. This pattern repeated itself again in Liquid and later on when he rejoined Na`Vi. Na`Vi is the more pertinent example considering how many roster changes happened during s1mple’s time in Liquid. When s1mple joined Na`Vi in 2016, the team also had a choice to make between Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs and s1mple. This choice was far harder as GuardiaN was still an elite AWPer at the time and s1mple hadn’t proved himself to be at that level, so it made far more sense for s1mple to stay as a hybrid player. In 2017, GuardiaN left Na`Vi which allowed s1mple to once again become the primary AWPer of his team. This is where we get into the secondary approach, maximizing s1mple’s potential. Late 2017 Na`Vi was the first time since HellRaisers where s1mple had a relatively stable lineup and the chance to be a primary AWPer. During this period, s1mple grew quickly. Zeus returned to the team and implemented his system. It looked terrible to begin with, but ironically, it may have forged s1mple into the world breaker that he eventually became. The system still relied on long defaults which gave maximum time for the AWPer to get a pick, but outside of s1mple and Egor “flamie” Vasilev, there were too many vulnerabilities on the team to make it work properly. Zeus was never a great individual player, Denis “seized” Kostin had lost all of his form trying to lead the team, and Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev hit a slump he never recovered from.With such a heavy load to bear, the situation became a hyperbolic time chamber for s1mple. S1mple was dedicated to winning and the only conceivable way for s1mple to win was through sheer individual force. S1mple put himself in theoretically bad positions for an AWPer where he either made the shot or died. This greatly increased the risk of failure, but it also greatly increased the reward. If he died, his team would be down a man. If he got the kills, his team either won the round or created enough space for his team to close the round. S1mple mastered this aggressive style to such a degree that he had fewer deaths than the average typical AWPer. S1mple’s style essentially created a consistent way for Na`Vi to get the power play advantage and for Na`Vi to use s1mple to win the post-plant situations. If one were to grade s1mple’s play on the mathematical scale of the earlier model, he’d be 12/10. S1mple broke the role of AWPer to the point where what he does cannot be recognized as AWPing. Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz once described this in an HLTV interview. “I think s1mple is just, undeniably, the best player in the world. I can study a lot of players and learn from them, like FalleN, GuardiaN, and so on, and take something from their game and implement it in my own,” he said. “But when I look at s1mple demos, it’s really hard because sometimes, he can be in the worst situations and still get like a 4k.” Comparing the approaches For Na`Vi, this is where the crux of the situation. Which approach is better? Theoretically, no one can blame Flipsid3, Liquid, or early Na`Vi for putting s1mple on the rifle instead of the AWP as no one could have foreseen what s1mple would become if given the chance. But at this point in time, we have seen it. S1mple with the AWP has become the greatest player in Counter-Strike player in history. If someone were to ask me, I’d favor the second approach. While on paper, it makes more sense to have more talent across the lineup, putting s1mple on the AWP essentially breaks the game and forces every other team to play a different game when they play against s1mple. However, Na`VI may have decided to revert back to the first model. After Zeus retired, Na`Vi recruited GuardiaN. It makes zero sense for Na`Vi to recruit GuardiaN if they don’t want him to primary AWP. This is a surprising move, but one that has partially come from s1mple himself. After Na`Vi lost to NRG at StarLadder and placed 6th at BLAST Moscow, s1mple tweeted: “Time to rethink everything and make the right decision.” In a recent HLTV interview, he expounded on his thought process more saying: “If there was going to be a better sniper, a real sniper, of course I was going to give him the AWP. I feel confident with rifles, I wanted this before, there is more freedom when you play as a rifler.” Wait and see Na`Vi’s decision to bring GuardiaN back into the mix is a strange decision from the outside. While GuardiaN is a legendary player, he hasn’t played at that level for a long time. Even so, there are still multiple factors that could tilt Na`Vi’s success one way or another. For instance, what type of system and tactics do B1ad3 and Boombl4 want to utilize? When B1ad3 had s1mple and WorldEdit on Flipsid3, he sometimes used double AWP strategies on the T-side. Perhaps they will let s1mple pick up the AWP over GuardiaN whenever they feel like it so that they can surprise opponents with their different styles of play. The biggest factor to me will still be s1mple. S1mple’s broke all of the standard rules of AWPing and created a unique way of playing that only he can wield. If s1mple were to somehow replicate that feat, but with a rifle, Na`Vi could reach even greater heights. For now, the world will have to wait and see. If Na`Vi can answer the s1mple question correctly, they will become the world’s best team.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The new French Age and an old French god DreamHackThe post-StarLadder Berlin Major roster shuffle has rocked the French Counter-Strike scene. Vitality and G2 Esports‘ failures at the Major prompted immediate roster changes from both squads. Vitality benched Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt while G2 benched Richard “shox” Papillon. Vitality are the new age of French Counter-Strike, but in order for them to get to the next level, they will need to resurrect the powers of an old god. The Previous Power Players The last few years of French CS were decided by two power brokers: Shox and NBK. Shox was a superstar player whose unbelievable talent made him one of the most important pieces to have. His talent was a requirement for a French team to be considered the best and the only player comparable to him in the French scene was Kenny “kennyS” Schrub. While not a superstar, NBK was arguably even more critical in creating top French teams. He is the ultimate flex player, someone who could play every role to a high level. This became invaluable in a scene filled with flamboyant players who wanted to play CS their own way. When NBK and Shox worked together, magic happened. On Titan, they wrested control of CS:GO from NiP in 2014. Later that year, the two of them teamed up again on LDLC (later EnVyUs) along with Vincent “Happy” Cervoni, Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey, and Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux. This lineup became direct challengers to Fnatic and won a Major. However, Shox’s ephemeral nature collided with Happy’s tactical system and NBK’s ideas. The team kicked Shox. From there Shox joined G2 where he built a second French team that eventually usurped the position of EnVyUs. 2017 saw Shox and NBK team up for a third time as they created the French superteam of: shox, kennyS, Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, and NBK. They never reached the vaunted heights they had aimed for and irreconcilable internal issues broke the team apart. Shox went on to captain G2, while NBK- and apEX went on to build Vitality. The rebuilding process was painful and saw French CS hit a new low, but in 2019, both teams saw a rise in form. In the cycle of French rosters, Shox and NBK- were always the two players deciding the fate of the French teams. That cycle has ended as Shox and NBK- have lost their power. Neither team achieved the results they wanted at the StarLadder Berlin Major. G2 benched Shox and Vitality benched NBK. A new age of French CS had begun. The next generation The shift in power was a gradual process. After Shox and NBK- split apart, both players had ambitions to be the one leading the next great French team. Neither succeeded in the way they expected to. Shox tried a reunion with by adding Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans and SmithZz to G2. After the project failed to get results, power seemed to shift from Shox to their coach Damien “MaLeK” Marcel. MaLeK then introduced new players into the system: Audric “JaCkz” Jug, Francois “AmaNEk” Delaunay, and Lucas “Lucky” Chastang. AmaNEk in particular became key as he was able to stabilize the calling system with G2. He became the voice of the coach in the server while allowing for Shox to make any mid-round calls he wanted to. The synthesis of a system and Shox’s creativity along with JaCkz and Lucky filling out key roles breathed new life into G2. As for NBK-, he tried to build Vitality by taking the leadership role and then surrounding blossoming star Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut with veteran players. While ZywOo was incredible, the team play and tactics were a mess. While their results improved slowly, they needed someone who could instill a consistent style to the squad. At the end of 2018, they got such a player in Alex “ALEX” McMeekin. Though initially recruited to just be a player, he eventually took over the leadership and calling from NBK. The shift in leadership jumped the team from a borderline play-off team to a top 2-3 team in the world. In both teams, a new generation of players was starting to take over. AmaNEK and MalEk in G2, ALEX and ZywOo in Vitality. The kicks This shift in power has seen two massive changes come into play in the wake of the Berlin Major. The first came from G2 where NeL reported that they have benched Shox and Lucky and plan to go for an international roster. The second is Vitality benching NBK. Both power brokers that have defined French CS for so long were taken out at the same time. While G2 went international, Vitality looked to stay French. Shox’s benching came at an opportune time as he was the type of player Vitality were looking for. Why Vitality needed a move NBK, apEX, Cedric “RpK” Guipouy, ZywOo, and ALEX played together for about 9 months. That is close to the expiration date of most lineups where they have harnessed most of the potential of what the team can do. The team was already showing signs of its limits. The squad was always limited in firepower as their only true star player was ZywOo. Outside of him, the other four players did their respective roles well and could have the odd pop-off game. However, none of them were good enough to be the consistent second star player. The firepower issue also had put structural limits on their tactics. The team played for ZywOo as they tried to get him into the best positions possible. They often used the rest of the team like pawns to buy map control for him. From there he could trade the kills and win the round in the clutch. Outside of that, the team had good setups, good map control, good utility, and good teamplay. While ZywOo was their best player by far, their tactics were high quality as well. As that was the case, in terms of skill, team play, and tactics, this team had reached the limits of what they could achieve as a five man unit. Vitality seemed to realize this as well as they tried experimenting with new positions and communication systems to try to increase their consistency and potential. ALEX commented on this to HLTV saying, “We have a style that is very dependent on apEX’s and my energy in-game and our communication and I felt like this system would try to make us more consistent, with other players having more responsibilities, much more to do and much more to say, but it didn’t work out.” After Vitality lost to AVANGAR in the quarterfinals of the StarLadder Berlin Major, they decided to make a change. In terms of expediency, this timing reminds me a lot of the old LG/SK lineups. Vitality could have written this result as a one-off, but the overall trajectory of the lineup either had them at the same level as before or declining. Vitality have ambitions to be the best in the world, so a change was necessary to get to that level. As is typical of French teams, the kick was based around politics rather than in-game skills. NBK is a rare flex player that can play any role someone gives him. That makes him invaluable to any team he joins. The problem for NBK was that his personality was too strong and his ideas clashed with the rest of the team. He stated on discord that the combination of ALEX, apEX, and Remy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam kicked him from the team. Thus, we have Shox. The case for Shox Firepower is the biggest drawback of the Vitality team. As they are a French squad, there were only two potential choices that could boost that firepower: Shox and KennyS. Between the two, KennyS is the better choice. However as long as G2 have aspirations to be an elite team, they will never let kennyS go, so uniting kennyS and ZywOo under one banner is impossible. So in terms of the context of the scene, shox is Vitality’s only choice. What’s great about Shox is that he is incredibly versatile and impactful. He can play alone, in binomials, or trinomials. He can find impact as an opening fragger, as a lurker, or as a clutcher. He’s also a better secondary AWP option than NBK was. Overall, he opens up a lot of options for Vitality, especially on the T-side. While Vitality have a versatile playbook, their best pitch was their 4-1 default. This style allowed them to use trading and teamwork to put ZywOo into positions to close the round. While they were adept at a Na`Vi style default where you give ZywOo time to find a pick, such a default could backfire against highly skilled teams like Liquid. With Shox coming into play, Vitality’s lurking plays and mid-rounds could be better than before. Shox is a master in those areas and could give Vitality a completely different look on their T-sides. It’s even possible that if Shox reaches his maximum potential that Vitality start using ZywOo as an opening AWP entry and have Shox close the rounds. All of this though comes with a big “if”. The Big If While I’ve laid out all of the reasons why Shox is good for Vitality, they rely on two if statements. The first is if Shox can resurrect his form. For Shox the question used to be about motivation. For Shox to perform at his best consistently, he needs a certain amount of freedom and comfort. Shox is one of the rare players in history where he has had multiple disparate peaks of performance. Shox was one of the best players during his period on VeryGames/Titan, but the team house aspect sapped his motivation and will to play the game. He played fantastically as an entry-fragger in the first LDLC outing, but again lost motivation because he didn’t like that style of play. He then became a top five player in 2016 when he was leading G2. Since then, he’s had spurts of performance that never coalesced into a consistent run as he tried becoming more and more of an in-game leader. In the first few months of Vitality, I don’t foresee this being a problem as the honeymoon effect should kick into place and Shox will have something to prove after G2 benched him. The corollary to that is if a resurrection is possible. After all, it’s been three years since his last peak and at this point, perhaps shox’s magic ability to resurrect his form on command is gone. The other problem is if Vitality can integrate shox into their system, both inside the server and outside of it. Inside the server, Shox won’t be the in-game leader, but he is someone who needs control of his own game and wants to have a big voice. The team already has two big voices in ALEX and apEX. As ALEX noted in the interview before, the team was having problems coming up with a consistent communication system, so we will have to see how they resolve that as Shox should be just as big of a voice inside the game as NBK was. As for outside of the server, one of the biggest sticking points between Shox and apEX was work ethic. In an interview with Flickshot, apEX said, “We had so much talent, but people weren’t working enough. That’s my biggest complaint about shox and kennyS: they were our star players and they never behave like ones.” This gets to the heart of the matter. In the short term the move will work, but in the long term it’s hard to be confident. If things have changed, then Vitality could be great. However that is a big if as we’ve seen this cycle run time and time again. Should Vitality fail to integrate Shox, then they risk the entire team dissolving and the new age will come to a quick end. A New Age needs an Old Miracle The new age of French CS is dawning with ALEX as their leader and ZywOo as their superstar. Even so for France to contend with the world, it requires a second superstar to play alongside ZywOo. In that sense, France still needs the help of an old god. But by betting their chances on an old miracle, Vitality risks the foundations of the new age they’ve built. If Shox works, they will have resurrected an old god into the modern age. If they fail, the new age will dissolve and French Counter-Strike will have to go into another rebuilding stage.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The Evil Geniuses’ CSGO Evolution The rise of CSGO since post-player break. Prior to the break, EG (then NRG) largely looked the same. After the break, they have transformed as a team. They were in red hot form at the StarLadder Berlin Major, but Astralis knocked them out in the semifinals. They EG got revenge at ESL One New York, beating Astralis twice, including in the grand finals. Then they bombed out of DreamHack Malmo. But even so, EG looks to be one of the best teams in the world and the biggest catalyst to that change has been going from Damian “daps” Steele to Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz. The Limits of the Old System In 2018, the NRG lineup of daps, Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte, Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov, Ethan “Ethan” Arnold, and Jacob “FugLy” Medina had linear growth. They started as onliners and evolved into a top 10 team in the world. Daps built the system around the young star talent of Brehze, CeRq, and Ethan. The system was solid, consistent, and gave a structured order that allowed the young players to thrive. However the team eventually hit a wall and decided that a change was in order. NRG replaced FugLy with Tarik “tarik” Celik. Tarik was an obvious upgrade over FugLy in terms of individual skill, impact, and experience. The bigger question was whether or not tarik could integrate into the system. FugLy was a static role player while Tarik needed more space and freedom to thrive. Instead the system altered to fit more around tarik. NRG became looser and more aggressive. While the team makeup changed slightly, the results didn’t change much as they were still a perennial playoff team. Their essential problem though was that the moment they made it to the big playoff stages, the pressure started to heat up. The young trio of stars consistently underperformed and communication broke down, especially on the CT-side. No amount of tactics and structure could imbue the youngsters with the confidence and swagger they needed to perform. As Brehze put it in an HLTV interview, “I know we can win titles, but our individual performance just drops when we get to the semis or when we hit the stage.” On top of that, there was disunity in the team as tarik disagreed with how to play the game. Eventually things came to a head. Chet “ImAPet” Singh described the situation in a Dust2.us interview, “The style which we were playing, when we introduced tarik, it wasn’t fitting his style as well. We needed to find a balance between the two. Since we couldn’t agree on anything, we obviously moved to stanislaw.” Moving to Stanislaw On June 2019, NRG added stanislaw. It took awhile for the team to truly integrate stanislaw’s play style as they had to attend LANs and never got the time to sit down and figure out how they wanted to play. They found that time during the player break and when they came to the StarLadder Berlin Major, they were a transformed team. It’s hard to quantify what exactly stanislaw is doing to imbue the young players with this new confidence. From the outside looking in, there seem to be three factors. The first is that stanislaw himself is a strong individual fragger. Stars in general have a lot more respect for leaders that can also make big highlight plays and stanislaw is one of the best fragging leaders in the world. Secondly, was stanislaw’s style of in-game leadership. When Ron “Rambo” Kim was the coach of compLexity he gave an interview with VPEsports that sheds some light into stanislaw’s style of play, “stanislaw likes more default, kind of everyone do your own thing and then play individually.” This style of play was probably attractive to the young stars as they had played under daps’ structured style for over a year at that point. In addition, it was a style that molded perfectly with how tarik viewed the game. Finally, it was a natural evolution of their growth as players. In his book The Will to Keep Winning, Daigo Umehara explained the natural process of growth a player travels, “If you want to master something, start by carefully studying the basics for at least 2-3 years. Learn the theory behind the game and how to reason your way through moves, rather than winging it. Build your base before seeking out different ways to play, and then explore options for developing your own style.” The young trio of stars had learned the basics and theory under daps. It was time to explore and push the limits of their respective styles to their limits. In that way, stanislaw’s style of leadership was a good fit for the NRG squad during this time period. Because of these reasons, the team hit a new stride in individual skill. CeRq had more freedom to find aggressive picks. As Brehze says, “The thing about CeRq is that he’s a very aggressive AWPer, so whenever he has a play in mind that he wants to do we always tell him that he can do it and that we’ll do that play for him no matter what because we know that he’s such a crazy AWPer and can take over a round. We give him the freedom to do whatever he wants and he just has to tell us.” Tarik was better at creating space and impact under the stanislaw system. As a secondary caller, he was able to work in conjunction with stanislaw across the map, which allowed for stanislaw to play the lurk position at times, his forte. Ethan had renewed confidence in the system. The only player who didn’t change that much was Brehze, who was already playing at close to a top 5 player level. The only thing that changed was that the team’s overall improvement allowed him to shine even brighter than before. A Different Style The other difference between stanislaw and daps was a different style of play. ImAPet described the difference in the Dust2.us interview, “With stanislaw, I think he still has the same great stuff from daps, but now he also has the great stuff from himself as well. He calls amazing, crazy, random ideas all the time. We have 100% faith in him, even if it sounds ridiculous, which I think is the biggest key factor for our team.” In terms of raw aggression, both daps and stanislaw make similar calls. The difference though is the level of commitment he gets from the team. When daps called, you could see the rest of the players hesitate around the call. Right now, the team has complete faith in stanislaw. An example of this was EG’s match against Astralis at the ESL One New York Finals. On the eighth round of Dust2, stanislaw and tarik were preparing to do a run boost to clear short. Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz threw a molly to stall them out. Stanislaw recognized that if he did the run boost at that very moment, he could catch dev1ce off guard. He immediately called for it and then called for a fast hit on the A-site. The entire team immediately responded to the call. The play itself was ad-hoc as Ethan was still in upper dark with the bomb. The move didn’t work as the bomb was Ethan was too far out of position, the round shows how much faith the EG squad have. This faith in turns has translated into a new level of skill and a better mentality in the playoffs. In the past, you could always bet on the NRG players to choke in the semifinals or in big moments. The only exception to that rule was Brehze, who plays a consistent more cerebral style compared to Ethan or CeRq. This tendency reared its head at the Major, but at ESL New York, EG looked great in the finals. The only time the pressure got to them was in the closing rounds of Train where they lost the map in overtime 20-22. While it’s a looser style, stanislaw also likes to mix in smart tactical rounds. On Dust2 for instance, he took long control early with Ethan. After clearing out long, he faked the long hit which forced Astralis to focus on A. In the meantime, he entry-lurked into the site and with good utility usage, was able to isolate an advantageous duel against dev1ce while three of his teammates hit B. After he fell down, Ethan was activated as the secondary lurk and that move could have sealed the round if Astralis didn’t respond correctly. A New Map Pool The higher individual skill and a new look has helped EG reinvent their map pool. When they were in the daps-NRG period, they had a fairly static map pool. They were great on Overpass, Train, and Mirage. They were good on Nuke and Inferno. Dust2 was on the weaker side and Vertigo was their ban. Since Stanislaw has come into the picture, the team seems to play all seven maps. It’s still early in the team’s lifespan, so other teams have yet to find the potential flaws across the maps. For now though, if you look at the Berlin Major, ESL One New York, and DreamHack Malmo, they seem willing to play every map. At the Major, NRG focused more on Train, Dust2, and Mirage. NRG looked like the best Train team in the world, despite their loss to Astralis in the playoffs. When they played at ESL One New York, they shifted their priority in the map veto against Astralis and started to first pick Dust2 into them. At ESL New York, they banned Mirage against FaZe and Overpass against Astralis. EG are using their 7 map pool to great effect. In Malmo, they let Overpass through against Mouz as Mouz don’t play much Overpass. EG don’t have a fixed permaban or first pick which allows them to stay unpredictable. It’s far harder to prepare for a team that changes their pick and ban based around who they are playing against. Malmo and The Honeymoon Phase Following their victory at ESL New York, EG got on a plane and went to play at Malmo 36 hours later. EG then dropped out of the tournament unceremoniously with a bo1 loss to Grayhound and a bo3 loss to Mouz. It’s hard to know what to make of it as every tournament matters, but the circumstances that EG entered the tournament with are unlikely to be duplicated. Unless EG continue repeating this pattern of winning one tournament to dropping last in the next, it is likely a one-off. All things considered then, EG look fantastic. In terms of raw form, they look to be one of the best squads in the world. Their tactics and teamplay are on point. They have a wide map pool and are unafraid of leveraging it in the map veto. The only question is how consistent they will be moving forward. Whether or not Malmo really was just a one-off due to bad circumstances. After all, we’ve seen many teams have an incredible peak in the honeymoon phase rosters before tapering off. If it is consistent, then we are looking at a top three team in the world, one that has a particularly good head-to-head against Astralis. As that’s the case, EG have the potential to be the second North American line-up to become the best in the world.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The declining prestige of the Majors and how to increase it Igor Bezborodov and StarLadderIn the last few years, the prestige of the CS:GO Majors has been lessened. While it is still the most important tournament in the calendar, it is no longer the shining star at the center of the CSGO universe. It is no longer enough for Majors to continue as they are, it is time to find ways to improve. The declining prestige of the Majors The Majors used to be the biggest spectacles in the scene. That is no longer the case as some tournaments can not only compete with the Major, but are arguably even better than the Major. IEM Katowice, ESL One Cologne, and DreamHack Masters have a better competitive format and often produce better teams through their superior qualifying system. ESL One Cologne in particular has a history and legacy that no other tournament can match. Beyond the official Valve backing and the inherent legacy of a Major, the qualities of a major is no longer heads and shoulders above the typical tier-one CS:GO tournament. This in turn has reduced the relative priority for teams attending the Major. In the past few years, we’ve seen multiple teams attend the Major with a lineup that differs from their future plans. The SK/MiBR players are the biggest offenders of this, but we’ve seen it recently with teams like ENCE who played with Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen at the Berlin Major, despite plans to replace him with Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi. Additionally, the roster rules need to be reworked as the Majors have had multiple roster issues in the past few iterations. Read more: Post-Berlin major CS:GO roster shuffle hub – Another problem is relative prestige. CS:GO fans will always draw comparisons to The International whenever the Dota 2 tournament comes around. The International has bigger prizes, community funding, and compendiums. When TI starts, all of the best talent gets hired for the event, whereas CS:GO Majors often try to skimp out on broadcast talent or observers. At least in StarLadder’s case, they were willing to add more talent as the event went on. In the case of FACEIT London, they had a chance to celebrate the UK Counter-Strike scene by getting big UK community figures like Paul “Redeye” Chaloner, Duncan “Thorin” Shields, and Richard Lewis on the desk. Instead we got a chicken on the desk and unlimited eggs. Things that Valve could do, but won’t Beyond the issue of relative prestige, there’s a definite lack of escalation when it comes to CS:GO Majors. The prize pool of the Dota 2 International increases year upon year. They have video features and documentaries that celebrate their players, teams, casters, small community figures, and funny skits. They always have bigger and bigger releases for their compendiums which enhance the game and celebrates their community figures. For instance, one of the most popular in-game chat wheel sounds is Owen ‘ODPixel’ Davies yelling “CEEEEEEEEEB”. CS:GO commentators have equally iconic moments that fans would buy in droves. I’d personally buy the “Inhuman Reactions” tagline and spam it any time I saw someone miss an easy spray for instance. Unfortunately, Valve have no interest in doing that for CS:GO. Valve, for instance, will make an entire video feature about the small Japanese Dota 2 community. In comparison, when Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat retired from CS:GO casting, Valve couldn’t be bothered to do any kind of content that celebrated his legendary career and impact on the CS:GO scene. If we’re looking at video features in specific, Valve have started to wind down rather than gear up. There haven’t been any video features highlighting players since ELEAGUE Boston. We haven’t seen any significant game updates that are comparable to what they’ve done in Dota 2. While not every Major produces a graffiti-worthy moment, like coldzera’s jumping double AWP shot from MLG 2016, we haven’t seen one produced since PGL Krakow. The biggest offense is the DMCA problems that surrounded the StarLadder Berlin Major. Valve immediately responded to those problems when they arose for the ESL One Genting Dota 2 tournament, but did nothing when it happened in CS:GO. For me this is the biggest indication that Valve just don’t have interest in improving the Majors along the same lines as The International. In fact, if you look at the improvements across the Majors, they largely come from the tournament organizers’ side of things. ESL introduced better seeding and format at IEM Katowice. They also introduced the element of the IEM Grand Slam to it. ELEAGUE inserted their own documentary about Cloud9’s miracle run at Boston. StarLadder Berlin put together a stage that was TI-worthy and the finally nailed the “live music at esports event” concept with the guitarists used to introduce teams. Considering all of these factors, it’s unlikely that Valve will put in the resources or time necessary to improved the Major. As that’s the case, I’ll focus on improvements that I think Valve might be willing to consider because they are low cost and low maintenance. History and Place, Time and Format One of the first things to consider is location. CS:GO has a long history of TOs and venues. Among all of them, the one with the most history is ESL Cologne. It’s legacy, history, and consistency has been so incredible that it’s considered the unofficial third Major of the year. Personally, I feel that ESL should be rewarded for establishing the Cathedral of Counter-Strike by making ESL One Cologne one of the two designated Majors each year. By doing this, the Majors can solidify a symbol of legacy in their Major circuit. The problem with this is that Valve seems to want to give different TOs a chance to host the Major to potentially help them, so this seems unlikely. I’ll address this problem in the potential solutions section, but I think there is a potential compromise to be had. The other thing to look at is the time and format. The past few CS:GO Majors were scheduled right after the player break. The players then played at the biggest tournament of the year with ring rust and this could result in sub-optimal games. This at least is no longer a problem though as Valve have already set the dates for the next two Majors to be in the middle of the season during May and November. The bigger problem to look at is the current format of the Majors. The Major is split into three sections: the Challengers Stage, the Legends Stage, and the Champions Stage. It runs for a little over two weeks. The problem with this setup is that the group stages of the tournament (the Challengers and Legends Stage) lasts for ten days while the playoffs of the tournament lasts for four. The best part of every tournament is the playoff elimination portion, but for some reason the CS:GO Majors give more time to the group stages than the playoff stages. The decision to eliminate most of the competition in the group stage means that more of the broadcast time has to be used to cover this stage. A better solution is to copy or emulate what The International does. TI runs for a similar amount of time, a little under two weeks. Instead of running a group elimination stage, they have BO2 double round-robin that decides the seeding of the teams. The only teams that get eliminated from groups are the two teams who place dead last in their respective groups. From there, TI runs a double elimination format through the rest of the tournament. So where 66% of the CS:GO Majors spends their time on the group stages, TI spends only 40% of their time on the group stages and 60% of their time on the playoffs. The format doesn’t need to be a wholesale copy. CS:GO could keep the Swiss format, but make sure that instead of teams getting eliminated, they get seeded into the upper and lower brackets based on their performance in the group stages. Connecting to the circuit and qualification Back in July, CS:GO caster Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett tweeted his thoughts on the competitive scene. “The grand slam is more impressive than a major. There, I said it.” The grand slam is more impressive than a major. There, I said it. — Matthew Trivett :wolf_face: (@Sadokist) July 21, 2019 This statement is worth breaking down as it gets to the heart of one of the big problems with the current Major: it’s complete lack of connection with the rest of the tournament year. The IEM Grand Slam is impressive because it forces the team to be consistently great over a prolonged period of time. It also connects the biggest tournaments into a larger narrative so when a team accomplishes the feat, they get a level of prestige and recognition that otherwise wouldn’t exist. The Majors are not connected in anyway to the regular circuit and this creates a strange disconnect in the narrative, prestige, and quality of the tournament. The Legends teams are almost never the top 8 teams in the world. At the FACEIT Major London for instance, the best team in the world was Astralis, but they had to qualify through the Challengers stage. In contrast to that Quantum Bellator Fire (later Winstrike) didn’t do anything between their top 8 at ELEAGUE Boston and FACEIT London. The seeding and qualification system of the Major implies that nothing outside of the Major matters. Nothing a team does during a season actually builds into an overarching narrative for the Major. The International in contrast has a clear qualification system. In the past a team was invited based on their performances in the year leading up to TI. In more recent times, they’ve given qualifier points at different tournaments throughout the year. The DPC Solution When you look at the problems of the declining prestige of the Majors, there is one potential solution that could solve a few of them. What is good about this particular solution is that it doesn’t require crowd funding, compendiums, or a lot of money. It only requires a little bit of work and some changes to the format, but it could fix a lot of the problems that could instantly boost the prestige of the Majors. I believe CS:GO should adopt the Dota Pro Circuit system of 2017-2018. For reference, you can look at this Liquipedia page which has an overview of the system. I’ll explain it briefly. Every tournament in the circuit is ranked as either a tier 1 or tier 2 event. Tier 1 events have a 1500 DPC points pool while Tier 2 events have 300 DPC points. By the end of the year, the 8 teams with the most DPC points qualified for TI. The remaining TI slots were divided up into the typical regional qualifiers. In 2018-2019, Valve modified this system as there were multiple problems that arose with the system. There was no clear difference between the tier 1 and tier 2 events, a lack of quality control, and there were too many events trying to fill the space. None of those problems exist in the current CS:GO circuit. It’s fairly well established which of the events are tier 1 and which are tier 2. The TOs in CS:GO have been running tournaments for a long period of time and there isn’t a problem with the quality of the tournaments. This particular system perfectly fits and fixes the current CS:GO ecosystem. It will connect the Majors to the rest of the circuit in a seamless way. By using this qualifying system, the Majors will always have a close approximation to the top 8 teams in the world. Earlier I mentioned how Valve wanted to help different TOs by allowing them to host the Major. This particular system is arguably a better way to help TOs as they will get to host their typical tournaments and be a part of the Major cycle without going into the red. It could potentially even help a tournament like ESL One Cologne. For instance, if ESL One Cologne doesn’t get the Major, Valve could still give them acknowledge that while they aren’t a Major, they are still a special tournament by giving them more DPC points compared to the usual Tier 1 event. They did this in the DPC 2017-2018 with the Chinese Dota2 Supermajor, where they gave that particular tournament far more DPC points compared to normal. This system is also great for fans as it will standardize formats for tier 1 events. In Dota you needed a certain amount of teams, prize pool, and competitive format to qualify for DPC points. If Valve instituted that in CS:GO, then a TO like BLAST would have to fall more in line and fans would get a far better tournament as a result. The time to strike is now Valve have already started to take steps to make the Majors better. The biggest thus far was the rescheduling of the Majors to be during the season instead of the player break. While it was a step in the right direction, there is more that can be done. CS: GO doesn’t need a TI and it is incredibly unlikely that it will ever happen, no matter how much the community begs for it. Even so, there are other cost-efficient ways to increase the prestige of the Majors. Adopting the DPC system connects the Majors to the rest of the circuit, helps the TOs, and fixes the qualifying system. That in turn could allow TOs to change the format of the Majors to be more akin to The International. That alone could easily boost the current prestige and that is more critical than ever as the CS:GO circuit continues to accelerate and grow. The prestige of the Majors needs to be upheld and just as the CS:GO scene has grown, so too must the Majors.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The CS:GO circuit is as wide open as the Uncertainty Era At the end of ESL New York, it looked like the CS:GO scene was headed into another triumvirate-led era. Astralis, Evil Geniuses, and Team Liquid looked like the three best teams in the world. DreamHack Masters crushed that idea for now. EG placed last as Grayhound beat them in a best-of-1 and Mouz beat them in a bo3. Liquid lost to Grayhound in the lower bracket of round 3. Astralis went the farthest as Fnatic eliminated them in the semifinals. Fnatic themselves then went on to win the tournament in magical fashion. Title contention hasn’t been this wide open since the uncertainty era of 2016. The Uncertainty Era In 2016, SK Gaming (present day MiBR) capped off their era with a Major victory at ESL One Cologne 2016. In the remaining half of the year, CS:GO had 10 LANs: ELEAGUE Season 1, StarLadder-iLeague StarSeries Season 2, DreamHack Bucharest, ESL New York, EPICENTER, ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals, IEM Oakland, DH Winter, ELEAGUE Season 2, Star, and ECS Season 2 Finals. Eight different teams won those 10 events. Among five man line-ups, the only repeat winner was Virtus.Pro, as NiP played with a different 5th at StarLadder and IEM Oakland. This period was called the Uncertainty Era. Wallabeebeatle coined this term in a Dotesports article he wrote years ago. It is a fitting name as there was no dominant force in the latter half of the year. SK were consistent, but couldn’t win titles. The two teams that could win with regularly were highly inconsistent: Virtus.Pro and Natus Vincere. Na`Vi looked fantastic at their initial debut of ESL New York, but never reached those levels again. Virtus.Pro were hot and cold, either making deep runs or looking subpar. Outside of them, many of the teams were shuffling, rebuilding, or had incomplete rosters. NiP were messing around with stand-ins for their fifth. Cloud9 hadn’t made the harsh roster cuts they needed to make the Major winning lineup. Astralis and OpTic Gaming both made critical roster changes that only paid off towards the end of the year. The Past and the Present When I was watching DreamHack Masters Malmo unfold, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to the past. As each new data point comes to fruition, the story changes and alters. History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. There are certain cycles and patterns that seem to repeat themselves. Malmo was the third big LAN event since the player break ended. In that time, we saw Astralis win the StarLadder Berlin Major. At ESL New York, EG routed them in the finals 3-1. Finally, we watched as Fnatic won DreamHack Masters Malmo. At the Berlin Major and ESL New York, the narrative looked similar to the triumvirate of 2017 than the uncertainty era. Read more: Stuchiu: A Three Way Race for the Throne – The triumvirate of 2017 denotes the early half of 2017 when there were three teams far ahead of the others: FaZe, SK, and Astralis. Each of the three teams had distinct strengths and styles which created a rock, paper, scissors dynamic. Astralis’ tactics and control style played well into SK. SK’s incredible clutch, teamplay, and mix of skill matched well against FaZe. FaZe’s explosive skill and Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s style of play matched well against Astralis. The matchups between Astralis, EG, and Liquid of 2019 looked like it was going to mirror the same relationship. EG’s firepower, map veto, and style gave them the edge against Astralis. Astralis’ tactics, map pool, and history gave them the psychological advantage against Liquid. The only relationship that was missing was Liquid’s matchup against EG. I expected this dynamic to play out at DreamHack Malmo, but we got mass upsets instead. It’s worth noting that Malmo started 36 hours after ESL New York ended so Astralis, EG, OpTic, G2, Liquid, and ENCE likely all suffered from varying levels of jet lag. On the flipside of that equation, we got to see the first glimpses of the other rising teams and many of them impressed at DreamHack Malmo. Mouz took out EG in the lower bracket and gave Vitality a close series in the quarterfinals. Fnatic were shaky in the beginning stages of the event before finishing strong by beating Astralis in the semifinals and Vitality in the finals. While Na`Vi lost to Vitality in the semifinals, their firepower and team identity looks promising. If you include Astralis, EG, and Liquid to that mix, that is seven top teams that could beat each other on any given day. In that sense, the current scene does parallel the uncertainty era in that it’s possible for anyone to win. However there is a key difference; the relative strength of the teams. The Differences between the Uncertainty Era and Now The uncertainty era was rife with teams that I’d label as having flawed or incomplete rosters. There were only three all-around teams during that time frame: Virtus.Pro, SK, and Astralis. Virtus.Pro still had the classic lineup of: Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski, Pawel “byali” Bielinski, Filip “NEO” Kubski, Jaroslaw “pasha” Jarzabkowski, and Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas. While they veered between hot and cold poles, in terms of overall skill, tactics, and teamplay they were a complete squad with a known identity. SK still had the Major winning lineup of: Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvaraenga, Marcelo “coldzera” David, Epitacio “TACO” de Melo, and Lincoln “fnx” Lau. While they were no longer evolving and winning titles, they were still a consistently top placing team. Their biggest issue was internal. As for Astrails, they were still struggling to align karrigan’s vision of the game with the rest of the team and eventually replaced him with Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander. Once gla1ve came into the roster, things started to click. Outside of those three teams, it was hard to point to any of the teams that won during that time period and say they were as balanced or as complete as those three squads. The closest was the OpTic squad which won ELeague Season 2, but we never got a good evaluation of that particular lineup as a team as Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz left the squad in early 2017, so they only ever played three LANs at peak level. Beyond them, NiP couldn’t figure out who their fifth should be. Na`Vi had brilliant firepower after replacing Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko with Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, but the Valve ruling hurt them. Na`Vi at the time had planned to have Sergey “starix” Ischuk be the in-game leader from the coaching position, but Valve banned that. As a result, the lineup missed a leader. Cloud9 refused to deal with the fact that Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert, Michael “shroud” Grzesiek, and Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham were giving diminishing returns and needed upgrades. Dignitas had shot up to the top with their victory at EPICENTER, but were still inexperienced at playing at the elite level. In contrast to that, there are a lot fewer flaws in the makeup of the modern teams. Astralis still has the GOAT lineup and while it’s not in peak condition, it’s still strong in terms of teamplay and tactics. Liquid may be the most skilled lineup ever assembled man-for-man. The addition of stanislaw has elevated EG into contention status as they’ve got new looks on their T-side, more firepower, and Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov looks ready to take the final step into becoming a world dominant AWPer. Outside of those three there is: Vitality, Fnatic, Na`Vi, and Mouz. In terms of leadership, tactics, rosters, and skill, none of them are flawed. While it’s arguable that they could make even better lineups (Kenny “kennyS” Schrub on Vitality for instance), they are all fairly balanced squads that have a good style for their respective lineups. While Vitality have swapped Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt for Richard “shox” Papillon, they are still playing a similar style of Counter-Strike. The switch itself has already paid off as they nearly won DreamHack Malmo. What’s interesting about their near-victory is that shox didn’t have to go nuclear, he just had to give a moderate amount of impactful clutches to push Vitality over the edge. As for Fnatic, they’ve hit the reset button and have gone back to a lineup reminiscent of what they had two years ago. Their lineup consists of: Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, Jesper “JW” Wecksell, Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, Robin “flusha” Ronnquist, and Maikil “Golden” Selim. This particular reunion has come at a good time as JW and KRIMZ have found renewed form. JW especially has been making a strong resurgence and alongside KRIMZ and Brollan, has created a strong base of skill that lets Fnatic compete with the top squads. Golden’s loose style seems to make the most of these players and is a good fit for the archetypal Swedish Counter-Strike team. Na`Vi’s lineup on paper could give EG or Liquid a run for their money in terms of raw firepower. They boast: s1mple, Egor “flamie Vasilev, Denis “electronic” Sharipov, Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov, and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs. Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy has decided that the best way to use this level of talent is through a loose system. This has made them one of the strongest CT-sided teams at Malmo and if they can get their tactics to the next level, Na`Vi should win titles. Finally, there is mousesports. They don’t have the results or star power pedigree of the other teams here, but they are on the cusp of breaking into the top five. At Berlin Major they took Liquid to the limit, barely losing to Liquid in two overtime games. At DreamHack Masters Malmo, they could have beaten Vitality in the quarterfinals if not for Shox’s 1v3 on Mirage. Mouz may not have the experience to become a title contender, but they have the ability to upset the best teams in the world. The Wide Open Circuit We currently have seven top teams playing Counter-Strike and that number could soon be eight if OG enter the field with the reported Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and NBK lineup. What makes this even more exciting is the timing. From now to the end of the year, we have a massive run of tournaments in the CS:GO calendar. There is StarLadder i-League Season 8, BLAST Copenhagen, IEM Beijing, ECS Season 8 Finals, EPL Season 10 Finals, BLAST Global Finals, and a slew of smaller LANs. With so much uncertainty and top teams running around, this is one of the most exciting periods to be a CS:GO fan. For teams, this is the perfect stage to reach the greatest heights. No one knows how history will play out. Whether we will enter a parity or another uncertainty era. Perhaps three teams will ascend above the rest as a triumvirate, or perhaps a team will create another dominant period. Whatever the case maybe, the fact that we have so many potential contenders means that records and achievements won during this period will have more meaning because of the increased difficulty. That in turn increases the glory that a team can accrue now and is the perfect place for teams to either establish or increase their legacies in the game.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: Science, Alchemy, and Art – the crafting of CSGO teams IGOR BEZBORODOV AND STARLADDEROne of the most complex tasks in competitive CS:GO is crafting an elite team. There are multiple factors to take into consideration: individual skill, team play, chemistry, balance of personalities, and a balance of roles. With so much to consider, it is impossible to create the perfect team without trial and error. You can have the right players, but the wrong personalities. You can have the right idea, but not the right players. The crafting of a CS:GO team is at times a science, at times alchemy, and at times art. Science Science is the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the world. In the case of CS:GO teams, it is the study of what makes a perfect lineup. Among all of the teams in the world, I believe that Team Liquid have followed this idea the closest. Since coming into the scene, they have consistently tried to pick up better and better pieces as they found them in order to create a championship contender. Read more: CSGO roster shuffle post-Berlin Major – The two Liquid lineups from late 2017 to 2018 best explain the scientific method. By mid 2017, the Liquid lineup was: Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Joshua “jdm64” Marzano, Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz, and Wilton “zews” Prado as coach. On paper, this team checked nearly every theoretical role. They had three skilled riflers, one AWPer, and one in-game leader. However, for whatever reason, the roles and in-game chemistry just didn’t work. Liquid started with a hypothesis of how to create a team and when the results weren’t good enough, they tried a different formulation. After the PGL Krakow Major, they changed the roles of the lineup. Nitr0 became the new in-game leader. This freed up stanislaw so that he could play the lurker position for the squad, and this move breathed new life into the team as they got second at ESG Mykonos and ESL One New York 2017. However, the team didn’t reach the results they wanted, and they replaced stanislaw with Lucas “steel” Lopes soon after. Coming into 2018, the team looked at their old hypothesis: the idea of 3 riflers, one AWPer, and one in-game leader. Looking at the field at the time, there were no world class AWPers to be had. Jdm64 was a good AWPer, but a liability on anything else. On the other side of that coin, there were multiple rising rifler players in NA, with Keith “NAF” Markovic being chief among them. With the pieces that they had, Liquid came up with a new hypothesis. What if they ran a five rifle system as their primary modus operandi, and had players pick up the AWP when needed? This was to be their new paradigm as they removed jdm64 for NAF. The move worked and reached new levels of success after steel left the team and Liquid recruited Epitacio “TACO” de Melo. For the rest of 2018, Liquid became the second best team in the world. When looking back at that particular period of Liquid history, it’s clear that Liquid originally used a standard template of what it takes to be a top-tier team in CS:GO. When that idea stopped working, they created a new hypothesis that better utilized the players they had. In essence, Liquid constantly experimented with their lineup, continued to get better components, and repeated until they came up with a winning formula. Broadly speaking this is the most common method, though it’s efficacy depends on how willing the orgs are in spending resources to get the next best player. Alchemy Alchemy is the predecessor to chemistry. It was the study concerned with turning base metals into gold. In the case of CS:GO, it is a study of change, of either transforming a hitherto unknown player into one of the world’s best or taking a squad with no results to a world class team. In the study of CS:GO alchemy, the two best CS:GO leaders at the highest levels are Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen and Finn “Karrigan” Andersen. While there are leaders or veterans at the lower levels that have helped more players rise up, for me the true alchemist must be able to turn those types of players into international stars or teams. For MSL, he has done this throughout his career. From Dignitas to North, the players whose game he has helped raise include: Philip “aizy” Aistrup, Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjaerbye, Kristian “k0nfig” Wiencke, and Emil “Magisk” Rief. All of them were unpolished Danish talents before they came into his system. Aizy had his career high when he was playing with MSL on Dignitas before leaving the squad. Kjaerbye played brilliantly and continued to have a great career when he moved to Astralis. K0nfig was a top ten player in the world in 2017, but once he left MSL’s system, he dropped out of the conversation. As for Magisk, he was a world superstar from the end of 2016 to early 2017. After declining for a bit, he was removed from the team and wallowed away in exile until Astralis picked him back up and he became a world star once again. MSL’s history as a leader has him raising these young talents with potential and taking them to the world stage. While not all of the experiments have succeeded, MSL has proven he is one of the absolute best at doing this and very few in-game leaders can boast of a resume where they took that many young talents and turned them into stars. The other alchemist is Karrigan. Before Karrigan joined the FaZe Clan, it was a golden prison. It was an amalgamation of misfits and odd pieces. Every singular piece looked good, but when it combined together, it made you scratch your head and wonder how any of it was supposed to work. They had players like: Aizy, Havard “rain” Nygaard, Fabien “KioShiMa” Fiey, Aleski “allu” Jalli, and Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad. Before Karrigan, FaZe failed get out of groups through 2016. Days after he came into the lineup, they got through their ELeague Group and into the playoffs. Every lineup Karrigan has joined has instantly meshed well and hit its stride instantly as he is able to make his players better than what they were before. In this first FaZe lineup, he enabled KioShiMa jumped leaps and bounds. In the all-star iteration of FaZe, both Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs had a jump in form. In 2019, Karrigan pulled the same maneuver again as he helped Robin “ropz” Kool, Ozgur “woxic” Eker, and David “frozen” Cernansky reach high levels of skill in their careers. The alchemists are a rare breed as they don’t need experiments to see what will happen. They have the rare ability to intuit what will happen as they know how to measure and unleash the potential of their players. Art We’ve gone over Liquid’s scientific methods. We’ve poured through two examples of alchemists who turned lead into gold. Now we go into the art of crafting CS:GO teams. Art is the expression of skill and imagination. When applied to CS:GO, it is the ability for a team to express each individual player’s best self while simultaneously having the sum become even greater than its parts. This is the highest form of roster creation and one that is impossible to replicate. No amount of knowledge, demo review, or theory crafting will ever let someone know how any five man team will turn out. While we know enough to sense a general direction, no one can decipher how the roles, positions, tactics, teamplay, personalities, or individual skill will be translated into the server. We don’t know how the intangibles and inter-dependencies will work outside of the server either. Sometimes you can get the right five players, but you also need them at the correct times in their careers. The current Liquid roster for instance only works because all five players have had enough experience to play a wide variety of roles which allows them all to fill specialty roles, but have enough flexibility to pull off an almost role-less style of CSGO. The pinnacles of art in CS:GO are the greatest lineups of its history. Teams like Ninjas in Pyjamas, Fnatic, and Astralis are teams that fundamentally changed the scene in a way that no one could have seen coming. Consider for a moment the last three iterations of Astralis. The lineup in 2016 had: Karrigan, Kjaerbye, Peter “Dupreeh” Rasumussen, Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth, and Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz. This team had terrible results considering how good the lineup looked. Looking back now, we know that the internal disputes of the team were irreconcilable between Karrigan and the rest. They wanted to play a more structured style, while he wanted to play a more explosive style. With such opposing ideas, the sum became less than its parts. On top of that, the individual forms were falling down and the roles weren’t working out for the team. So when Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander came into that team, many of those problems were fixed. Dupreeh became a lurker, while Kjaerbye became the entry-fragger. The structured style of gla1ve perfectly fit with the ethos of the team and with one move, the entire sum became greater than its parts. This was a Major winning lineup and one of the great reasons for its success was the approach that gla1ve took when he joined the team. However like all teams, it broke apart. The role clash of players created a cap that they couldn’t get past. At the beginning of the lineup, Dupreeh was in a slump and could no longer play the entry role, so it was given to Kjaerbye. By mid 2017, Dupreeh had returned to form and Kjaerbye was dropping off. The two players were of a similar style, so one had to budge over the other. In addition to that, gla1ve’s roles on the CT-side didn’t suit him perfectly as he and Kjaerbye played similar spots on some maps. With neither player able to express their greatest potential, the team was on the verge of collapse. In 2018, Kjaerbye left the lineup and Magisk joined Astralis. At the time, the roster move was thought to be a lateral move at best. Magisk had languished in OpTic and hadn’t reached the peak levels of stardom he had in North. In retrospect though, we now know he was the perfect addition and Magisk was the exact player that Astralis needed. The reason is because Magisk’s entrance shifted roles in the team which allowed each player in the team to express their greatest strengths. This combined with the right timing of all five players hitting peak form made them unstoppable. Dev1ce and Xyp9x largely remained the same. In the case of Dupreeh, Magisk, and gla1ve, all three were able to elevate their game. Dupreeh got all of the roles that he wanted. Gla1ve was able to take star position CT-side roles as a rifler and shines in those roles. Both of those changes were only possible because Magisk naturally wanted the roles they didn’t want to play. At the same time, their personal styles and balance of the team worked in the greater whole. Dupreeh and gla1ve are naturally more aggressive players whereas Magisk and Xyp9x are more passive. Dev1ce is a mobile AWPer, but because of the natural versatility of players of the others, this never created a problem on any side of the map. Magisk was unable to bear the load as a primary superstar player on North, but on Astralis he has found comfort in knowing that Dupreeh and dev1ce are there, and that the team as a whole can perform. The perfect balance was struck between all five players and their coach Danny “zonic” Sorensen. The Astralis lineup is art at its highest level. They are the first team in CS:GO history to establish an era without having the world’s best player. NiP had Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, Fnatic had olofmeister, and LG/SK had Marcelo “Coldzera” David. In Astralis’ case, they have skilled players in every role, but it is their ability to simultaneously express their own individual potentials and their ability to be even greater than the sum of their parts that has them creating their own era. The crafting of CS:GO teams is one of the most complex tasks in the game. Many teams use science and experiments to varying success, with Liquid arguably being the most successful among them. There are leading alchemists like MSL or Karrigan who know how to transmute players into their best selves. And all teams are trying to reach that level of artistic expression that Astralis had during their era.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: Reflections on Swedish CS and Fnatic’s Victory at Malmo Adela Sznajder/DreamHackDreamHack Masters Malmo ended in spectacular fashion. Going into the tournament, Astralis, EG, or Liquid were the favorites. Instead all three lost and in the ensuing battle royale Fnatic came out victorious. It was a magical run as the Swedes pulled out that special brand of Counter-Strike that tilts reality into their favor. It was an amalgamation of teamplay and individual skill that hearkened to the old days of peak Fnatic. It was brilliant, intoxicating, and explains their almost maniacal faith in the older veterans of their scene. [A]lliance is back syndrome The first time I encountered this phenomenon was in Dota2. In 2013 [A]lliance were the best team in the world. They had an all Swedish lineup that included: Joanthan “Loda” Berg, Fustav “s4” Magnusson, Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg, Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist, and Joakim “Akke” Akterhall. It was a brilliant and idiosyncratic team. They weren’t a squad full of high individual skill across the board, but were players that had particular specialties that when combined became greater than the sum of their parts. When that team played together during their peak, there was a level of smoothness to their teamplay nearly unmatched to this day. There was a certain magic to them too as regardless of what situations you put them in, they always found a play that could make the game theirs. Those heights were so brilliant that they continued with the same lineup half a year longer than they probably should have. In early 2014, they were still a good team and could make a brilliant run (DreamLeague Season1 comes to mind). But they were an aging beast. The team eventually split apart, but then reunited again at the end of 2015. They had two good runs as they won WCA and StarLadder i-League Season 1, but then summarily dropped off the cliff. For those who watch Counter-Strike, the parallels between the story of [A]lliance and Fnatic are striking. The thing I remember the most during this time period though was that the moment [A]lliance won any game or did any incredible game, the community would come out and celebrate with the words “[A]lliance is back.” Perhaps the sentiment was born out of a hope that if Twitch chat spammed the meme enough, it could turn into reality. More likely though, it was just a fan’s desperate hope that [A]lliance could return to their top form as they had a fascinating and unique Dota. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I’d see this cycle repeat itself when I started to spectate Counter-Strike. Fnatic of 2015 Near the end of 2014 to 2015, I took my first steps into CS:GO. When I entered the game, Fnatic were in their prime. At the time I couldn’t understand the intricacies of what was happening, but it was shocking to watch. Back then, basic intuition told me that the team with the better guns and more people should win the round. Fnatic consistently kept flipping that script on its head as they won round after round, often breaking the hearts of the opposing teams and crowds. Read More: Team Liquid GM responds to NAF roster rumors – It is only years later, with more knowledge and understanding that I have come to understand what was so special about fnatic. Jason “Moses” O’Toole likens it to a hivemind. As if one mind controlled all five bodies. While the analogy is a good one, it may suggest that there is some level of conscious thought behind it. When I watched their games, it seems instinctive in nature. As if their connection to the game and each other was at the primordial level. Like [A]lliance, the Fnatic style has never been fully replicated. Teams have taken the fundamentals and base of it, reinterpreted it into their own prisms of players, but it was never again duplicated. The teamplay in particular stands out to me as different from even the best squads that eventually took over the world. Astralis and SK for instance had fantastic teamplay, but theirs was system based. Both teams used set roles for each player and they largely stuck to those confined roles. This made them consistent, disciplined, and at times unstoppable. Fnatic were consistent and unstoppable, but they weren’t disciplined. At least not in the typical sense. Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg described the system on Peeker’s Advantage as, “We had a rule that if someone has a gut feeling, they should always do it.” The Fnatic style of teamplay was one that created a synthesis of individual plays and teamwork to its absolute highest level. For almost any other team, that amount of freedom leads to disaster. Players will start focusing on their own individual micro battles instead of the macro battle and overextend. It would eventually lead to internal strife as they stepped over each other. In the case of Fnatic, they had the exact right five players to make it work as each player had a disparate specialities that rarely overlapped. Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer was the straight forward duelist and the best in the world. Jesper “JW” Wecksell was the wildcard who used unorthodox plays to surprise his enemies. Robin “flusha” Ronnquist was the passive genius lurker. Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson was the rock of the team. He has the strongest fundamental game of anyone and created a base level of consistency and efficiency to his game that made him an absolute beast in the clutch. Markus “pronax” Wallsten was the weakest player on the team, but when push came to shove, he always found high impact frags to swing the game. The [A]lliance and Fnatic Parallels As the years continued on, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between [A]lliance and the Swedish Counter-Strike teams. None of the moves were the same, but the core themes followed the same lines. The Swedes believed that they could turn back the clock. NiP stuck with the core four of: Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, Adam “Friberg” Friberg, and Richard “Xizt” Landstrom for years in the belief that they could reignite their form of 2012. Fnatic didn’t keep the core together for that long, but they kept trying to go back to the past. At the end of 2015, Fnatic replaced pronax with Dennis “dennis” Edman and went on a 6 LAN run. That lineup eventually split apart in 2016, but reunited again in 2017. The biggest similarity of all was the [A]lliance is back syndrome. However it was far more magical in the cases of NiP and Fnatic than it was with [A]lliance. [A]lliance only ever had those two events in their last run together. In the case of NiP and Fnatic, both squads kept pulling out ridiculous over-the-top movie level victories when they had no right to. NiP were only a playoff team for the latter half of 2016, but pulled out an encore of magic at IEM Oakland 2016. They beat SK in the finals 2-1 with vintage NiP magic. NiP went on to be even worse in 2017, but somehow managed to pull off an even more magical run against FaZe at IEM Oakland 2017. Fnatic had similar runs. While Fnatic were a top team in early 2018, they weren’t in the same league as FaZe in the finals of IEM Katowice 2018. Even so, they were able to push the finals to a fifth map. In the fifth map, Flusha hit god levels of play that he hadn’t reached in years to take the series from FaZe. As the lineups changed, Fnatic still continued to pull out shocking victory at times when it felt like they had no business being there. They made a top four run and nearly beat prime Astralis at IEM Chicago. In 2019, they made the finals of two tournaments, but outside of that have been vastly disappointing. Each time one of these magical moments happened, the community rallied around them. Early proclamations were made of the return of the greats. Each time f0rest makes a play or drops 30, threads pop up about why he’s the GOAT. When JW pulls out exhilarating highlights, people spam vintage JW. When we watch the old Swedish legends play at their top forms, there is something special about it, different from other top players of the day. That makes you want to believe that they will make a comeback, that will make the return. On some level, I believe the orgs and teams themselves bought into this belief. Both teams had ambitions to be the best in the world and if you looked out the raw results, both teams should have made harsher roster cuts to their veteran core a long time ago. NiP dragged their heels on every roster cut until they were months or years too late. Fnatic was less egregious, but had a similar story. While KRIMZ has been great for the last few years, the same cannot be said for either flusha or JW. After Flusha’s MVP performance at IEM Katowice, he had a massive slump during the rest of his time in Fnatic and only found himself again after being kicked and playing for Cloud9. JW’s efficacy was degrading by the end of the Fnatic era and he has been inconsistent for years. JW has only found his form again recently in 2019 with his performances at StarLadder i-League Season 8, IEM Chicago, and DreamHack Masters Malmo. Faith rooted in the Platonic Ideal On some level though, I can understand why the teams and players have continued trying to make the old veterans work. There is something unique about the highest echelons of Swedish Counter-Strike that makes you want to gamble on those heights. That particular playstyle, when played at its absolute best, represents the platonic ideal of teamplay. It is a type of teamplay where you can tell that they know what the other is doing before they do it. They have no need of structure or comms because they have an inborn understanding that runs deeper than any articulated knowledge can touch. When their teamplay is at its absolute zenith, you can no longer distinguish individual plays from their teamplay as they transition from one to the other seamlessly. It is why when the Counter-Strike reaches a chaotic state, when the Swedes are playing at their best, they feel unstoppable. They are subsumed into the essence of what Counter-Strike is on a level that no one else can reach. So each time one of NiP or Fnatic could have made a change, they perhaps asked themselves what if? What if we could resurrect the past, what if we could reach that level of team play again? That is why the Swedish scene has had such maniacal faith in their older veterans when analysts outside of their scenes say they should move on. Fnatic at Malmo At DreamHack Masters Malmo, that faith paid off. Fnatic have made another reunion. They have kept KRIMZ, JW, and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin from their previous lineup and have reunited with flusha and Maikil “Golden” Selim. It was a shocking victory as Fnatic barely had time to practice. On top of that flusha had just come back from a 7 month long hiatus. It is even more shocking in the context of the tournament itself. Fnatic struggled throughout this entire event. They lost to ENCE in the bo1, dropped a map to TyLoo in the lower bracket, FURIA took them to 6 overtimes on Overpass, Fnatic dropped another map to NiP in the quarters. It is only in the semifinals and finals that I felt that Fnatic majesty return to full form. Fnatic had an impressive victory against Astralis. They beat them on Overpass convincingly and JW had a massive impact on Nuke which let them close the series in triple overtime. The finals were a high octane battle as we saw Fnatic’s tactics, individual, and teamplay reach levels that I hadn’t seen since the dissolution of the Fnatic 2015 lineup. Fnatic eventually won the finals in the most classic Fnatic fashion possible, on an eco round with a KRIMZ throwing the perfect flashbang for Brollan to get a multi kill with a Cz. As the trophy was hoisted, I can to an epiphany. It was at that moment that I fully understood why orgs like Fnatic and NiP have bet so hard on full Swedish lineups and their old veterans. When things click, these lineups have a unique flavor of Counter-Strike that only they can produce. That feeling of five individuals wading into the chaos, perfectly insync with each other at all times, reading into the game, and finding the perfect play that will let them take the game. There is nothing else quite like it and for years now, NiP and Fnatic have chased that high. As the lights closed out, I asked myself the same question Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill asked JW. Can Fnatic do this consistently? I don’t know and a part of me impulsively denies such a possibility as I don’t want to hope. You can only feel pain and disappointment when you hope. Even so, among all of the Swedish lineups formed in the last two years, this has the best chance of making it work. KRIMZ is a certifiable monster. JW is playing the best he has in years. Flusha hardly seems to have missed a step since his return. Golden’s calling is perfectly in sync with this squad. Brollan’s aggression and firepower makes him a great fit. If ever there was going to be a Swedish lineup that could make a run for the top in the modern world, this is that lineup.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: Prime Astralis is not post-Berlin Astralis StarLadderAfter Astralis won their third Major in a row, fans hailed it as a resurrection. As if Counter-Strike. This Astralis shares the same players, the same methodology, and the same mindset, but is a markedly different animal than before. Prime Astralis From DreamHack Marseille to the IEM Katowice Major 2019, Astralis were an unstoppable Counter-Strike machine. If there was ever a platonic idealization of what perfect Counter-Strike looked like, that Astralis lineup was it. Each player had a specified role the excelled in. Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz was the mobile AWPer who defined their CT-side. He was excellent at creating a multitude of safe picks that let him get free shots off while minimizing potential retaliation. He also doubled as a rifler on the T-side and his all-around game slotted him perfectly into the system regardless of whether he was on the AWP or rifle. Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander were the aggressive riflers. They were in charge of making the more volatile and risky plays to secure information and map control. Dupreeh has a higher skill ceiling while gla1ve was more likely to win his duels through game sense and intelligence. Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth was the perfect support player. Someone who took up the undesirable spots, enabled his teammates in the 3v3s, and was the master of clutch situations. Emil “Magisk” Reif rounded out the team with an emphasis on the lurk role and CT-side anchor. He could also be integrated into the entry pack in site hits on the T-side. Outside of their perfected roles which harmonized together to create a greater whole, the team was also the epitome of teamplay and tactics. They innovated the utility meta shift in 2018 as they honed in on the best ways to use grenades. Astralis’ utility usage often led to man advantages as they either blew someone up with HEs or used their utility to isolate a player, blind him, and then win the favorable duel. In a neutral scenario where they didn’t get an outright man advantage, they were often getting map and information advantages. Each piece of utility they used gave them a piece of information which filtered into the minds of the players and let them read the map flawlessly. From there they could either frustrate the offense by throwing down the perfect last minute smoke grenades which disrupted a hit, or intuit the best way to break a site if they were on the offense. In the worst case scenarios, their utility usage still did psychological damage as teams were afraid of running into stacks and this delayed their own map control or ceded info to the Danes. To understand the might of Astralis, I will have to take a leaf from Team Liquid’s book. Liquid players often model their performance as: A-game, B-game, and C-game. The A-game is when they play at their absolute best, the B-game is their average day, and the C-game is their worst day. Astralis’ C-game was enough to beat about 90% of the competition during that time frame. Their victories were almost comical in how dominant they were in terms of teamplay and tactics. The only time I ever saw the team truly struggle and have to dig deep into their reserves during this entire period was at IEM Chicago where they had a lousy group stage and had to step up to the moment when Fnatic had them on the ropes. Astralis’ form in that tournament is the only time where you can draw comparisons between prime Astralis and the Astralis of today. Astralis now The Astralis now is different from their prime form in multiple ways. The prolonged break they took in 2019 and the AUG nerf hit them hard. In terms of individual form, both dupreeh and gla1ve suffered massively during this period. The AUG meta hurt the efficacy of all entry-fraggers and dupreeh in particular never hit the same heights when the meta was in full swing. Gla1ve also suffered under the same time frame. In gla1ve’s case, I suspect it’s less of the AUG meta and more that the team was no longer leading the meta. During their prime, the team consistently found new ways to innovate their map pool and utility usage across the maps. This tactical advantage seemed to translate into gla1ve’s individual form as he could read and crack open enemy formations when the team was in control of the game. That advantage stopped existing as the paradigm shift ended. Enemy teams started to catch up and copy the Astralis meta and Astralis themselves no longer held a significant tactical advantage. This evened the field and made it harder for gla1ve to do be as impactful as he was in 2018. Xyp9x also dropped off from his godlike levels of 2018. In 2018, he was winning an unreal amount of clutches and late round scenarios. That was never sustainable, so it made sense that after the break Xyp9x couldn’t continue that level of form. The only two players that were close to their prime levels were dev1ce and Magisk. Dev1ce continued to be a top 5 player while Magisk was still a star player within his designated roles. Outside of the individual form, the way Astralis won games at the StarLadder Berlin Major, ESL One New York, and DreamHack Malmo were different than prime Astralis. In their prime, they dominated with sheer tactics and teamplay. They played theoretically perfect Counter-Strike and used the highest +EV plays possible. Today’s Astralis is different. Positionally and tactically speaking, this version of Astralis can still be in the same positions, but they no longer win the same duels. Teams like Liquid and Evil Geniuses can guarantee trade kills with their mechanics, whereas Astralis’ declining firepower makes it harder to guarantee those kills. In response to this, Astrails have started to add more explosive and risk-oriented tactics into their playbook to throw off and confound other teams. While these plays are riskier in theory, they increase the potential reward as well. If Astralis succeed with these plays, they can win a round. The crucial thing though is that even if they don’t win, they force a macro response across a half draws enemy resources throughout the half. For instance, if an Astralis player pushes through a smoke dry, the other team will have to be aware of the fact that Astralis are willing to make those types of plays and react accordingly. This will cost mental resources and utility as well. The best example of this shift in mentality was the Astralis vs. Liquid semifinals of ESL One NY. On the T-side of Vertigo, Astralis started to use tactics that were more in line with Liquid’s philosophy. In the 7th round of the half, gla1ve walked up the ramp, dry peeked into Jake “Stewie2K” Yip and tore his head off. In the eighth, gla1ve pushed through the smoke at ramp and with no utility backup, snuck into the site and killed Nicholas “nitr0” Canella. The Astralis of 2018 used utility to get kills, take map control, or create advantageous duels. What gla1ve did here was play hero ball as he gambled entire rounds on his ability to read the gaps of the defense to break the other team. A Different way of Losing Not only are the character of their wins different, so are the losses. Astralis barely lost in their prime. When they did lose, it required miracles. FaZe pulled out the closest 3-0 victory ever at IEM Sydney. It took the combination of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Denis “electronic” Sharpiov’s peak forms and Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko having the best game of his life in the last few years to stop them at Cologne. At DreamHack Stockholm, Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen had to watch over a 100 demos and be the MVP of the tournament to beat them. Astralis of the present day have the number one ranking, but other teams can blow them out. At ESL New York, EG smashed them in the finals 3-1. EG were in fantastic form that event, similar to FaZe at Sydney, Na`Vi at Cologne, and North at Stockholm. The difference was that in order to beat peak Astralis, you needed to be at that form and even then you could lose. A few rounds in the other direction could change the final outcome between the Astralis and Na`Vi/FaZe matches. The same cannot be said for the finals at ESL New York where EG were the convincing victor. At DreamHack Malmo, Fnatic did pull out miracle plays in the second map, but it would be impossible to imagine Astralis ever losing Nuke in their prime. Finally, Astralis get into a way closer series than before. In the past, Astralis used to sweep teams 2-0 and often stopped them from getting to double digits on any single map. The Astralis we see now constantly has to battle for every inch they can take. The Shifting Map Pool The biggest indicator of how Astralis has changed is the map pool. In 2018, Astralis were gods on Nuke and Inferno. Their LAN record from the start of this lineup to Katowice was 29-0 on Nuke and 36-13 on Inferno. Outside of that their “middling” maps were Dust2 and Train. I say middling as they had a ridiculous winning percentage on both, 15-2 on Dust2 and 11-5 on Train. Their problematic maps were Mirage and Overpass with records of 20-9 on Mirage and 18-9 on Overpass. Their permaban was Cache, which they were 5-3 on. Read more: How to play the new Cache rework – The Astralis I saw at Berlin and after are a different team map pool wise. They have largely relegated Nuke to the back burner. Inferno used to be their home map, but they’ve started to avoid playing it against top teams. They second rotation banned it against Liquid at New York. They played it twice against EG and lost it both times. They went 12-16 in the group stages and got smashed 3-16 in the finals. Astralis right now seem to be a better team on maps like Overpass, Train, and Vertigo. Their Dust2 is still fairly strong, but is dangerous to pick against highly skilled teams like EG and Liquid. While Astralis are still willing to play Nuke and Inferno, neither map is a guaranteed victory like it was in the past. Astralis’ map vetoes signal that their own realization of their changes through this time period. In the past, the Astralis map veto was fairly distinct. Ban cache, pick nuke and/or a punish pick, clean up on Inferno. Astralis now have to play mind games in the map pool. They ambushed Liquid with a Vertigo pick at the Major. Against EG, they have a fixed permaban of Mirage, but have tried different picks going into them. At the Major they used Overpass. At ESL New York, they’ve tried Inferno both their encounters. At Malmo it seems like Astralis have settled on banning Mirage as their perma-ban. Distinguishing the past from the present All things considered, the Astralis that is playing now is a different animal from before. Even so, there are still certain similarities that have carried across the two time periods. The core strengths of the players and style are fundamentally the same. They still play their best using the tactical structured system with set roles. Second, the mental strength and clutch factor continues to run strong in the team. In the prime Astralis Era, we saw this at IEM Chicago and it has carried on in their runs at Berlin StarLadder Major, the semi-finals of ESL One New York, and arguably Malmo where they hung in the semi-finals despite the Fnatic bull***t. The third is their ability to stay a step ahead at tactical innovation. At StarLadder Berlin Major, Astralis used an aggressive two man setup and flanks to stifle the Liquid T-side. At ESL New York, Astralis used a three man setup on the A-site to stonewall Liquid’s attempts to get any map control out onto the map. While not as comprehensive or as far ahead as before, Astralis are still tactically innovating the meta. Outside of those similarities, everything else has started to change. The individual forms of the players are fluctuating, the map pool has shifted, and even their home map of Inferno seems to be diminishing in front of our eyes. For me, this is one of the most exciting times to spectate Astralis as a squad and why I want to make a clear distinction between who they were at their prime and who they are now. Astralis in their prime were perfect CS:GO playing machines. The Astralis we see now still have the core essence of what made them great, but are diminished in stature. While it is easy to conflate both versions of Astralis, by doing so we do a disservice to Astralis of both time periods. Prime Astralis was absolute perfection and a team that looked like they solved CS. Current Astralis has transformed and resurrected themselves in a way that almost no line-up (outside of classic Virtus.Pro) has ever accomplished. Each time period shows a different attribute of excellence that further extends their legacy as the greatest of all time.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: Major Purgatory and The compLexity Rebuild Twitter/compLexityCompLexity will need to make hard choices going forward if they want to be competitive in CS:GO again. On August 25th, 2019, compLexity dropped out of the StarLadder Berlin Major Challengers Stage. coL suffered a horrific loss as they went 1-3 in the group stages with losses to AVANGAR, HellRaisers, and Greyhound. Soon after Jason Lake, the CEO of coL, tweeted his intentions to rebuild. The tweet signaled a two things. It first ended the spiral of stagnation caused from being in Major purgatory. Secondly, it has kick started a rebuilding process that coL has needed for a long time now. Stuck in Major Purgatory Before we can get into the rebuild, we have to look at how coL got to the position before the Major. CompLexity have been trying to rebuild a competitive roster since 2015. We won’t go through all of the details, but suffice to say that all of the moves had logic behind them. CompLexity tried to make smart gambles. They tried to get leaders and rising talent for the most part. In 2018, things started to look up after they assembled a decent base after acquiring Pujan “FNS” Mehta in January. FNS left the team to join Cloud9 and soon after coL recruited Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan and Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz after OpTic kicked them. The final roster ended up being: stanislaw, ShahZaM, Rory “dephh” Jacksonm Brad “ANDROID” Fodor, and Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker. This was the squad that went to FACEIT London and made it to the playoffs of the Major. It was a brilliant run and coL’s best achievement in the last two years. Ironically, it also stalled their progress. The Majors are the biggest events in the CS:GO calendar, but they are also the oddest. Their seeding system ignores what happens for the rest of the year, so it’s possible for a team to make the playoffs, be terrible for the ensuing 8 months, but keep their seed for the next Major. This style of seeding inhibits and warps team growth as roster building will be built with the Major slot in mind. Instead of trying to build the best team possible, a team will try to build a decent team that can go to the Major. This is what happened to Cloud9 for the last year and a half. Cloud9 played musical chairs with their roster as they shuffled players in and out. The only rule they had was being just good enough to keep their Major spot. This along with Maikil “Golden” Selim’s sickness made it impossible for Cloud9 to make any kind of competitive progress. Soham “valens” Crowdhury, the coach of Cloud9, talked about that period in a HLTV interview, “This is the first time in the last 16 months or so that we weren’t bound by having a trio/roster for a Major event and to keep optimizing for a recipe that clearly wasn’t working. What we needed was a complete rebuild. Slotting in 1 or 2 players to recreate our 2017-2018 form wasn’t working.” 600 CoL fell into the exact same trap. Before they got their Major Seed, I’d argue that coL were trying to use a Damian “daps” Steele model of growth. Get some young talent and surround it with a veteran and in-game leader. Instead, they went for a different approach to accommodate for the Major. In December 2018, coL made multiple moves. They removed coach Ronald “Rambo” Kim and benched yay and ANDROID. Soon after they signed Ricardo “Rickeh” Mulholland and had Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert stand-in. The addition of two veterans should theoretically make them a more stable and consistent roster in the short term, but there was no potential long-term growth. No young star talent that could blossom into a potential star in the future. Another potential impetus for the move comes from an interview that Rambo did with VPEsports where he explains his removal from coL, “My idea for that particular team in that line up I felt like we needed a more structured, offensive system. And stanislaw likes more default, kind of everyone do your own thing and then play individually. But I felt like too many of our players didn’t have the experience to do that system nor at the highest level so I wanted to try more structured strats and he didn’t want any of that.” With two potential reasons, it’s likely a combination of both reasons. Col then placed 12-14th at the IEM Katowice Major which put them in Major purgatory again. They once again needed to keep three of the five players (potentially two if they wanted to use the coach loophole) and the situation was exacerbated after stanislaw left to join NRG. Eventually coL settled on dephh, ShahZaM, Hunter “SicK” Mims, Owen “oBo” Schlatter, and Rickeh This time around, coL got 20-22nd and while it was a bad loss, they were free from Major purgatory. After coL were eliminated, Jason Lake did his tweet of intent. I love our players as individuals but these results won’t be tolerated. If you’re a Tier 1 player looking for a fresh start at the best facility in the world, HMU. I’ll pay your buyout and give you the world’s highest salaries. Let’s build a juggernaut. Spread the word. — Jason Lake (@JasonBWLake) August 25, 2019 Letter of Intent While the community reacted negatively to the statement, I thought it was a necessary move if coL wanted to become a top team. In the CS:GO space, players are the big movers in the space. They are the ones who have the most say in roster decisions and player movements. As such, orgs need to find ways to attract players. There are a number of ways to do that: salary, infrastructure, support, legacy, location, existing players, and intent. So in order to attract players, an org must have a combination of these things. In the case of coL, they have salary, infrastructure, and support. FNS publicly tweeted that coL was the best org he ever played for and at that point FNS had played for CLG, TSM, and Cloud9. CompLexity also had some legacy, but it was too far in the distant past for it to have relevance to the modern player. In terms of location, coL’s HQ is in Texas. They benefit from having great facilities and the backing of the Dallas Cowboys, but that comes with the drawback of making it harder to attract EU talent. As Jason Lake put it, “If fans knew the offers some EU #CSGO players have turned down (simply because of living in NA) I think they’d be shocked. At the end of the day, I respect their right to choose and wish them the best.” In terms of existing players, coL had: dephh, ShahZaM, SicK, oBo, and Rickeh. There were some interesting ancillary pieces. ShahZaM is a better AWPer than his results imply. SicK seems to have potential, though no one seems to have found a way to consistently harness it. OBo is a young talent with huge room for growth. Overall though, these weren’t legendary names or leaders that other players wanted to play with no matter what. All things considered, coL was a great org, they had some legacy, but they needed something else. Jason Lake’s twitter statement was that extra X-Factor. It forced coL to be a potential option for every player at the Major. It showed coL’s intent to spend their resources in acquiring player and their intent to win. Finally, it showed that Jason Lake ambition to want to win. It was a bold statement to put out there. In the modern age, people are used to milquetoast announcements wrapped in bubble wrap. This was old school passion that was likely going to get him criticism. However it also put his own skin in the game. By putting this out there, Jason Lake is betting a part of his own ego and showing his investment to winning in an actionable way that players can respect. At the very least, the statement was so loud that it at least caught everyone’s attention and at least made player’s realize that coL was serious about being competitive. The Rebuilding Process CompLexity have started the rebuilding process once again. They have once again acquired an in-game leader. Benjamin “blameF” Bremer was the fragging in-game leader of Heroic who made Heroic a darkhorse squad in Europe. Heroic were a legit team and blameF was a good player. Overall a good pick given the trajectory of his career. The second addition was William “RUSH” Wierzba. He is a larger gamble compared to blameF as his form dropped off in the Cloud9 roster. While the form is terrible, it’s worth noting that Cloud9 could hardly be called a team at any point after Jake “Stewie2K” Yip left the team. As that’s the case, there is a chance coL can resurrect his previous form. In the position that coL are in, this seems like a decent gamble. Overall, this is far below where Jason Lake wants to be. While blameF is a good piece, RUSH is similar to the types of pickups that compLexity have made in the past, a bet on an older veteran that could find their form again. By that metric, coL haven’t lived up to the hype of building a juggernaut. Despite that, I’m cautiously optimistic about the coL project going forward. According to Richard Lewis report, coL offered Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen a 1 million dollar deal. This should send a signal to the rest of the players that Jason Lake is willing to pay shell out massive amounts of resources to secure good players. Jason Lake is backing up his talk with his actions. While Aleksib declined this time, it doesn’t mean that the deal can’t happen sometime in the future. Right now, Aleksib has more choices as multiple orgs (like 100 Thieves) are trying to acquire teams, so it’s a player’s market right now. However if the right circumstances happen, perhaps Aleksib or another top EU player takes the move. For now, the most crucial thing for coL is to position themselves as a viable and attractive location for EU players. This is hard as it requires the EU players don’t want to live in NA. In order to overcome that, there needs to be a larger incentive beyond money and facilities. CompLexity need to be a destination where players believe they can win. I think there are two routes to do that. CompLexity either need to get a superstar name that people want to play with or they need to gather a group of young exciting talents similar to what Mouz and CR4ZY have done. This is going to be a long hard battle for coL as it will require a high level of resources and endurance. Most people would likely bow out of such a war of attrition, but given Jason Lake’s longevity and passion for the game, so long as they stick to this method, coL should eventually get the right circumstances and players to make this possible. Moving Forward and Lessons from the Past All things considered, coL are back on track. They are aggressively making choices that should make them a better team. Even so, coL’s future success is uncertain. Building a juggernaut is a long-term process. It took Liquid years before they completed their NA all-star lineup. FaZe had to tinker and mess around with their international roster for a long time in hopes that they could eventually acquire an in-game leader that could complete their squad. In coL’s case, they will have to make hard choices. The position they are in makes it hard to quantify growth or success. You can have the wrong process and get results or have the right process and get bad results. For coL, it comes down to what lessons they’ve learned over the years. If they can, then we will look back years from now at the Jason Lake tweet as the beginning of the coL story.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: How will Liquid and NRG respond to Astralis at ESL New York? Starladder/Igor BezborodovESL New York is the first marquee tournament following the StarLadder Berlin Major. In terms of form, it features the three best teams from the StarLadder Berlin Major: Liquid, NRG, and Astralis. The story for ESL New York will be how Liquid and NRG will prepare for the potential rematch against Astralis after being defeated at the Berlin Major. The Astralis Resurgence Before we can get into the grit of what happened in the Astralis games at the Major, we need to understand where Astralis’ form was before the StarLadder Berlin Major. At IEM Katowice, all five players were in peak form. In addition to that, Astralis map pool was unstoppable. Astralis had two unbeatable home maps: Nuke and Inferno. They had a very good record on Dust2. Their Train was good in the context of the scene as only Na`Vi and ENCE really played the map, and in the case of Na`Vi they often preferred playing inferno as their pick anyway. Their only potential weakness in the pool was Mirage and Overpass. Mirage was one of their better maps earlier on in their era, but had slowly slipped out of their grasp. As for Overpass, tactically it looked good, but it was the map that gave teams the best upset potential against Astralis. Cache was Astralis’ permaban, but they proved they could play and beat Na`Vi on it at BLAST Lisbon. After the Major concluded, people expected Astralis to be even stronger than before as Cache was rotated out of the map pool and Vertigo was put in. Analysts theory-crafted that the architecture of the map favored an execute and structure heavy style, which was Astralis’ bread and butter. Instead, Astralis took a prolonged break where they only attended three BLAST events in a three month span. With so few games played at BLAST, ring rust accumulated on the players, new teams started on the rise, and the AUG meta came into play. This hurt the individual form of the players. Among the five, only Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Emil “Magisk” Reif were close to their peak 2018 form. Outside of them, everyone had a decline. Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth was still good, but no longer winning every clutch that came his way. The biggest individual difference was Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen. This especially hurt their aggressive entry potential as the two of them were responsible for many of the opening duels for the team. This translated into a weakening map pool across the board. Nuke fell from grace as ENCE and FURIA beat Astralis on it. Mirage, Dust2, Overpass, and Train all started to fall. Mirage was already a vulnerability at IEM Katowice and it became worse during this period. Dust2 became worse due to the falling individual skill and teams like Liquid and Vitality becoming stronger on the map. ENCE and NRG rose up to become better Train teams than Astralis. Overpass had become the specialty of Liquid and Vitality. Over the three month span where Astralis wasn’t taking the game as seriously, their rankings across the entire map pool. The only exception was inferno, where they were still the best inferno squad in the world. Among the seven maps, inferno was the least affected by the individual forms of dupreeh and gla1ve as the map lends itself more to Astralis’ impeccable utility and rotations. The Legends Stage of StarLadder Berlin reflected Astralis’ post-IEM Katowice 2019 form. Astralis got two easy wins against DreamEaters and G2. In the third round, they lost to NRG in an epic quintuple overtime which put them on tilt as NRG smashed them 16-4 in the second map of Overpass. Astralis fourth round game was against CR4ZY where they won on Inferno, lost another quintuple overtime game on Dust2, and smashed CR4ZY 16-5 on Vertigo. The form of the five players looked largely the same, though dupreeh had a fantastic series against CR4ZY. The map veto looked similar to before with Astralis banning Mirage and picking either Nuke or Inferno. In retrospect, Astralis could have been saving strats for the playoffs as they setup a clever trap for Liquid that no one could have seen coming. The Liquid Defeat Astralis ambushed Liquid strategically and tactically. Up to this point, Astralis had only played Vertigo once at the Major where they smashed CR4ZY 16-5 with a large T-side. Liquid on the other hand had gone 5-0 on Vertigo and won their last encounter against Astralis. As that was the case, Liquid likely prepared for the series working on old data that looked to be correct based on what Astralis had shown in the Legends Stage. Liquid probably imagined the veto would like something like this: Astralis ban Mirage Liquid ban Train Astralis pick Inferno/Nuke Liquid pick Overpass Astralis ban Dust2 Liquid ban Vertigo Last map is Inferno/Nuke In this scenario, Liquid should win Overpass and have good chances to win both Inferno and Nuke. Instead Astralis chose Vertigo as their first pick. From the outside, it looked like a joker pick that showed a lack of confidence from Astralis. Up to that point, Vertigo was a joker pick that underdogs used to try to steal a win from better teams. Instead of picking their perceived best map, it looked like Astralis wanted to roll the dice. As it turned out, Astralis had played a trap card. Astralis had cards that Liquid didn’t know how to answer. Their triple molly T-side execute denied all of the typical passive positions that Liquid wanted while ensuring Astralis a bomb plant. Their B-site execute utilized Xyp9x as a late lurker that completely blind-sided the defense. On the CT-side, Magisk’s flanks down ladder surprised Liquid, which forced them to be cognizant of their flank for the rest of the half. They had aggressive B stair takes that left Jake “Stewie2K” Yip isolated. Dev1ce and gla1ve used multiple setups behind the A-ramp smoke on the A-site which confounded Liquid the entire game. Astralis’ tactics had netted them a 16-8 victory on Vertigo. The trap card didn’t spring until the second half on their T-side. Overpass was a closer affair with LIquid winning their T-side 9-6. Astralis then pulled out a second trap card on Overpass as their tactics started to get into gear. Astralis’ B-site executes consistently broke apart whatever setup Liquid had on the site and Liquid were unable to adapt quickly enough to stop the Astralis machine from rolling them. The NRG Defeat After beating Liquid in the quarterfinals, Astralis then beat NRG on the semifinals. At this point, Astralis had no reason to hide their Overpass, so in this map veto they picked Overpass into NRG instead of Nuke. Once again, the NA side were the favorites going into the match, but Astralis smashed NRG with a 16-10 victory on Train and a 16-9 victory on Overpass. Astralis’ victory over Liquid was a combination of superior tactics and surprise. NRG knew what Astralis was bringing to the table, but couldn’t match up. After reviewing the games, I’d pick out three factors as to why NRG lost this series. The first was a lack of discipline, which hurt them in the first pistol round as they did a triple peek against dev1ce which let dev1ce get a triple kill and save the round for Astralis. The second was their lack of preparation. The third was their experience as the only person who played to their level on the NRG side was Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte. Everyone else was far below their average. Liquid’s Potential Strategic Choices In competition, losses are often road signs that can point a player or team in the direction they need to go towards. They tell the losing side where they need to improve and where their weak points are. Both of these series highlight potential areas where Liquid and NRG can improve. In the case of Liquid, it is worth mentioning that outside of Jonathan “EliGE” Jablownowski, no one else was in their pre-player break form. While that was a factor in why they lost, I didn’t bring it up before this as I don’t consider it the primary factor. While better individual form could have made the match closer, Astralis’ tactics and teamplay were superior on the day. That form will likely go up as the season resumes, but for Liquid they have to consider strategic adjustments against Astralis. Prior to the Berlin Major, the map veto was fairly static. With the addition of Astralis picking up Vertigo, Liquid now have a strategic option to make as they must decide which map to ban: Vertigo or Train. Whichever map they do ban will likely become the punish pick of Astralis going forward, so they will have to practice it. If Liquid go the Vertigo route, they will likely add the Astralis CT-setups and the utility to their playbook. They could have someone do Magisk’s flanks down ladder to expand their aggressive options. The bigger problem for Liquid is how they want to reconfigure their T-side as they have three problems: How to hold the map control around B without letting Stewie2K get isolated and killed, how to deal with CT-side flanks, and how they want to deal with the aggressive CT-side setups of Astralis. The third is likely the most important as it will likely require some level of utility, but if they expend too much, their actual execute onto the A-site will weaken dramatically. Liquid could also go Train, though that’s less likely given their general aversion to the map. Even so, it’s an option they may consider as even though this lineup has never played it on LAN, the previous Liquid lineup with Epitacio “TACO” de Melo pulled it out as a wildcard in the ESL Proleague Season 8 Finals and beat Astralis on it 16-8. While Stewie2k is a far different player from TACO, it is an option that Liquid could go to. The other thing Liquid need to consider is their T-side on Overpass. They need to figure out how they want to stop Astralis’ B-execute. There are a few options at play. They can try to pre-empt it by attacking Astralis before they can get going. Liquid used this to some success in the actual match as they were aggression towards long, mid, and connector try some success in the actual match, but they were one-off rounds that didn’t have a consistent answer behind them. They could potentially try to find counter-nades that can stall out the Astralis attack. For instance, in the 25th round, Liquid got an opening pick on dev1ce towards park and when the nades started to rain in on the site, Stewie2K used his smoke on the toxic molly to delay Astralis long enough for the rotations to get there. Astralis use a slow-roll execute, so it’s possible to time nades in such a way to disrupt Astralis flow and make it a chaotic situation. The final thing they need to consider is how to deal with Astralis’ flex smokes. In the 22nd and 24th rounds, Astralis used the same opening smokes, but had completely different tactics behind them. In the 22nd, they used a B execute that isolated the players at the B-site, while in the 24th, the crunched onto toilets and killed Liquid’s setup there.Going into ESL New York, Liquid will need to find tactical answers to what Astralis are doing. What NRG need to face Where Liquid’s conundrums are largely strategic, NRG’s problems are largely philosophical and character driven. I noted that the lack of discipline in the first pistol was a sticking point that NRG needed to correct. The reason I tunneled into that particular round is because it’s arguably the easiest thing to fix as every player knows that the theoretical best play was to not peek and give dev1ce the chance to win the round. While the triple peek isn’t a bad play, it likely only has a 95-99% chance of victory compared to the 100% chance of victory not peeking has. This is almost never a problem, until you run into the single time it happens and it can then snowball the game. This is exactly what happened to NRG as Astralis ran up a 8-0 scoreline. What is worse about this particular pistol is that it got dev1ce an AWP in the second round and that stopped NRG’s second round forcebuy dead. That in turn let Astralis get to the double AWP setup with full utility which was critical in enabling their defense. Astralis had learned a few things from their previous encounter against NRG in the group stage. They figured out that if they denied early map control to NRG, especially towards ivy with an early smoke, that NRG became predictable and easier to control across the map. With the double-AWP setup, they could have dev1ce hold the B-ramp and this freed up Xyp9x to move around the map. He could either help Dupreeh and gla1ve take early control of T-main or play at CT tunnel, which countered NRG’s heavy 3 man splits from ivy. Even with Astralis’ better preparation, NRG made a great accounting for themselves. Once the economic game evened out, NRG got 5 rounds on their T-side. If NRG don’t screw up the pistol round and let Astralis snowball the economy, we could have seen a third map in this particular series. This gets into the second problem, preparation. Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz is the in-game leader of NRG and has stated he believes anti-stratting is a losing gamble. His reasoning is that if you put in a lot of time in anti-stratting and if the team plays completely different, then there is no plan B. While this is a fine theory in general, it hurt against Astralis in specific as this let Astralis stay a step ahead of NRG tactically through Train and Overpass. Astralis used similar tactics and ideas on Overpass as they did against Liquid, but NRG didn’t come prepared with any answers. Gla1ve was surprised by the lack of preparation and said in an interview afterwards, “There are different ways of preparing. Theirs is talking on interviews. Ours is actually preparing.” The final and most important factor is experience. NRG is an aggressive and individualistic team. While tactics are important, their primary win objectives comes down to player performance, particularly from their star trio of: Brehze, Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov, and Ethan “Ethan” Arnhold. While Brehze played amazingly, CeRq and Ethan underperformed massively in the semifinals compared to how they did in the rest of the tournament. This is probably a lack of experience coming into play as tournament nerves has haunted these young players since they hit the international stage last year when Damian “daps” Steele was their leader. Until the young stars can start performing on stage, NRG cannot win championships. Once they do though, then NRG could challenge both Astralis and Liquid. They’ve shown that they have what it takes to be beat both teams. If they can add some finishing touches to their team, there is no reason why they can’t be the best team in the world. Going into ESL New York I’ve outlined the various problems that Liquid and NRG need to address in their potential rematch against Astralis. Liquid will need to rethink their overall map veto strategy and fix up their CT-side of Overpass. NRG need to reconsider how they want to prepare for Astralis in specific and hope that their young players can start delivering on high pressure situations. What I didn’t go over though was what Astralis will do in the meantime. What made Astralis awe-inspiring in 2018 was how they used their time between tournaments to come up with new tactical or strategic innovations that defined the meta of the game. CS:GO looks to be a three way race between Liquid, NRG, and Astralis to see which of them can close out the year as the best team in CS:GO. With other teams finishing up their roster shuffles like Vitality and FaZe, we could potentially see one of the most competitive fields in CS:GO history

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: Fnatic need a consistent philosophy to get back to the top ESLFnatic were once the pre-eminent organization in CS:GO. They dominated the scene, had an era, and were the benchmark of greatness. However, those days have passed, and from August 2017 to 2019 they have become one of the most frustrating teams to watch. They oscillate between extreme poles in roster changes and results. Sometimes they recruit a young up-and-comer, other times they reach back into the past and recruit a veteran. They have had incredible highs and terrible lows. They can be in a grand final one moment and then lose in the first round of group stages in the next. This inconsistency comes from their contradictory philosophies of how to build their CS:GO team. In order for Fnatic to get back to the top, they need a consistent methodology that informs how they want to go forward in the future. The Beginning First, I’ll explain why I started the examination of Fnatic’s roster shuffles from August 2017. At that period of time, Fnatic had just ended the first reunion. To recap, the lineup of: Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, Jesper “JW” Wecksell, Robin “flusha” Ronnquist, Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer, and Dennis “dennis” Edman broke up at ELeague Season 1 in 2016. The prolonged stay in Atlanta broke the team apart and caused the Swedish schism. JW, flusha, and KRIMZ went to GODSENT while olofmeister and dennis stayed in Fnatic. KRIMZ later rejoined the team on October 24th, 2016, and eventually the team made a full reunion on Feb. 4th, 2017 as all five players reunited. The team stayed together through most of 2017. They had decent results, with their best being a second place at DreamHack Summer 2017. After getting top 8 at the PGL Krakow Major, the team broke apart. Olofmeister joined FaZe and dennis went to GODSENT. The reason I’ve chosen to start at this point is because the direction of Fnatic’s roster choices fundamentally changed at this point in time. From 2013 to 2017, the roster changes had a clear direction. Fnatic wanted to build around young Swedish talents. They started with Epsilon Esports, which had flusha and JW. They added Markus “pronax” Wallsten as their leader. After winning the DreamHack Winter 2013 Major, they eventually recruited olofmeister and KRIMZ from LGB eSports. Once Olofmeister and Dennis changed, roster construction became more inconsistent and incoherent, often with moves that seemed to directly contradict each other. Fnatic 2017-2019: One Step Forward, One Step Back There are two themes that characterize Fnatic’s roster moves from 2017 to 2019. The first is a forward-looking approach as they continued to aggressively try to recruit young up-and-coming players. The latter was a reactionary approach. Each time Fnatic hit a hard wall, whether internally or in results, they tried to revert backwards in time. They looked to past players or periods of time and tried to resurrect past glories. We see the first philosophy come into play on August 20th, 2017 with their first two pickups: Maikil “Golden” Selim and Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson. Golden was the in-game leader of Fnatic’s academy squad and Fnatic promoted him into the main squad. Lekr0 showed potential in his debut with GODSENT, but was an afterthought during the Swedish shuffles of 2016. In the ensuing months, Fnatic grew in stature as they started to do better in online leagues and then started to qualify for LANs. This culminated with a very strong run that ran from the end of 2017 to the beginning of 2018. They got Top 4 at ESL Proleague Season 6 Finals, top 4 at ECS Season 4 Finals, and Top 8 at the Boston Major. Cracks started to show in February 2018 when Renegades eliminated them in the group stages of StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 4. At that point in time, rumors started to circulate that Fnatic were kicking Golden. Despite the internal issues, Golden led the team to three more big finishes as they won IEM Katowice 2018, WESG, and got top 4 at DreamHack Marseille. After that period though, things started to break down. Lekr0 was benched as he was moving to NiP. Richard “Xizt” Landstrom joined the team as the new in-game leader. To avoid public backlash, Fnatic transitioned Golden out of the team slowly. They moved him from in-game leader to entry-fragger, which was a terrible fit for Golden given his individual skill. After failing as an entry-fragger, they replaced him with William “draken” Sundin. This second series of roster changes made the least amount of sense. From the outside, Golden looked to be doing a fine job as in-game leader, as the team had a consistent system that was getting them results. In contrast to that, Xizt had failed to make his system work in NiP. The internal issues must have been serious as Fnatic went against the objective results of what each leader had done, and decided to go with Xizt over Golden. Where Golden and Lekr0 characterized Fnatic’s forward thinking, Xizt characterized their reactionary approach. They didn’t believe that Golden was working, so they reached back to the past to see if there was any in-game leader that could. They decided on Xizt as he was the leader of the legendary NiP squad and still had good individual form. The draken move made less sense than the Xizt move. Fnatic realized that there was no need to have both Golden and Xizt on the same team. With the draken move, I’m not certain what their plan was as draken and JW were the same type of player. Wild-card aggressive playmakers who usually excel with the AWP. Fnatic came to this realization quickly as draken’s time on the team was brief. He played on the team for a little over three months. Fnatic then made a third set of roster changes. They benched Flusha, swapped draken for Simon “twist” Eliasson, and got Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin into the team. All things considered, this was a good roster move. Fnatic needed more firepower and a role player. Brollan filled the role of additional firepower they needed, while twist became a role player for the team. The team then had their best result since the Golden period, where they got top 4 at IEM Chicago. It was a great result considering that they took Astralis to the very brink of elimination before losing. They then followed it up with an okay top 4 at IBUYPOWER Masters, before bombing out of the IEM Katowice Major as VICI Gaming, Winstrike, and G2 all beat them. It was an embarrassing loss as they were ranked #1 in the Challengers Stage. The time period together was short, but it looked like Fnatic had inherited the same problems that NiP had with Xizt’s leadership. Xizt runs a loose system that gives a lot of freedom to the stars of the team. When the teamplay and individual form was on point, NiP could pull out magical victories (most notably at IEM Oakland). When they couldn’t, they were often mediocre. This pattern repeated itself in Fnatic and after the IEM Katowice 2019 Major, continued to repeat. Fnatic had great results at StarSeries i-League Season 7 and IEM Sydney where they got 2nd. They followed this up by bombing out of DreamHack Masters Dallas, EPL9, ESL Cologne, and the EU Minors. This caused another round of reactionary changes. Fnatic have decided to re-recruit Golden and Flusha. Their current lineup is a repeat of their late 2017 lineup, except with Brollan instead of Lekr0. The Price of Contradictory Philosophies Fnatic’s almost bipolar approach has cost them in the long term. While most of the changes have some logic or sense in the context of the immediate present, the roster moves don’t have a lot of forward thinking involved. For instance, it made sense in 2017 to combine the veterans with a new leader and young star player. Sweden had a lack of in-game leaders, so it was worth gambling the time to invest in one. There were no Swedish players during that period that could be stars at an elite level, so it made sense to get someone that could potentially develop into that one day. What’s strange about Fnatic is that they never capitalized on that potential coming to fruition. They got rid of Golden after he had succeeded with the lineup in early 2018 and Lekr0 left to join NiP. Instead of trying to gamble on another pair of young players, they went for a lineup with a combination of players that had low growth potential: Xizt and draken. Xizt is fairly set in his ways as a player and in-game leader. As he is in his late 20s, it’s unlikely that he will make a breakthrough and completely revamp his game. As for draken, he’s fairly young and can still develop his game. But the set of players that Fnatic had surrounding draken made that a low possibility. Draken had already played for 11 months in NiP with Xizt as a leader. Leaders are often the catalysts to young players improving their game, but in draken’s case his development in NiP was static. While it was possible that the other teammates could help draken develop, it seemed implausible. Especially when you consider that draken and JW shared similar roles as the aggressive wildcard player. Read more: Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The s1mple Question – Fnatic realized that Xizt as a leader was not going to work and have reverted back to Golden. So what did this realization cost? About one year’s time and a bunch of unanswered questions. Fnatic still don’t know whether or not Golden is the correct leader for them. Golden was kicked out of Fnatic before they could see whether he would continue to grow or decay. In addition to that, Golden likely hasn’t grown much as an in-game leader considering that he was playing for Cloud9, which resembled the world’s longest musical chairs game rather than an actual CS team. If Fnatic had stuck with their initial idea of building around young talent, they’d have a better understanding of whether or not keeping or kicking Xizt is the right move. While Fnatic have a set 5 now, their biggest concern is figuring out a consistent approach to how they want to build their team. This bipolar approach they’ve had for the last two years has not been working and has yielded less returns as time has gone on. What Fnatic need to figure out Before Fnatic can figure out what direction they want to go, they need to answer some difficult questions. Is it possible for an all-Swedish team to become the best in the world? If so, what are the conditions for that to happen? Does Fnatic have the correct players to fulfill those conditions? Let’s first assume that it’s possible that an all-Swedish team can become the best in the world. What are the conditions for that to happen? If you look at all of the best Swedish teams in history, they played off of great teamplay and individual form. They often used loose systems to enable their individual skills. As that’s the case, the biggest problem that faces Sweden is their lack of in-game leaders. Pronax is no longer good enough to compete. Xizt is static and has inherent problems. Lekr0 hit a roadblock leading NiP. Golden has only had success with the Fnatic squad of late 2017 to early 2018. None of his Cloud9 rosters showed any promise. The most successful Cloud9 roster was actually led by flusha and flusha doesn’t have the rigor to do in-game leading full-time. Given the situation, Golden seems to be the best bet that Fnatic can make. If he doesn’t develop into an in-game leader, then Fnatic will have to question the validity of whether or not it’s possible to win with an all-Swedish lineup. Even if Golden does become that leader, Fnatic have to figure out what players they need to surround him with. This comes to the next problem, individual skill. While Sweden has plenty of talent, no one stands out as a world dominator. The last time Sweden had a player at the top five level was KRIMZ in 2018. As that is the case, it seems like Fnatic’s best strategy currently is to gamble on Golden and hope that KRIMZ can regain that form. The final question they have to ask is whether or not JW can be part of such a team? We’ve seen brief moments and runs of vintage JW and we’ve also seen JW be largely ineffective. If Fnatic believe that JW can be part of such a team, then they also need to build a team around his particular characteristics as well. JW works best in systems that have a solid and flexible framework. The Fnatic of 2014-2015 had impeccable teamplay and consistency that let JW go rampant. Earlier this year, vintage JW returned as he found ways to be the aggressive wildcard player with the rifle as well as an AWP. For JW to succeed at the highest level, he needs room to take aggressive gambles. In order for that to be possible, the team needs consistent firepower and flexible role players that can fill the gaps. Fnatic’s second chance The time for Fnatic to act is now. Their current lineup gives them a second chance to do it all over again as they have: Golden, Flusha, KRIMZ, JW, and Brollan. In terms of timing, this is a great chance for Fnatic to answer all of the questions I posed above. Right now, Fnatic should be in an extremely powerful position in the Swedish scene. They are the best team in that scene and their closest competitor is NiP. NiP’s stock has dramatically fallen in the last few months and this leaves Fnatic with the option to get first pick at almost all of the talent in the Swedish scene. If you look at the in-game leader situation, Fnatic have the two best candidates for leader in their team: Golden and flusha. They can figure out if either of them has the necessary qualities it takes to lead a Swedish team to the top. In terms of skill, the timing looks pretty good. Brollan is still developing and looks good given the context of his career. While KRIMZ has fallen off from his early 2018 form, that incredible form came under the Fnatic period when Golden was in-game leading. It’s within reason to assume that KRIMZ can get back to that level. The same could be said for JW as he has had some vintage performances in 2019. The only question mark is flusha, but he showed a renewed form after Fnatic benched him and he moved to Cloud9. While he’s coming back from hiatus, he’s shown an uncanny ability to regain peak form. All things considered, the biggest hurdle that Fnatic has right now is their methodology. If they can figure that out, they can systematically answer all of the questions. They can know if Golden or Flusha can be the leader of a top team. If Sweden has the talent to build another world dominator. If JW can fit into such a lineup. If Fnatic do it correctly, they have a chance to get back to the top.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: CSGO Buy and Sell Post-Malmo ESLThis is the post-DreamHack Masters Malmo edition Buy and Sell for CS:GO. Imagine for a moment that each team was a stock, and we have to buy low and sell high. In other words, buy teams whose stocks are lower than expected value and will produce a better return when they put in better results at future tournaments. Likewise, sell stocks of teams that have hit their maximum potential and that will drop off. BUY: Natus Vincere Roster: Egor “flamie” Vasilev – Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev – Denis ‘electronic” Sharipov – Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov – Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs – Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy (COACH) – Na`Vi is the easiest team to buy into right now. Their performance at DreamHack Masters Malmo answered a lot of potential questions I had for the team. The first and biggest was the style of play they were going to go for. Whether it was going to have leftover influences from Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko, a structured B1ad3 style, or a loose style. I personally favored the loose style as Na`Vi have four highly skilled players. This is what we saw in Malmo. All of the players were given a lot of freedom to do what they want. What particularly excites me about this squad is how B1ad3 envisions it. In a HLTV interview he says, “The thing is, the most important part of the system is to give a lot of freedom to all our players at specific moments of the game. They play like 60% structured and 30-40% with freedom, which changes from opponent to opponent because we need to change our playstyle based on that.” This squad has a very aggressive mindset and likes to create individual plays. If B1ad3 can succeed in having them analyze situations in a similar manner (ala what Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo did for LG/SK in 2016), then this team should be incredible. Outside of the system, I saw other positive elements. Na`Vi’s default should have three ongoing threats at any given moment. With electronic, GuardiaN, and Boombl4 in the center and s1mple/flamie on the wings, Na`Vi have an insane pick potential in any scenario. S1mple and electronic are both flexible enough to play in the pack or on the wings and this could change the makeup of any default they run. Another boon of this free system is that GuardiaN seems to be in better form now than when he was on FaZe. Finally, the progression of the team is really fast. They haven’t had much time to practice, they’ve scrapped most of the Zeus style and playbook, s1mple has changed roles, and they got a top four placement. If this team hits their potential, they can give Liquid a run for their money in firepower. Overall, I see them breaking into the top four by early 2020. Vitality Roster: Dan “apEX” Madesclaire – Cedric “RpK” Guipouy – Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – Alex “ALEX” McMeekin – Richard “shox” Papillon – Remy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (COACH) – This may seem like a strange buy considering they just got second at DreamHack Masters Malmo, but hear me out. I’m buying them on the premise that Team Liquid, Astralis, and Evil Geniuses are the top three teams in the world and that Vitality will replace one of them at the top. If you look at the games at DreamHack Malmo, Vitality’s tactics and CT-side are largely unchanged from when Nathan “NBK” Schmitt was playing. Shox has largely taken on the same roles that NBK had in the team, so this is a direct upgrade role for role. For now there are no internal schisms that will make them re-haul their internal communications like they had to do at the Major. As that’s the case, it’s reasonable to believe that Vitality will continue their mid-2019 level of consistency. During that period they were the second best team in the world, but couldn’t yet top Team Liquid. Since the player break, Liquid have dropped off their level of form while ZywOo seems to have gotten even stronger than before. As that’s the case, it’s possible for Vitality to upset Liquid in that direct head-to-head. What’s more, Vitality may not even have to directly beat them as other teams can upset Liquid, most notably Astralis. If you compare Vitality to Astralis head-to-head, I believe Vitality have the upper-hand in terms of the map pool. So while Astralis have had a resurgence since their Major victory, Vitality should be favored in that matchup. The only real question mark is EG, but we still don’t know what EG’s average day will look like. Finally, the addition of Shox has added extra impact. Shox hasn’t resurrected his all-time form, but he is having Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth levels of impact. If shox can consistently get his 1v1s and impact rounds, that should be enough to raise Vitality’s world rankings. All things considered, Vitality are in good condition to be a top 2-3 team in the world. Mousesports Roster: Chris “chrisJ” de Jong – Robin “ropz” Kool – Finn “Karrigan” Andersen – Ozgur “woxic” Eker – David “frozen” Cernansky – Coach: Allan “Rejin” Petersen – Mouz is one of the hardest teams to rate right now. Depending on where you stand, you can either buy into their potential or sell it off. If you’re look at their positives, Mouz are on the very cusp of breaking into elite status. At the Berlin Major, they lost to Liquid in two epic overtime games in the group stages. The same thing happened again in Malmo where they lost to Vitality in the quarterfinals. At the same event, they beat EG in a bo3 in the loser’s bracket. In terms of tactics, the team continues to find new and different ways to enable their young stars. For instance, they’ve started incorporating ropz into more aggressive duel scenarios on Dust2. Woxic has started to come into his own and karrigan has been a legit fragger in big series. He was their best player in the Liquid series and a good player in the Vitality series. Beyond that, Mouz seem close to having a seven map pool and can utilize it to great effect with Karrigan at the helm. If you’re looking to sell them off, you only need to look at their results. While they play amazing games, beat elite teams, and have close series, they haven’t made deep runs into tournaments. It’s been a notable pattern, the most egregious being Mouz’s loss at V4 to Virtus.Pro. Mouz’s firepower is polarized their young three stars. While each have great potential, we still don’t know when they will break through, become stars, and win the big clutch moments that swings series. Thus far Mouz have been on the other side of the equation. All things considered though, I recommend a buy. From my standpoint, one of two things happens. Either the young Mouz stars break through like what the Liquid/EG stars did or they make a potential roster change. Mouz have a history of being good with their roster changes, so if they did make the change, I’d feel confident that with Karrigan as the leader they won’t lose any ground if it did happen. As both scenarios pay off, I think you should buy into Mouz. SELL: AVANGAR Roster: Timur “buster” Tulepov – Alexey “qikert” Golubev – Dzhami “Jame” Ali – Sanjar “SANJI” Kuliev – Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev – Dastan Akbayev (COACH) – AVANGAR was an easy sell to me. They made it to the finals of the StarLadder Berlin Major and won BLAST Moscow. The Major run was a good achievement, but the BLAST Moscow run was less impressive. BLAST Moscow was a bunch of bo1s against teams like Ninjas in Pyjamas, MiBR, ENCE, and Na`Vi with Zeus. The finals was between AVANGAR and forZe. On the other hand, AVANGAR’s Major run was good. They beat Renegades and Liquid in bo1s. They then beat G2, Vitality, and Renegades to make it to the finals. The problem for me though is that the circumstances of the Major aren’t repeatable. The major came after the player break which randomized the form of the players. Liquid weren’t nearly as good as they were after the break as they were before for instance. In addition to that, AVANGAR was one of the least studied teams in the field. They had just made a player change before and hadn’t attended any massive LANs. The only one they did go to before the Major was EMF CS:GO World Invitational where they lost 1-3 to FURIA. Once top teams start studying AVANGAR and figuring out their playstyle, it will be a lot harder for AVANGAR to get these kinds of results. AVANGAR have a fairly set way of playing and nothing about the team tells me that they will adapt and evolve like the other top teams do from tournament to tournament. While AVANGAR has some good players like buster, qikert, and Jame, having skilled players isn’t enough to get to finals or win them. Overall, I think AVANGAR will hover around 9-15 on the world rankings. FURIA eSports Roster: Yuri “yuurih” Gomes – Andrei “arT” Piovezan – Vinicius “VINI” Figueiredo – Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato – Henrique “HEN1” Teles – Nicholas “guerri” Nogueria (COACH) – FURIA are already declining from the heights they reached in mid-2019. When I look at this team, I compare them to the Vega Squadron squad that had Nikolay “mir” Bityukov and Leonid “chooper” Vishnyakov or the TyLoo lineup that got top four at IEM Sydney 2018. FURIA has good firepower. Their most consistent players are yuurih and KSCERRATO. FURIA adding in HEN1 over Rinaldo “ableJ” Moda should increase their firepower even further and raise their ceiling. However like Vega and TyLoo, there is a stylistic limit to the CS that FURIA play. FURIA’s style of play is analogous to the davai style of CIS Dota. Everyone goes all-in on their individual plays and the cohesion of the squad is generated from all five players having a similar mindset This kind of play is exciting to watch, but limited in scope. What’s more, FURIA’s style of play isn’t a paradigm shift or a revolution. It’s possible that a stylistic team could become a world beater, but in order to do so they need to break the meta in some way (like what Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer did with LDLC). FURIA’s fun to watch, but they aren’t at that level. As that’s the case, the more FURIA play this style, the better their opponents will get to adapting and countering it. So even though the firepower is better than before, FURIA’s style has will cap their growth. While this sounds like a criticism of FURIA, I actually applaud FURIA for running this style. It is the style that will get FURIA their best results possible given their lineup. They don’t have the experience, personnel, or team to play like Astralis, Liquid, or Vitality. However that also means that their best results would come during their first debut into the international scene when no one realized how they play. As the months go on, they will decline in results. FURIA should continue to be a dangerous upset team, but their overall results will diminish. ENCE Roster: Aleksi “allu” Jalli – Jere “sergej” Salo – Jani “Aerial” Jussila – Sami “xseveN” Laasanen – Miikka “suNny” Kemppi – Coach: Slaava “Twista” Rasanen – Things have been hard on ENCE since the removal of Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen. They attended three events in a row: BLAST Moscow, ESL New York, and DreamHack Malmo. They had bad results at all three. They got fifth at Moscow, lost in the groups at ESL New York, and FURIA eliminated them at Malmo. While these are all terrible results, they have to be considered in context. ENCE had just made a roster change and should have had no time to prepare. This was compounded by constant traveling, jet lag, and pressure of wanting to perform without Aleksib. For all of those reasons, I don’t judge ENCE that harshly for these results. In fact, these results are largely tertiary reasons as to why I’m selling ENCE. There are two reasons why I’m selling ENCE. The first is that there are too many good teams on the rise for me to believe that the ENCE I saw could raise their level and match them any time soon. We currently have Liquid, Astralis, EG, Vitality, Fnatic, Na`Vi, and Mouz all hovering at the top. The ENCE I saw likely don’t have time to figure out all of their problems to become good enough to fight teams on that level. The secondary reason is because there are too many factors that need to go ENCE’s way for them to regain that level. The past Aleksib lineup had great tactics, teamplay, and a strong mentality. Aleksib was creating cohesive halves that controlled the pace of the game. The executes and hits stacked on top of each other and created a symphony of tactics that made me rank Aleksib as the best tactical leader of 2019. I saw none of that in the past three events for ENCE. Outside of the tactics, the strong mentality has disappeared. ENCE in mid-2019 had to be beat. They never lost the game due to their own nerves. ENCE always forced their opponent to elevate their level to win. ENCE often made rallies from behind and put the pressure on the enemy. Conversely, ENCE without Aleksib falls apart when they are in the lead and haven’t shown the same grit or composure in similar scenarios. In terms of firepower, this roster is better on paper than the last one. The problem though is that suNny needs time to get back into his peak form as he was out of the game for a long time. What’s more, that isn’t a guaranteed thing considering that he was slumping at the end part of Mouz. On top of that, Allu becoming the in-game leader will affect his AWPing. When ENCE was a top three team in the world, Allu was a top 10-15 player in the world. That will likely drop now that he has to split his attention to leading as well. The only counter-point I can see right now is that ENCE have time to really prep and build up their game. If Twista can fix all their problems in that downtime, then it’s possible for ENCE to comeback. All things considered though, I have to recommend selling on ENCE.

Stuchiu: Why Valde joining OG is the right move for his career Valdemar “valde” Bjorn is one of the best players in the world. For the last two years, he was the franchise player and superstar of North. That chapter of his career as he has joined OG. The decision to move from North to OG is the right move for valde’s career as a player. The Next Great Dane valde hit the scene at the end of 2016 in the Heroic lineup. He was the star of the team, but what made him stand out was that he had great skill and game sense, a rare combination to have in a rising star. This resulted in a strong all-around game that has only expanded in the ensuing years. His rising skill caught the eye of the top Danish teams, so when North benched Emil “Magisk” Rief, valde was the natural player for them to pick up. The lineup during this period was: Philip “aizy” Aistrup, Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen, Rene “cajunb” Borg, valde, and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke. On paper, the lineup looked amazing, but it never reached its full potential. During this time period from late 2017 to early 2018, valde was the secondary star of the team. The primary star was k0nfig, a brilliant aggressive superstar with the highest mechanical ceiling of any Danish player. However, k0nfig had personality issues that made him hard to work with and North took him off the for Markus “kjaerbye” Kjaerbye. Kjaerbye was the secondary star of Astralis in 2017, and had none of the teamwork problems of k0nfig. North also replaced cajunb for Daniel “mertz” Mertz at the primary AWPer position. The mix that North created never quite worked out, but during this time period valde rose up as the next great Dane. Like aizy, Kjaerbye, and k0nfig before him, many considered valde to be the next great Danish superstar in the making. That reputation stuck to him as he only got better despite North’s mixed results. For a single moment, it looked like North had hit the jackpot. In August 2018, North got Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen as their fifth. The lineup was: MSL, valde, kjaerbye, niko, and aizy. The team pulled out a miracle run at DreamHack Stockholm where they beat Astralis twice to win the tournament. However, they crashed at the FACEIT London Major and the lineup died as North replaced MSL with Casper “cadiaN” Moller. The decision to replace MSL didn’t work and the team soon declined. During this period though, valde’s stock went up even higher as he looked good enough to break into the top 5 players in the world. However North needed a leader and valde took it upon himself to be that leader. North shifted the role over to valde and replaced cadiaN with Jakob “JUGi” Hansen. It was unfortunate timing as the shift to in-game leader sidetracked his path to the stardom, but it showed his resolution to win. In the ensuing months, North did a fairly good job, but it had come at the cost of valde being a superstar. By October 11th, valde was put on the inactive roster as he was planning to join OG. Nothing left to gain valde’s decision to leave was good timing on every level. In terms of the larger context of the scene, there were multiple esports organizations looking to get into the space. In terms of lineups, both Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Nathan “NBK” Schmitt were kicked from their teams and were now making their own. Both Aleksib and NBK were recently successful with ENCE and Vitality respectively. Both squads were top 3 teams in the middle of 2019. Aleksib was the in-game leader of ENCE which was all the more impressive as ENCE’s primary win condition was their tactics. As for NBK, he was a legend in the scene. A brilliant flex player who could play any role depending on what his team needed. Both players were also part of a structured system which was more akin to the way Danish CS works. Thus it was a more natural fit for valde to join a squad with Aleksib and NBK at the core rather than joining the looser and more individualistic FaZe clan. This move makes the most sense on a personal level though. As a player, the two biggest reasons to stick with a team is personal growth and to win. A potential tertiary reason is loyalty. In terms of personal growth, there was nothing left to gain for valde. He had swapped roles multiple times, played with coaches like Torbjorn “mithR” Nyborg and Alexander “ave” Holdt. After those two years, valde was a complete player. As a player, valde could play nearly any role and almost any position. This translated to having a strong versatile game while having a good sense for the overall tactical schema. valde can win duels in the early round, make good reads in the mid-round, and clutch the 1vX. His awareness, positioning, timing, and teamplay makes him one of the most well-rounded players in the game today. If I had to pick the closest comparable, he reminds me of Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson. Someone who combines game sense with mechanics and can impact any part of the round. If we’re talking about more generalized roles, valde had already acted as the primary star, secondary star, and in-game leader at different points in North. In terms of role and position, there wasn’t much more he could learn by sticking with North. If you look at winning chances, North was consistently regressing. After the initial North lineup fell apart with Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel leaving, the team was never able to find the right five. North’s seemed to focus on getting malleable players to build up rather than trying to work with brilliant, but flawed pieces. Magisk (at the time), k0nfig, and MSL are all brilliant players in their respective fields, but had some idiosyncrasies. Magisk has a fairly set role and his form suffered when the North system broke apart with RUBINO leaving. K0nfig had personality issues that the team couldn’t deal with. MSL is a brilliant tactician, but stubborn (as his map vetoes and style seems to indicate). Read more: Stuchiu: Why North Need MSL – Instead North opted for more malleable players, people that could work within the system. The problem for North was that none of their gambles or choices ever paid off. Kjaerbye was on a downswing when North got him and his best events before leaving Astralis were in the mixed events where they played a looser style. Aizy never got his superstar form back. Mertz couldn’t get to the next level as an AWPer. CadiaN never got close to the level of tactical leadership that MSL was at. The most confusing roster change of all was the decision to kick MSL after North bombed the FACEIT Major London. While it was a bad event, they didn’t even give the lineup time to figure out if it was a fluke or not. Overall, North never figured out that an organization can only build up a player so much, that there are some inherent strengths that naturally reside in a player and that the org needed to help or augment that player’s strengths and weaknesses. By the end of valde’s time on North, there was no upside in the short-term or long-term. Their current roster wasn’t going to make big runs. valde had been a part of North long enough to see that the organization couldn’t build a winning line-up and often regressed more than it advanced. The only other potential reason to stay was loyalty, but valde had already used two years of his career trying to carry the team. He even made the gamble if becoming an in-game leader, a role shift that can sometimes be fatal to player form (as we saw with Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski). Objectively speaking, by that point North owed more loyalty to valde than the other way around. valde had done everything possible by that point and if he wanted to win, he had to move on. The Positives of joining OG Beyond the reasons I’ve pointed out, there were very good reasons to want to join the OG squad. The core duo of Aleksib and NBK should be alluring to any international player, especially valde as he’s shown an appreciation for tactics and structure. Aleksib was the best in-game leader in the middle of 2019 and his style is fairly different than what any of the North squads ran. While valde is no longer a leader, playing in that type of system should help him develop his understanding of the game. NBK, on the other hand, is a legend. He is a two-time Major winner and has been a part of lineups that were contending for world championships. NBK is also one of the more successful GMs in CS:GO history as he was the Kingmaker of the French scene. There is a wealth of experience and ideas that could help valde grow even further. Finally, valde’s decision to join an international team opens up multiple doors for him. He can still go back to the Danish scene if any teams rise up, but he now has the option of joining international whether they be in Europe or America. For valde, this is the natural next step in his career.

Stuchiu: Why North Need MSL The North experiment has failed and they need MSL in order to get back on track in CSGO heading into 2020. While the team still retains a squad of skilled players: Philip “aizy” Aistrup, Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjaerbye, Nicklas “gade” Gade, Jakob “JUGi” Hansen, and Rene “cajub” Borg, there doesn’t seem to be a guiding light on their team. With Valdemar “valde” Bjorn leaving the team, it is time for North to consider getting Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen back into the team. MSL’s Career in Retrospect MSL remains one of the most underrated in-game leaders in the scene. Among the in-game leaders of today, he gets an undue amount of criticism from the community. He has faults and weaknesses, but he is rarely given the accolades he deserves for a leader in his position. From 2015 to now, he’s led multiple lineups to greater results than their on paper potential would suggest. The most memorable of the different lineups he led at the time was: himself, Kjaerbye, aizy, Jacob “Pimp” Winneche, and Nicolaj “Nico” Jensen. They were a solid top 10 team and looked to be on the verge of going even higher. Most famously they pushed EnVyUs to their limits in the Gfinity Summer Masters. Read More: New NA CSGO league reportedly forming – Before the squad could build towards anything greater, aizy left the team to play for G2. At the time aizy was the superstar player of Dignitas and popular sentiment was that he was the next great Danish talent. If superstar talent was the primary reason why Dignitas was more successful than it should have been a blow the team couldn’t recover from. That didn’t happen as MSL had structured his team in such a way that it let the next man up shine so long as they had the talent. After aizy left the team, Kjaerbye stepped up as the next star. By mid-2016, Kjaerbye was another Danish superstar that people believed was going to represent the next generation of players. On May 19th, he was traded to Astralis for cajunb. This pattern of rising the ranks only for the superstar to join a better team is common in the tier2 scene of CS:GO. For aspiring in-game leaders, it is one of the hardest positions to get out of. The problem with this position is three fold. Teams at this level cannot recruit an experienced superstar. This forces them to scout for the next big talent and then help them grow into an eventual superstar. MSL has specialized in this exact situation throughout his career. As he told HLTV, “When I reflect on the past four years, I’m proud of what I accomplished, especially considering I’ve never had four players who were already ‘educated’ and had their shit under control, like on a team like Astralis.” So in 2016, MSL got the raw material he needed to make a big leap forward. In 2016, the best Dignitas lineup consisted of: MSL, cajunb, Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel, Emil “Magisk” Reif, and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke. MSL was the leader, cajunb the tactical consistent AWPer. Magisk and k0nfig were the stars of the team. Magisk the consistent passive lurker while k0nfig had insane mechanical skill that made him an unholy terror as an entry-fragger. When combined with MSL, the two of them consistently took map control, got even trades, and broke open sites. This culminated in the magical EPICENTER run where Dignitas won the event and looked like they could be the best team in the world. They were one of the many contenders during the uncertainty era and it looked like they could solidify their spot as a contender going forward. Soon after the players moved from Dignitas to North, but the lineup started to break at the seams. Under the spotlight, cracks started to form. Read More: Mousesports pull off miracle cs_summit 5 win – RUBINO stepped down and North never found a suitable fifth to take his spot. Cajunb was a stable AWPer, but limited in scope and started to get diminishing results as time went on. Magisk and k0nfig were still too early in their development. Magisk couldn’t keep the form he needed to be a consistent secondary superstar on North. MSL tried to change his roles to make him work, but it never quite worked. Magisk only recovered that form after he joined Astralis in 2018. North continued to make moves throughout the year, but never got to the same levels. Well except once in 2018. The North lineup at the time was: MSL, Kjaerbye, aizy, valde, and Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen. The team went to DreamHack Stockholm where they upset Astralis in two bo3 series. It was one of the most shocking upsets in CS:GO history as Astralis was in the prime of their era, but for that one tournament, MSL upended the Danish order with his tactics and MVP level AWPing. However, that wasn’t enough for North and they benched MSL soon after on September 27th. MSL’s style of leadership Now that we’ve gone through an overview of MSL’s career, it’s clear to see that MSL has been very successful at raising teams from scratching and bringing them close to contention status. To understand why he succeeded, we need to look at MSL’s style of captaincy. MSL is one of the great tactical minds of CS:GO. There are two elements to what makes him a great tactical mind. The first is his understanding of structure and roles. MSL is very good at knowing where to put young talent and maximizing their potential. He sets a rigid structure, assigns roles, and helps communication. As someone who was stuck in that strange tier 2 cycle where his best players got poached by better teams, it has become one of his specialties. He described the process a bit to Tomi “lurppis” Kovanen, “In general I think I come up with some structure that makes people feel comfortable and they know what to do and when to do it. I also think that I focus a lot on communication which makes it a lot easier for everyone within the team to perform.” The other aspect is his tactical acumen. If you could extrapolate the raw Xs and Os out of CS:GO and objectively quantify it, it wouldn’t surprise me if MSL ranks as one of the best tacticians in the game’s history. He was so good that Sean Gares put MSL on his Mount Rushmore of CS:GO leaders and once copied his strat book to beat a MSL team on cobblestone. Cobblestone in particular is a good showcase of MSL’s initial style. During the 2015-2016 period, he often used a tactical blitzkrieg. He drilled his teams in executing tactics at the exact same time. So he had fast executes on long, the B-site, fast splits on either site or do rushes up mid. By having them all timed near the early round, he made it impossible for CTs to hard counter all of the potential options. By being such a tactic-oriented team, he also took a bit of the burden off his young stars. In loose teams, young stars realize that they have to go off for the team to succeed. In MSL’s system, they know that even if they have an off game, they can play a role and still have a chance to win the game. Another thing to consider is MSL’s stability and consistency. He’s been an in-game leader for years with a wide variety of different lineups. Despite whatever players you surround him with though, all of his teams have a distinct MSL personality. This comes from his structure. While I’ve heaped praise on MSL’s leadership, he does have flaws. In the map veto, he’s largely been an absolutist. A leader who always picks into his team’s confident pick rather than going for relative strength against relative weakness. This has hurt his squads as MSL is always able to build a fairly wide map pool for all of his teams. It’s hard to say whether this is to help bolster the confidence of his young players or because he has absolute confidence in his team to win regardless. Whatever the case, this means that he can’t take full advantage of his own team’s map pool or exploit weaknesses. Another problem is his use of veteran players. MSL had both Pimp and cajunb transition from hybrid to full AWP roles. While they did their jobs, neither were particularly successful at the elite stage. Strangely enough, MSL’s best solution to this problem has been taking up the AWP himself. While it works for now, it’s hard to imagine a world where MSL can lead a team to #1 in the world while also being the AWPer. The final problem is that MSL is stubborn, which is both a positive and negative. His stubbornness and adherence to his style is what makes him a great tactical mind and one of the best at raising young players. It can also hinder him when it comes to evaluating his teams pr map vetos. In the Dignitas lineup where Pimp was the AWPer for instance, he couldn’t recognize that it was hurting Pimp’s game and that the team needed to move the AWP to someone else. It is also worth noting that MSL isn’t a good individual player, so lineups have to be built with that in mind. What have North done since the MSL kick? When North kicked MSL in September 2018, it was a bold and shocking move. While North had failed at the Major, they had also just won DreamHack Stockholm over Astralis. So kicking MSL at that juncture was a message that North thought that they could build a better team and system without him. It’s been a year since then, plenty of time for the team to experiment and prove that they could do better than what MSL’s Dignitas and North lineups. In that time we saw North bring inCaspar “cadiaN” Moller as the AWPer/leader for MSL. That move was largely a bust. They then moved valde into the in-game leadership role. The move was questionable as moving a player into the in-game leadership role could kill his form (as we saw with Janusz “Snax Pogorzelski or Denis “seized” Kostin). It was even more confusing as Valde was burgeoning on top 5 player form. In the end, Valde’s form did drop off, but it was likely more due to his role change than any drop in performance. Once valde moved to the leadership role, he focused more on enabling his teammates rather than securing positions for himself to succeed. Overall the gambled worked kind-of. Valde was a good fragging in-game leader, but if you analyze North’s overarching direction and sequence of events, the moves made little sense. The last North lineup with MSL won DreamHack Stockholm against prime Astralis. They kicked him for cadiaN. CadiaN didn’t make the team better and he wasn’t a leader they could develop into something more. That move was essentially a dud and was a data point showing that North didn’t really have an obvious direction as they weren’t trying to get better nor or build up for a better future. Valde taking on the role worked, but if you look at leaders historically, it takes years to build a team strong enough to become a contender. Valde is a top 10 player in the world and is ready to be a star of a championship team right now. There was no incentive for Valde to stay in North if a better team came knocking. North had kicked out the leader that had taken him there before and North’s subsequent moves had made them worse. So when OG came knocking, it made complete sense for Valde to move on. He had already tried his best to carry North as far as he could and no one could have asked for more. The case for MSL While I’ve been critical of North, they still have positives for the team. They have enormous backing and have an assortment of good players. What they need now is structure, tactics, and a leader that can bring it all together. MSL is that leader. Tactically, he is still one of the great minds of Counter-Strike. While he has some faults, he still strives to improve. When Alexander “ave” Holdt was his coach, he implemented a lot more mid-round calls into his tactics. When he was on Rogue, he could have mailed in the effort. Instead he made a real go of it and got them to a fairly good level. Before the OpTic roster blew up, it was probably the second best Danish lineup in the region and he did it amidst huge internal team problems. The timing also suggests that North need to make a move soon. With many orgs trying to build CS:GO teams, it’s possible that one of them will realize that MSL is a cornerstone piece to making a good team. If they build another team around MSL, then it will be too late. For North, the time to strike is now. North have the resources and players, but need a leader that can take them to the next level. MSL is a brilliant mind, but needs a good team to back him. Both have something the other needs right now, this is the move that North needs to make.

Stuchiu: Why Mouz keeps beating EG Bart Oerbekke for ESLMouz’s December run saw them solidify their spot in the top 5 with three tournaments victories and a second place at EPICENTER. One of the ongoing storylines of the Mouz run was their consistent beatdown of EG. So the question remains, why does Mouz beat EG? The Baseline Stats Before we get into some of the contextual reasons, we need to get some of the basic facts straight first. EG and Mouz have technically played in five series, but one of them had EG playing with Igor “crush” Shevchenko as a stand-in so we will only count four of them. As that’s the case, Mouz are 4-0 in series wins and 8-1 in map score. Their one loss was an overtime loss on Inferno. Outside of that they have three wins on Train, two on Overpass, two on Nuke, and one on Mirage. The four encounters happened at DreamHack Malmo, CS:GO Asia Championships, ESL Proleague Season 10 Finals, and EPICENTER. The first time they played at Malmo, it was a bit of a write-off as EG had just come off of their ESL New York victory and had one day of travel before going to DreamHack. However EG have continually lost to Mouz in the head-to-head, so that particular match now holds more meaning than it did at the time. However unlike the Astralis-EG map vetoes or the Astralis-Liquid map vetoes, there isn’t an obvious line that the two sides are fighting over. If you look at the stats, player form shifts around for the Mouz side, but generally speaking their players perform better. The problem is that there isn’t any specific man-to-man matchup that tells us why Mouz have a decisive edge. What’s more, it doesn’t seem to be a stylistic advantage like the Astralis-Liquid matchup. Liquid play towards a safe, slow, standard style which goes directly into Astralis’ best strengths, teamplay and reading the map. EG is more of a loose system while Mouz play a versatile and explosive style. If you look at the player form, it’s true that the Mouz players were brilliant in December, while EG’s form had fallen off, the most notable example being Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte. Even so, that isn’t enough to quite explain why the matchup is so Mouz favored. If I had to postulate, I think two factors are at play. The first is Karrigan’s preparation in the map veto and tactics and Mouz’s faster learning curve relative to EG. Karrigan’s Preparation The map veto is Karrigan’s calling card and he’s arguably the best map veto player in the world. The reason he’s brilliant at the map veto is because he’s great at conceptualizing and simulating the strengths and weaknesses of any given lineup. It’s also why he’s been the best in-game leader at leading international mixed lineups to success. One of his best tricks is to constantly shift what he’ll pick so that the other side can never get comfortable. This is what happened in the first three Mouz-EG battles. At Malmo the veto was: 1. mousesports removed Nuke 2. Evil Geniuses removed Vertigo 3. mousesports picked Mirage 4. Evil Geniuses picked Train 5. mousesports removed Inferno 6. Evil Geniuses removed Dust2 7. Overpass was left over Later at CS:GO Asia Championships the veto was: 1. Evil Geniuses removed Vertigo 2. mousesports removed Mirage 3. Evil Geniuses picked Overpass 4. mousesports picked Nuke 5. Evil Geniuses removed Train 6. mousesports removed Dust2 7. Inferno was left over Finally, the map veto at EPL 10 was: 1. mousesports removed Mirage 2. Evil Geniuses removed Vertigo 3. mousesports picked Train 4. Evil Geniuses picked Inferno 5. mousesports removed Overpass 6. Evil Geniuses removed Dust2 7. Nuke was left over In three different instances, Mouz picked three different maps as their first pick. At Malmo they went with Mirage, at CAC they went with Nuke, and at EPL 10 they went with Train. It’s hard to know why Karrigan decided to pick these different maps, but based on what I saw there were potentially good reasons for all of them. At DreamHack Malmo, EG had just gotten off the plane and had no time to prepare. At ESL New York and StarLadder Berlin, EG only played Mirage once in the quarterfinals at StarLadder Berlin and Na`Vi were the ones that picked the map. Given the time frame, the fact that EG avoided playing New York, and Mirage was a good map for Mouz, it looked to be a good punish pick at DreamHack Malmo. Even more so when you consider that Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz likes to run a fairly loose system, so it was unlikely that EG had come up with a different way of playing Mirage in the interim between Berlin and Malmo. This proved correct as Mouz were perfectly reading EG’s T-side throughout their half with mid-round pushes. EG liked to take mid control with 4 players around the 1:00 mark and Mouz exploited that multiple times. In the 21st round, they had David “frozen” Cernansky push T-con while Finn “karrigan” Andersen took B aps. Each push out gave them information and created setups that EG couldn’t flush out easily whether they went to A or B. In the 23rd round they did a three man crunch on mid that broke EG’s mid control. In the 24th, Robin “ropz” Kool played near window around the 1:00 mark to disrupt EG’s mid control, and in the 25th Karrigan did a peek from cat. It was a dominant CT-side victory and showed that Mouz had a clear idea of what EG wanted to do on Mirage. In the rematch at CAC, Mouz punish picked EG again. Instead of going to Mirage (which at this point had become a better map for EG and arguably why Mouz banned it), Karrigan went with Nuke. Nuke was a good map for EG in October, but they had lost their grip on it in November and had lost it twice at IEM Beijing. By the time EPL 10 came around, Mouz decided to change the map veto again. This time they went for Train as it was becoming something of a specialty map for the team. They smashed EG so hard on Train that Train became the defacto pick from that point forward whenever Mouz played against EG. Beyond the map veto, Karrigan once again showed his tactical preparation. On Nuke, Mouz 16-0’d EG. While EG didn’t play well on an individual level, Mouz were miles ahead when it came to reading what EG wanted to do. EG in general like to use yard nades in one of two ways. They either send one or two players toward secret and then send the remainder to take ramp, or they send a deathball to try to take control of yard. Mouz had the answer for either approach. Whenever EG tried to take ramp, they got caught in an ambush. In round 7, Chris “chrisJ” de Jong was boosted on the boxes in the corner and got a multikill that ended the round. In the 13th round, EG used a similar tactic, but this time ropz and Ozgur “woxic” Eker had a crossfire at the bottom of the ramp that ended their hopes of hitting the B-site. When EG tried to take control of yard, they ran into different setups from ropz and woxic or ropz and chrisJ. Overall Karrigan’s preparation in the map veto and for EG’s T-side was one of the decisive edges that Mouz has carried through their multiple encounters against EG. Faster Learning Curve The second reason is the faster learning curve. Both EG and Mouz had harsh schedules at the end of the year. Neither squad had a lot of time to rest as they went from LAN to LAN to LAN. The difference between the teams was the improvements they made along the way. At CAC, Karrigan made critical changes to the communication setup and the roles to take Mouz to the next level. He had frozen become the secondary lurker and ChrisJ take the entry role. He also had Woxic sit in the center of their setup to help facilitate communication better across the board. These small changes improved the chemistry, CT-sides, and T-side efficacy. In turn, it has helped solidify Mouz across their entire map pool. In contrast to that, EG have seen their map pool slowly disintegrate. When they were in brilliant form, they rode Inferno and Dust2, but once their form started to fall off, they weren’t able to find as much success across the other maps in the pool. This is why EG lost the psychological edge to Astralis at ECS Season 8 Finals. A more concrete example might be how both teams adapt throughout a half. In the EG vs forZe game at EPICENTER, EG lost to forZe 1-16 on Mirage. The loss wasn’t too indicative of anything as the match only decided the seeding in the playoff bracket. However one moment did stick out to me. ForZe used a two man T-con setup twice in their half, but EG had different players dealing with it in different rounds. Ethan “Ethan” Arnold played against it the first time and Tarik “tarik” Celik played against it the second time. Tarik should have been aware of the setup, but it wasn’t communicated or it slipped their minds as they weren’t particularly focused. In contrast to that, the Mouz players are constantly learning. Overpass was played twice between EG and Mouz at CAC and EPICENTER. The first time Mouz played against EG, they were using more aggressive setups towards long and toilets. These setups were getting killed off by EG’s takes for mid and long, so the second time they played, they focused more on water and short control. If you look at the 8th rounds of both games. At CAC, Mouz don’t have info in water, frozen pushed out long around the 0:45 mark and dies, and EG win the round. At EPICENTER, frozen plays more passively, ChrisJ pushes the water area around the 0:30 mark and is in position for a fast rotation, and woxic makes first contact with his AWP. Mouz made a bunch of small adjustments between their two encounters that made the difference. This also happens on the T-side. At CAC, in the 25th round, EG use a double-long setup and when they play again at EPICENTER, karrigan recognizes the setup and just goes straight up mid to plant the bomb. This difference in learning curve is correlated to each team’s respective map pool. By the time the Berlin Major ended, both teams seemed like they could play 6-7 maps in the map pool. As time has gone on, EG showed that they didn’t keep their Overpass strength that they had with the Damian “daps” Steele lineup. They looked hot on Train at Berlin, but it fell by the wayside. Their four strong maps are Inferno, Dust2, Nuke, and Mirage. In contrast to that, Mouz’s map pool became stronger. After changing some roles, their Train has become a specialty pick. They are as good as almost any of the top teams on Inferno and Dust2. Their Mirage and Nuke are more in the middle of their pool. It’s harder to gauge their exact strength, but they are competitive enough to beat Fnatic on Mirage and EG on Nuke. The two maps they don’t like to play are Vertigo and Overpass, but Mouz are still good enough to win either map if someone tries to punish pick into them. EG tried Overpass twice and Liquid tried Vertigo once. Mouz won those three encounters. Concluding Remarks on the Mouz-EG Matchup The Mouz-EG battles is considered a junior Astralis-Liquid battle of sorts. While I can see the comparisons, the reasons for the losses are different in nature. The Astralis-Liquid matchup is more of a strategic and stylistic advantage whereas the Mouz-EG matchup is harder to define. While Mouz beat EG, it isn’t something inherent in their style, so much as the progression of their respective teams. Karrigan’s preparation, Mouz’s growth, and EG’s decline seem to indicate that the results of the matchup are more about the strength of each team more than any specific stylistic advantage that Mouz has. As that’s the case, this rivalry can change depending on how the two teams grow in 2020. If Mouz hits a slump or EG revitalizes their map pool, we could see a switch in results.

Stuchiu: Why kicking Aleksib has failed ENCE so far On August 23rd, 2019, ENCE shocked the CS:GO world when they announced a change in their active roster as they benched their in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen for Miikka “suNny” Kemppi. The move was shocking, especially in the context that they were still going to play with Aleksib at the StarLadder Berlin Major, where they got a top 8 result. It has been two and a half months since that result, enough time to the effects of the kick on the ENCE roster and reflect on what has happened since. The Aleksib Period Before we can get into the aftermath of the Aleksib kick, we have to understand what the Aleksib under ENCE looked like. In the latter half of 2018, they assembled the lineup of: Aleksib, Jere “sergej” Salo, Jani “Aerial” Jussila, Sami “xseveN” Laasanen, and Aleksi “Allu” Jalli. Outside of Miikka “suNny” Kemppi, they seemed to have the best players that the Finnish scene had to offer. ENCE then grinded their way through the tier two/three scene of Counter-Strike. They had a gradual linear rise and eventually became the princes of the Tier 2 scene. This culminated in their breakout at the Katowice Major where they made a run to the finals. It was an awe-inspiring run, but hard to quantify as xseveN played far above expectations in the playoffs. xseveN never reached those heights again, but it didn’t matter. ENCE were a top three team and they laid any doubts to rest with their results. They beat Astralis at BLAST Madrid and ended Astralis’ undefeated streak on Nuke. They got top four at CS Summit 4 and second at DreamHack Dallas. ENCE powered their brilliant run through their system. Each of their players had fairly set roles. Allu was the AWPer, Aerial was the aggressive rifler, Aleksib the leader, sergej a strong anchor and wing player, and xseveN filled out the roles. The ENCE machine was brilliant. They had good roles for their players and among those, Allu and sergej stood out as the stars of the squad. What made the team click though was Aleksib’s tactics and their teamplay. ENCE liked to use structured defaults and fast paced executes. By mixing these two styles together, Aleksib dictated the pace of the game on the T-side. This often led to brilliant calls in the final rounds of the half as he was able to read, predict, and counter the setups or timings that the CTs wanted to use. ENCE’s teamplay was also notable as it was clear that the entire team was fairly coordinated with each other, especially in small man situations. They understood how to play these situations tactically as they often used map control, nade usage, and trading to get advantageous situations. A third factor was the rise of the AUG meta during this period. The ENCE lineup lacked firepower relative to big superstar names, but the AUG fortified their CT-side and closed the skill gap differential. All of these factors made ENCE mentally sturdy. They were a hard team to put away for nearly any team as they never seemed to lose heart. Even in the cases where ENCE lost badly, it was excusable. At Cologne, they lost a bo1 to NiP and then played Vitality. Vitality had a great matchup against ENCE in the head-to-head. Liquid smashed ENCE at Chicago, but Liquid also played at their absolute peak at that event. What’s more, despite getting only 2 rounds in the first map and 3 in the second, ENCE were still mentally strong enough to keep trying and pushed the third map to a 14-16 scoreline. For ENCE though, those results weren’t enough. On August 23rd, they made the move and replaced Aleksib for suNny. The Aleksib Kick The kick was one of the strangest roster moves the CS:GO community had seen since Fnatic kicked out Maikil “Golden” Selim. It was hard to wrap my head around it as the best aspects of the ENCE team seemed to flow from the in-game leader. Things like tactics, fundamentals, teamplay, and intangibles are usually correlated with the in-game leader. In ENCE’s case, we’ve seen Allu play in ENCE without Aleksib before and the team never looked this good or coordinated. Outside of the Allu, the rest of the players had no experience at this level of competition before. While they were good players, if we evaluated them by raw skill, they were outmatched by most of the top teams at the time. They made up for that with their intangibles: tactics, teamplay, and chemistry. All of this spoke to the impact of their leadership which came from Aleksib and their coach Slaava “Twista” Rasanen. So the decision to kick Aleksib was shocking and from the outside, only one of two possibilities existed. Either the community had vastly misjudged Aleksib’s impact as a leader or ENCE had. This disparity of opinion didn’t only exist between ENCE and the community, but also between ENCE and Aleksib himself. After ENCE got 13-16th at ESL One Cologne, Aleksib told VPEsports in an interview, “If we change a player now, I think it would ruin our team.” A little over a month later ENCE kicked him anyway. We’ve seen some glimpses into what the other ENCE members thought of the decision. Aerial told HLTV, “With Aleksib we just tried to play default and did the same executes all over again, so that’s how it’s different.” Allu was a bit more detailed as he said in a HLTV interview, “…inside the team, we kind of felt at one point that we just didn’t improve anymore…I think we just reached a point where we were kind of stuck. And we don’t want to be stuck, we want to be the best and that is the only reason we did this change.” The most damning statement came from the coach, who tweeted, “Didn’t want to go there at any point, but getting annoyed by everyone’s assumptions. If you would know the whole story about last 4~ months it would blow your minds.” Aleksib’s run with ENCE ended with a top 8 at StarLadder Berlin Major. Renegades (now 100 Thieves) beat them 2-0 and the entire CS:GO community was filled with photos of Aleksib sitting alone. The suNny move and a flurry of defeats While I’ve been critical of the decision to kick Aleksib, the decision to recruit suNny deserves plaudits. SuNny was the second best player on Mouz when they had their run from 2017-2018. While he dropped off towards the end and had a hiatus from the game, he was the player that ENCE needed to take a gamble on if they wanted to get to the next level. What’s more, he could fit directly into Aleksib’s old roles. Aerial echoed this in a HLTV interview, “He has more firepower than Aleksi, and we also thought that he is going to be even better at the roles Aleksib fulfilled because we thought that Aleksib had great roles almost on every map.” Despite the firepower upgrade, the first three tournaments were bombs. They got 5th at BLAST Moscow, lost in the Group Stages of ESL New York, and got 9-12th at DreamHack Malmo. While those were terrible losses, there are some caveats worth mentioning. The team had almost no time practice and traveled to the events back-to-back-to-back. This lack of preparation showed in their games as they played a more loose default style that relied more on individual skill. Since then they’ve had a month break and returned to LAN play at IEM Beijing. ENCE lost in the group stages once again as they lost 100 Thieves twice and also dropped a map to VG in their bo3 series. The most worrying thing about ENCE’s run is that they haven’t kept a modicum of the core identity of the Aleksib lineup. They’ve lost their ability to control and pace the T-side with any regularity. Their teamplay is no longer as fluid or interconnected as it once was. Their CT-sides have lost their adaptability. In their matchup against 100 Thieves for instance, they had a 11-4 T-side on Train, but were unable to read or adapt to the tactics that 100 Thieves used against them. When 100 Thieves did a fake outside, ENCE bit on it and then lost to a B hit. When ENCE played passively on the outside, 100 Thieves rocked them with an outer explosion. When ENCE played more aggressively, 100 Thieves ran them over at the B site. ENCE’s setups weren’t bad in and of themselves, but when considered in the context of reading the match, 100 Thieves outclassed them the entire way. What’s more when, ENCE played against them again in the elimination match, ENCE decided to pick nuke instead of Train, despite their 11-4 half on the T-side. This implies that they weren’t able to figure out what adjustments to make on their CT-side or that they lost confidence in their initial pick. Other Factors to Consider Since the Aleksib kick, it’s been a flurry of defeats for ENCE. While it’s been disappointing, we still need to put ENCE into the context of the times. The CS:GO scene now is different from the scene when ENCE was a top 3 team. A lot of the teams made roster changes to improve their stock in the post Berlin shuffle: fnatic, EG, FURIA, Na`Vi, FaZe, and Vitality just to name a few. As that’s the case, there was never a guarantee that even if ENCE kept the same lineup that they could have gotten the same results. We don’t know what results ENCE gets in the world where they decide to keep Aleksib in the lineup. Having said all of that, what’s telling for me is there consecutive matches against 100 Thieves. ENCE and 100 Thieves (formerly Renegades) are comparable teams when they first broke out earlier this year. Both of them were good tier 2 teams that didn’t have the breadth of talent that the other top teams possessed. Both teams rose up through a combination of tactics, teamplay, and accentuating the skill that they did have. ENCE went on to be a top 3 team in the world, but Renegades stalled out due to visa issues. Once Renegades got over those issues, they renewed their playbook and found themselves around the approximate area where they were before. A solid top 10 team angling to break into the top 5. In effect, 100 Thieves have kept their world standing close to where ENCE were at the beginning of the year. That is why the 100 Thieves-ENCE matches were the perfect litmus test to see if ENCE had progressed with their new lineup. They hadn’t, if anything ENCE have regressed. 100 Thieves convincingly beat them in three of the four maps. The closest was Train where ENCE was unable to stop the 100 Thieves comeback. The Aftermath The ENCE story hasn’t completely played out yet, but their window to prove everyone wrong is closing fast. It usually takes somewhere between 3-6 months for a new lineup to coalesce and reach their full potential. We are two and a half months into ENCE’s new lineup, but I haven’t seen any sparks of potential that makes me think that they can reach the heights they were previously at. Instead, I’ve seen a fairly basic team. They have decent enough tactics and teamplay and will go about as far as their individual skills will take them. That is the problem though as when ENCE was under Aleksib, Aleksib elevated the team far past where the limits of their individual skills. In the Aleksib period, teamplay, tactics, and intangibles shined the most. As of now, the biggest bright spot for ENCE is sergej. If the months roll by without any improvement, the decision to kick Aleksib will become the canonical event that will define the fall of ENCE. At that point ENCE will have to re-evaluate their decision. CS:GO competition is a wicked learning environment. You can have the right process, but still lose tournaments. You can have the wrong process and win tournaments. In those ensuing months before the Aleksib kick, what did they see that we as outsiders didn’t? Whether or not it was the right decision is something that only ENCE can answer themselves. For me though, I can’t help but look back at what Aleksib told VPEsports a month before his kick. At the time it was an innocuous statement, but as time goes on it comes off more and more as both warning and prophecy, “If we change a player now, I think it would ruin our team.”

Stuchiu: Why Golden’s return from exile has resurrected Fnatic Maikil “Golden” Selim’s career is one of the strangest in Counter-Strike. After leading Fnatic to multiple finals and victories in early 2018, Fnatic removed him from the team. He then spent another year playing on Cloud9. On Sept. 16th, he returned to the Fnatic roster. Golden’s return from exile has catapulted Fnatic back into an elite CS team. Golden’s First Fnatic Run When Golden first joined Fnatic back in 2017, Fnatic promoted him from their academy squad. The first Fnatic reunion of Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, Jesper “JW” Wecksell, Robin “flusha” Ronnquist, Dennis “dennis” Edman, and Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer had failed. The team decided to part ways. Olofmeister went to FaZe, and dennis went to GODsent. Fnatic chose to build the team around the core of KRIMZ, JW, and Flusha. They added two young talents that could fill in the spots they were missing. They got Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson and Golden. Lekr0 was a talented young Swedish player that added the skill and firepower they needed to compete at the top levels. Golden was the in-game leader that could bring it all together. Golden joined in August 2017. After a few months, he got the team up-and-running. They played a fast-paced, aggressive style that still kept the core of the team play that made Fnatic great. In that iteration of Fnatic, the two-star players were KRIMZ and Lekr0. KRIMZ transformed Golden’s system. Before KRIMZ played under Golden, he was a stalwart support player with a great cerebral game and often compared to Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth. After playing under Golden, KRIMZ became a superstar player. He had the aggressive impact of his old partner Olofmeister with the pure fundamental and cerebral foundation he had built over his years of play. Lekr0 was the passive star of the team, mostly used as the third man in the entry pack to clean up sites and ensure trades. The remaining three players were role players who filled out the designated roles needed to complete the tactic. This system got Fnatic two top-four placings at the end of 2017 at ESL Proleague Season 6 Finals and ECS Season 4 Finals. In early 2018, the team then got top 8 at the ELeague Boston Major and then bombed out of StarLadder i-League Season 4 in 15-16th place. The placing happened to coincide with NiP benching Richard “Xizt” Landstrom. At some point during this period, Fnatic decided that they needed to get Xizt into the team, and rumors started to circulate in the community about the potential move. From the outside, the move made no sense as Fnatic was doing well. They didn’t need any drastic roster moves. The move made even less sense as Fnatic went on to win IEM Katowice 2018 and WESG. After winning WESG, Golden tweeted the famous words, “I stay.” The victories brought Golden some time, but the writing was on the wall. Xizt came into the team as the leader, and the team moved Golden to the entry-fragger role. Golden never could play that role, so once he failed, he was cut from the side. The Interregnum In the ensuing year, both Golden and Fnatic’s stock started to drop. Golden moved to Cloud9, which had massive roster issues. Cloud9 locked themselves into Major Purgatory. All of their roster shuffles tried to keep the Major slot. This meant that Cloud9 could never build a stable foundation. Soham “valens” Crowdhury, the former coach of Cloud9, talked about this issue in an HLTV interview, “This is the first time in the last 16 months or so that we weren’t bound by having a trio/roster for a Major event and to keep optimizing for a recipe that clearly wasn’t working. What we needed was a complete rebuild. Slotting in 1 or 2 players to recreate our 2017-2018 form wasn’t working.” That entire period of Cloud9 resembled the world’s most expensive game of musical chairs than an actual CS team. It was even worse for Golden as he was suffering from physical injuries, which often took him out of the game. Even when he was a part of the game, the roster issues were antithetical to his style of play. Golden wants to play an aggressive, fast-paced style, but that requires a level of chemistry that needs time to build. In the first run with Fnatic, the core members of Fnatic already had the team play to make that style work. In Cloud9, the constant roster changes made it nigh impossible. Martin “STYKO” Styk touched upon this in his twitlonger, where he said that Golden was a fantastic in-game leader, but his style was too passive for what Golden needed. This is also why the most successful Cloud9 iterations during this period was when Flusha was in-game, leading the team. Will “RUSH” Wierzba said in an HLTV interview, “We use some of the same setups and strategies that we had with Golden, but flusha’s calling style is a lot different. With Golden, it was a lot more reactive, like a fnatic style. With flusha, it is a lot slower and more methodical, he wants to take his time in the rounds, wants to think about what he wants to do, it is not about instantly reacting to teammate plays or to what the opponent is doing.” The Return While there were a lot of extenuating circumstances around Golden’s time in Cloud9, you could not call it successful by any stretch of the imagination. That is why it was surprising when Fnatic decided that they were due for a second reunion. On September 16th, 2019, the team did a second reunion. The lineup was: KRIMZ, JW, Flusha, Golden, and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin. The only different player this time around was Brollan, but four of the five players were part of the Fnatic 2017-2018 lineup. Since the reunion, Fnatic has soared straight into championship contention status. At DreamHack Masters Malmo, they had a miracle run. They beat G2, FURIA, NiP, Astralis, and Vitality to win the entire event. It was one of the most miraculous runs whose only comparable in recent history was NiP’s magical victory at IEM Oakland over FaZe. Everything clicked in that tournament. KRIMZ returned to superstar status. JW was playing at vintage levels. Flusha had taken six months off but was still at his normal level. Brollan came out as an aggressive third star of the team. While it was a miraculous victory, it was hard to believe that they could duplicate it as it relied on a lot of magical (or bullshit depending on where you stand) moments. The next tournament assuaged those doubts. At StarLadder i-League Season 8, Fnatic made another deep run. They got second bt beating Mouz, MIBR, Vitality, G2, and FURIA. They dropped three bo3s through their run. One to Renegades in the group stages, and twice to EG in the winner’s finals and grand finals. This run was a lot more convincing than Malmo. While Fnatic could still pull out magical moments, it wasn’t a crutch that they relied on. Instead, they were doing it through consistent skill and team play. One of the big reasons for this was Brollan breaking out as the secondary star of Fnatic. At Malmo, Fnatic’s two big stars were JW and KRIMZ. While JW is a brilliant player at his best, his wildcard playstyle is inherently inconsistent. If JW is your second-best player, then the results will never be consistent. That is why Brollan’s breakout has been critical as he is aggressive, consistent, and instinctive. He is the perfect fit for Golden’s system. Golden is about playing fast and instantly reacting to what your opponent and teammates are doing. That is why the core team play between KRIMZ, JW, and Flusha looks so good when put into Golden’s hands. On top of that, Fnatic now have three aggressive opening duelers: KRIMZ, Brollan, and JW. Each of the three have distinctive styles of winning their duels. Brollan is a robust mechanical dueler, KRIMZ combines his mechanics with nearly unmatched game sense, and JW uses unorthodox wildcard plays that are hard to predict. This often lets Fnatic dictate the pace of the match, and even should they lose the opening duel, the team has that inherent teamplay that allows them to make the best counter-play possible in a 4v5 or 3v4 scenario. Other factors that have helped Fnatic’s success While Golden’s return has probably had the most significant impact on Fnatic’s success, there are other factors to keep in mind. From Fnatic’s side of things, the year they spent with Xizt wasn’t in vain. During that time, JW was trying to find his playstyle again as he switched from AWPer to rifler and back again. He eventually found out that he was a playmaker rather than a pure AWPer or rifler. In addition to that, the Xizt period got Brollan into Fnatic. Brollan is a crucial piece as there aren’t any comparables to him in the Swedish scene, especially at his age. Even with those factors in mind, Golden’s has been the catalyst that Fnatic needed to get to this level. Fnatic had plenty of skilled players in the last year. They had KRIMZ, JW, and Brollan. The difference, though, is that Xizt was never able to unlock their potential or creative a cohesive whole that made them greater than the sum of their parts. One month into this reunion, Golden has. KRIMZ is a superstar. Brollan is rising quickly as one of the best young stars. JW continues to have his vintage wildcard performances. For Golden, this has been a triumphant return. Despite taking Fnatic to elite status in late 2017 to early 2018, Fnatic removed him from the team. On Cloud9, he suffered through illness and a never-ending shuffle. However, now that he has returned to Fnatic, he’s proven to everyone that he is the best Swedish leader and can lead a Swedish team back to the absolute heights of competitive CS:GO.

Stuchiu: Why G2 is inherently volatile Why are G2 Esports one of the most inconsistent top teams in CSGO? Despite flashing potential for greatness, there’s a reason why they sometimes can beat superstar teams then have letdown performances against lower-tier sides. G2 Esports are one of the more peculiar teams in world Counter-Strike. They made a bold roster change after the StarLadder Berlin Major. Since then they’ve had seemingly inconsistent results. They can beat Na`Vi or give Astralis a close run one second and then lose to FURIA or ATK the next. While the results speak to inconsistency, the inherent volatility of G2’s identity will always lead to up-and-down results. The Bold Gamble Prior to StarLadder Berlin Major, G2 were still an all-French lineup with Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, Audric “JaCkz” Jug, Francois “AmaNEk” Delaunay, Lucas “Lucky” Chastang, and Richard “shox” Papillon. The team had some decent results. They got to top-6 at DreamHack Dallas and made the finals of ESL Proleague Season 9. Along the way they collected some good scalps: ENCE (the iteration with Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen), Renegades (before they joined 100 Thieves), NRG (when they still had Damian “daps” Steele), and FaZe. While those results were good on paper, in the context of G2’s aspirations and G2’s lifespan it wasn’t enough. That particular G2 lineup had lasted for 6 months, which is the typical expiration date for most CS:GO lineups. G2 got to a good level, but there wasn’t an obvious potential candidate for growth. In terms of firepower, Shox hadn’t turned back the hands of time and become the superstar he was back in 2016 or 2014. While kennyS was slowly getting back his form, one potential superstar wasn’t enough for G2 as they wanted to be world champions. Tactically, they were good enough to hang in the top 10, but couldn’t match up against the tactical masterminds of Aleksib, Finn “karrigan” Andersen, or Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander. The only path forward in the French scene was to get Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, but he was locked down in Vitality and had no reason to leave as Vitality were the second-best team in the world. With no path forward left in the French scene, G2 made the bold gamble to go international. G2 kicked out Shox and Lucky and recruited Nemanja “nexa” Isakovic and Nemanja “huNter” Kovac. Both players had proved their skill on the CR4ZY lineup. Nexa was a fragging in-game leader and huNter was the best player on a lineup packed with potential up-and-comers. Negotiations took longer than they hoped as G2 had to play at ESL New York with a stand-in. G2 eventually locked down both nexa and huNter on September 30th. After making the new team, there was little time to sit down and prepare as they had to go through the final run of year-end tournaments from October to December. The Last Quarter run of 2019 From October to December, G2 went on a run of tournaments as they played at DreamHack Malmo, StarSeries i-League Season 8, EPL 10 groups stage, CS:GO Asia Championships, EPL 10 Finals, CS Summit 5, and Champions Cup Finals. The most intriguing thing about G2’s run was that their results seemed all over the place. Most teams have a certain range of opponents they can beat and lose to. For instance, 100 Thieves are unlikely to beat the top 5 contenders right now, but they are unlikely to lose to anyone outside of the top 10. In G2’s case, their potential range was massive. Their most memorable game was a close 1-2 loss to Astralis at EPL 10 Finals where they could have closed out the second map or the third and stole the series. At StarSeries i-League Season 8 G2 beat Na`Vi 2-1 in the brackets stage. While G2 have a high ceiling, they also have an abyssal floor. Their worst losses come from ATK, Mouz with two stand-ins in the CS Summit 5 Finals, and TyLoo at CAC. While those results may seem inconsistent, they are a natural result of the makeup of G2’s identity as a squad. G2’s Identity and Map Pool When G2 moved away from the all-French lineup, they also took out one of the core pillars of their identity: French CS. French CS is a vague term, but it generally refers to the ideas and principles that most of the French players adhere to. These ideas and principles come from a large number of influences, but for the purposes of this article, it’s enough to say that the biggest names to have defined French CS in CS:GO history are: Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer, Shox, Nathan “NBK” Schmitt, and Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans. It’s hard to dissect and categorize what ideas came from who or when, but it’s enough to know that these principles have largely sunk into the French CS scene at its base level. Every French player who rises up through their scene is either directly or indirectly inoculated with ideas of how to play CS according to the principles of French CS. French players are basically tuned to a similar frequency and this is what creates the framework of their team-play and tactics. By knocking out this pillar and bringing two international players into the team brings a lot of chaos into the equation. G2 isn’t left completely without direction as the core ideas of still remain in the squad, but it must now synergize and reconstitute itself around the two new international elements. Nexa and huNter have played in mixed international teams and come from scenes where there isn’t a large national CS heritage. Their understanding of the fundamentals is likely different from the G2 players and so this will create a clash. Especially as one of the two international players is now the in-game leader. The trade-off is that the firepower of the squad is far larger than it was before. Nexa and huNter are firepower upgrades over Shox and Lucky. In effect, G2 have lost out on the teamplay aspect, but have made returns in firepower. This correlates with their current map pool. Their four favored maps are Dust2, Mirage, Vertigo, and Train. Dust2 and Mirage are known as skill-based maps. Vertigo in its current iteration is more focused on gunfights on both sides of the map. Train is the anomaly, but if you look at the individual aspects of the G2 players, it makes sense why they are good on the map. KennyS is a great AWPer so he solidifies the CT-side. JaCkz always had great sense and timing for when to make aggressive pushes on the CT-side as well. HuNter is a similar vein and nexa does his job as the small-site anchor. While the T-side of Train is fairly tactical, you can get away with less teamplay and stick to more set tactics and strategies to grind out the half. Once G2 wander outside of their comfort zone though, their team-play and fundamentals hurt them a lot more on Nuke, Inferno, and Overpass. The Fundamental Problem The fundamentals are the biggest problem that G2 currently faces. Damien “maLeK” Marcel mirrored this sentiment telling HTLV, “In 2020, we will bootcamp and practice a lot to gain some good fundamentals and it will help the team massively, for sure.” The problem for G2 is that the fundamentals and teamplay can be some of the harder aspects to iron out at the highest level of CS:GO. The original five of Virtus.Pro made a lot of their results off of their fundamentals and team-play. After Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas left the team, they’ve failed to replicate that team-play with any other group of Polish players. Other notable examples include the Swedes and Danes. The core team-play of Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, Jesper “JW” Wecksell, and Robin “flusha” Ronnquist is still breathtaking to watch and one of the reasons why Fnatic is a contender in the modern world. Read More: Best CSGO players by Role in 2019 – The other problem is that it’s hard to pin down what fundamentals are in need of addressing, though there are some obvious ones that come to mind from the CS Summit 5 Finals or the ATK series. In the CS Summit 5 Finals, G2 weren’t focused. In the 23rd round, they went 4 players down ivy, but didn’t bother to use their utility to smoke off one of the sides. This let Mouz have a free crossfire and after they lost their first man, the G2 players were hesitant to rush out and trade as their other side wasn’t covered. On Train, in the tenth round of the ATK series, kennyS got a pick early on and AmanNEk got another down ivy seconds later. G2 were in a 5v3 situation, had plenty of time, and had control of ivy and popdog. They could have gathered their forces and ensured a high percentage hit where they could ensure trades. Instead, they started to split apart. One player went back for the bomb, another went into the B-site, kennyS wandered out yard without backup, the last two went towards the backend of ivy. This created a bunch of exposed positions that let ATK get 1v1s, win them, and eventually win the round. (Segment begins at 14:13 mark for mobile readers) Rounds like these are a semi-regular occurrence in G2 games and is why fundamentals and team-play are the biggest problems facing G2. While the map pool is a bit too shallow to contend with better teams, they can’t expand it without first addressing these fundamental issues. The other problem with trying to fix these issues is that the fundamentals change depending on the types of players you have. In G2’s case, they have three great open entry players: kennyS, huNter, and JaCkz. If you adhered to standard fundamentals, it could backfire. For instance, in a 5v4 situation on the Ct-side, standard dictates that the CTs are in the advantage, so you let the enemy come to you. In G2’s case, I’ve seen them often push out with and look for more kills in a power play scenario. While the play is inefficient and gives the other team a chance to win, it is also what gives G2 an advantage against favorites like Astralis or Na`Vi. It’s a special characteristic of the G2 players and you don’t want to curtail an individual’s unique characteristics. Plays like those can lose games, but those are also the big clutch plays that often mark big title victories. G2 have to navigate how they want to reconcile good fundamentals with this aggressive streaky they have in their players. G2’s inherent volatility When you consider G2 as a whole, it makes sense why they are so volatile. They have strong individual players across the board, so they can give almost any team a run for their money on any given day in terms of firepower. Their best maps are Dust2, Mirage, Vertigo, and Train. Three of the four maps are inherently volatile to begin with. Not even the greatest Dust2 and Mirage teams have used either map as a home map. Vertigo is new to the pool and the way it’s currently played feels like a toss-up. Train is a specialty map, but G2 don’t have the tactics of an old Virtus.Pro or ENCE to make it a reliable go-to against the best teams. However, with this map pool and their firepower, G2 are good enough to upset many of the top 10 teams. The flipside of that though is they’ve sacrificed core fundamentals and team-play which are hallmarks of most top 10 teams. Without that core fundamental base, G2 can (and have) fallen to teams weaker than them like TyLoo and ATK. As G2 go into 2020, keep an eye on their fundamentals. If they can fix that, then they have a chance to go up in the rankings. If not, they will exist as one of the most dangerous wildcards in the game. Able to upset some of the best teams, but also able to lose to teams below them as well.

Stuchiu: Why Astralis had a better 2019 than Liquid With 2019 over, one of the big questions I had on my mind was who was the better team Astralis or Liquid? While the community seem to favor Astralis as the team of the year, Keith “NAF” Markovic shared a similar sentiment with HLTV. For my part, the race was closer than community perception. While I still think Astralis had the better year, in some particular criteria, Liquid was the better team. Criteria Before I start contrasting the teams, I wanted to lay out the overall criteria I wanted to judge them by. The criteria I used to judge which was the best team of the year included: results, consistency, peak runs, dominance, prestige, and competitive context. Results were the most objective criteria as it measures how well each team did at the LANs they attended. I compared the tournament victories of Astralis and Liquid. In order to do that though I had to make some subjective judgements on my part as not all events are created equal. Winning ESL Cologne was far more important than winning a small BLAST event or a Summit. To make my process as clear as possible, I separated LANs into three groups: Majors, tier one, and tier two. Majors are self-explanatory. Tier one LANs had the following combination of elements: top teams, good conditions (as far as we know), good format, crowds, and prestige. So a tournament like the Summit 4 which had good teams didn’t have a crowd so it couldn’t qualify as tier 1 event. Lastly, there are differences in quality in Tier 1 LANs. ESL Cologne is the biggest event outside of the Majors and ECS Season 8 should be ranked highly as well as all top four teams were at that event. Consistency was an offshoot of results as it determined by how good a team was over a prolonged period of time. Peak runs looked at the best tournaments runs of the respective teams to see which of them had the best peaks of the year. Dominance looked at how strong a team was. Prestige looked at intangible factors accorded to what each of the respective lineups accomplished. Competitive context is the framework I used to make value judgements on the overall results. For me, I split 2019 into two time periods: From Katowice to July (The Liquid period) and from Berlin to December. I’d argue that the Liquid period was less competitive as there were only three consistent S-Tier squads: Liquid, ENCE, and Vitality. From Berlin to December there were four to five. The main four were: EG, Liquid, Astralis, and Fnatic. The fifth is arguable as while Vitality won a tournament early on, they haven’t been as good since. Mouz has only recently won their big LAN so we won’t know if it’s an up spike in performance or if they will become consistent contenders. One final thing to note, the head-to-head factor didn’t play that big of a role in my analysis. It only pops up when it affects the actual results of a tournament. For my part, I think the best team of the year is the team that was the best against the entire field rather than any specific team. Results and Consistency These are Astralis’ and Liquid’s LAN results in 2019. I split them up in groups relative to importance. Astralis: Majors: 1st – IEM Katowice 1st – StarLadder Berlin Tier one LANs: Top 6 – EPL 9 Top 4 – Cologne 2nd – ESL NY Top 4 – DreamHack Malmo 1st – ECS Season 8 Top 4 – EPL 10 1st – BLAST FInals 1st – IEM Beijing Tier two LANs: 2nd – IBP Masters 2nd – BLAST Madrid 1st – BLAST Sao Paulo In total Astralis had 6 trophies in 2019. They won two Majors, ECS Season 8 Finals, IEM Beijing, and BLAST Sao Paulo. They had 3 2nd place finishes: ESL New York, IBP Masters, and BLAST Madrid. They had four top four placings at ESL Proleague Season 10, ESL Cologne, and DreamHack Malmo. They had one top six placing at EPL 9. Liquid’s results: Majors: Top 8 – IEM Katowice Top 8 – StarLadder Berlin Tier one LANs: 1st – IEM Sydney 1st – DreamHack Dallas 1st – EPL 9 1st – ESL Col Top 4 – ESL NY Top 6 – EPL 10 2nd – BLAST Finals 1st – IEM Chicago Tier two LANs: 1st – IBP masters 2nd – CS Summit 4 2nd – BLAST Sao Paulo 2nd – BLAST Miami 1st – BLAST Los Angeles Liquid had seven trophies: IEM Sydney, DreamHack Dallas, EPL 9, ESL Cologne, IEM Chicago, IBP Masters, and BLAST LA. They had four second places: BLAST Finals, BLAST Sao Paulo, BLAST Miami, and CS Summit 4. They had a top four finish at ESL New York, a top six at EPL 10, and top 8 finishes at the Majors. If you ignored prestige/status, I’d say that the tournaments that Liquid won had better formats relative to the tournaments that Astralis won. IEM Sydney, Dallas, EPL 9, and Cologne all had more competitive formats than either of the Majors or any of the big LANs that Astralis won. That is a point in their favor, but it’s nullified as Astralis got their results in a more competitive period. As for consistency, I think Liquid were the big winners for this criteria. When I looked at consistency, I gave 0 points to teams that didn’t attend any notable LANs. After Astralis won IEM Katowice, they didn’t attend a big LAN for two months. During the Liquid era (from May to the end of July), Astralis were a top 5-6 team, but at no point proved they were actual contenders for a title as they failed to make it to the finals of a tier one event during that time period. In contrast to that, Liquid at the end of the year was a top 5 team, but made it to the finals of ECS Season 8 Finals and BLAST. So while they didn’t win a LAN during that time period, they were still contenders. When Astralis were the best team in the world, they weren’t as dominant as when Liquid were the best in the world. In terms of overall time period and number of LANs attended, Liquid won out over the entire year. As that’s the case Liquid were the more consistent team during this time period. Peak Runs When I looked through Liquid’s tournaments runs, the two best were probably ESL One Cologne and IEM Chicago. At Cologne Liquid beat Na`Vi twice, NRG, and Vitality to win the tournament. At Chicago they beat G2, Vitality and ENCE. In contrast to that Astralis’ best runs were the StarLadder Berlin Major and ECS season 8. At the Berlin Major, Astralis beat CR4ZY 2-1, Liquid 2-0, NRG (now EG) 2-0, and AVANGAR 2-0. At ECS Season 8 Finals, Astralis beat Fnatic, EG, and Liquid. When I compare those runs against each other, I favor Astralis significantly here. The big contenders during Liquid’s era were ENCE and Vitality and Liquid played them a total of three times across those two runs. In contrast to that, the big players in the end of the year were Astralis, Fnatic, EG, and Liquid. Astralis’ had to beat two of the three to win their Major and beat all three for their ECS Season 8 run. The only other run that was comparable to that was Mouz’s victory at EPL 10 where they beat Astralis, EG, and Fnatic. Dominance and Prestige Dominance was another factor that played into Liquid’s favor. They had a brilliant record in mid-2019 as they won 22 bo3s in a row and were undefeated in June and July. In those two months Liquid played at five LANs (Four big LANs and one BLAST) and won them all. Astralis did a great job at the end of the year, but they dropped LANs to EG, Fnatic, and Mouz. So while Astralis had the better peak runs, Liquid were more dominant compared to Astralis. The final factor to consider was prestige. It is the most subjective criteria as it’s based on how important you feel winning the two Majors was compared to speed-running the IEM Grand Slam and winning ESL One Cologne. While I agree with Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett that winning the IEM Grand Slam is more difficult and prestigious than winning the Major, winning two Majors is still more prestigious than the IEM Grand Slam. That alongside Berlin being such a difficult run made me favor Astralis over Liquid. The Final Verdict Here is the final tally. The overall results were fairly similar or slightly Liquid favored. Liquid won out in consistency and dominance. Astralis had better peak runs, won the more prestigious events, and were the best team in what I consider to be a more competitive period. As these are different types of criteria, there is no objective right answer. Those who consider consistency as the most important value should favor Liquid as they were the more consistent team in 2019. For my part though, I went with Astralis as the prestige of the Majors, their peak victories, and winning in a more competitive era were more impressive to me. Even so, this was a tightly contested race and if a few results change, 2019 could have gone the way of Liquid.

Stuchiu: What does Impact mean in CSGO? StarLadder / ESLImpact is one of the most varied and flexible terms in the CS:GO lexicon. It is an important term to define as it encompasses a lot of the player actions that don’t fall into the normal statistical categories. Since the term is so broad, I wanted to define the multifaceted aspects of what impact really is in the esport. For the purposes of this article, impact is defined as an action a player makes to increase their chances of winning. What’s more, the action cannot be easily quantified into a hard number. To understand what I mean, we need to lay out the basic rules of CS:GO – the first team to win 16 rounds wins the match. Therefore actions that have a significant effect on winning multiple rounds have more impact. Objectifying Impact There have been multiple attempts to objectify impact. HLTV, for instance, has an impact rating that uses a formula that considers multi-kills, opening kills, 1vX, and other variables. As time goes on, it’s likely that statisticians will find new ways of quantifying these statistics as understanding increases and new models form. This is why getting a multi-kill on the pistol has more impact than getting a multi-kill on a normal round as it increases a team’s chances of netting 1-2 extra rounds. This same logic applies for players that can find multi-kills on force-buy rounds, the most egregious example being Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev in 2018. One of the problems with defining impact through this method is that rounds won’t always be converted. In 2019, teams often won the pistol round against Liquid, but Liquid were absolute gods of the second round and won the subsequent force-buy. This brings up a conundrum of objectifying impact. Namely, that impact has two subsets: potential and actualized. Potential impact is our perception of how the winning chances increase with a particular action while actualized impact is when that impact comes into fruition. Splitting impact into these categories creates its own problems. I’ll give two brief examples. At the CS:GO Asia Championships, Ozgur ‘woxic’ Eker had a massive 1v3 impact round against TyLoo when Mouz were down 8-15 on Inferno. Woxic won the round and then Mouz made the comeback in overtime. If Mouz fail to make a comeback and lose the subsequent round, how does that change the impact of those particular kills? What if Mouz almost make a comeback, does that make the impact of those kills less significant in the grand scheme of things? These are questions without obvious answers to them. Another example is the Vitality team in mid-2019. Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut had multiple rounds where he pulled off an amazing play in an eco break situation where the other team was forced to eco the following round. While those kills had high potential impact, they had lower actualized impact as Vitality had serious problems when it came to winning eco rounds. Scenarios like this are what make impact such an interesting concept to break down as impact changes based on our models, perceptions, and results. Impact Kills “Two points is not two points.” – LeBron James. Impact is most often talked about in terms of impact kills. In that sense, HLTV’s impact rating is useful as a base guideline for what the general consensus considers impact kills – namely, 1vX kills, multi-kills, and opening frags. While it’s a good place to start, there are a lot of variables change depending on the players, team, round, or general context of the match. For instance, everyone can understand that in a 5v5 scenario, the player who gets the first pick and gets away safely has created a lot of impact on the round as he put his team in a 5v4. If his team plays out the trading game correctly, they have a massive chance of closing the round (this was one of the key concepts that the LG/SK lineup used to become the best in 2016-2017). So how much impact does a revenge frag have in this situation? Is it equal to the first opening kill or less than an opening kill? Imagine these two examples for a moment: In the first scenario, think of when Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga goes for a CT-side entry into a two man-pack. He gets the first kill but is traded. Then imagine another scenario where fer gets a 1v1 duel and wins it, but on the other side of the map, another player on the enemy team wins a 1v1 duel against someone else on the same team. In both situations, the round ends in a 4v4 situation. However, the player who won the 1v1 duel is more impactful than the player who traded by virtue of the difficulty of the frag he got. The reasoning is simple: the player who won the 1v1 duel had to win a less likely scenario, therefore he had to do more. The player who traded fer was in an optimal tactical scenario, whereas in a standard situation, he is supposed to trade his teammate. Impact kills don’t only measure how much any particular chance a kill has for increasing the odds of winning a match, it also measures the difficulty of said action. This is why s1mple getting an opening duel with a deagle is more impressive than a regular player getting a kill with a rifle or AWP. Another piece of context to consider is positioning. In the board game of Go, there is a concept called “Dead Stones.” This concept refers to situations where your stones/pieces on the board are figuratively dead as they have no chance of survival. That concept can be applied to CS:GO as there are tactical situations where a player is tactically dead and it’s considered a great play if they can even manage one. We see a concrete example from this in the IEM Chicago 2019 finals between ENCE and Liquid on Inferno. In the 23rd round at around the 38-second mark, Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken is in a dead position as he is in a 1v3 situation. He gets the first kill, but at this point he should be traded. Instead he delays and manages a second kill. These two kills have more impact than a typical CT-side crossfire spraydown defense as the floor of execution for this play is extremely high. One final thing to consider when looking at impact is who a player killed. In the PGL Krakow Major quarterfinals, Astralis played against SK on Overpass. Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz consistently got the opening pick on Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo. While an opening kill already has high impact, those particular kills had more impact than usual as FalleN was SK’s key defensive player for Overpass and by forcing SK into a 4v5 situation, fer couldn’t use his super aggressive CT-side style as the risk became too high. Intangible Impact For the rest of this article, I’ll be talking about more esoteric applications of impact. The first is intangible. The three players I picked out to represent this are: Epitacio ‘TACO’ de Melo, Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip, and Martin ‘STYKO’ Styk. Throughout his career, TACO has been called a support player and as a support player we’ve seen him have an impact on the game without ever getting a kill. The two most notable ways we know of are space-creation and economy recording. In the first case, TACO was often used as a sacrificial entry player. He was the first man to go in, but instead of trying to get an optimal duel, he ran headfirst, jumping, and drawing all of the utility so that his teammates could get easier trade kills. As for the second, TACO used to read the economy and report the money to his team almost every round. I used to read the economy and also communicate the opponents’ money to my team almost every round. Today I announce that I’m retiring from this position and will focus only on playing CS:GO. — Epitácio de Melo (@TACOCS) March 14, 2019 Stewie2k is the current hype-man or glue guy of Team Liquid. One of Liquid’s biggest hurdles is their mentality. When Stewie2k entered the scene, he became a pillar as his mentality seeped into the others and it was one of the reasons why Liquid were so dominant in mid-2019. A third example is STYKO. Back when he was playing for Mouz from late 2017 to early 2018, he was helping the communication in the team. When he died, he started to communicate for his teammates which naturally bolstered their chemistry, teamplay, and rotations. This was especially critical as those are the places where mixed international teams often fall apart in the most. All three players I’ve named had different and varying types of intangible impact that influenced their team’s chances of winning, but couldn’t be quantified in the scoreboard. Tactical Impact Tactical impact refers to how a player influences the game on a tactical level. This is where in-game leaders make their reputation, but it’s also the hardest to quantify. No one knows who made what call in any particular game. What’s more, correct calls don’t necessarily equate to winning the round. Conversely, leaders can make the wrong calls but still win the round anyway. What’s more, tactical impact can only be understood in relation to the strategic components of the game. For instance, when Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen led FaZe in 2017, he was criticized for not being as tactical as some of the other squads. This ignores the context of FaZe being filled with superstar players from disparate CS cultures. Their strategic win condition was to frag out and enable their superstar players to make big plays. Once FaZe tried to incorporate more structure and tactics into the team, it broke apart as playing that style was a poor strategic fit for the squad. Beyond in-game leaders, there are small tactical actions every player makes throughout the round that can have a massive impact. The most obvious is Astralis’ utility usage as they’ve gotten their opening kills through HE grenades or often frustrate their opponents’ hits with well-timed smokes and mollies. A more specific example is Fatih ‘gob b’ Dayik at PGL Krakow. Most people will remember the jump bug, but what they won’t remember is gob b’s disciplined utility usage. In one of the rounds against SK, gob b was playing at pit and saved his smoke till the end of the round. So when SK did an A-site hit and used a molly to flush the pit area, he used his own smoke to counter it. This forced SK into a tactically bad position as they had to go all the way down to pit to clear the position which opened them up to crossfires from the site. Another underrated example is dev1ce’s consistency at saving the AWP. By saving the AWP, dev1ce increases the chances of opening picks in the following round and more weaponry down the line. While understated, this has sometimes resulted in an extra gun or smoke or flash which helped Astralis clinch the game later down the line. Reputational Impact When a player gains notoriety, their reputation could potentially have an impact on the game itself. This is common throughout all competition as champions often levy their reputations to get away with more than people expect. In 2016, Richard ‘shox’ Papillon had reinvigorated his form as one of the best players in the world. In the finals of ESL Proleague Season 3, he got away with an insane 1v4 overtime clutch against LG. It was one of the strangest 4v1s I ever saw that LG lineup play as they were absolute masters of powerplay positions. However, shox’s form in that match and his overall reputation as a clutch god made them play the situation far too safely and shox was able to take that small mental advantage and convert it into a round victory. Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David once explicated this idea to FalleN. FalleN did a Reflections with Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields. In the video, FalleN told an anecdote about Coldzera where Coldzera said, “Coldzera said at the time, ‘The first match we play against them is the most important one. If we lose the first one, they will know they can beat us. Then it will start getting harder’.” The most notable example in recent times is Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Hojsleth. In the finals of the Katowice Major, he played against ENCE and won a 1v2 situation. Dev1ce and Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander talked about the clutch after the game. Gla1ve was confused why Xyp9x could stay at the side of the train for so long as it was a bad position to play a 1v2. Dev1ce told gla1ve, “He[Xyp9x] said this after I asked him. They know it’s Xyp, I’m the clutcher. They are nervous at this moment. I’m gonna stand in a stupid spot because they’re not going to expect that.” Exactly how much impact does a reputation have and how is that supposed to be quantified into a statistic? I don’t know. Gravitational Impact The last category of impact was something I created to describe the impact that s1mple had for Na`Vi in 2018. At that point in time, s1mple had the most impact of any player. He had the most multikills, pistol kills, won 1vX situations, had intangibles (like secondary calling), and had reputational impact. His impact was so high that it felt like there was a gravitational force around s1mple during that time period. In many Mirage games, teams started to call based around s1mple as they avoided the A-site and hit B instead. It got to the point that s1mple had to sometimes play the B-site so that teams couldn’t exploit them in that way. A more extreme example is the types of situations that s1mple often got himself into. He took extremely forward and dangerous positions that were simultaneously stupid and smart. They were stupid positions for anyone else in the world, but were smart in the context of what s1mple could do. If you had a player that could take the most extreme position on the map and ensure 2-3 kills without backup on a consistent basis, then that’s exactly how you should play him. An example of this was at ESL One Cologne 2018. In the 19th round of the match, s1mple went down connector solo and got a double kill with no backup. Na`Vi got away with bad setups or tactics that became good setups or tactics only on the premise that it was s1mple playing those particular positions. While s1mple is the most extreme example of gravitational impact, we’ve seen other players fall into this category before. Namely players like Kenny ‘kennyS’ Scrhub, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac, and most recently ZywOo. Going into the future The impetus of this article came from an interesting Twitter discussion between Paul ‘Redeye’ Chaloner and Ben ‘Noxville’ Steenhuisen. Stats are still in their infancy in CS:GO and perhaps one day we will get to the point where they become sophisticated enough to quantify the various ways we interpret impact. Until then, I hope that this primer can help us see how players can impact their teams chances of winning outside of the traditional statistics we currently use.

Stuchiu: What caused the Liquid Decline and how can they stop it? One of the hardest teams to analyze in the world today is Team Liquid. In the middle of 2019, they quickly rose up to become the preeminent team of CS:GO. Depending on who you asked, they either had an era or were one Major victory away from establishing one. Since their loss to Astralis at the StarLadder Berlin Major, Astralis and EG have superseded Liquid in the standings. What’s confounding for Liquid is that there is no obvious flaw in their team. For Liquid, that is the question. To figure out why they slipped from the top. If they can pinpoint that, they can get back on track to being the best team in the world. Trying to pinpoint the problem One of the reasons why Liquid is so hard to fathom is because typical models of analysis can’t easily diagnose their problems. The most general model evaluates a team along the three pillars of Counter-Strike: skill, tactics, and teamplay. In terms of skill there, there should be no issues at least theoretically. Liquid might be the most skilled lineup ever assembled. The lineup of: Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Keith “NAF” Markovic, and Jake “Stewie2K” Yip is a collection of NA stars. Outside of Nikola “NiKo” Kovac, nitr0 is probably the most skilled in-game leader in the game. EliGE has been a top three player in 2019. Both Twistzz and NAF are star players and both have had months where they were top 5 players in the world. Stewie2K is one of the most skilled entry-fraggers in the game and was once the star of Cloud9. If you look at Liquid since their post-break though their form has dropped off. But that alone doesn’t account for the drop in results. EliGE is still a superstar player. Twistzz and NAF are both stars. Nitr0 isn’t having as many star games as a leader, but he was always surplus to requirements anyway. Stewie2K has been more inconsistent, but that comes with the playstyle and roles he inhabits. So while skill is a factor to consider, it’s not the primary one. Tactics are harder to evaluate as you can either judge them in the platonic sense or relative to the players a team has on hand. For instance, people criticized NiKo for his Rambo-style leading when he was on Mouz as it wasn’t tactically sound. However when put into the context of the teammates he had, that style of play was Mouz’s best shot at taking games from better teams. In a similar sense, Liquid’s tactics aren’t the best in the platonic sense. Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s tactical innovations have resurrected Astralis and changed the team’s entire map pool. When Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen was still a part of ENCE, I thought ENCE had better tactics than Liquid. However if you judge Liquid in the context of their players, Liquid is among the best in the world. They utilize a wide variety of styles and defaults that makes the most use out of their individual players. Their roleless style of play is perfect considering the amount of smart, versatile, and mechanically gifted players they have on their team. Finally, we come to teamplay. While Liquid don’t have the teamplay of an ascendant Fnatic, they are still in the upper stratosphere of CS:GO teams. They make correct macro decisions, rotate, and play off of each other well. While they may not have the best 5v5 or 3v3 teamplay compared to Fnatic or Astralis, there are pockets of teamplay that can match the best in the world. EliGE and Stewie2K play off of each other as the best entry duo. EliGE and nitr0 are perfectly in sync in whatever situation you throw them into. So while the teamplay isn’t the absolute best, it isn’t a drag factor either. While there are some concerns in each category, none of them seem like the genuine cause for Liquid’s downfall. As that’s the case, we have to look at intangible factors. For me, the biggest is Liquid’s style of play: roleless Counter-Strike. Liquid’s Roleless Counter-Strike When Liquid were in the midst of their summer run, I posited that Liquid were playing a roleless style. They had some general tendencies (EliGE is far more likely to play the aggressive dueler), but were far more willing to break those roles and swap around compared to any other team. Some Liquid players have confirmed this idea. In a HLTV article, EliGE described his role, “Recently, I have been playing a little bit of every role. I am still aggressive and go in with the pack, but also if I have the utility or have a play I do that as well. The game has changed from being role-based to needing to be a jack of all trades with some core specific strengths. We all have things we like to do more than others and we try to put ourselves in those situations, but other times some people are just in the right place with a certain nadeset to fulfill a certain type of role that needs to be done.” In a different interview with HLTV, Twistzz echoed the sentiment saying, “Our roles are really game-to-game. In a lot of our scrims lately I felt like I was supporting a lot, and in the match against eUnited I felt like I was entrying more than I used to. Things just happen depending on the situation you’re in and I happened to be on a lot of entry situations this game. It is the way it is, but I’m usually in more supportive scenarios.” Liquid’s roleless style was an amalgamation of the player’s strengths and experiences. Wilton “zews” Prado was the former coach of Liquid from the end of 2016 to the end of 2018. When he came into the team, he enforced a structure and consistency to the team. That structure and base solidified in the 2018 lineup with: nitr0, EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, and Epitacio “TACO” de Melo. As for Stewie2k, he played a loose aggressive style in Cloud9 and then played in Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo’s structured style in SK/MIBR. During that time he also changed roles and gained more experience in diverse roles. That time under FalleN made Stewie2K the perfect fifth addition after TACO left Liquid. Stewie2K could fill many of TACO’s roles and could slot into the Liquid system. So when the team combined into one, they created a synthesis of structure and individual play. They had smart defaults, executes, tactics, and fundamentals. They combined that with ridiculous levels of individual skill. It was some strange hybrid of Astralis and FaZe and for a time, no one could stop Liquid. The TACO lineup had experimented with roles before as they often switched positions between their players. But they were never able to inject the loose aggressive freedom of a FaZe Clan until Stewie2K came into the team as he injected a level of swagger and star player’s confidence into the lineup. When he came into the team, he tried to figure out why the team consistently lost in finals and on said on Counter-Points that, “I asked the guys what they thought about the finals and getting second place again. How did it feel, why do you think we lost? They would go so deep into so many minor problems. I thought the only thing that was missing in the finals was intensity, fire, and a little bit of confidence. Those three things are what leads to success for me.” Confidence is a hard to understand concept in Counter-Strike as it’s talked about in almost pseudo-religious tones. People argue to this day as to whether or not confidence is the key factors to becoming good or whether it was just a by product of a good player already. For myself, I model confidence based on Jaroslaw “pasha” Jarzabkowski’s play. He was someone with enormous confidence throughout his career. Duncan “Thorin” Shields often joked that Pasha never met a peek he didn’t like. Pasha always took the fight regardless of his form at the time. If he was in great form, he was one of the best in the world. If he was in bad form, he became a liability. The confidence didn’t make him a great player, but it convinced him to take duels like he was a great player. In essence, confidence doesn’t make you better, but it does give you the belief to take individual plays you otherwise wouldn’t have. In the case of Liquid, this was perfect as all of their players were capable of winning those individual plays. EliGE told HLTV that this newfound confidence was a difference maker, “The biggest difference would be confidence in my play. Every duel that I take I feel like I will win. Every play I make I think will work.” This confidence cascaded through the team as it gave them a belief in themselves and their teammates. It also helped their game flow. NAF touched on this In a HLTV article, “Whoever has a really strong start in the group stage, that star will just ride the momentum wave for the rest of the tournament and the rest of us will follow and support as much as possible.” While this roleless CS was brilliant to watch, it also came with the drawback of opacity. Once the system hit a snag, it was hard for Liquid to figure out what the exact problems were. In a normal structured system, you can figure out where the kinks are quickly as the game is more stratified. For instance, in a Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko system, you can easily figure out if a player isn’t good enough to play their specific role/position, if they are having problems taking control of a particular part of the map, or if there are problems in the execution of a particular tactic. Read More: Stuchiu: The arT of Space Creation – In the Liquid system, they may have general roles, but they often mix and match depending on the situation. They have good tactics, but the tactics aren’t the driving force of the team as much as the players. NAF noted earlier that they try to play off of a star player feeling it as they have the best sense of the game flow at a particular tournament. This is mirrored in a statement Stewie2k said about their coach Eric “adreN” Hoag, “He[adreN] is very general when it comes to timeouts. I think the reason he does that is because he trusts in our instincts. He’ll chime in when we’re completely lost. When we’re lost, we take a timeout. He says something and we take a second to think about it. It’s the right call, but very generalized. He does that so the players come up with the plan.” So when the system stops outputting results, it’s hard to figure out where exactly to fix the problem. Fixing the Problem Liquid have already recognized that there is a problem and have set about trying to fix it. One of the biggest flaws they recognized was their loss of fundamentals. He told HLTV, “We got rusty in our fundamentals, when we got to the bootcamp before the Major we wanted to work on what we already had and not create too many new things.” Another potential problem was variation. Liquid had spent the entire middle of 2019 smashing teams in massive tournament formats, so it was inevitable that teams eventually started to figure out their playbook. Twistzz pointed this out as another potential problem to HLTV, “We’re working on creating new tactics, we can’t go back and touch on our old ones. We can’t just say ‘we just need to re-run it, re-practice it, and it’s going to work,’ because teams studied us and what we used to do.” A third potential problem is the skill. I’ve pointed out earlier that Liquid had a drop compared to their mid-2019 form. The only player at the same level currently is EliGE. This drop in skill has two after-effects. First is that they start losing game flow. NAF said earlier that they tried to ride the momentum of the player who had a good group stage. In a team where all five players are going off, the chances of that happening is high. In a team where 2-3 players can consistently go off at that level, the probability is lower. The other potential problem is confidence. As the team starts to get worse results, it’s natural to lose confidence. Perhaps the best example of this is Stewie2K. Stewie2K has become the confidence-man of the group. He can instill confidence in the other players to make individual plays that they might be too tentative to take otherwise. However, it’s hard for a player to be the confidence-man when he is having a bad game. In Stewie2k’s case he’s had a drop in form and his roles are naturally inconsistent to begin with as a small-site anchor and entry-fragger. Through Liquid’s interviews and games, we’ve seen a cornered a few problems. A loss of fundamentals, some loss of skill, a need to increase tactical diversity, and loss of confidence. For me these are symptoms rather than the root cause of the problem. The root is that Liquid still haven’t figured out what the best process is to enable their roleless Counter-Strike. Each style of Counter-Strike requires a different environment to make it strive. The best example of this is the Astralis-FaZe dynamic of 2017. Astralis were the most tactical team in the world, so it made sense that they needed to take events off to rebuild their playbook. It also gave them time to observe and counter tactics they saw from tournaments they didn’t attend. The FaZe clan were a firepower based team tied together by Finn “Karrigan” Andersen’s leadership. For FaZe, they needed to travel from event to event to keep their players sharp and in tune with the highest competition of Counter-Strike. Liquid is a synthesis of both styles. At their base they need a fundamentally sound tactical structure and a wide variety of ideas. Their strength though comes from their individual players supercharging their tactics. Looked at from that perspective, it’s not surprising that Liquid’s summer run had them go to 5 events in two months and win them all. During that period, they were plugged into the matrix of CS. Their players had the strongest feel for the game relative to anyone else in the scene. In contrast, the break made them lose that extra edge. On the other hand, going from event to event can easily burn someone out and make them lose their edge even faster. We saw this with Liquid when they went from ESL New York to DreamHack Malmo. Since then, they’ve only attended a single BLAST event. The Question and the Answer Throughout this article, I’ve talked broken down the Liquid question, why did they fall off? There is no obvious answer for the squad as while there are a stack of small problems: loss of form, tactics, confidence, or fundamentals, when examined in isolation, each of the separate factors aren’t enough to explain Liquid’s drop off. This makes it all the harder to find an answer, however I believe one must exist. Their potential is too great, we already saw what they could do in mid-2019. In raw firepower, they are arguably the best lineup ever assembled. Their roleless style has given them a level of diversity and flexibility that is nearly unmatched. In turn, it’s allowed them to create a synthesis of the structured Astralis style and the individualistic FaZe style. The only real solution then is time and information. This Liquid lineup needs time to figure out what the problems are and they need information to do it. This is why the coming month will be important as they will be attending a flurry of tournaments to cap off the year: ECS Season 8 Finals, EPL Season 10 Finals, and the BLAST Finals. These will be critical trials for Liquid to figure out what has gone wrong and what they can do to fix it.

Stuchiu: Top 10 CSGO Player Rankings from Sept-Nov Who are the top CS:GO players from September to November 2019? There’s a lot to go over and analyze. One of my favorite things to discuss in CS:GO is who are the best players. While CS:GO has better stats to make comparative judgments between players, that doesn’t get to the whole story. Teams have different tactics, and strategies, and players have different roles therein. To make this list then, I set out specific criteria that I applied consistently across all of the players. The criteria I included was: consistency, impact, role, and competition. Consistency is a player’s level average level of play across the period. Impact is harder to define as in-game leaders and support players have an impact that we can’t see in the server. In the case of this list, impact refers to in-game actions: space-creation, rotations, and gravity. Gravity is the amount of a player polarizes a game. Role refers to what a player does in their team and is required of them. Some players have to play at a higher level for their team to function, and they are rated higher as a result. Competition refers to the level of teams/LANs a player attended. If two players have similar levels of impact and consistency, but one played against the top teams more, they will be rated higher. Finally, I set the parameters of the list only to include LAN play. LANs were also ranked depending on format and importance. The Berlin Major, for instance, is far more important than BLAST Copenhagen. The rankings do three months, so for this edition, it runs from September to November. For LANs that run from the end of the month to the beginning of the new month, I add them into the month where they end. So the Berlin Major counts for September and ECS Season 8 Finals will count for December. 10. Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin Lans: 1st – DreamHack Malmo – 2nd – Starseries i-League Season 8 – Fnatic have only attended two LANs in the last three months, but both LANs had the most comprehensive formats of any tournament during that time. In both LANs, brollan had breakout performances. At Malmo, he was a tertiary star to Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson and Jesper “JW” Wecksell. What clinched his spot in my top 10 was his remarkable performance at Starseries i-League Season 8. In that tournament, he was arguably Fnatic’s best player at that tournament. What’s more, he had an incredible impact as a consistent aggressive-rifler on the CT-side. His team play with the rest of the Fnatic players is on point, and he perfectly fits into Maikil “Golden” Selim’s fast-paced loose style. On the T-side, Brollan can either outright win duels or pair up with Golden to take map control through trading. Brollan seems like the next great Swedish sensation, and hopefully, he can build on that in the months to come. 9. Justin “JKS” Savage Lans: Top 4 – StarLadder Berlin Major – Top 4 – StarSeries i-League Season 8 – 2nd – IEM Beijing – At the start of the year, JKS broke out as a top 10 player, verging into the top 5. That status faded away when Renegades stalled out in the middle of the year due to visa and internal issues. Since coming back from the break, the Australian lineup has surged back to where they started at the beginning. They are a structured tactical squad, and this has once again put JKS on the map as one of the best players in the world. JKS has been consistently good in all of his roles. He has a fairly versatile skill set as he can duel, create space, AWP, and clutch. This versatility allows him to fill up holes for the squad as he plays the small-site anchor on Train or ramp on Nuke. He’s also the secondary AWPer on Dust2 and the primary AWPer on Vertigo. On the T-side he plays the wings and often lurks, but can also be used as part of the entry pack in the actual execution. Finally, he’s the primary star of 100 Thieves, which clinched his spot in my top 10. 8. Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander Lans: 1st – StarLadder Berlin Major – 2nd – ESL New York – Top 4 – DreamHack Malmo – 4th – BLAST Copenhagen – 1st – IEM Beijing – Coming in eighth is gla1ve, the in-game leader of Astralis. Gla1ve was one of the hardest players to rank in this ranking. He isn’t a traditional star or carry player; he’s more of an ancillary piece to the Astralis machine. On top of that, Astralis is probably the best team in the world. So as an ancillary piece, he should get less credit relative to stars of other teams. However, if you look at his games since the StarLadder Berlin Major, he’s been on a role. In particular, he had some superheroic performances at both ESL New York and IEM Beijing. He was easily the most impactful player for Astralis in their ESL New York run, and I believe he was the primary reason why Astralis beat Liquid on Vertigo. At IEM Beijing, he had a ridiculous impact and was the MVP of the tournament. While he’s been more inconsistent than JKS in the same time, gla1ve brought more impact and a higher ceiling in the tournaments he did well in. He also did it from a play-making/entry-fragging role. While this is unlikely to continue as the entry/play-making role is volatile, I had to give the nod to gla1ve for this three month span. 7. KRIMZ Lans: 1st – DreamHack Malmo – 2nd – Starseries i-League Season 8 – Fnatic have surged back as one of the best teams in the world in the post-Berlin Major season. Their biggest and most consistent star in this period has been KRIMZ. Ever since Golden returned to the lineup, KRIMZ has resurrected his superstar form and has been an absolute fortress for Fnatic. He has a great overall game, which allows him to be impactful at any point in the round. He can win the opening duel, trade, clutch, or use teamplay/positional CS to secure the round. His game sense and consistency make him the rock of Fnatic and one of the cornerstones of Fnatic’s success in the last three months. I ranked him higher than gla1ve for two reasons. His consistency was better, and that was especially impressive when you consider how many games Fnatic had to play at Malmo and Starseries -League Season 8 was more impressive. The second is that he’s the superstar of Fnatic and so he has more responsibility to perform at a higher level. 6. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski Lans: Top 8 – StarLadder Berlin – Top 4 – ESL New York – 5th – BLAST Copenhagen – For my money, I believe EliGE is still the best player in NA. The problem with these rankings is that they only take results from the last three month period, and Liquid have only played at two LANs at that time. The most impressive thing about EliGE during this period was that he was still as consistently great now as he was during Liquid’s period of dominance earlier in the year. He has brilliant game sense, aim, and is one of the best entry-fraggers on both sides of the server. EliGE continues to be Liquid’s primary superstar and consistently delivers on that billing. EliGE and KRIMZ had similar levels of consistency, and as that’s the case, I gave EliGE the nod as he played at a higher level than KRIMZ and was comparable to the top 5 of this list. The only thing stopping EliGE from being ranked higher was the number of games that Liquid played during this time. 5. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev Lans: Top 8 – StarLadder Berlin – Top 4 – DreamHack Malmo – 13-16th – StarSeries i-League Season 8 – 3rd – BLAST Copenhagen – S1mple is another example of a player I believe should be ranked higher, but couldn’t due to the criteria I set out at the beginning. S1mple is probably the second-best player in the world, but Na`Vi bombed StarSeries Belek even though s1mple has continued to play at a stellar level. What’s interesting about s1mple is that he’s recently changed roles from the primary AWPer to a rifler. He’s been put on the wings (which was his old role on his Liquid/Flipsid3 days) and continues to be impactful and consistent from that position. The only worrying thing about this role change is that when s1mple was on the AWP, he was positioned to be in the most impactful scenarios possible as he did the entry duels and closed out the rounds. The shift in positions has put a lot more responsibility into the hands of the other Na`Vi players. So even though s1mple continues to be stellar, the rest of Na`Vi will have to step up for the team to succeed. 4. Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov Lans: Top 4 – StarLadder Berlin Major – 1st – ESL New York – 13-16th – DreamHack Malmo – 1st – StarSeries i-League Season 8 – 5-6th – IEM Beijing – 5-6th CS:GO Asia Championships – EG have hit the LAN circuit the hardest. They’ve been traveling from LAN to LAN with hardly any breaks in between. In that space, their two big stars have broken into the top five of the world. CeRq and Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte have been in unstoppable form. Both have been MVP candidates for EG in their numerous runs since StarLadder. What’s interesting about CeRq is that he’s been completely let off the chain. He’s taking more aggressive duels and is more often than not converting them into opening entries for the team. While he’s comparable in impact to Brehze, his style of play is more volatile, and this has made him more inconsistent. That’s why he didn’t go higher up on the ranking. CeRq outranked EliGE and s1mple due to the number of games he’s played and the consistency and impact he brought to those games. 3. Brehze Lans: Top 4 – StarLadder Berlin Major – 1st – ESL New York – 13-16th – DreamHack Malmo – 1st – StarSeries i-League Season 8 – 5-6th – IEM Beijing – 5-6th CS:GO Asia Championships – EG’s superstar makes it third on this list. Brehze has been an absolute revelation since his breakout performance at StarLadder Berlin Major. The term “breakout” is a misnomer as Brehze has been fantastic throughout this year. The reason other teams and the community are starting to notice now is that EG’s elevation in the rankings has forced the world to see just how ridiculous Brehze is. Like KRIMZ, Brehze has a brilliant all-around game. He has the most stable role in EG and can impact the round in a wide variety of ways. He’s good at winning entries, using his game sense, or winning through the clutch. What’s more, he is the only superstar that Astralis have failed to shut down. 2. Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz Lans: 1st – StarLadder Berlin Major – 2nd – ESL New York – Top 4 – DreamHack Malmo – 4th – BLAST Copenhagen – 1st – IEM Beijing – Coming in second place is the immortal dev1ce. In terms of longevity, stability, and consistency, dev1ce is the best in CS:GO history. This was one of the harder rankings to place, as you could argue either way. Both are polarizing superstars of their teams, and they create a critical foundational piece for their team’s identities. What clinched it for dev1ce was the context of their respective teams. EG are in prime form, and two of their players are in the top five. On top of that, Ethan “Ethan” Arnold was HLTV’s MVP for StarSeries i-League Season 8, and Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz is currently the best fragging in-game leader. In contrast to that, the form of the Astralis players doesn’t match up. When put into that context, I have to give the nod to dev1ce here as it feels like he has to carry at a higher level for his team to succeed. 1. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut Lans: Top 8 – StarLadder Berlin Major – 2nd – DreamHack Malmo – Top 8 – StarSeries i-League Season 8 – Top 4 – IEM Beijing – The French prodigy has taken his place as the best player in the world. In terms of consistency, impact, and carry load, no one is comparable to ZywOo. He has better consistency than either dev1ce or Brehze. In terms of impact, the only player comparable to him is s1mple, as no one else has shown that they can reach similar heights. What makes ZywOo stand out among the top five though, is his carry load. He is similar to what s1mple was in the Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko lineup. ZywOo needs to be the opener and closer for Vitality, though not quite to the extremes that s1mple was (s1mple, for instance, had to take completely different positions to cover the holes in Na`Vi’s CT-side). While other stars do that for their respective teams, no one has to do it with the same level of frequency that ZywOo does for Vitality. What’s more, Vitality’s tactical system is starting to become stale. The addition of Richard “shox” Papillon for Nathan “NBK” Schmitt has mostly been irrelevant in terms of the tactical system. As for firepower, Shox might win more clutches than NBK, but overall not much has changed. Given these additional factors, it’s clear that ZywOo is not only the best player in the world but also the player that has the most responsibility to carry.

Stuchiu: Top 10 CSGO Players from Oct-Dec Stuchiu’s back with another edition of the top-10 players who stood out in CS:GO in the past three months – where does your favorite land? One of my favorite things to discuss in CS:GO is who are the best players. While CS:GO has better stats to make comparative judgments between players, that doesn’t get to the whole story. Teams have different tactics and strategies and players have different roles therein. In order to make this list then, I set out certain criteria that I applied consistently across all of the players. The criteria I included was: consistency, impact, role, and competition. Consistency is a player’s level average level of play across the time period. Impact is harder to define as in-game leaders and support players have an impact that we can’t see in the server. In the case of this list, impact refers to in-game actions: space-creation, rotations, and gravity. Gravity is the amount of a player polarizes a game. Role refers to what a player does in their team and is required of them. Some players have to play at a higher level for their team to function and they are rated higher as a result. Competition refers to the level of teams/LANs a player attended. If two players have similar levels of impact and consistency, but one played against the top teams more, they will be rated higher. Finally, I set the parameters of the list to only include LAN play. LANs were also ranked depending on format and importance. The Major, for instance, is far more important than the bo1 BLAST events or the Summit. The rankings do a three-month span so for this edition it runs from October to December. For LANs that run from the end of the month to the beginning of the new month, I add them into the month where they end. 10 Keith “NAF” Markovic [New] LANs: 9-12th DreamHack Malmo – 5th – BLAST Copenhagen – 2nd – ECS 8 – 5-6th – ESL Proleague Season 10 Finals – 2nd – BLAST Finals – NAF makes his first appearance on my top 10 rankings list. He was on the bubble last time but really solidified his place in my top 10 with his performances at ECS Season 8 and at BLAST Finals. He’s been a great secondary star for Team Liquid and seems to be their most consistent player against Astralis in particular. NAF is a hard player to pin down since he’s versatile enough to play nearly every role but seems to tend towards the more passive side of things. On the other hand, when he’s aggressive, he goes all-in. Among the five Liquid players, I think he has the best killer instinct for when to make wildcard plays that can tilt the direction of the match. 9. Ozgur “woxic” Eker [New] LANs: 5-6th DH Malmo – 9-12th StarSeries i-League Season 8 – 1st – CS:GO Asia Championships (CAC) – 1st – EPL 10 Finals – 2nd – EPICENTER 2019 – Mouz had a massive marathon run through December as they went from tournament to tournament securing their spot as a top 5 team in the world. One of the reasons for their success is their superstar AWPer woxic. Woxic has not only carried over his aggressive AWPing style from his hyper-carry HellRaisers days, but he’s also learning how to be a stable system player and has started to introduce more of a Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz style AWPing into his game. The primary reason woxic cracked my top 10 was his duel performances at EPL 10 and CAC. At ESL Proleague Season 10 he was one of the stars that Mouz needed to win the tournament and was their biggest star in the Astralis series. At CAC he was the MVP of the tournament. 8. Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson [-1] LANs: 1st – DreamHack Malmo – 2nd – SLi 8 – Top 4 – ECS 8 – 2nd – EPL 10 – Not much has changed for KRIMZ since the last ranking as Fnatic went on to add two big LAN results to their growing resume with good results at both ECS Season 8 and EPL 10. While those were good results for Fnatic, they didn’t move the needle much for KRIMZ on my list. KRIMZ is still a stalwart superstar for Fnatic, but the ascension of his teammate and the overall landscape has seen KRIMZ slip down a place from last month. 7. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski [-1] LANs: 9-12th DH Malmo – 5th – BLAST Copenhagen – 2nd – ECS Season 8 – 5-6th – EPL 10 – 2nd – BLAST FInals – In this month’s iteration, EliGE is the highest ranking NA player on my list. Like Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte and Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov, he suffered from ESL New York and StarLadder Berlin Major no longer being removed from the pool. All three players had spectacular performances at those two LANs. Since then Brehze hit a massive slump. CeRq is still good, but his performances in December weren’t enough for me to rank him over NAF this go around. Unlike the EG stars, EliGE’s consistency continues to shine through. While I wouldn’t mark December as a particularly strong run for EliGE (compared to where he was in mid-2019), his level isn’t far off from that. Among all of the NA players, EliGE seems to have the best floor and has the least volatile fluctuations in form because of that. So while he dropped down a rank, EliGE is still one of the best in the world and will likely be a constant fixture in these rankings. 6. Emil “Magisk” Reif [New] LANs: 3-4th DreamHack Malmo – 4th -BLAST Copenhagen – 1st – IEM Beijing – 1st – ECS 8 – Top 4 – EPL 10 – 1st – BLAST Finals – Magisk makes his first appearance in my top 10 rankings and he breaks in at 6th. Magisk has been an unsung hero throughout Astralis’ run in 2019. Even when they were in their slump in mid-2019, Magisk continued to be a solid anchor for the team. Since resurrecting at the Berlin Major, Magisk has also elevated his level as a lurker and CT-side anchor. He’s probably the best pit player in the world with his incredible spray control and micro-positioning. Astralis’ flurry of results through December was what clinched Magisk’s spot here. While he was never the MVP of any of Astralis big runs (Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander took Beijing, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussem took BLAST, dev1ce took BLAST), Magisk was the second or third best player in all of their runs. While I often give the nod to primary stars of their teams over secondary stars of other teams, Magisk played at a more consistent level than EliGE, so I gave the nod to Magisk. 5. Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin [+5] LANs: 1st – DreamHack Malmo – 2nd – SLi 8 – Top 4 – ECS 8 – 2nd – EPL 10 – In last month’s ranking, I had Brollan as the 10th best player. This month, he broke into my top 5. There were two reasons for this. There were a few reasons for this. Both CeRq and Brehze fell out of the list, which naturally shifted him up. The bigger reason is his elevation in performance. At ESL Proleague Season 10, he was the superstar player for Fnatic’s run to the finals. Brollan now feels like the primary superstar of Fnatic. That along with the format and competition of EPL 10 is why I edged Brollan over Magisk. Magisk is more consistent than Brollan, but Brollan’s ability to be the primary star of his team and consistently play at such a high level through the entire run of EPL 10 was enough for me to edge Brollan over Magisk, if just slightly. 4. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev [+1] LANs: Top 4 – DreamHack Malmo – 13-16th – SLi 8 – 3rd – BLAST Copenhagen – Top 4 – EPL 10 – Top 6 – EPICENTER – Na`Vi finally attending more events has given s1mple the platform to prove why he is still one of the best players in the CS:GO world. Unfortunately for s1mple, Na`Vi is a flawed team so they aren’t making deep tournament finishes. This hurt s1mple a bit, but if you look at s1mple’s body of work, he’s continued being a superstar player (albeit with a rifle). He isn’t as impactful as he was in his primary-AWP days, but he is still a force to be reckoned with. If Na`Vi can fix their problems, I think s1mple will break into the top 3. Even in a diminished role, he is still a superlative player that the eye test tells you should be the best in the world. 3 – Robin “ropz” Kool [New] LANs: 5-6th DH Malmo – 9-12th StarSeries i-League Season 8 – 1st – CS:GO Asia Championships (CAC) – 1st – EPL 10 Finals – 1st – CS Summit 5 – 2nd – EPICENTER 2019 – Mouz breaking into the top 5 is also indicative of one of their players breaking into the top 5. Among their trio of young stars, Ropz has been a revelation. At the end of Mouz, ropz was in static decline. His game had stopped evolving and other teams and players had figured him out. In the Finn “karrigan” Andersden system, he has evolved. From tournament to tournament, we’ve seen Ropz pull away from his passive style and start to mix in new aggressive plays and setups. This alongside his game sense and mechanics has made him an absolute monster. In Mouz’s run, he was the MVP of EPL 10, their best player at EPICENTER, MVP of Summit 5 (albeit a much smaller LAN), and second-best player at CAC. The only knock against him is that we’ve only seen ropz play at the highest levels in the month of December. It just happened that December was packed with LANs, and his performance was so incredible that he jumped straight into my top 3. We will have to see if he can continue this form coming into the new year. 2 – Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz [-] LANs: 3-4th DreamHack Malmo – 4th -BLAST Copenhagen – 1st – IEM Beijing – 1st – ECS 8 – Top 4 – EPL 10 – 1st – BLAST Finals – Dev1ce remains eternally consistent. While the MVP at StarLadder Berlin Major no longer counted, he just went to ECS 8 to pick up another one. He continues to be the most consistent player in history and it’s no surprise that he is the centerpiece behind Astralis’ success in the last few years. 1 – Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut [-] LANs: 2nd – DreamHack Malmo – Top 8 – SLi 8 – Top 4 – IEM Beijing – 1st – EPICENTER – ZywOo remains the best player in the world. He’s added another MVP to his cabinet. What’s surprising about ZywOo is that Vitality hasn’t attended many of the LANs in the December sprint, but it didn’t matter. That might be the only mark against him, but if you look at the content of his games, he exceeds every marker. No one is as consistent, plays at such a high level, or is required to deliver at such a prominent level as ZywOo does in CS:GO. So while he may not have the raw game amount, he more than makes up for it in every other category. ZywOo is the best player in the world.

Stuchiu: Top 10 CSGO Player Rankings from Nov 2019-Jan 2020 ESLWith the 2020 CS:GO campaign underway for teams around the world, Stuchiu is combing the competitive landscape to find the Top 10 players – what were the biggest changes? One of my favorite things to discuss in CS:GO is who are the best players. While CS:GO has better stats to make comparative judgements between players, that doesn’t get to the whole story. Teams have different tactics and strategies and players have different roles therein. In order to make this list then, I set out certain criteria that I applied consistently across all of the players. The criteria I included was: consistency, impact, role, and competition. Consistency is a player’s level average level of play across the time period. Impact is harder to define as in-game leaders and support players have an impact that we can’t see in the server. In the case of this list, impact refers to in-game actions: space-creation, rotations, and gravity. Gravity is the amount of a player polarizes a game. Role refers to what a player does in their team and is required of them. Some players have to play at a higher level for their team to function and they are rated higher as a result. Competition refers to the level of teams/LANs a player attended. If two players have similar levels of impact and consistency, but one played against the top teams more, they will be rated higher. Finally, I set the parameters of the list to only include LAN play. LANs were also ranked depending on format and importance. The Major, for instance, is far more important than the bo1 BLAST events or the Summit. The rankings do a three-month span so for this edition it runs from November 2019 to January 2020. For LANs that run from the end of the month to the beginning of the new month, I add them into the month where they end. 10. Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen [New] LANs: BLAST Copenhagen – 4th – IEM Beijing – 1st – ECS 8 Finals – 1st – EPL 10 Finals – 4th – BLAST Finals – 1st – Dupreeh makes his first appearance on my top 10 rankings. It was always going to be hard for Dupreeh as the primary stars of Astralis are Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Emil “Magisk” Reif. Their system enables those two players to have a better game relative to dupreeh and dupreeh is often relegated to harder roles. Even so, dupreeh has been shining once again as one of the best players in the world and has individual form has been on the rise. This was especially true at the BLAST Global Finals where he was the MVP of the event. It was a surprising return to form as dupreeh had slumps throughout the year, particularly during the AUG/Krieg meta where entry fraggers were often getting killed without recourse. While dupreeh’s form is a bit more volatile compared to either Magisk or dev1ce, he is still one of the most consistent players in the world. 9. Denis “electronic” Sharipov [New] Lans: BLAST Copenhagen – 3rd – EPL 10 Finals – Top 4 – EPICENTER – 5-6th – Electronic is another new entrance to my top 10 rankings. What’s strange about ranking electronic is that if I had purely used the eye test, I think he’s been a top 10 player the entire time I’ve been writing these lists. The only thing keeping electronic from going up further was Na`Vi’s lack of participation in LANs which meant that he had less chances to play games against high-level competition and less games to prove his consistency. Read more: Thorin: NBK is the French Kingmaker – That is why he was able to finally crack into the top 10 now. With the time limit ranging from Nov. 2019 to Jan 2020, that no longer held him back as much. Electronic made it above Dupreeh as he plays a similar playmaking/entry-fragging role, but has to do it as the secondary star of Na`Vi. 8. Keith “NAF” Markovic [+2] Lans: 5th – BLAST Copenhagen – 2nd – ECS 8 – 5-6th – ESL Proleague Season 10 Finals – 2nd – BLAST Finals – NAF’s placement has changed largely due to others dropping out of the list. With the October LANs dropping out of the picture both Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin and Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson dropped out of the rankings as DreamHack Malmo and StarSeries i-League Season 8 no longer counted. This took away half of their results which hurt their consistency and peak performance ranking. In contrast to that, NAF’s best results largely remained the same. He was the secondary star of Liquid and when Liquid played against Astralis, he was their best player. His peak performances against the best team in the world made me place him above electronic. 7. Ozgur “woxic” Eker [+2] Lans: 1st – CS:GO Asia Championships (CAC) – 1st – EPL 10 Finals – 2nd – EPICENTER 2019 – Like NAF, woxic’s jump up was largely due to Fnatic’s results dropping out of the time range. At the same time, woxic’s own performances largely remained the same. Woxic was the MVP of CS:GO Asia and was Mouz’s secondary star at both EPL 10 Finals and EPICENTER. Like NAF, he had a key superstar performance against Astralis at EPL 10 Finals. That alongside his consistency and peak put him above NAF for me. 6. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski [+1] Lans: 5th – BLAST Copenhagen – 2nd – ECS Season 8 – 5-6th – EPL 10 – 2nd – BLAST FInals – Nothing much has changed for EliGE from the last ranking to this one. As that’s the case, I’ll take do a side tangent to talk about EliGE’s 2019 as a whole. Overall, this was easily EliGE’s best year as a player as he emerged as the consistent superstar for Liquid. Back in 2018, Liquid’s superstar players were Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and NAF at different points in the year. Behind them, two or three players usually showed up for their big 2018 runs. In 2019, the consistent superstar force for Liquid has been EliGE. The initial impetus for this change seems to be the inclusion of Jake “Stewie2K” Yip as his entry-style gave EliGE the space he needed as a secondary entry-fragger. After Stewie2K fell off though, EliGE has continued to be an absolute rock for the Liquid squad. While he is 6th on this ranking, I have EliGE is the third best player of the year. 5. Emil “Magisk” Reif [+1] Lans: BLAST Copenhagen – 4th – IEM Beijing – 1st – ECS 8 Finals – 1st – EPL 10 Finals – 4th – BLAST Finals – 1st – Magisk bumped up another rank due to Brollan dropping out of the rankings. As a player, Magisk is one of the most intriguing players to analyze. When he first joined Astralis, no one expected him to be the final piece they needed to become the GOATs of CS:GO. WIth hindsight we now know that his skill set and role specialty was exactly what Astralis needed in a 5th player. Magisk has the best spray of any player outside of potentially EliGE. Unlike EliGE, he uses his spray in conjunction with micro-positioning and is excellent at making plays with extremely small spaces (hence why he’s the best pit player in the world). His natural passivity lets him avoid conflicts with either Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander or dupreeh who want to make the aggressive rifle plays, but he’s still skilled enough to make them when he needs to. It’s also helped him pair well with dev1ce in CT-side setups. 4. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev [No Change] Lans: BLAST Copenhagen – 3rd – EPL 10 Finals – Top 4 – EPICENTER – 5-6th – As s1mple had no changes this month, I’ll take this time to write a bit about our perception of s1mple as a player. S1mple broke the bar of peak ability and consistency in 2019. To this day, I don’t believe anyone surpassed what he did individually in the first half of 2019 when Na`Vi were still using electronic in the wrong role. What’s more s1mple continued that level and made it the standard for the rest of the year and for most of 2020 until Na`Vi took him off the AWP. After going off the AWP, he’s been less impactful on the rifle relative to the absolute god he was with the AWP. What’s curious is that people are now downplaying the level that s1mple is playing at and I believe it’s partially due to the impossible standard that s1mple set in 2019 with the AWP. If we could somehow wipe the name plates off and judge s1mple without the nameplate, we’d hail him as one of the best in the world. But because we know he can not play at a game-breaking level, it feels almost pedestrian in nature compared to what he was. 3. Robin “ropz” Kool [No Change] Lans: 1st – CS:GO Asia Championships (CAC) – 1st – EPL 10 Finals – 1st – CS Summit 5 – 2nd – EPICENTER 2019 – The evolution of ropz in 2019 has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2019 season. It’s hard to remember now, but ropz was slumping at the end of the Mouz period. His playstyle had become stale and his opponents knew how to deny ropz the favorable scenarios he wanted. Once Finn “karrigan” Andersen came into play though, everything seemed to change. The mechanics seemed to get instantly better and ropz found himself in better scenarios where he could display his skill at the highest level. What really surprised me though was the final months of 2019 as ropz started to tear down his old identity and expand it with far more aggressive plays that he’d never try over a year ago. He’s probably the most improved player of 2019. 2. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut [-1] Lans: Top 4 – IEM Beijing – 1st – EPICENTER – With DreamHack Malmo and StarLadder i-League dropping out of the rankings, it was possible that ropz could have overtaken ZywOo’s spot as second. However the overall context of ZywOo’s team and the burden of firepower he carries was enough to win the day. No one else in CS:GO currently has more responsibility to carry as ZywOo does and because of that, I put him above ropz. 1. dev1ce [+1] Lans: 4th -BLAST Copenhagen – 1st – IEM Beijing – 1st – ECS 8 – Top 4 – EPL 10 – 1st – BLAST Finals – The loss of Malmo and Sli hurt ZywOo and pushed dev1ce up to the top for these rankings. Overall dev1ce went to more LANs and more important ones (ECS 8 and EPL 10 specifically). While ZywOo was ahead in the intangibles, the amount of games, the high level of consistency, and dev1ce’s MVP earned him the top spot this month.

Stuchiu: The Two Holes in Na`Vi’s Death Star DreamHackOn its surface, Natus Vincere’s star-studded roster is one of the best in CSGO. Why, then, have they failed to fulfill their seemingly limitless potential? I explain the two major issues that have stopped Na’Vi from taking the next step in the esport. After Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko retired, it felt like a new age was about to dawn for Na`Vi. Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy drew up plans for a winning vision. In that vision,he constructed a CIS all-star team. The team included: Egor “flamie” Vsailev, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, Denis “electronic” Sharipov, Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov, and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs. It looked like a world-destroyer, the CS:GO equivalent of the Death Star. Just like the Death Star though, the Na`Vi war machine has two holes that have stopped them from becoming world contenders. Constructing the Death Star To understand the flaws, we need to first understand the conception of the new age of Na`Vi. In early 2019, B1ad3 joined Na`Vi as Esports director. He was largely in charge of structural changes to make their teams more professional. He was also the one who did the scouting when Na`Vi looked for potential replacements for Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev, B1ad3 was the one who did the scouting. B1ad3 considered Boombl4 the best replacement for Edward as he did the same roles and could transition into the leadership role when Zeus retired. When Zeus retired, B1ad3 asked s1mple if he wanted to continue as Sniper or not. S1mple told HLTV, “He[b1ad3] asked me if I want to keep playing with the sniper and I told him, as I always say, if there was going to be a better sniper, a real sniper, of course, I was going to give him the AWP. I feel confident with rifles, I wanted this before, there is more freedom when you play as a rifler.” Read More: Why G2 Esports are inherently volatile – So Na`Vi decided to buy out GuardiaN from FaZe. By the end of September, the Na`Vi lineup was: Boombl4, s1mple, electronic, flamie, and GuardiaN. Boombl4 was the entry fragger and caller, s1mple was the aggressive wing player and closer, electronic was the aggressive playmaker, flamie the passive wing player, and GuardiaN was the AWPer. The plan was to play a loose style that lets the individuals flex their individual skills while having a bedrock of teamplay underneath. As B1ad3 described it to HLTV, “The main vision I had for my team was to have one vision, one system of analyzing, for everyone…I see that these players are really skilled and analyze situations really fast, which they use to create space in the game, and to further improve this we just need to give them more knowledge.” He expounded on this a bit more in a Na`Vi vlog where he told Na`Vi, “The most important lesson is to make sure players are on the same page regarding the game so they can provide the info and decide what to do immediately. Those milliseconds matter, so to improve communication, they have to work on their understanding and analyzing of the game together.” In terms of tactics, he wanted the team to play in the moment. Instead of focusing on the macro game like traditional in-game leaders like Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander or Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen, he wanted Na`Vi to play off of their individual actions within this framework. He told HLTV, “So, we don’t want to play by a script like a lot of teams…we try to get into the round, get some information, analyze it, make a call, and play with this new information, not from what we get in the previous round or what we get in the freeze time, but information that we get mid-round in specific zones.” Read More: Best CSGO players by Role in 2019 – This approach was radically different from the Zeus-era of Na`Vi and B1ad3’s own Flipsid3 back when he was the in-game leader of that squad. Back then B1ad3 didn’t have a lot of firepower in his squads, so he had to build a tactical rigid system that ran off of his knowledge of the game. Now that he had assembled a squad filled with firepower, he was going to go the opposite direction. Instead of emphasizing tactics, he wanted to emphasize the firepower of the individual players and synthesize that with team play elements. It sounded like a combination of 2015 Fnatic with 2017 FaZe. The winning vision is potent and it was all the more convincing when you looked at the roster. Four of the five players were scouted by B1ad3 at some point in their careers, so b1ad3 had a stronger grasp than most as to whether or not this lineup could succeed. The only unknown was GuardiaN as he had fallen off towards the end of FaZe. However his experience and communication seemed integral for B1ad3 as he told HLTV, “These factors are why, his experience and that he has known our players for a long time, they actually communicate really well” At DreamHack Malmo, the system looked ridiculous. With barely any practice, new roles, and a new leader at this level, Na`Vi looked almost ready to become a contender in CS:GO. Since then though, the machine hasn’t lived up to the hype. They bombed out of StarSeries i-League Season 8, got 3rd at BLAST Copenhagen, top 4 at EPL 10 Finals, and top 6 at EPICENTER. Throughout their December run, two holes have appeared in Na`Vi’s Death Star. The Holes in the Death Star The first hole is GuardiaN. GuardiaN is a legendary CS:GO player, a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, and one of the all-time greats. Unfortunately, GuardiaN hasn’t lived up to his past glories and his time on Na`Vi hasn’t been convincing thus far. The raw stats alone speak volumes as he’s had some of the worst events and series of his career. This is even worse when you consider the conception of the Na`Vi Death Star. One of the presuppositions of this squad was that they had five threats spread all across the map. With five threats, any of them could get a pick or make an aggressive move and counter-move that could turn the map, let them take control of a zone, and the make a mid-round call. The AWPer is critical in such a strategy as the AWP has the highest potential for getting a pick and controlling space. Read More: Why Astralis had a better 2019 than Liquid – A comparable analogy is the 2016 Na`Vi or Luminosity. Both teams used a slow default style where they took control of the map, let their AWP find a pick, and then made a play off the map. The AWP has the highest impact potential in the game and GuardiaN’s slumping form means that it’s largely been inert as an offensive and defensive weapon. This is more unforgivable as s1mple’s AWP style, in particular, seems extremely well-suited for this new Na`Vi system as he had the best opening kill rate and lowest death count for a hyper-aggressive AWPer. The only potential positive impact that GuardiaN could have on the team is intangible. The team is filled with a bunch of younger stars. None of them have his experience so he could have a positive impact on the mental strength of the team or could be helping in other ways, similar to how Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux did for various French lineups in the past. Like SmithZz though, there is a point where whatever you do in the server outweighs the benefits of how you impact things outside of it. Sadly, GuardiaN is at that tipping point if he hasn’t already passed it already. The second hole is leadership. This flaw is a bit more forgivable as Boombl4 is new at in-game leading at the highest level. Even so, it’s a notable flaw in Na`Vi’s game. Na`Vi’s T-side is fairly predictable. They have some fast rounds where they do a set play, but they usually stick to mid and slow rounds. In mid-rounds, they go for aggressive early peaks before taking zones on the map, look for picks, and try to make mid-round calls off of that. This style has been fairly static, but it can improve over time depending on the skill and knowledge of the individual players. For now, though, teams already seem to know what to expect from Na`Vi. The most egregious example of this was when Na`Vi played Vitality at EPICENTER. Vitality smashed Na`Vi’s T-side. On Inferno, Na`Vi didn’t know how to deal with Vitality’s double-AWP or passive CT-side default. The 10th round in particular sticks out as they tried for a B execute, but didn’t take the economy, utility or time into account. They ended up running through a smoke and molly into a crossfire where they all died. Nuke was a similar affair where Vitality perfectly read their rotations for most of the map, though the midround calling got better in the latter half of their T-side. While I’ve been critical of the leadership, there is still room to grow on that front. Boombl4 is still new at this and is learning how to integrate B1ad3’s knowledge into his own calling. He told HLTV, “At the moment I am trying to understand the T side from a macro perspective, so things like how the CTs position themselves. Andrey (B1ad3) helps me a lot with this. It allows me to control the CTs’ movement by forcing our game onto them, which in turn means that I can understand where they are positioned.” Na`Vi going into 2020 From October to December, Na`Vi attended four events and had mixed results. The lineup has been together for about two months, but there are two alarming flaws in Na`Vi’s Death Star: GuardiaN’s slumping form and the tactical leadership. While it is possible to forgive the leadership given how new Boombl4 is at the highest level, it’s much harder to ignore GuardiaN’s slump. Not even the most diehard GuardiaN fan can make a plausible argument for why GuardiaN should stay on the team if this slump continues. The final thing to note is time. Na`Vi is still early in its inception. They have only had this lineup for a little over three months. The next Major is set for May, so they still have some time to play with if they want to give GuardiaN more time to prove himself. However, Na`Vi will need to improve or make a change soon. If not, the other teams will continue to fly their X-wings and exploit the holes of Na`Vi’s Death Star in 2020.

Stuchiu: The Outsider, An Oskar Story DreamHackTomas “oskar” Stastny’s Counter-Strike career is one of the most peculiar in the game’s history. Despite having the skill to play under the brightest lights, the Czech veteran’s career hasn’t panned out to its fullest potential. In CS 1.6, oskar was a good player, but the scene gave no opportunities to display that skill at the highest levels. In CS:GO he showed a similarly strong performance on smaller teams before joining Mouz. In 2018 he became Mouz’s superstar. Once Mouz broke apart, oskar has wallowed in smaller teams despite having the skill to play at a higher level. When you look at oskar’s history, he has been an outsider and that role has defined his CSGO career for both good and bad. From 1.6 to GO To understand why it is so remarkable, we have to look back at the roots of esports and the days of CS 1.6. In CS 1.6, by and large, the most successful teams were all domestic squads. It made complete sense as the inherent game culture of each country created a natural team-play that was critical in fielding the most competitive teams in the world. This was fine for countries that were filled with talent, but for players outside of the typical Counter-Strike domains, it could be a death sentence. There was only so much talent in the smaller countries and so despite how good oskar was as a player, there was never a chance for him to truly shine on the world stage. In terms of the scene itself, oskar could have never been on a top team as international squads weren’t considered viable (outside of the NoA lineup). Even then, no team had the capital or the incentive to try to make such a team back in CS 1.6. It wasn’t until the advent of CS:GO and the explosion of popularity the game got in 2015 that teams started to experiment with the international lineup. Even then, it wasn’t considered a viable model until Finn “karrigan” Andersen led FaZe to the top of the world in 2017. From Mouz to Now In the case of oskar though, the opportunity to play on an international squad was only one of his problems. While he broke out for Mouz at the beginning of 2017 as their star player, in reality, he was picked up by the team back in August 22nd, 2016. At the time, he was the best player on HellRaisers and Mouz’s original plan was for him to be the secondary star player behind Nikola “NiKo” Kovac. In the end though, oskar only played for one LAN event at the Gfnity CS:GO Invitational. After that, he took a break from playing on Mouz. He wrote on his facebook that, “ For oskar, one of the bigger hurdles was overcoming himself. On the Podcast, when talking about oskar, Richard Lewis points out that he was a weird dude. Not a bad dude, but different. In my view, it seems to me that he is a callback to the first or second generation of video game players. The original set of people who played video games were a niche group of people. Many of them were people who didn’t quite fit into social norms. They weren’t social or charismatic people and they couldn’t express themselves fully or be comfortable in society. Video games gave them a safe haven of sorts for those people that couldn’t quite fit in to the typical society, who were able to find solace and confidence in what they could do in the virtual reality of video games. In a sense, oskar wasn’t just an outsider because he was from the Czech Republic, but also because of his personality. In 2017 though, all of that began to change. In one last hurrah, the Mouz team decided to have NiKo and oskar play together for NiKo’s last event in the mouz team at DreamHack Las Vegas. While the team ended in the top eight, it was a revelation. A view into an alternate reality of what could have been if NiKo and oskar could have played together under that Mouz sports team full-time. After all, both were players from countries with almost no Counter-Strike history. NiKo from Bosnia and oskar from the Czech Republic. Both had to build their games outside of the norms of Counter-Strike and both eventually went on to become the primary stars of their international teams, NiKo for FaZe and oskar for Mouz. After Las Vegas, the Mouz team slowly built around oskar to enable him. They already had two of the pieces they needed in Chris “chrisJ” de Jong and Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanov. Later on, Mouz rounded out the roster with three more players. The first was Robin “ropz” Kool, an Estonian phenom who had surprised pros with how good he was in FPL. Later on in the year, Mouz would get two more players: Miikka “suNny” Kemppi and Martin “STYKO” Styk. These moves were critical in helping oskar integrate into the team. As he noted when he first joined the team, he wasn’t comfortable with the first squad and because of that he wasn’t able to put in the long hours that were needed to make the team work. When we look at this team now, it makes sense as to why oskar would now feel comfortable. ChrisJ became the leader, entry, and secondary AWPer. In that way he could help create space for oskar either as an entry player or give oskar the chance to flex to his rifles whenever he wasn’t feeling it. Lmbt was oskar’s previous coach in HellRaisers and understood the strengths and weaknesses of oskar. Ropz and suNny are great young star players who increase the firepower of the overall squad. Finally, STYKO was particularly important as he understood oskar on a cultural/team level as oskar himself noted in his Q&A he did on twitter. However once the Mouz team came together, oskar became an even stronger player and by the end of 2017, Mouz saw themselves fighting in the finals of ECS Season 4 Finals against FaZe. In 2018, they continued to be one of the best teams in the world and won their biggest trophy at StarLadder i-League Starseries Season 4. While there are multiple reasons as to why this Mouz squad was so successful from the end of 2017 to early 2018, one of the biggest aspects for me was oskar’s role as a star player. In the case of oskar, his style of play seems influenced by the scene where he grew up in and the experiences he has had. Unlike a player like Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz or Patrick “f0rest” Lindberg, he didn’t grow up in a Counter-Strike country like Sweden or Denmark. Countries that have built up years of culture in terms of communication, playstyle, and teamplay. Oskar was someone who fought in the wilderness. He was an outsider and in order to survive he had to play in such a way that could increase his team’s chances of winning games. However unlike the big Counter-Strike countries, he could never have a fully functional team. Read More: Why Mouz keeps beating EG – Thus he created a style not quite like any other. There was a level of aggression or risks to his play unmatched by nearly any other AWPer in the world. Many of oskar’s best highlight clips are of him doing something seemingly impossible. Think back to a moment on some of the ridiculous oskar players. At ESG Mykonos, when Mouz did executes on Train, he was the first person to run in with his AWP to get entry kills. Once when Mouz played against Astralis, I saw him run in first with his AWP out of hut to get a no scope entry kill on the player on site. On the CT-side of Train, I’ve seen him run up the ladder in popdog to try to get a kill with his AWP. At the same time, oskar was a complete player. There are plenty of AWPers who have a high mechanical ceiling like Henrique “HEN1” Teles or William “draken” Sundin. However what separates many of the weaker AWPers from oskar is the level of consistency that oskar hits the easier shots. On top of that, oskar is also a very strong rifler player and has his own ideas about the game. All of this though could only be possible with the right team, one that believed in him. The episode that best highlights this fact is the quarterfinals at StarSeries i-League Season 5 Finals when Mouz played against NiP in the quarterfinals. In that event, Mouz were thrashed on Nuke by Na`Vi in the group stages. Even though Mouz won that series, oskar was still criticized for using his auto-shotty style of play on the CT-side of the map. In an HLTV interview, Lmbt revealed a conversation oskar had with lmbt after the loss on Nuke against Na`Vi, Read More: The two holes in Na’Vi’s Death Star – The rest of 2018 saw turmoil in the Mouz squad as they burned out traveling from event to event and had internal roster issues that saw them shuffle the roster with the STYKO and Janusz “Snax” Porgorzelski coming in and out of the lineup. The lineup came crashing down at the IEM Katowice Minor where Valiance eliminated Mouz 2-0. Mouz rebuilt their squad around Finn “Karrigan” Andersen and oskar left the team. For a team he considered a break before joining HellRaisers. In the announcement oskar said, “ Oskar’s career since Mouz has been fairly mediocre. While there were decent pieces on HellRaiser, they could never get a good mix of five players and become a coherent team. Oskar went inactive towards the end of 2019 and in 2020 joined Sprout. The Outsider When looking at oskar’s career as a whole, no sobriquet is more fitting than “outsider.” In CS 1.6, he was always on the outside looking in, both literally and later on metaphorically. Throughout oskar’s CS:GO career, his statements and actions always paint him as someone halfway-in and halfway-out. When oskar joined Mouz initially, he had been grinding for years and when he got his big chance at a higher stage, he “didn’t feel up to it.” Later on when he joined HellRaisers in 2019, he told HLTV that, “I was considering whether it was still worth it to keep playing, but I decided I wouldn’t give up that easily.” While these statements could indicate his lack of dedication to the game, that angle doesn’t feel correct. At the age of 28, oskar has been playing the game longer than most and is one of the few veterans that has proven that he can still play at the top level. Oskar’s ambivalence towards competition seems to come from his adherence to how he wants to play the game. Back when Mouz decided to rebuild the team in 2019, karrigan told Rivalry that oskar, ropz, and suNny weren’t interested in playing with him at the time. Oskar confirmed this to HLTV saying, “That’s true. I think we had different ideas about the team at the time, plus we already had two other names in mind. That’s life, people unfortunately make wrong decisions and you can’t take them back.” In the same HLTV interview, we see that sentiment play out again when oskar talks about turning down potential offers from NA, “I think I had two offers to go to North America and that was it. I’ve said it before, I can’t go to North America and I don’t want to. If I were 20 and if I had no roots, I’d go immediately.” While this attitude has been a detriment to his career, that same spirit is likely what powered oskar to this position in the first place. Oskar played for years in CS 1.6 fully cognizant of the fact that he was never going to play for a top team and that he was never going to be acknowledged as a top player. Despite that, he still dedicated himself to the game and continued to hone his skills. Read More: Why G2 are inherently volatile – The adherence to his style and comfort bore fruit later on in late 2017 to 2018. Mouz surrounded oskar with the right team and oskar got to play in his comfort zone. As STYKO described oskar’s impact on reddit, “He[oskar] was our star player, he was winning rounds for us. He won games for us. He won tournaments for us. It was not single handedly, but allowing him to carry is what we were really good at. And that includes putting oskar in best position not only in-game but also into his comfort zone outside of the game.” Oskar’s approach to the game let him survive the harsh times in CS 1.6 and early CS:GO. It brought him to great heights during that Mouz period, and it eventually brought him back down to earth as he decided to leave Mouz. When seen through that lens, there is something admirable and unique about Oskar’s Counter-Strike career. Regardless of the circumstances, oskar stuck to his guns. When the scene was small and he had no opportunities, he continued to play for the love of the game. When the scene became bigger, he refused to compromise how he wanted to live and how he wanted to play the game. At the age of 28, he still has the mechanics to be one of the best in the world. He comes from Czech Republic, a small CS country. His career is proof that an older veteran can not only continue playing at a top level, but do so as the superstar of a top five team. That someone outside of the major CS regions with no CS scene of it’s own can reach the absolute heights. That in spite (or because) of his own personal hangups, he has gotten more success than anyone could have predicted. Oskar’s career is proof that even an outsider can have a chance.

Stuchiu: The Astralis-Liquid veto points to where Liquid need to go for 2020 Where does Team Liquid go heading into 2020 after being dominated at the hands of Astralis in CSGO? Since Astralis beat Liquid at the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, the two teams have played five more times. Astralis sweeped the rematches as they won all five bo3s. The ensuing map-veto war between the two sides sheds light on the power dynamic and potential solutions as to where Liquid need to go heading into 2020. Before the Astralis Resurgence Before we get into the map-veto dynamic at Berlin and beyond, it’s worth looking at how the Astralis-Liquid map veto played out before the break that led into the StarLadder Berlin Major. At that time Liquid were the best team in the world and Astralis hadn’t made their resurgence to contender form. The two teams played at ESL Proleague Season 9 Finals quarterfinals. In that matchup, the map veto was: 1. Liquid removed Train 2. Astralis removed Mirage 3. Liquid picked Overpass 4. Astralis picked Inferno 5. Liquid removed Nuke 6. Astralis removed Dust2 7. Vertigo was left over There was nothing surprising about the veto. Liquid always banned Train and in 2019 Astralis had shifted their ban to Mirage. Liquid first picking Overpass wasn’t surprising either as they were still the best team in the world at the time. Overpass was a punish pick and Liquid’s comfort pick at the same time. As for Astralis, they went with Inferno since that was the only map in their pool that had retained a modicum of their 2019 form. The rest of their map pool had degenerated through mid 2019. Liquid took out Nuke in the second phase as it was Astralis’ second best map. Astralis chose to ban Dust2 and let Vertigo be the final map. This final ban shows where Astralis’ head was at during this time period. At this time Vertigo had just come into the map pool. No one had figured out how the map played out and underdog teams were using the map to try to upset favorite teams. Astralis were no exception as they realized Dust2 was a favorable Liquid map (probably their 2nd best during this period), so they tried to pull a fast one on Liquid. Liquid won the series 2-1, though Astralis beat them on Overpass 16-12. The Berlin Ambush and Shifting Power Dynamic The StarLadder Berlin Major playoffs marked the resurgence of Astralis. While they weren’t as good as their Astralis-Era forms, they were close enough to once again become the best in the world. What’s interesting about the StarLadder Berlin Major was that Astralis had some luck on their side. The Major format used Swiss groups with bo1s in the first two stages. In the bo3 stage, Astralis didn’t reveal any of their trump cards of Overpass and Vertigo in the group stages. Overpass was the third map of the EG-NRG series, but NRG won the series 2-0 so Overpass never got played. Astralis got to hide their revamped T-side. Astralis played Vertigo against CR4ZY in the following bo3, but it was a large T-side stomp. Astralis won the half 11-4, won the pistol, converted and closed the map before anyone could sense what their CT-side was like. This is critical as the Vertigo CT-side was what shut down Liquid later on, so that extra bit of information could have swayed things. When Astralis played Liquid in the quarterfinals, they pulled out an ambush in the pick-ban: 1. Astralis removed Mirage 2. Liquid removed Train 3. Astralis picked Vertigo 4. Liquid picked Overpass 5. Liquid removed Nuke 6. Astralis removed Dust2 7. Inferno was left over Astralis first picked Vertigo. Liquid then answered back with Overpass. In retrospect, we know that Liquid’s Overpass had dropped off, but at the time, it was the best theoretical choice at the time. Overpass was a problematic map one of Astralis’ weaker maps in their Era and it had only gotten worse in 2019. On the flipside, Liquid’s dominance came off the back of their dominance on the map. The rest of the map veto played out as usual. In the ensuing series, Astralis ambushed Liquid twice. They used a flank heavy and strong CT-side setups that Liquid had never seen and had no answer for. On Overpass, Liquid had a brilliant T-side, but Astralis had concocted nigh unstoppable B hits and contact plays that completely destroyed Liquid’s CT-side and won the series 2-0. Read More: Mousesports pull off miracle cs_summit 5 win – Astralis’ victory at Berlin shifted the power dynamic between the two teams. We saw this displayed at ESL New York where the map veto had once again changed: 1. Astralis removed Mirage 2. Liquid removed Train 3. Astralis picked Vertigo 4. Liquid picked Dust2 5. Astralis removed Inferno 6. Liquid removed Nuke 7. Overpass was left over Astralis started to use Vertigo to punish pick Liquid. As for Liquid, they couldn’t come up with any answers for Overpass and in the remaining part of the year, Overpass became one of Liquid’s weaker maps. From this point on Liquid reverted to either Dust2 or Inferno. At New York, Liquid opted for Dust2. Astralis took out Inferno so that they could minimize Liquid’s strength (that was the closest to a 50/50 map in the remaining three maps). Liquid had to pick their poison between Nuke and Overpass and opted for Overpass. Liquid did a good job on the CT-side of Vertigo, but when it came to the T-side, Astralis were one step ahead. They had changed their CT-side setups in preparation for the rematch and were one step ahead of any adjustments that Liquid had made. Liquid won Dust2 and Astralis closed the series in a close 16-13 victory on Overpass. Liquid Setup their own Ambush All is fair in love and war, so when Liquid went to ECS Season 8, Liquid used Astralis’ Berlin map-veto strategy against them. In the ECS Season 8 semifinals the map veto was: 1. Liquid removed Train 2. Astralis removed Mirage 3. Liquid picked Vertigo 4. Astralis picked Nuke 5. Liquid removed Overpass 6. Astralis removed Inferno 7. Dust2 was left over Liquid ambushed Astralis here. This was a scenario that none of them saw coming. After the map veto, Danny “zonic” Sorensen tweeted: When you think everything is going according to plan, you might get ambushed. We just got by @TeamLiquid 👀 — Danny Sørensen (@zonic) December 1, 2019 The move made a lot of sense. The architecture of Vertigo had changed and that put a small reset on the map’s meta. As for Astralis they went for Nuke. The second phase had Liquid take out Overpass and Astralis taking out Inferno. Among the remaining map vetoes, this was Liquid’s most impressive. It showed a willingness to take risks and it changed the dynamic of map vetoes going forward. While the ambush was successful, it wasn’t matchup breaking like when Astralis picked Vertigo at Berlin. The difference was the quality of wins the two teams had. When Astralis won Vertigo at Berlin and New York, they outclassed Liquid on the map tactically. So Vertigo felt like a true punish pick as each time Astralis picked it, it felt like Liquid were likely going to lose the map. When Liquid picked the map here, they barely won the map 19-15. While Liquid won, it only put enough fear in Astralis’ heart to second phase ban it. As for the series itself, Liquid couldn’t capitalize on their successful surprise attack as Astralis won the remaining games. The Stabilized Map Veto After the ambush at ECS Season 8 Finals, the map veto hit equilibrium. The pick-ban remained the same for the final three matches at ESL Proleague Season 10 Finals and BLAST: 1. Liquid removed Train 2. Astralis removed Mirage 3. Liquid picked Inferno 4. Astralis picked Nuke 5. Liquid removed Overpass 6. Astralis removed Vertigo 7. Dust2 was left over Both teams had figured out what they could get away with in the map veto. Liquid’s Vertigo ambush worked, but it wasn’t a punish pick or a map they were necessarily comfortable with. Instead they opted for Inferno which is probably their best map now and one they play Astralis close on. Astralis have continued with Nuke. I wrote extensively about this in another article, but suffice to say, Astralis get to dictate their slow pace map control lurker style on the T-side and on the CT-side Astralis have great reads on Liquid’s slower default T-side as they can read where Liquid want to hit, when their lurker is coming, and where to rotate. The second phase veto shows the evolution of each team’s experiences in their battles against each other. Liquid now have to second ban Overpass as they’ve completely lost the map and Astralis don’t want to get into another brawl on Vertigo, so they opt for Dust2. Overall, this map veto favors Astralis as they should win Nuke most of the time, but Liquid have chances to win Inferno and Dust2. Despite multiple close encounters, Astralis have stayed a step ahead. What the Map Veto tells us about Liquid The problem with Liquid’s map veto is that it is only good enough. They can’t take the initiate in the map veto process as they don’t have a true punish pick in the same way that Astralis punishes them with Nuke. So in terms of overall odds, I’d say Liquid’s chances of winning with this map veto on each map are: Inferno is even or slightly Astralis favored, Nuke is Astralis favored (it used to be heavily Astralis favored, but Liquid have made some strides to close the gap), and Dust2 is slightly Astralis favored. As it stands, Liquid’s current map pool doesn’t have the ability to take control of the map veto. What’s interesting is that Liquid’s problem in the map-veto mirrors similar conceptual and tactical problems they are having against Astralis as well. Liquid are usually good enough to give Astralis a close match (notably ESL New York, EPL 10, and the first round at BLAST), but they feel like they are playing from a position of weakness rather than equality or strength. If this was chess, it feels like Astrlis are playing black while Liquid are playing white. Liquid are always a step behind. Astralis pulled out Vertigo and Overpass to overtake Liquid at Berlin and New York. Liquid were able to wrest some control back with their own Vertigo ambush, but that has only left them competitive rather than on equal footing. The tactical problem is similar. In general, Liquid play a bit too closely to the Astralis style against Astralis and this has resulted in close games, but no series victories. Liquid’s slow default style is good, but it plays perfectly into Astralis’ control style and thus creates the types of rounds that Astralis thrive in. This is why in earlier encounters on Nuke, Astralis blew out Liquid. This only changed at BLAST Finals where Liquid started to mix in much faster takes of yard to speed up the pace of the game. While Astralis can still read Liquid’s movement on the map, it at least avoids those slow lurker rounds that Astralis almost always wins. Where to now for Liquid? As it stands now, Liquid should be able to eventually grind out some series victories against Astralis, but the majority of encounters will go Astralis’ way. For Liquid to take control of the matchup, they need to take initiative on all-fronts. Their style is close enough to create close games, but it needs more explosiveness and pace to take out Astralis. As for the map veto, Liquid need to expand their map cool to take control of the map veto. Liquid are good at both Dust2 and Inferno, but it’s unlikely that they can create consistent dominance given everything we know about the maps and CS:GO history. Mirage is out of the picture as it’s Astralis’ permaban. This leaves only: Train, Overpass, and Vertigo. Liquid either need to learn Train, resurrect their Overpass, or hone Vertigo to a point where it they can create a consistent path to victory. These are critical questions for Liquid to answer as they are the keys to their success. Not only against Astralis, but the world at large. Whatever answers they find between now and when the season starts up again will likely determine how successful they will be going into the early part of 2020.

Stuchiu: The arT of Space Creation FURIA is one of the most entertaining and polarizing CSGO teams in the world. Depending on their results, they are either overhyped or criticized for their ‘gimmicky’ playstyle. FURIA play a unique way, and like ODB, they have no father to their style. The root of their play comes from Andrei “arT” Piovezan and his ideas on space creation. When asked in interviews about his style of play, arT often talks about space creation. He told HLTV, “I think that something that people don’t see is that when you make an aggressive play, it is not like a 50-50 play, it is more like a 70-30 or 80-20, because even if you die, you can create enough space for it to be worth the death.” While the concept of space is a fundamental principle in CS:GO, arT has pushed it to another plane. It is one thing to make space and it is another to throw away a player and create a 4v5 situation. The best way I’ve come to understand arT’s conceptualization of space is through Dota2 and the 6 position player Johan “pieliedie” Astrom. Space creation was a meme that turned into reality in 2014. At that time Cloud9’s support player was pieliedie. In Dota2 there is not enough gold to satisfy everyone, so teams had to allocate their resources. This eventually created the 1-5 system, where the 1 position got the most gold and the fifth position, the least. Cloud9 and pieliedie then created a new way to play the 5th position. Pieliedie played a sacrificial interference style. He constantly made plays around the map in the early stages of the game. On the surface, this seemed like a high risk maneuver as he could either win the game or constantly feed kills to the enemy. The ingenious part of the strategy was that pieliedie was creating gold disparities in favor for his team even when he was feeding. Enemy teams often committed too many resources in terms of players and time to hunting him down. So while they got the kill, they lost out on the overall map as the core Cloud9 players got to farm creep waves unmolested and take control of the creep waves. This came at a cost to pieliedie as he was so poor by the end of the game, people started to call him the 6 player to denote how little gold he had compared to everyone else. While Dota2 is a radically different game from CS:GO, this idea of space creation is applicable to how arT seems to conceptualize FURIA’s tactics and setups. Creating Space It is easiest to see FURIA’s space creation on their CT-side. We saw it throughout their StarLadder i-League Season 8 run. It was one of the key factors why they beat teams like Vitality and G2. Against Vitality on Nuke, arT was playing the aggressive space-creator. In the 20th round, arT played in an exposed position near the fan. He got the first kill with his AWP, but was traded as Vitality had two players outside. This left FURIA in a 4v4 situation, which is disadvantageous for the CT-s. However, by making this play, arT got the information about Vitality massing players outside. arT then communicated this to the rest of the team. At this point, Henrique “HEN1” Teles pushes ramp room, Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato pushes hut, and Vinicius “VINI” Figueiredo pushes squeak. This was a good call as Vitality like to play the 4-1 with Cedric “RpK” Guipouy holding lobby. KSCERATO then killed RpK leaving FURIA in a 4v3 situation and FURIA in the advantage. Another example of this was FURIA’s game against G2 on Mirage. Throughout the half, G2 had been mass rushing mid control with four players. In response to this, FURIA played a 2-1-2 setup where they had arT play in the mid smoke by himself. ArT came out of the mid smoke and got a kill, but it was a one and done position as G2 quickly traded the kill. Again this move theoretically should favor G2 as they are in a 4v4 with mid control, but by arT confirming what tactic G2 was using, the FURIA players pushed B halls and palace with impunity. While I’ve focused on arT’s impact as a space-creator, this characteristic isn’t unique to him. FURIA’s entire lineup has similar aggressive tendencies, so when someone like Yuri “yuurih” Gomes or KSCERATO make an aggressive play, the rest of the team abuses the space in a similar manner. ArT uses a similar concept of space creation when calling on the T-side. The best example of this was his game against G2. On Vertigo against G2, FURIA were running into a wall against G2’s CT-side. On a half-buy, FURIA decided to pull out a B execute they had been saving up to that point. It got them the round win and FURIA dictated the rest of the half with this B execute. G2 tried to improv a counter for it and when that failed, they tried to pre-empt it with aggression. That didn’t work either as arT had read their aggression and called for a slower default to setup his players for favorable duels. In the final round of the game, he then used the space created by his B execute to throw a fake. The team used the same execute but had yuurih do an aggressive risky push into the A-site on the idea that G2 would be so worried about the B execute that the A players would rotate earlier. The gambit worked and FURIA took the map. FURIA’s T-sides often play off extremes like this to create space for their tactics. They will use fast aggressive rushes to force the other team to expend their utility earlier in the round. In turn, they then revert to a slower set-piece to abuse the space created by their faster players. Risks and Rewards While I’ve shown examples of how well this style can work, it also brings greater risks compared to the standard CS approach. For instance, if you consider the 2-1-2 default that FURIA used against G2 in the round I described earlier, it could have gone terribly wrong if G2’s lurker was in palace or B halls as they would have gotten the favorable position to win the aim duel. This is probably why no team before this has ever come up with this particular style as the risks are anathema to the standard meta. ArT even talked about this in a HLTV interview, “I heard that from a Brazilian team that came from Europe, that practiced there for a month, and we played against them in my second scrim with FURIA. One of the guys just said ‘arT, you are playing CS wrong. That is all wrong. That is not how you do it. We played in Europe and that is not how you play’.” While FURIA’s style is wrong for nearly every other team in the world, it is perfect for FURIA. They have a bunch of skilled individuals who have the mindset of creating space and exploiting it. What’s more, FURIA’s style comes with rewards as well. Specifically, their style is so unique that very few teams will have ever experienced it first-hand. It is also the perfect style to upset or beat structured map-control teams. Consider for a moment all of FURIA’s best upsets from DreamHack Dallas to now. They beat Astralis twice at ECS Season 7 Finals. Fnatic and Vitality at DreamHack Dallas. AVANGAR, Vitality, G2, and Renegades at StarLadder Belek. By and large FURIA has good matchups against teams with structured map control styles because their aggressive risky style lets them exploit space to its fullest extent. ArT himself seems to recognize this as he told HLTV, “I prefer to face teams like Astralis, who are more tactical, because our style is really effective against a structured team.” Conversely when FURIA don’t win their duels or don’t go up against a map control heavy team, they can be exploited. Kevin “Ex6TenZ’ Droolan’s GamerLegion beat them at Moche XL Esports. They had no answer for Na`Vi at ESL One Cologne. They lost in the Challengers Stage of the StarLadder Major and lost to Sprout at Games Clash Masters. Though all of those losses was during the period when they had Rinaldo “ableJ” Moda instead of HEN1. Even so, the results shows that while FURIA’s style has great rewards, it also comes with great risks. We’ve already seen part of that evolution come through with HEN1 joining the team. HEN1’s plastyle fits perfectly with the mentality and color of the team. He’s also given the team an immediate boost in skill and is starting to play better than he has in years. The other players are starting to come more into their own, particularly KSCERATO and yuurih. Perhaps the boost in skill will allow FURIA to break into the next level. Or perhaps they will start integrating different playstyles into their repertoire similar to what Luminosity Gaming did when they hit the world stage. For now though, enjoy the spectacle that is FURIA. No one in the world plays as they do. Their ideas of space-creation has been a breath of fresh air in a competitive space are one of the most enjoyable teams we’ve ever had the pleasure to spectate in CS:GO.

Stuchiu: The Absolutist and the Relativist, Two Poles of CSGO Map Vetoes StarLadder / DreamhackIn his latest piece, Stuchiu breaks down the different approaches for a crucial component of a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match – the picks and bans for maps that can easily win a series before the game even starts. Map veto strategy is a fairly obtuse subject that is commonly misunderstood. Most think it can be figured out statistically. That you go to HLTV and look up the basic stats and winrates of the teams try to figure out what map each team is best at. While the base statistics are helpful, there is a lot more to consider when trying to model the map veto strategy of any team. It is a combination of various factors: personal evaluation, team evaluations, scrim results, emotional levels, and personal preference. As CS:GO has gone on, there have been two schools of thought that have formed the poles of map veto theory: The absolutist and relativist. The Absolutist and Relativist The absolutist type is the leader or team that always pick for comfort. They are fine with picking their best map even if it’s one of the opponent’s better maps because they have absolute confidence in their ability to defeat the opposing team. On the other end of the spectrum is the relativist. This is the type of leader or team who thinks in terms of relative strength. They will sometimes skip picking their own best map if the opponent also likes the map because they are willing to gamble that the opponent will let it through on the second phase of vetoes. In exchange then, they pick one of their own middling maps that is a relative strength for themselves while being a relative weakness of the opponent. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. The former is generally considered the safe approach and is used by teams or players who prefer comfort. The latter is a bit more risky and can potentially backfire if the leader or drafter has a misread of their own team or the opposing team. What makes examining teams and leader map veto draft difficult is that the approach can radically change depending on the context of the teams, their histories, and how they are feeling on the day. Because of that, it is rarely the case that you get a leader who will always fall on one side of the equation or the other. To examine what goes into a map veto, one of the best ways to do it is to look at the two extremes of each side. The two leaders in question are Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen and Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen. MSL as the Absolutist MSL is the archetype of the absolutist map veto. He is someone who has been criticized for his map vetoes in the past as he will always go for his team’s best map even if there is a high probability that he can do a punish pick in the first phase and the opposing team likely won’t ban something like Cobblestone or Mirage in the second phase. His style of map veto does have a certain logic to it when you consider that for most of his career, his teams have often been filled with up-and-comers. Players that haven’t fully developed and rounded out their game. With players like that, it makes sense to have a strict map veto that emphasizes what they are familiar with rather than potentially making dangerous gambles. This style of map veto can potentially leave the team open to be exploited. On the other hand, the team is rarely surprised as they reduce the amount of chaotic factors within the map veto. In this way, the team can get an edge on preparation, and this is something that a tactical leader like MSL can exploit if given enough time. Finally, one last thing to note about the absolutist style of map veto is that there is a certain level of emotion that can be attached to it. The most obvious example of this is TSM at the DreamHack Cluj-Napoca Major. In that Major, TSM looked to be potential favorites to win the entire tournament, but were upset by long-time rivals in NiP. In that series, TSM went for a punish pick and went with Train in the first series. In theory, this was a fantastic idea. What happened though was that Adam “friberg” Friberg had a monster performance as he went 27-14. While TSM were still one of the better Train teams in the world, they refused to pick Train as a punish pick again. Karrigan as the Relativist On the other end of the spectrum is Karrigan. He is the extreme opposite of that. If he can get away with a punish pick or bamboozling the opponent with a surprise pick, more often than not he’ll do it. Like MSL, his map veto correlates with his own expertise and experiences. MSL is a leader who has specialized in picking up younger talent and having them rise through the ranks. Karrigan as a leader is someone who is a master of modeling player and team tendencies and characteristics. That is why he was able to help teams like Dignitas/TSM and the various iterations of FaZe go from a rut to the heights of the CS:GO world, as he could recognize and emphasize the distinctive qualities of the players in each team. Arguably, his masterpiece as an in-game leader was when he first joined FaZe and got the team working with three days of taking over. He is someone who can model and figure out the map pool instantly and this, in turn, has given him a strong insight into how opposing teams and players would theoretically look on any given map. From there he can find small edges in advantages and pick relative strength against relative weakness. The highest stakes example of this was at IEM Sydney in 2017. FaZe and Astralis were two of the best teams in the world and neither played cobblestone. So in the group stage, they decided to play a game of chicken with the veto as they banned each other’s maps daring the other to let Cobblestone through. Eventually, FaZe did and Astralis won the game 16-7. Not to be deterred, Karrigan then said that he was hiding strats on the map and that he’d unveil them if they played Astralis again. Astralis decided to call his bluff in the semifinals as they picked the map against his team. In the end, FaZe won the rematch 16-13. This is the prime example in understanding Karrigan and relativist thought when it comes to map veto. In the first go-around, neither side had a good idea of how the other side actually played Cobblestone. In the rematch, Astralis had confirmed in their own minds that they had a decent chance on Cobblestone and that if they won this particular series, that in the future FaZe would be forced to ban Cobblestone against them. On the other hand of that equation, FaZe and karrigan understood that the loss from the first set was a false positive. That while they weren’t that good on Cobblestone, they were probably still just a little better than Astralis were, so they let it through again. In retrospect now, I’d say the difference between the two could be as minuscule as 52-48 in FaZe’s favor, but those are the types of odds that Karrigan likes to play, especially when the prize is a future advantage in the map veto and mind games. One last thing to note about basic map veto theory is that almost all leaders fall somewhere between these two lines. MSL and Karrigan are at the extreme ends. Whereas someone like Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander is somewhere in between. He is someone who can shift map veto philosophy on a dime and one of the best examples of this is his changing map veto against Mouz. An Astralis Example Astralis played against Mouz at both ECS Season 6 Finals and ESL Proleague Season 8 Finals. At ECS Season 6 finals, this was the map veto between the two: Mouz ban Overpass – Astralis ban Cache – Mouz pick Mirage – Astralis pick Nuke – Mouz ban Inferno – Astralis ban Train – Dust2 final map – In this map veto, Astralis clearly went for the absolutist approach as they decided to go with Nuke. In theory, this is a fine choice to make as Astralis are still undefeated on the map. The results even pan out as Astralis won that series 2-0, though it was a fairly close scoreline on both maps 14-16 and 13-16 on Mirage and Nuke, respectively. Now take a look at their map veto at ESL Proleague Season 8 Finals: Mouz Ban Overpass – Astralis Ban Cache – Mouz pick Mirage – Astralis pick Inferno – Mouz ban Nuke – Astralis ban Train – Dust2 final map – While the map veto in the previous series was fine, I’d argue that this was a far stronger map veto that falls along the lines of relativistic thought. Astralis understand that Mouz is arguably the 2nd best team in the world. On the other hand, Astralis must have realized that Mouz’s Inferno isn’t good while their own Inferno is one of the best in the world. So instead of going for their absolutist pick on Nuke, they went for a punish pick of Inferno. The Two Poles of the Map Veto By looking at these two map veto examples from a single team, it’s clearer to see the difference between the two poles of thoughts. The absolutist will always pick their own best map and thus reduce the amount of chaos that can happen in the map veto. The relativist will pick their relative strength into a relative weakness and can punish a team for not having a strong enough map pool. The risks they run though is that they may play maps that they don’t feel as comfortable on and if they misjudge the opponent’s ability on a map or overrate their own, they will be punished instead. Through the two poles of absolutist and relativist map veto theory, we can see the battle before the battle. While the overall map veto segments on the broadcast happen relatively quickly, each draft phase is filled with incredible amounts of information in how players and leader view their own teams, their opponents, and their philosophies about basic game theory. It’s a negotiation and battle in the mind before the actual battle begins and while there are no incredible highlight clips to be had, there is something to be said about watching one team break the other in the map veto before the first shot is even fired.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The opportunity cost of missing the Karrigan lottery ELEAGUEOn December 15th, FaZe Clan benched Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen. While it was a heavy blow to the Danish veteran, it was a prime opportunity for nearly every other CSGO team. While his final months on FaZe were disappointing, his overall record as a leader firmly entrenches him as one of the best in-game leaders in CS:GO. In terms of leading international mixed lineups, no one has come close to his success. So when FaZe benched Karrigan, a bidding war should have started between competing organizations to secure his services. Instead, what little information we have reveals that none of the top teams looked to add him to their roster. It has been nine months since then, and now we can look back and reflect on the decision to skip out on the Karrigan lottery, and what that cost the various teams who made that choice. The case for Karrigan I consider Karrigan to be the second greatest in-game leader in CS:GO history. The only leader that trumps him is Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander, though Karrigan has a good head-to-head record against the various iterations of Astralis. What makes him exceptional is his understanding, versatility, and map vetoes. His understanding of the game allows him to deconstruct the core essence of anyone he plays with and figure out how to make them shine. This ability to get players to reach higher levels of form is colloquially called the “Karrigan effect.” We’ve seen the Karrigan effect in play when he first commanded the Danish Dignitas/TSM roster and elevated their play. After he joined that lineup, the team started to win titles and were the primary rivals of Fnatic during their era. Since then, we’ve seen the Karrigan effect take hold in three other scenarios. In the first iteration of FaZe, Karrigan took a broken team and in three days started their ELEAGUE season 2 campaign that got them their best results of 2016. In just a few months, they became a consistent playoff team. When FaZe constructed the super lineup and brought in Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer and Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovacs, both players were in recessions of form in their careers. Both became far better the moment the joined FaZe Clan. Finally, in the current mousesports lineup, the Karrigan Effect has worked its magic on the three young star players of the squad: Robin ‘ropz’ Kool, Ozgur ‘woxic’ Eker, and David ‘frozen’ Cernansky. All three have played their best Counter-Strike while under Karrigan. Karrigan’s versatility is just as impressive as the effect he has on his players. The Dignitas/TSM/early-Astralis squad was a tactical all-Danish lineup. The first FaZe roster was a collection of international mercenaries. They had good skills, but no natural synergy. The FaZe super team featured Hall of Fame-level players. The current Mouz squad has talented, but relatively inexperienced players. Karrigan has shown he can excel in any situation or style of play. He has played with tactical teams, loose teams, with veterans, and with young stars. He can play in a clearly defined Danish culture or a loose international mix. No other leader even comes close to his versatility. The final thing to note is Karrigan’s map veto usage. He is the best map veto-er in CS:GO history. He’s consistently found ways to use the map veto process to punish or surprise the enemy. His most memorable map veto was against Astralis at IEM Sydney 2017. Karrigan and gla1ve played map veto chicken with Cobblestone, as it was the permanent ban for both teams. They dared the other to ban it, until it eventually became the deciding map in the group stage. Karrigan then doubled down on the mind games when he said post-game that he was hiding strats. Gla1ve called out Karrigan in an interview, saying “One thing I can tell you is that Karrigan is definitely lying — nobody is hiding tactics from when you are behind 12-6, that would just be stupid.” The teams then met in the semifinals of the tournament where Astralis picked cobblestone into FaZe. FaZe won cobblestone 16-13 and then the series 2-1. The context surrounding the Karrigan Lottery Not only is Karrigan an exceptional leader, but CS:GO leaders are a scarce resource. If any organization has serious plans about being a long time contender, then an in-game leader needs to be established first. They are arguably the biggest pieces when it comes to tactics, culture, and setting up a system. For these reasons, I thought there was going to be a bidding war to get Karrigan. It was perfect timing for anyone looking to build a team. FaZe benched Karrigan on Dec. 15th, 2018. The Katowice Major ended on March 3rd, 2019. That meant teams had four months and one Major to figure out a plan to construct a team and get Karrigan on board. Instead, none of the top teams seemed to make any moves at all. In a report from Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis, there were only two teams in serious talks with Karrigan as of March 5th, 2019: EnVyUs and Mousesports. Another Major has since come and past with Astralis winning the StarLadder Berlin Major. In the wake of that Major, we are seeing one of the largest roster shuffles in CS:GO history. However, for many of these teams, they were a cycle too late as Mousesports have already locked down Karrigan. The Post IEM Katowice Roster Results Almost all of the English and Danish speaking teams except for Astralis and Team Liquid could have been boosted by Karrigan after IEM Katowice. As that’s the case, I’ll narrow down my list to teams that had both the resources and reasons to change their IGLs. At the time those teams included: Mouz, NiP, Fnatic, North, OpTic, Cloud9, and G2 Esports. For now, I’ve skipped Mouz and OpTic. Mouz eventually hired Karrigan and OpTic Gaming as an organization were in no state to make any roster changes. Ninjas in Pyjamas At the time, NiP had just made top 8 at the Katowice Major. Even so, this was a team that needed to make a change. Their run to the Champions stage itself wasn’t that impressive, as they limped through both group stages with 3-2 records. Their run was shaky and the lineup was close to its maximum potential. While the lineup was good, there was a lot more individual skill that could have been harnessed. The team had skilled players across the board with Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg, Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund, Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner, Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson, and Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman. Outside of f0rest, none of the players were playing close to their potential. So while their system got them some decent placements and upset potential, they needed a leader to take them to the next level. This was made more apparent as Lekr0 had hit a roadblock with his in-game leading. The team oscillated between using defaults and set pieces. The longer Lekr0 led, the more his personal form started to dip. Should karrigan have joined the team, he could have figured out which players could be saved and which players had to go (as he did in the first iteration of FaZe). Since not acquiring Karrigan, NiP have started to plummet. Dennis took a break, William ‘draken’ Sundin stood-in. They went back to dennis before signing Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Zamora. It seemed possible that Maikil “Golden” Selim would be the new IGL for NiP after he stood in at StarLadder Berlin. But that now seems doubtful as they’ve put GeT_RiGhT back on the roster for the time being. NiP continue to flounder, while Karrigan and Mouz rise in the ranks. Fnatic Fnatic was another team that should have broken the bank to sign Karrigan. Fnatic’s lineup at the time included: Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson, Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell, Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin, Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson, and Richard ‘Xizt’ Landstrom. Fnatic’s results were inconsistent. They got top four at IEM Chicago, top four at IBUYPOWER Master IV, and bombed out of the Katowice Challengers Stage with losses to Vici Gaming, Winstrike, and G2. Fnatic were in an odd spot as their lineup was mostly young, with the exception of Xizt. At IEM Chicago, they played amazing. At the Major, it was horrific. It was easy for them to try to write off the Major performance as a fluke, and continue to see how the lineup could evolve. The problem with that thinking was two fold. The first is that Xizt wasn’t as good of a leader as Karrigan. He didn’t have the special Karrigan effect that could raise the level of his players. Xizt is also a more static leader as he must use the loose Swedish style of CS, whereas Karrigan can play tactical CS as we’ve seen in the earlier iterations of FaZe, Mouz, and TSM/Astralis. The second problem was timing. A leader of Karrigan’s caliber rarely becomes available and so Fnatic needed to take this chance. Especially in the context of the Swedish scene which has been desperate for world class leaders in the last few years. If Fnatic could have acquired Karrigan, they could have transitioned themselves into a mixed international squad. Instead Fnatic stuck with Xizt and continued to get diminishing returns. They performed great at StarSeries i-League and IEM Sydney where they made the finals, but since then, it has been all downhill. 9-12th place finishes at DreamHack Dallas, EPL 9 Finals, and ESL One Cologne. Then they were eliminated from StarLadder Berlin major contention in the EU Minor. Fnatic should have bet the farm on Karrigan seven months ago. Instead they are stuck trying to rebuild and hoping in vain that a new Swedish in-game leader appears out of the woodwork. For now it seems like they will try to turn the clock back once again as 1pv reported that they are looking to recruit Golden once again. North North was another team that should have tried to hire Karrigan. After kicking Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen, North failed to make any significant headway with Casper ‘cadiaN’ Moller as their in-game leader. While the team had some decent performances (top eight at StarSeries i-League Season 7 and top four at ECS Season 7 Finals), they were nowhere close to the heights of the MSL-led North lineups. Like NiP and Fnatic, North had a good amount of potential skill in the lineup. Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjorn continued to improve and was closing in on a top 10 position in the world. Philip ‘aizy’ Aistrup came back as a capable role player, but still had flashes of world-class star player form. Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjaerbye was in a slump, but he was the type of player that Karrigan had resurrected before. Instead North skipped out on the Karrigan lottery. They eventually kicked cadiaN and now have Valde as their in-game leader. While Valde has exceeded expectations in his first flight as leader, it still hasn’t been enough for North to regain their position as a true dark horse team that could win tournaments (as they did at DreamHack Stockholm against Astralis). North’s future seems uncertain as their progression largely depends on Valde evolving to become the next great Danish leader while continuing to be a top 10 player in the world. Karrigan’s Mouz on the other hand, looks primed to be a future potential contender. Cloud9 Honestly, Cloud9 needed something to anchor themselves with in 2019. They continued to shuffle their roster throughout 2018 and 2019, and by the Katowice Major, it was clear that they needed a guiding light forward and an actual plan rather than continue trying to patch holes in a sinking ship. The lineup at the Katowice Major included: Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta, Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba, Robin ‘flusha’ Ronnquist, Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey, and Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro. The team had decent, but disparate firepower. This was the type of team FaZe Clan was before Karrigan took control and C9 had the potential to be Karrigan’s new turn-around project. That didn’t happen as Cloud9 never engaged in serious talks with Karrigan. They spent the remainder of the season shuffling until NRG kicked their IGL Damian “daps” Steele. Daps constructed a new roster with a good base and Cloud9 appear to moving in the right direction. G2 Esports The final team I want to look at is G2 Esports. G2 were a team that should have seriously considered Karrigan as a pickup around the Katowice Major. Unlike the other teams on the list, G2 did a good job in managing their roster. They picked up the right role players they needed with Lucas ‘Lucky’ Chastang and Audric ‘JaCkz’ Jug. They made the move to get Francois ‘AmaNEk’ Delaunay after the Major which gave them the secondary in-game leader they needed. Overall, the only criticisms you can levy against G2 is their failure to get Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut before Vitality, and the initial premise of having an all French team to begin with. The CEO of G2 is Carlos “ocelote” Santiagos. His League of Legends squad has been successful with a mixed international team and his first forays into CS:GO had him use an international lineup. So the idea of going the international route wasn’t foreign to him and likely something he considered. Even so, G2 stuck with the all French lineup for another cycle. In the context of that, G2 have made good moves and been relatively successful. However G2 as an organization have always aimed to be the best, and after a 2-3 Legends stage finish in Berlin, have decided to go international. According to a report by 1pv, they have benched shox and Lucky, and are looking to go international. While this post-Major roster shuffle features the largest number of players for hire, none of them hold a candle to Karrigan when it comes to leading mixed international teams. So while I agree with G2’s decision to go international, the move comes six months too late. If they were going to go this route, they should have gotten Karrigan when they had the chance. The incoming roster shuffle As CS:GO gets more money into the scene, the roster management of teams becomes more critical to a team’s long-term success. You can see its effects when you compare Mousesports to the other potential teams that could have picked up Karrigan. Mouseports are on the rise and have locked in an all-time great in-game leader and three young rising stars. NiP and Fnatic are in shambles. North is treading water. Cloud9 is at the starting line 6 months after Mouz started. G2 have to start rebuilding once again. The decision to pass up on Karrigan lottery could have big competitive ramifications for many of these teams for years to come.

Stuchiu: GeT_RiGhT’s Story: Counter Strike’s Most Passionate Player Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund is a legend. He has played for over twelve years as a Counter-Strike pro. First in CS 1.6, and later in CS:GO. He was a superstar in both iterations of the game. After playing for seven years in Ninjas in Pyjamas, it is time to ask ourselves what defines his legacy. For me, his career is an impossibility of effort. The Rise and Fall of NiP “I’ve never been a talented born player, it was always a real hard work. I played a little bit more than other pro players. That was my edge.” – VPEsports Ninjas in Pyjamas defined the first year of CS:GO. They were the first dynastic team in CS:GO history. Their lineup included: Richard “Xizt” Landstrom, Adam “friberg” Friberg, Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson, Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, and Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund. They ran the archetypical Swedish style of Counter-Strike. They had a good base of tactics, but what set them apart was their sensational teamplay and strong firepower. Xizt was the loose in-game leader who created a basic structure that the NiP stars could play off of. Friberg was the impactful entry-fragger and could swing series if he hit his peak levels. Fifflaren was the role player. He took the leftover roles and enabled the other players. He also helped the players transition from CS 1.6 to CS:GO as CS:GO as the game was closer to Fifflaren’s old game of CS:Source. Friberg and f0rest, once legends together on NiP. F0rest was the other star of the team. He is either the best or second-best player of CS 1.6 history depending on who you ask. His game sense, mechanics, and consistency made him stand out as special in a scene that regularly produced star-level talents. As for GeT_RiGhT was the polarizing superstar of the team. The crown jewel of the lineup that defined an entire generation of CS:GO competition. He wasn’t just the lurker of the team, he was The Lurker. He redefined the role into his own image and convinced an entire generation of players that his style of lurking was the standard way of playing rather than a style created to fit his particular strengths as a player. With this lineup, NiP and GeT_RiGhT conquered the world. Once the team transferred over to CS:GO, they quickly became the undisputed best team in the world. They had a ludicrous record on LAN. They were 87-0 before Virtus.Pro upset them at StarLadder StarSeries V. NiP’s era lasted over a year. VeryGames only overtook them after adding Richard “Shox” Papillon to their lineup and the VeryGames squad beat NiP at EMS Fall 2013. That became a bitter rivalry as NiP got their revenge in the semifinals of the first Major, DreamHack Winter 2013. While NiP beat VeryGames, Fnatic upset them in the finals. From that point onwards, NiP dropped from the undisputed best team to an elite contending team. They were always good enough to consistently place in the top four, but other teams started to rise up. Virtus.Pro won the ESL Katowice Major. Fnatic added Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer and Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson in mid 2014. The move made Fnatic the best team in the world and they looked to be the favorites going into the ESL Cologne Major 2014. Especially as Fnatic beat NiP in the ESPORTSM Finals 2-0. NiP showed a glimpse of what people now colloquially call “NiP Magic”. Friberg had an incredible tournament and NiP came at Fnatic in full force. They faced Fnatic in the finals and beat them in close fashion. GeT_RiGhT recalled that moment years later in an interview with VPEsports, “We didn’t have any easy games, the scores were 2-1, 16-14, and overtimes. We played with our hearts, we put everything in that win and the thing is that if we lost that final we are done with that team. No one expected us to win, but we managed to do that. And after all that, it was a big relief winning that tournament.” Soon after, Fifflaren retired from the game. From that point onward, NiP made a gradual decline over the years. NiP went from an elite team to a dark horse team. From a dark horse team to an average playoff team. As they declined, NiP showed rare glimpses of NiP Magic. They had a shocking victory at DreamHack Malmo 2016 after Bjorn “THREAT” Pers became the coach. In that run, they used a structured tactical style and had GeT_RiGhT change roles from lurker to entry-fragger. They had two more magical runs in 2016 with a victory at StarLadder i-League Season 2 and IEM Oakland 2016. As time wore on, NiP magic had diminishing returns. In 2017, NiP’s last magical run was at IEM Oakland 2017 where NiP beat FaZe in the finals 3-2. NiP continued to struggle with their identity as a team. Their most successful attempt was in 2018 when they recruited Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson. He eventually became their in-game leader and the switch made NiP a dangerous bo1 team. However, NiP couldn’t build on top of that and with declining results, NiP finally cut GeT_RiGhT on September 26th, 2019. Passion Looking back on GeT_RiGhT’s CS:GO career, there are two things that define him. His passion and his ethic. GeT_RiGhT comes from an older generation of esports pros. Players who couldn’t expect any kind of monetary remuneration as the scene was far smaller than it was today. For GeT_RiGhT, money was never the goal. As he says in his VPEsports interview, “I started to play CS not because of money. I had 100$ salary, but still I worked hard.” It’s hard to imagine now as we live in a world where players have 6 figure buyouts and compLexity is trying to court players with 1 million dollar deals. Back then though, there was no guarantee of money. Investing in an esports career was an opportunity cost. You were using your time to master a game that couldn’t ensure your financial future. It takes a certain type of character to make that choice and the CS:GO world was all the richer for it when GeT_RiGhT did. For GeT_RiGht, the game and competition is everything. In a tweet before the StarLadder i-League Season 5 playoffs, hetweeted, “The night before a play off game is special for me, ‘Why?’ You may ask. It’s that moment You lay in bed and think about the game, the emotions, the fire and Energy you’ll get from big games That’s something that Drives me, no matter what the outcome. To Give Your absolute best” GeT_RiGhT has been playing for over 12 years now and when you watch his face during the game or after it, you can still see the raw emotions. The years haven’t hardened his heart. He still feels the pain of loss and the ecstasy of victory as if it was his first time. Usually pros start to harden after years of experiencing it. GeT_RiGhT playing with passion at an ESL event Sometimes it becomes rote to them and other times it becomes a defense mechanism. Those who embrace the joys of victory to their highest extent are also vulnerable to the absolute pains of defeat. GeT_RiGhT hasn’t closed himself off to that feeling. It is actually one of the reasons why he still continues to play. To feel that victory once again. “I would love to go back there and feel that win[Major] again. That’s why I’m afraid to quit playing because I don’t know how I will live without these inexpressible feelings.” –VPEsports While GeT_RiGhT hasn’t been close to a Major finals, that still hasn’t dulled his sense of passion. If anything, it has sharpened it. The biggest episode of this was at the EU Minors for the FACEIT Major. In the lower bracket finals, NiP needed to beat ENCE to get to the Challengers Stage. GeT_RiGhT had a flashback series and NiP qualified for the Major. In a post-game interview he told HLTV, “It really meant the world to me knowing that I could still put up a big game and I can still do everything for my team.” Effort GeT_RiGhT’s passion fuels his work ethic and everything we know about him reflects that. He is someone who has fought through challenges that have ended other player’s careers. He was at the apex of CS 1.6 and had to transition into CS:GO. Many of the other Counter-Strike players weren’t willing to continue gambling their financial futures to be the best at Counter-Strike, but he was. Even among those who did, they could never fully make the transition. Some didn’t have the talent, but many couldn’t grow. They were stuck in their old ways and refused to put in the hard work necessary to make the transition. GeT_RiGhT put in the work and made the transition flawlessly. He did all of this while fighting Crohn’s disease. Perhaps the most telling thing about his effort is that he acknowledges that effort alone doesn’t always pay off, but he still puts in the hours regardless. In the same post EU Minor interview, he talked about the elation he felt after getting the desired results for his work, “I’ve been grinding so hard for this tournament, I’ve been staying up late, putting in the hours, I’ve been dragging myself every day, I even slept worse because I needed to play more…and it felt like that weight I had before, because I’ve done it a couple of times in the last two years and it hasn’t given any success back, and this was the first time in maybe one and a half years that it actually gave back to me, and I was so happy about it.” What is remarkable about GeT_RiGhT is that he hasn’t stopped working even in the periods where he had excuses not to put in his all. By 2015, he had already accomplished everything he could have ever hoped for. At that point, NiP never had a set five and they were on the decline. He could have rested and sat on his laurels. GeT_RiGhT with NiP at DreamHack Instead, he tried to improve himself. When THREAT came into the team, GeT_RiGhT became an entry-fragger and expanded his game. Later on when he lost his place as a star and the community negativity started to mount, he could have sunk into a hole. Instead he transformed himself into more of a team player. He talked about this episode in an HLTV interview, “He [pita] put me to the side and he told me like, “stop thinking about it and just do what I need you to do”. I do not expect to drop 30 bombs every game, I do not expect to drop 20 bombs. For me, it is like, I will be super happy if we win. My goal in general is just, if I do something good for the team at least one to five rounds every game, I am happy with it.” The ultimate culmination of GeT_RiGhT’s effort and drive comes from the VPEsports interview where he talked about his legacy, “My motivation never sinks. I always want to get back to the game and play it more because I always want to win. I always want to be the best. I already did my legacy, but I want to make it bigger, I want everyone to know that GeT_RiGhT is the hardest working pro and that even if they aren’t talented they can work hard and achieve good results.” Legacy That quote cuts to the very core of GeT_RiGhT’s greatness. He isn’t a prodigal talent like some of the other greats of the game. He isn’t a complete natural like f0rest or have the raw game sense, mechanics, or creativity of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. For GeT_RiGhT, the biggest thing about his career isn’t his results. It isn’t the fact that he is one of the few players to be a superstar in both CS 1.6 and CS:GO. It isn’t about the era or how he was one of the most dominant players. It was about the work he put in to get there. Other players can take weeks or months off and still continue to be Gods. Players like shox and Kenny “kennyS” Schrub being two of the prime examples in CS:GO. For all of their incredible talents though, neither ever hit the limits of what their potential could bring forth. In GeT_RiGhT’s case he not only hit the limits of his potential, he broke them. When he said “I want everyone to know that GeT_RiGhT is the hardest working pro and that even if they aren’t talented they can work hard and achieve good results.” it created a stir in the community. Some criticized the quote as naive as they took it to mean that hard work could allow anyone to achieve all their dreams. In GeT_RiGhT’s case though, he never meant it that way. For him effort couldn’t get you everything you wanted. After all, if he had his way, he’d have won every Major ever. Hard work never got him everything he wanted, he even acknowledges how it has failed him time and time again. Hard work however has gotten him more than he could have ever imagined. GeT_RiGhT’s own career is living proof of this. He doesn’t have the innate talent of a true prodigy player, but with the hand he was dealt, he’s achieved far more than anyone could have ever imagined. He was a superstar in two games. He was the superstar of NiP and he created an era. After that era ended, he won a Major against all expectations and though NiP declined, he was a part of the teams that continued to pull out magical victories in their limelight. The Next Chapter That drive to succeed even now still has not dulled. When NiP announced that they were benching GeT_RiGhT, the community went into a fever pitch as they talked about his potential retirement. While he has denied those claims, some fans even now believe that he should end it now. After all, isn’t it better to retire on top, when the good will is high, and the legacy is protected? However that is a gross misunderstanding of what makes him a legend. His legend was never just about his titles or his peak individual form. It was about his passion and drive, and he isn’t done. It reminds me of a Winston Churchill anecdote. At the end of WW2, the Times prepared an editorial suggesting that Churchill should campaign as a non-partisan world leader and retire gracefully. To the first point, Churchill said, “I fight for my corner.” To the second he said, “I leave when the pub closes.” GeT_RiGhT is much the same. Counter-Strike is his corner and he isn’t done until he says he is. After all, while his form is no longer what it once was, his drive burns just as it did in his youth. As he says in a HLTV interview, “I want to prove myself even more, and I want to do it for myself, not for someone else. I want to end my things on my terms, not on someone else’s terms.” For GeT_RiGhT now, it is no longer about being a superstar. It is about transforming himself into becoming a new type of player. Someone that can help enable the other players on the team to succeed like what Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas and Filip “NEO” Kubski did when they first transitioned into CS:GO. Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic. At the age of 29, it seems likely GeT_RiGht is closing in on the age limit of an esports pro’s career. While we don’t know where exactly the age limit is, it likely does exist. Even so, when I look at his career in its entirety, I can’t help but think he could break that barrier. His entire career is an impossibility made manifest through sheer force of effort. What’s next for the legend? The most telling point to me is what GeT_RiGhT has staked his legacy on. It isn’t the fact that he was one of the few superstars that could transition from CS 1.6 to CS:GO. It isn’t the era he had or the period when he was the most dominant player in the world. It is the hard work he stakes it on. He will push through with his ethic or fall in the attempt. In that way, perhaps the best way to describe his next chapter in his career is a quote from Daigo Umehara. Daigo is the greatest Street Fighter player of all time and continues to play to this day at the age of 38. He has a remarkably similar philosophy to GeT_RiGhT and in his book “The Will to Keep Winning”, he said, “I realize that I won’t be able to stay on top forever, and I don’t deny that effort can only trump age at a certain point. Still I chose to become a pro gamer precisely because I want to keep working in spite of those limits. If I’m going to die someday anyway, I want it to be on the battlefield. I’m not the type to take my last breath quietly, holed up in my castle.”

Stuchiu: How Mouz broke their barrier and won EPL 10 Mouz finally broke through the glass ceiling when they won EPL 10 and defied the odds. But how? All teams have an expiration date and by the end of October, the community believed that Mouz had reached theirs. Mouz stopped having linear progression in their results and it looked like they had hit a ceiling in how far they could grow. Mouz shattered that narrative as they broke through that barrier and won CS:GO Asia Championships and ESL Proleague Season 10. On the verge of collapse While it is easy to mock the community in hindsight for saying that Mouz needed to make roster changes a month ago, there were legitimate reasons why someone would have thought that. Mouz faced heartbreak in the StarLadder Berlin Major group stages where they barely lost to Liquid 2-0. After that loss though, a flurry of roster changes happened. Most notably, ENCE kicked out Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Vitality kicked Nathan “NBK” Schmitt. Those were two of the top three teams in mid-2019 and this created an opportunity for Mouz to break into the top five. Mouz failed to capitalize on that opportunity in September or October. Mouz went to V4 Budapest where Virtus.Pro beat them 2-0 in the semifinals. They lost to Vitality in the top 6 of DreamHack Malmo and then bombed out of StarSeries i-League Season 8. While no single result was alarming, when put in the context of this lineup’s career, there were some notable patterns. First, Mouz couldn’t for the life of them start off well in a big LAN tournament. At StarSeries i-League, North beat them 2-1 in the first round. At Malmo they lost to NiP, at Cologne they lost to Na`Vi, and at IEM Sydney Mouz lost to BIG. While it was commendable that Mouz always made it through the lower bracket, this invariably put them into worse positions later on. The second notable pattern was that once the team got into the playoffs, they consistently barely lost to all the other teams. MIBR beat them in double overtime on Mirage at Syndey before taking the series 2-0. In the elimination match at Cologne, Mouz lost the first map to Na`Vi in double overtime, won the second, and then lost the third. This pattern repeated again at the StarLadder Berlin Major, Malmo, and StarLadder i-League Season 8. For my part, I had a hard time deciding whether to buy or sell into Mouz. The results and patterns were fairly conclusive. Mouz were about 7-8 months old and the standard lifespan of most CS:GO teams is somewhere between 6-9 months. Teams that lose in the same parts of the tournament (playoffs) in similar ways (close, but not quite good enough) against a wide array of opponents (Vitality, MIBR, Fnatic, Liquid, and Na`Vi in Mouz’s case) indicates that there is some mental barrier that the team couldn’t get past. When I watched the games though, it seemed to me that Mouz were constantly improving. Finn “Karrigan” Andersen had done his job as leader and Mouz developed their map pool. They first honed in on Mirage, Inferno, and Train. They expanded to Dust2 and Nuke, added Vertigo for the Major, and started to dip their toes onto Overpass. The younger players were getting better. Ozgur “woxic” Eker was volatile, but he still had a great ceiling. Robin “ropz” Kool was expanding his game, David “frozen” Cernansky was incredible for someone as young and new to this level of competition. Chris “chrisJ” de Jong was still doing his role well. None of the pieces seemed wrong to me and they were continually growing as a squad. While Mouz hit a barrier, I believed that their growth could break through it, though I didn’t know in what form that would manifest itself. So when it came time to write my Buy and Sell, I decided to put them on the Buy side and put my faith that Karrigan could find a way. He and the team eventually did. The Karrigan Effect When I look through Mouz’s growth in the last month, the big three factors is a shift in roles, mentality, and growth of individual players. The growth of the squad seems to be correlated to karrigan. At the beginning of the lineup, Ropz said, “Teamwise, it’s much less stressful since we got karrigan, he’s putting the team together very well, everyone knows their place, what to do and what not to do.” Woxic repeated this sentiment to HLTV, “I had never seen an in-game leader that is this hard-working. He was analysing opponents and creating new ideas for the next day, and in the morning before our games, he would point things out to us that we had not seen before.” Beyond expanding their tactics, karrigan has also done a good job of managing the mentality of the team. An example of this was when he told HLTV why he called frozen the joker, “I don’t want to put pressure on a young guy like that, that we have to rely on him being the second star of the team. So right now I call him the joker.” This ability to grow the team on a tactical, individual, and mental level has helped Mouz break through their barriers. Shifting Roles The biggest tactical shift in Mouz’s success from October to November was the role change. To understand what I mean, I’ll lay out the basic roles that Mouz started with at the inception of the lineup. The team wanted to have karrigan and frozen as their map control and entry duo. Woxic was the AWPer, ropz was a lurker, and ChrisJ filled out the remaining roles. This usually put chrisJ in a secondary lurk or lurk entry position. This initial formulation made a lot of sense. Frozen was a completely new player to this level of competition, so no one knew what his exact strengths were or where he would fit best. In that case, the best way to use mechanically skilled young players is to usually pair them together with the in-game leader so that they can take map control and the young player can use their fragging skills to trade the in-game leader. The problem with doing this is that the role can be hard on a young player’s ego, but there was no problem for frozen’s end. Read More: How to unlock the Halo music kit in CSGO – After StarLadder i-League Season 8 though, things had to change. Karrigan enacted his backup plan, as he told Richard Lewis, “My backup plan with this team if we didn’t perform was to put frozen in more of a secondary lurk.” The single change switched had a cascading positive effect on the entire team. Frozen was good as an entry-fragger, but an even better secondary lurk as it fit his style better. Additionally, his time spent as entry-fragger gave him the experience to break open sites or be part of the entry pack when needed. This in turn moved chrisJ back to the entry role. While chrisJ is fairly versatile, his most impactful role was entry-fragger. This gave an additional kick to Mouz’s explosive strength. A final unseen switch was this gave room for Karrigan to sometimes play the lurker. Due to ChrisJ’s experience as an in-game leader, he can have ChrisJ lead the pack while he calls from the other side much like how Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer ran his old French squads. While this isn’t Mouz’s primary style of play, it’s added another look and karrigan is surprisingly impactful in this role as he can utilize his game sense and knowledge to get kills. Mouz have also switch up some of the CT-sides and paired karrigan and frozen together on sites. This seems to have a positive effect as Mouz sometimes had problems being blown out on their CT-side and this is no longer a consistent problem for the team. Mentality and growth The other two factors are mentality and growth. At the CS:GO Asia Championships, Mouz were on the verge of losing. They were down 0-1 to TyLoo in the bo3 and were 8-15 on the second map against TyLoo. Woxic pulled out an epic play to save them from elimination. In a post-game interview with HTLV, he described the situation, After I won the clutch, everyone was super hyped and I said: ‘Guys, we can do it now. Let’s go now, time to do it now. I cannot win like this every round.’ I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I just wanted to give them extra power with that clutch and my words. I think it worked, so we went to overtime and won in the end.” Read More: Thorin’s Take: The Immovable ELiGE – This along with winning the tournament was a big stepping stone for Mouz. Recall all of the close losses I’ve counted up to this point. At Sydney, Mouz lost 19-22 to MIBR. At EPL 9 Finals, Liquid beat Mouz 19-17 in the second map of the semifinals. At ESL Cologne, Na`Vi won 22-19. At Berlin Liquid won 2-0 with 19-17 on the first map and 22-20 on the second. At Malmo, Mouz lost the first map 14-16 and the third 13-16. Mouz were always mentally strong enough to make games close, but lacked that extra something to win those close games. At CAC, they proved to themselves that they could do just that. While confidence is an overused cliche to explain why teams do better, it certainly is part of the Mouz equation. In the semifinals of EPL 10 Finals, Mouz won two close games against Astralis. They won Train 22-19 and Dust2 16-14. Proof that on a mental level, Mouz are evolving. Another thing to point out is the overall growth of the young stars. Frozen continues to impress as he’s shown he can play the entry and lurker role. Beyond him though, both woxic and ropz are expanding their games. Woxic’s biggest problem as an AWPer before playing for Mouz was that he had no B or C game. When woxic played for HellRaisers, he was their only win condition, so he had to play a hard carry style for the team to succeed. He then brought that style over to Mouz. While that style is a core aspect of his style, he also needed to round it out so that he could facilitate other players when they were having good games and he wasn’t. Additionally, woxic has grown as a carry. He has been dominant as an aggressive AWPer and been Mouz’s best player in their big tournaments runs at EPL 10 and CAC. What’s especially surprising is that he’s turned out to be Mouz’s best clutch player in high pressure moments. As for ropz, he’s started to expand his game. In 2017, ropz had a solid, refined, but limited way of playing. He was great in his specialty situations, but once he was forced outside of his comfort zone, his impact was lessened. In this new Mouz though, ropz has continued to expand his game. He’s started to play more aggressively and is willing to be the first contact in a play if it’s required. He’s also more versatile and this is best exemplified in the 16-0 speedrun Mouz had over EG. In that game, ropz and ChrisJ kept switching positions as they swapped between playing aggressively around secret or holding the ramp room. Those positions require radically different styles and that ropz is willing to swap positions shows how much he has grown as a player. His all-around game has leveled up to the point where he can be the best player in the entire tournament. He proved just that with his MVP trophy at EPL Season 10 Finals. The Next Test This lineup is starting to crack into the top 5 and their victory at ESL Proleague Season 10 shows that they are starting to make headway into the elite sphere of CS:GO. At that tournament they beat three of the best teams in the world: EG, Astralis, and Fnatic. Mouz beat EG 2-1 with a stunning 16-0 sweep on Nuke. They prevailed in a grueling battle to the death against Astralis and smashed Fnatic 3-0. Mouz’s victory was a summation of all the work they had done as a team. Their shifting roles, their map pool, and growth in mentality and individual skills. In any other game, they could rest on their laurels, but CS:GO waits for no one. Mouz will CS Summit 5 and EPICENTER. As the victors of ESL Proleague Season 10, Mouz will receive a level of scrutiny they never had before. In the next few months, we will see Mouz’s consistency and mental strength be tested next as teams start to prepare for them. If Mouz can keep up their level, then the team I once called the team of tomorrow will become the team of today.

Stuchiu: How Karrigan called the 8-14 comeback against Astralis One of the best-called T-sides I saw in 2019 was mousesports’ comeback against Astralis at the ESL Pro League Season 10 semifinals. In the third map of the series, Mouz were down 8-14, but with a combination of individual skill and brilliant calling, Mouz completely took over the game and eliminated Astralis from the event. It was a textbook example of what it means to take momentum away from the enemy. What is momentum anyway? Momentum is one of the most abused words in the CS:GO lexicon. Momentum along with confidence (the terms are sometimes used in conjunction or interchangeably) are useful terms, but are given too much credit or not enough elucidation. While I sound critical, there are legitimate technical reasons why this is the case. Time is generally the biggest factor, whether that’s the speed at which someone can analyze a match under imperfect conditions or if it’s a fan who can’t quite articulate perfectly what they saw in the game. In either case, momentum will always come up as it is almost always directionally correct in its analysis of what happened in the game. When a team makes a comeback, some level of momentum was reversed; whether that be emotional, tactical, or strategic. The problem is that the overuse of the term makes it sound like a team stole an energy ball from the other team and rode it to victory. So for this article, I will explicitly describe what momentum is. Momentum is when an in-game leader creates a psychological tempo advantage in the game. This can be applied on both the strategic and tactical levels, but in general, I use it tactically as strategic win conditions rarely shift within a game of CS (though they shift all the time between series and in the map veto). It then is when an in-game leader reads the flow of the game. They either identify or create a positional vortex on the map that the other team can’t ignore. They then leverage that and start predicting the other team’s adjustments and counter those adjustments accordingly. Other context to consider Before we get into the meat of the analysis, there are some contextual things to consider about this game. First of all, Chris “chrisJ” de Jong’s heroics on the CT-side was what gave Mouz enough breathing room to pull off the comeback in the second half. What’s more, both chrisJ and Ozgur “woxic” Eker had critical individual plays that pushed Mouz over the line. No matter how good the tactics are, teams need skilled players that can execute or win rounds even when things go awry. What’s more, the comeback came on Dust2. Dust2 is a T-sided map as they have the most potential options open to them on an individual and strategic level. Players can get picked off early crossing mid, T’s can rush B if they suss out that the CT-side economy is brittle and lacking nades. In general, the T’s have a lot more options, so making a comeback on Dust2 is more viable than Nuke for instance. Even so, Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s calling on this map is worth extensive study. Beyond being a game that made Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander rage afterward, it was also a game where his teammates praised him for his calling. Robin “ropz” Kool told HLTV, “When it was 14-8, karrigan had some of these moments when everything just clicks in his brain and he makes the right call every single time. Everywhere you go there’s just one guy and we easily re-frag him, and I think that’s what happened. karrigan was just calling amazingly on the T side, and that’s how we came back.” For my part, this map is the best example of someone taking control of the momentum away from Astralis. This is extremely hard to do with their controlled CT-side, extraordinary use of nades, and the efficient AWPing style of Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz. While Fnatic and EG have beaten Astralis, the only T-side that made me think the team won on a tactical level was karrigan’s come back on Dust2. Scouting out the setup The first rifle round saw Astralis use a double-AWP setup with dev1ce at cat and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen at B. Mouz started with 5 players in the B-tunnels, but opted to take mid and prep for a late-round B-split. Astralis had control of long and cat, so they rotated 2 more players to B and squashed the B-split. Dupreeh got two kills in the hit and Mouz confirmed that Astralis opted for a double-AWP setup. In the following round, karrigan probed for early intel. Woxic went for an early peek at long doors, while he went up cat. Woxic was pushed back by gla1ve’s utility while karrigan got picked by dev1ce. In the round after that, karrigan called for a fast B rush, which made sense given that they had a mac-10 and dupreeh was on the AWP. Astralis shut it down. So after the first three rounds, Astralis were in position to close the game out with a 14-8 scoreline. What Mouz got in return was a few bits of critical information. Astralis were playing a double-AWP setup. Astralis were using their double-AWPs to fortify the mid area. They had dupreeh rotating between B and mid and dev1ce at cat. The fact that dev1ce went for an early cat pick also implied that there were two players at cat and that gla1ve was by himself at long. .@astralisgg have the CT-side of Dust II locked down! 🔒#ESLProLeaguehttps://t.co/ZvDWXMCAnq pic.twitter.com/2ZG7XC96uU — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 8, 2019 Whatever plans karrigan was going to use with that information got derailed at the beginning of the 23rd round, as dupreeh got an early pick at the beginning of the round. Mouz considered playing for long, but the utility forced them back. They then went for mid control and enacted a B-split. It was a good idea since the typical CT-side default is a 2-3 split and Astralis hadn’t used any smokes for the mid doors. karrigan could intuit that it was unlikely that they had rotated any third player over to the B-site. Mouz then closed the round with a good entry from karrigan (which put Dupreeh in no man’s land in the B-site) and a 4k from woxic. Taking back control The 24th round was when Mouz started to take back control of the game. They did a rush out for long and Mouz won out the duels. This call made sense for two reasons. The first is that Mouz had primarily focused on B-splits. Perhaps karrigan expected a more default 2-3 or more of a focus towards mid with the double-AWP setup. Astralis had gone for a 1-4 setup, which was a neutral tactical move. While Astralis had more players to throw into the brawl, an all-out brawl was strategically better for Mouz as Astralis are masters of the slower drawn out rounds. Mouz won out the trades, took map control and won the round. It was at this point that karrigan either started to predict Astralis’ setups on the rifle rounds or coincidentally call tactics that took advantage of the setups that Astralis used. Either way, it had an eerie precision. Astralis were going to use a fast info play on cat, dupreeh holding B, and gla1ve holding long. It was a similar setup to one Astralis used in the 20th round. This time karrigan didn’t go towards cat, but instead used his utility to deny any rushing play that spot. At long, karrigan had the rest of the team use a slightly delayed (but still fast) hit on long which put them in a 4v1 situation where ChrisJ got the entry on Emil “Magisk” Rief. At that point, Astralis were stuck in a bad 4v5 situation. Gla1ve pushed down mid with Dupreeh’s support to get info. Astralis then rotated two AWPs to try to hold mid, but chrisJ took them both down. Gla1ve eventually traded him, but at this point, gla1ve made a misread as he rotated towards the B-site. There were 25 seconds on the clock and Mouz delayed the actual hit from long for those 5 seconds. That was enough to convince gla1ve to make the rotation and this let Mouz get an easy hit onto the A-site. At the beginning and the end of this round, karrigan slightly delayed the timings of the hits which caught the Astralis players off guard. By the 28th round, karrigan had firm control of the momentum. Long had become a positional threat that they had to deal with, and karrigan had anchored that idea into Astralis’ minds. karrigan likely deduced that Astralis were going to use the 1-4 default with four players taking control of long. Frozen used three of his nades to fake the threat and Astralis countered with a molly and two flashes of their own. These rounds are utter chaos. 😬#ESLProLeaguehttps://t.co/ZvDWXMCAnq pic.twitter.com/oXByjG8BB5 — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 8, 2019 Astralis then had to use the rest of their utility for potential threats that never come. Gla1ve then re-mollied long doors for the slightly delayed hit that Mouz used in the 26th round before using his smoke to completely take control of long. Magisk and Xyp9x had to rotate towards mid and use their nades to secure cat and Xyp9x’s rotation to the B-site. Through the entire half, the myriad of threats that karrigan used had forced Astralis to clear out almost their entire stock of utility by the 40 second mark. This is what I mean by tactical momentum. Instead of using a previous tactic, karrigan predicted Astralis’ adjustments and used their utility tendencies against them with a slower passive default. So when Mouz did their A-split, they had more utility to clear out the positions. A saved smoke from dev1ce and Magisk’s play at the A-site nearly won Astralis the round anyway, but the timing of the split and the utility usage put each prong of the spit put the Astralis players in single man duels. When Magisk got two kills at short, woxic was able to trade him without repudiation from dev1ce. Dev1ce was then stuck at the A-site without backup as gla1ve had to hold long. The two players at long then flashed and killed gla1ve, which left dev1ce in a hard 1v3 situation. The final round was the least interesting as frozen got an early pick at long doors that broke up the game. From there, karrigan played standard. He took map control on cat and when Astralis tried for a flash play traded 1v1. Mouz took long and killed the remaining player at long which essentially ended the round. Overall Lessons to take from karrigan’s T-side After reviewing the game, there are a few things that stand out about karrigan’s T-side. He first started the half by showing presence towards B and doing B-splits. He ascertained that Astralis were using a double-AWP setup with an emphasis on mid and a solo presence towards long. He then used that information and shifted he attention towards long where he created a mental anchor in the defense of the Astralis players. Mouz won the all-out brawl in the 24th round, then hit them with a slightly delayed timing in the 26th while denying information from mid. After taking control of the momentum, he ran with it to the end of the match as he predicted how Astralis were going to use their utility to stop the tactical threats he had shown through the half and used their tendencies against them. So what is the overall lesson that teams and leaders can take away from karrigan’s calling? I think the overarching thrust of karrigan’s success comes from finding the initial weak point and breaking it open. He figured out early on that Astralis were using a double-AWP setup with a more mid-centered approach which let long open. He cracked open long by brawling in a 4v4 and later with a delayed timing. This created a credible threat that left Astralis reacting one step behind karrigan for the rest of the half. There are likely other small individual details that karrigan likely read in the match. What struck me was the slight adjustments in timing and the amount of 2v1 or 3v1 scenarios that Mouz got themselves into. These small adjustments have been a hallmark of his career. Back in 2017, both gla1ve and karrigan went on Counter-Points. Jason “Moses” O’Toole asked how detailed the prep work was. karrigan replied, “I have an example from the finals against Astralis at ELeague on Cache. They have an A break on Cache where they come out of A-main. They [Astrails] hadn’t done it in the first 10 rounds. So if they spray the smoke at B on Cache and one guy uses 5 bullets in T-mid, they’re gonna explode out A 5-6 seconds later.” Overall, karrigan did a brilliant job calling against Astralis. This T-side comeback could be a case study for how teams might approach Astralis in the future. While the details will likely be different, the idea of taking momentum by finding a crack in the overall defensive scheme, breaking it open, and then parlaying that into a tactical momentum shift could seems to be one of the better strategic approaches we’ve seen deployed against Astralis’ CT-side.

Stuchiu: How Astralis’ map veto proves they’re psychologically ahead of EG The Evil Geniuses vs Astralis matchup in CS:GO has been one of the premier battles since the StarLadder Berlin Major. The two teams have faced off five times across three LANs. Throughout their battles, the map veto has evolved and by the end of ECS Season 8, Astralis have proven that they have the edge over EG in the psychological war for the map veto. Conceptualizing the Map Veto The map veto part of the broadcast is incredibly short, usually running somewhere between 1-3 minutes. Despite the short broadcast time, the map veto is pivotal in setting up the game and conceptualizing the entire matchup. The best way to conceptualize the map veto in CS:GO is to use an analogy to Dota 2. In Dota 2, they spend 20-30 minutes in their hero pick/ban and each hero can change the development of how the game plays out and how the players interact with those heroes. The draft section of the game is a microcosm of how the actual game will play out. I once asked Lee “Heen” Seung Gon, Secret’s coach (at the time Liquid’s coach), how important the draft was. He answered, “It’s very important I’d say like 70-30, draft is 70. I don’t mean to say like drafts will win you the game. I mean more in the minds of a draft is a reflection of your team’s understanding of the game. If you out draft an opponent, you had a moment where you’re Dr. Strange, you see what’s going to happen, all of the outcomes…The draft is just…. it’s like a prediction of the game. You have to execute it, it’s like a simulation.” While not as impactful, the map veto in CS:GO works in a similar manner. The draft reveals the minds of their respective teams. What do they value, how do they perceive their opponents, and how do they view their own strengths? The teams then have a negotiation as they pick and choose their map draft. Unlike Dota 2, in CS:GO the terms of negotiation and feedback given back to the teams is far more ambiguous. The Dota 2 draft separates out the entire game into 10 different hero picks, so if you analyze the game, you can hone in on the problem quickly. In CS:GO, you can only pick the map, so it becomes hard to disentangle cause and effect. Furthermore, competition is always results-oriented so competitors are liable to look at the results of an action rather than if the process leading up to the action was correct or not. The most memorable example of this was when Adam “Friberg” Friberg smashed TSM on Train at the Cluj-Napoca Major. In terms of pure game theory, it was the correct choice to make, but because they lost, it anchored into the minds of the TSM players that they should avoid Train and hurt their chances going forward. Overall, the map veto is a simulation of the actual matchup and it gives invaluable insight into how teams understand the game, themselves, and the enemy. The clashes at the StarLadder Berlin Major At the StarLadder Berlin Major, EG (at that point NRG) played Astralis twice, once in the group stages and once in the semifinals. At the time, NRG had just come off the break and had used that time to fully integrate Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz into the lineup. They were in red hot form and won the first meeting in the group stages 2-0. The map veto was: NRG ban Inferno – AST ban Mirage – NRG pick Train – AST pick Nuke – AST ban Vertigo – NRG ban Dust2 – Final pick Overpass – NRG banned Inferno as it was the home map of Astralis and the only map where Astralis had retained a level of their prime era strength during mid 2019. Astralis banned Mirage as it was their worst map and one of NRG’s better maps when they were still playing with Damian “daps” Steele. NRG then first picked Train as it was one of their best maps at the time and looked to be their new home map with the Stanislaw lineup. Astralis went for Nuke. The move made sense as Nuke is a tactical map, which is antithetical to how NRG liked to play. Once stanislaw came into the team, the squad started to be looser and more aggressive. That style is less effective on Nuke. After Nuke, Astralis banned Vertigo and this had a dual purpose. First it was probably their least comfortable map of the three remaining and secondly, it was a wild card that they could use later on in the tournament. NRG had the choice between Dust2 and Overpass. They decided to opt for Overpass. This final pick showed that NRG were still uncertain of the team’s strengths as this final draw made more sense with the daps iteration of the lineup as Dust2 was one of their weaker maps while Overpass was their strongest. As time went on, EG started to pick Dust2 while avoiding Overpass. At the time though, it was still a good choice, especially as Overpass was a problem for Astralis during the mid-2019 run. The two teams then clashed again in the semifinals of the Major. At the time, Astralis had unveiled two tricks in the quarterfinals victory over Liquid. They showed they had revamped their Overpass T-side to include various B contact plays that couldn’t be stopped with an ad-hoc response. Their second trick had them unveil their Vertigo, which looked to be the best of any team in the tournament. So in the semifinals the map veto played out as: NRG ban Inferno – Astralis ban Mirage – NRG picked Train – Astralis picked Overpass – Astralis ban Dust2 – NRG ban Vertigo – Nuke was left over – The map veto was largely the same, but the small adjustments give a wealth of information for how Astralis viewed this series. They recognized a few things about NRG before NRG did about themselves. First was that NRG wasn’t a great Overpass team. This time around they opted for an Overpass pick instead of Nuke as they believed their new T-side could break open NRG. Secondly, in the second ban phase, they took out Dust2 instead of Vertigo. This shows a slight shift in perception in Astralis’ view of themselves and NRG. Astralis probably realized that they were the favorites on Vertigo if they played NRG head-to-head. At the same time, they also recognized that NRG was a very strong Dust2 team, something that NRG themselves only recognized later on. Astralis ended up winning the series 2-0, but the contest for the map veto was far from over. The battle at ESL New York The battle at ESL New York saw a few shifts from both teams. In the group stages, the two teams played again. The map veto was: Evil Geniuses ban Overpass – Astralis ban Mirage – Evil Geniuses picked Dust2 – Astralis picked Inferno – Evil Geniuses ban Train – Astralis ban Nuke – Vertigo was left over – At this point, EG have fully recognized that they are no longer an Overpass team. They also realized that they needed to shift over to Dust2 as one of their primary picks as the map was suited to their aggressive, loose, and individualistic style. From the Astralis side, they had a few different choices they could have run here, but all of them were ambivalent. Astralis weren’t that great on Nuke. They won Train in the last encounter, but had gone 1-1 at the Major. What’s more, Astralis’ victory was still a close affair. In this situation, Astralis decided to go for their strongest pitch, inferno. The second veto phase gives some insight into the EG mind. Nuke was a good map for them, so it’s unlikely they would have banned it. So it came down to either Train or Vertigo. It seems likely that they decided to second phase ban Train over Vertigo as they had lost the previous encounter on Train, while Vertigo was a wildcard. It never got to that point though as EG beat Astralis 2-0. The two teams met again in the finals, where EG beat Astralis 3-1. They smashed them on Inferno and nuke, won Dust2, and lost Train in overtime. The third round at ECS Season 8 EG and Astralis faced off a third time. Among the three, this was the most heavily skewed towards Astralis. Here is the map veto: Evil Geniuses ban Vertigo – Astralis ban Mirage – Evil Geniuses picked Inferno – Astralis picked Nuke – Evil Geniuses ban Train – Astralis ban Dust2 – Overpass was left over – There are a few interesting pieces of context to think about before we look at the map veto. First is that EG were on the road the entire time. Secondly, Vertigo had updated and it is likely that EG never had the time to figure out the map. Given that context, their first ban of Vertigo made a lot of sense, especially as Astralis beat 100 Thieves on it at IEM Beijing. The most curious thing about the map veto was EG’s first pick. If you recall, at ESL New York, Inferno was Astralis’ first pick. I think it is highly likely that Astralis would have first picked Inferno again as the rest of the map pool gives them worse odds. By picking Inferno, EG heavily skewed the map veto advantage into Astralis’ favor. Not only that, but it also implies that EG have lost confidence that their Dust2 can beat Astralis head-to-head. Astralis capitalized on this with a Nuke pick. While Nuke was strong in the earlier LANs for EG/NRG, it had slowly gone by the wayside with losses to FaZe and Mouz. By picking Inferno, they gave Astralis their home map and a chance to punish pick them. What’s more in the second phase veto, EG once more banned Train rather than Overpass, which was their ban at ESL New York. This is especially curious as Overpass was their permaban at New York so they should have banned it in the second phase ban here. Instead they opted for Train which exhibits a lack of confidence in their own Train despite all of their Train games being close affairs. In the end Astralis won the series 2-1. They took Inferno, barely lost their own pick of nuke, and then smashed EG on Overpass. What the Map Vetoes Say After going through the map veto history between EG and Astralis, it’s clear that EG are lost in the map pool. They started as a team with a wide map pool as people believed they could play all seven maps. As time has gone on though, people have figured out that they have a weak Mirage and Overpass. Their Vertigo has been taken out as they haven’t had time to practice on the new changes. This leaves them: Train, Nuke, Inferno, and Dust2. They are too afraid of playing Train into Astralis or making it their home map against other teams. They have started to focus on Inferno and Dust2, but they haven’t established either as a dominant stronghold. FaZe, MIBR, and Mouz have beat them across those maps. The biggest indicator of this is their map pick into Astralis where they opted for Inferno instead of Dust2. As for Astralis, the map veto displays their resurrection. Going into the break before the StarLadder Berlin Major, Astralis was losing strength on all of their maps except Inferno. They’ve kept Inferno and have shifted their map pool to Overpass, Vertigo, and some Train. The games at StarLadder Berlin Major and ESL New York made it seem like EG had a good head-to-head matchup against Astralis. As time has gone on, EG’s shrinking map pool and declining player form has reversed the advantage. For EG this is an omen that they need to find a way to renew themselves either tactically or individually. If they can’t, then their run as championship contenders will likely come to an end. For Astralis, the EG matchup was the most problematic in the world. Now that they have an advantage against them, Astralis’ biggest threat is Liquid. At ECS Season 8 Finals, Astralis prevailed, but it was a close match. Should Astralis continue defeating Liquid, it looks like they will solidify their spot as the best in the world.

Stuchiu: Evil Geniuses’ volatility isn’t a bug, it’s a feature ESLEG is one of the best teams in the world. Their lineup of Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte, Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov, Ethan “Ethan” Arnold, Tarik “tarik” Celik, and peter “stanislaw” Jarguz have been making a run at the best team in the world, with big LAN victories at ESL New York and StarLadder i-League Season 8. While EG are a consistent contender, their strengths as a squad also create a volatility in their identity that they are more liable relative to other elite squads. Notable Close Calls EG have been the most active elite team since the end of the StarLadder Berlin Major. They’ve attended 7 different LANs (6 tournaments and the EPL group stage) across the span of about two months. During that time, there have been a few notable upsets or close calls. At DreamHack Malmo, Grayhound beat them in a bo1 on Nuke in the upper-bracket. Then in the lower bracket, mousesports eliminated them 2-0. While Grayhound played well and Mouz is a quality squad, I considered the result a one-off for EG. They had just traveled from New York to Malmo in the span of 1-2 days. Travel fatigue, jet lag, and the emotional highs of winning New York over Astralis were all good reasons to believe that this was a fluke. However, the pattern continued. At StarLadder i-League Season 8, NiP beat EG 2-1 in the upper-bracket. After that, EG limped through the tournament. While the upset was surprising, EG rallied back and ended up winning the tournament. Still, it was surprising that EG lost the first series to begin with, especially as they smashed NiP in the rematch 2-0 later on in the tournament. EG then went to IEM Beijing where they lost to FaZe twice in the group stages. While FaZe looked a lot better in this tournament, EG were the favorites to make it out. Finally at CS:GO Asia Championships, EG were the big favorites to win the entire event. Instead, MIBR beat them 2-0 in the group stages. Mouz once again made the coup de grace as they eliminated EG in the playoffs. Once is a fluke, twice could be a coincidence, but this many times? There was a clear pattern and there are three primary reasons: The dynamic between team-identity and player form, map veto, and stanislaw’s tactical style. EG’s Team Identity At its core base, EG is a loose individual team. They have three young stars: CeRq, Brehze, and Ethan. All three of them are mechanically at the top of their game. Tarik and stanislaw play hybrid roles. Tarik oscillates between playing the wing or taking map control, while stanislaw can be the first entry or a lurker. In general, the EG roles are fairly fluid as most of the players are versatile enough to change positions on the fly. This fluidity is possible due to the large amount of individual freedom. Every player on the squad gets to push the envelope when it comes to taking individual duel s. EG hone in on their mechanical strength to get the opening duels or trades. This all comes together under stanislaw’s calling which is a mix of set plays, instinctive and great mid-round calls, and changes of pace. For EG to succeed then, their primary win condition is to have their stars in good form. The problem for EG is that player form can vary and it’s hard to play at top levels for protracted periods of time. Thus we come to the first factor of EG’s volatility: they are more vulnerable to dips in player form than either Liquid or Astralis. Astralis’ foundations are based on their tactics and teamplay, so even when they are having an off day, they can win by being smarter. Liquid is a hybrid between a structured and individual style. In terms of structure, Liquid take a few less aggressive risks than EG do on the individual and macro level. This decreases the variability. Another factor to consider is the difference in player consistency. When you look across and compare the EG and Liquid players, the Liquid players are far more consistent and higher skill ceilings. On their best days, Ethan, tarik, and stanislaw may have similar heights to Jake “Stewie2K” Yip, Keith “NAF” Markovic, and Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, but the EG players have far more cold days compared to their Liquid counterparts. As for the primary stars, both Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken are consistent rocks for Liquid, particularly EliGE. When EG had their run, they relied on the consistent firepower of Brehze and CeRq. While CeRq continues to deliver (surprisingly considering how aggressive his AWPing style is), Brehze has started to slump. While I don’t read too much into stats, it’s worth looking at his to give a broader context of what’s happening to EG in their upsets. Brehze has had a 1.17 rating on LAN in 2019. When EG won ESL New York, he had a 1.29 rating. In the games EG have lost, he’s been below a 1.00 rating for most of the losses, the only exceptions being the elimination bo3 against FaZe where he got 1.02. For reference, here is a list of Brehze’s HLTV ratings in matches where underdogs upset EG. Outside of Grayhound, all of these were bo3s. DreamHack Malmo Brehze against Grayhound: 0.82 – Brehze against Mouz: 0.99 – StarLadder i-League Season 8 Brehze against NiP: 0.83 – IEM Beijing Brehze against FaZe (opening match): 0.64 – Brehze against FaZe (group stage decider): 1.02 – CS:GO Asia Championships Brehze against MIBR: 0.9 – Brehze against Mouz: 0.78 – The correlation between Brehze’s off days and EG’s losses is strong. Without him, the other players cannot make up for the consistent frags and all-around game that he brings to the table. As their tactics flow from their skill, the other players must step up if they want to succeed. Map Veto The other thing to look at is EG’s map veto. When the lineup first broke out at the StarLadder Berlin Major, they were first picking Train and Dust2. They then tried experimenting with Nuke and Dust2 at ESL New York. Lately though, the team has started to first pick inferno and dust2 into every team. We’ve seen this at StarLadder i-League Season 8, IEM Beijing, and CS:GO Asia Championships (there are notable exceptions where EG first picked Nuke against Mouz at CAC and Nuke against NiP at ECS 8). Inferno and Dust2 are tough maps for any team to conquer. The only team that managed to conquer Inferno was Astralis, who are the greatest line-up of all time. What’s more, they did it through a tactical-controlled style, the antithesis of how EG like to play. As for Dust2, it has always been a volatile map and one that can go either way. It’s hard to say why EG have decided to opt into these maps as I think their Nuke and Train are better. It could be because they’ve been on the road for so long that they feel the most comfortable on standard maps rather than specialized maps that require more practice. However, it also closes the gap between underdog teams and elite teams. Heroic beat EG on inferno. NiP beat EG on Dust2. FaZe beat EG on both. The map veto is something that EG will have to consider as it is one possible way to lessen their volatility as a squad. Stanislaw’s style I consider stanislaw a loose tactical leader. He thrives in loose systems where a lot of individual skills are on display like his old OpTic lineup or the current EG lineup. Ronald “Rambo” Kim, former C9 coach, talked about this to VPEsports, “stanislaw likes more default, kind of everyone do your own thing and then play individually.” At the same time, stanislaw likes to innovate clever tactics and include some complex set plays that are clearly pre-planned. So you will always see something particularly clever or unique from his squads whether that’s a set fake, execute, or pistol round. However, he isn’t someone who likes to have a structured approach where everyone has a role to play. He’s more jazz than classical, he’d rather look at bigger picture things than smaller details He even talked about this in his twitlonger when he talked about his conflict with Wilton “zews” Prado, “I brought up several times that we should stop focusing on every little thing and focus more on the big picture – innovating new things and perfecting our fundamentals.” This focus on the bigger things and a more individual default base is at the core of EG’s identity as a team and a core aspect of their strength and volatility. It gives them the freedom and confidence that lets them take advantage of their mechanical prowess. It is also what makes them undisciplined in situations where they have a clear advantage, but can throw it away on multiple individual duels. The most glaring example of this was their recent series against Liquid in the ECS Season 8 group stages. In that match, they threw away multiple round victories because of their lack of disciple. On Inferno, EG had secured the B-site and had a power-play situation, but stanislaw charged out for a duel and died. This gave Liquid enough space to retake the site and win the round. In the last round on Dust2, they challenged in a 4v2 and once again gave Liquid the chance of getting back into the round. EG’s Volatility Now that we’ve examined EG’s volatility in-depth, is there anything they can do about it? The only potential changes are a change to their map veto and tournament scheduling. EG traveled to 7 LANs in two months. If they cut down on that amount, they are liable to make fewer mistakes as they should be better rested and more focused at each subsequent LAN. The downtime can also let them decide whether or not they want to continue down the path of being a primary Dust2/inferno team as they are good enough to go almost anywhere in the map pool. Outside of that though, it will likely come down to player skill. If the players can reach their New York form, then everything is fine. If not, then I don’t think there is much else they can do. While it’s possible to force more structure or a change to Stanislaw’s style, it will likely hurt them more than help them. While stanislaw’s leadership may lead to more volatility, it has also elevated them to a higher level. His style has honed in on EG’s biggest strength: mechanical skills, and emphasized it as their primary win condition. To go away from it is to go away from their greatest strength. EG must ride and die with their skill and therefore volatility will always be a part of this team’s character.

Stuchiu: CSGO Team Power Rankings by Map Pool – January 2020 DreamHackI’m proud to present the January 2020 edition of my CS:GO Power Rankings, based on specific map pools rather than just overall performances. There are a number of good team rankings being published in CS:GO, such as the HLTV power rankings or Duncan “Thorin” Shields’ World Rankings. While these are fantastic for general discussion on team performances, I wanted to create something akin to what WallabeeBeatle wrote back in 2017, a world ranking based on map pool. In this way, the discussion can go a bit deeper into specific maps and what that entrails for the overall strategy and map veto considerations of different teams. Criteria and Rankings Before we go into the rankings, I wanted to give context on how I put this list together. In terms of criteria, there were four things to look at. The first is overall win rate, the context of a victory, relative time, and perception. The first is self-explanatory since the better the win-rate, the better a team is on a map. The context of a victory takes into account the quality of a victory or defeat as well as the level of competition. For instance, G2’s overall win rate on Vertigo in December is quite high at 6-2. However, they didn’t beat any top quality contenders as Mouz had a stand-in at CS Summit 5 (and in one of Mouz’s losses they had two stand-ins). Relative time looks at when a team’s wins/losses occurred. In my top 10 players ranking list, I used a flat value system when it came to time. So if player X won an MVP in January and player Y won an MVP in March, both MVPs had the same value assuming that all other factors were the same. In the map rankings, there will be a much larger focus on recent results so that we can have a better grip on the overall strength of a team’s map pool right now. Like the top 10 players ranking, I will look at the records across the last three months of play on LAN. The final criterion is perception. It refers to an overall perception of where we might estimate a team’s current strength is on any particular map. I added these criteria for team’s that change rosters mid-season to give an idea of where their potential map pool is. For instance, when NRG kicked Damian “daps” Steele for Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz, the perception was that the new squad was likely going to be good on both Train and Overpass as those were the better maps for the old NRG squad. As these rankings are inherently different from the rest, I’ll make a note of them in the lists. For myself, modeling where a team’s map pool is at any given time is a useful tool in understanding the relative strength of the teams and a team’s approach towards the map veto. Map vetoes are fairly tricky to determine as scrims, records, styles, and perceptions all play a part in determining how a map veto plays out. As that’s the case, the overall rankings for this article will work differently from other articles. Read More: Top CSGO player rankings from Nov-Jan – First, I’ve created three ranks that will help evaluate the overall strength of a team on any particular map: S-rank, A-rank, and B-rank. S-rank map is the highest rank and indicates that a team’s current form on the map is strong enough to be era-defining (or close to it). Examples of S-rank maps include Astralis’ Nuke in 2018, Liquid’s Overpass in mid-2019, or LG/SK’s run on Train. A-rank rankings are for teams that have solidified themselves as one of the best on any particular map and those maps often define their championship runs. B-rank rankings indicate that a team is fairly strong on a map, but don’t have the consistency to dominate the majority of the field on it. B-rank rankings will also include potential wildcards, that is teams that have an extremely volatile style that will let them take big upset wins. An example of this is FURIA on Nuke in mid-2019. One last thing to note is that only some maps won’t have clearly defined rankings. An example of this is Vertigo. It’s the newest map in the pool and as such, no team has been able to claim it as their own. This choice is deliberate as it gives a much better sense of overall perceptions of the map pool so that we have a better sense of depth/width of teams’ map pools as well as a better base to make relative comparisons across the board. Inferno A-Rank 1. Astralis: 8-2 Wins: 100 Thieves, ViCi Gaming, Fnatic, EG, Renegades, G2, Liquid (x2) Losses: FaZe, Liquid 2. Liquid: 5-3 Wins: Cloud9, FaZe, EG, Fnatic, Astralis Losses: Astralis (x2), Fnatic 3. Mouz: 8-1 Wins: Virtus.Pro, ENCE (x2), TyLoo, Renegades, Fnatic, Vitality, EG (with stand-in) Losses: EG B-Rank Fnatic: 4-5 – Vitality: 5-1 – EG: 4-5 – 100 Thieves: 3-1 – Inferno continues to be the most important map in the map pool. It is the map every top team feels comfortable playing so it is a common site in almost every bo3 series. While the meta continues to evolve, no team has been able to dominate the map like how Astralis did back during their era in 2018. The overall competition and parity level of Inferno is the highest of all seven maps. Based on record, recency, and competition, the three best teams are Astralis, Liquid, and Mouz. Astralis have the best record and if you looked at the W-L ratio, it’s similar to the Age of Astralis. However, if you look at the games and the quality of wins, it isn’t comparable. During the Age of Astralis, teams struggled to get double digits whereas plenty of teams play them close. Their two victories over Liquid went to 16-11 and 16-13. Fnatic took them to 30 rounds in their last encounter. Astralis had to get to overtime to beat G2 19-15. The only real anomaly is the 2-16 loss to FaZe, but the loss was at a BLAST event. Astralis have always been weaker in the BLAST formats so it’s easier to write off, especially when you look at what Astralis did at every other tournament. Liquid are the second-best team on Inferno as they boast strong victories against FaZe, EG, and Fnatic and a 16-14 win over Astralis. In terms of structure and firepower, Liquid seem to be more consistent on the map than Astralis and are less likely to get into tense late-round situations. However, I couldn’t rank them over Astralis as Astralis have the advantage in the head-to-head against Liquid. What’s more, while Astralis are having closer games, they are still closing them out, so, for now, the head-to-head advantage puts Astralis at #1 over Liquid. The third best team is Mouz. I discounted their games with stand-ins as it has no bearing on their actual lineup. While Mouz have a strong record, a lot of it is against weaker opponents. Even so, they still had good victories against Fnatic and Vitality. Outside of Astralis and Liquid, Mouz should reliably beat most teams on Inferno, so they achieved an A-ranking this time. Read More: Why Mouz keep beating EG – My B-ranked teams were Fnatic, Vitality, EG, and 100 Thieves. Fnatic is a bit better than their record suggests. Three of their big losses come from Astralis, Liquid, and Mouz. Teams I consider to be the top 3 teams on Inferno. However, they don’t have the consistency or the record for me to rank them above the rest of the B-ranked teams. As it stands, Fnatic will always have a chance on Inferno, but can’t rely on inferno as a home map. Vitality had a good run at EPICENTER, so I’ve put them in the B-rank for now. EG and 100 Thieves are in the B-rank based on perception and context. EG’s big runs at StarLadder i-League Season 8 and ESL New York came from a lot of big Inferno victories. Since then though, EG’s recent record on Inferno has been spotty. They’ve lost to some contender teams like Astralis and Liquid but also lost to MIBR and forZe. During this time period, EG over-traveled and weren’t able to continue evolving like either Astralis or Mouz. Now that there is downtime, it’s likely that EG will have had more time to figure out what was wrong and fix it. As that’s the case, it’s likely that teams will respect EG’s Inferno coming into the new year, so they keep a B-rank ranking for now. As for 100 Thieves, Inferno is one of their better maps. While they didn’t play much at the end of the year, their Inferno was strong enough to keep them in this range as well. Overpass A-Rank 1. Fnatic 4-0 Wins: Liquid (x2), Heroic, Na`Vi Losses: N/A B-Rank 2. Astralis 2-1 Wins: EG, Mouz Losses: NiP Overpass is on the lower end of map prioritization in the highest levels of CS:GO. Among the top 10 teams, the only two that seem to have any mastery of it are Fnatic and Astralis. Outside of them, we see Liquid and EG struggle on the map, NiP can get some upsets on it, and Mouz is willing to float it against teams that don’t play Overpass. This makes Overpass an intriguing map as it is relatively free real-estate for any team that wants to make it their home map. Right now Fnatic are the best on the map with a 4-0 record. They have good wins against Liquid, Heroic, and Na`Vi. Their style even seems to fit the map as they can make use of Maikil “Golden” Selim’s fast loose style to break teams on the T-side and use their team play and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin’s aggression to hold the CT-side. Despite that, even Fnatic themselves seem hesitant to make Overpass a specialty of theirs. They avoided picking it into Astralis at ECS Season 8 and opted for an Inferno showdown instead. The second-best team on Overpass is Astralis as they have some solid victories against EG and Mouz. For now, Astralis have relegated Overpass to second priority. They will float it in the veto and let it through against anyone not named Fnatic. In terms of strategic value, establishing a strong Overpass seems to be a good route to go against Astralis with as Astralis have had a fairly hot-and-cold relationship with the map historically. Train A-Rank 1. Mouz 7-0 Wins: ENCE, Renegades, EG (x2), Astralis, Fnatic, EG (stand-in) Losses: N/A B-Rank 2. Astralis 3-1 Wins: 100 Thieves, G2, NiP Losses: Mouz In the last month of 2019, Train emerged as a critical map for Mouz. They used it to bash in EG’s head multiple times and it has become their signature map. Mouz’s CT-side always had a strong defense as they could wield the Ozgur “woxic” Eker and Chris “chrisJ” de Jong double-AWP setup. They also have the best Train small-site anchor with Robin “ropz” Kool. Their T-side seems to have elevated to the next level after they moved David “frozen” Cernansky into a secondary lurker position. While Astralis can give Mouz a run for their money, almost no one else in the world can. Astralis are the second-best team in the world and they are better on Train than their 3-1 record indicates. Outside of the three month period, they’ve had good wins against EG and Fnatic as well. In terms of the eye test, their tactics, setups, and rotations are among the best in the world. The only niggling concern I have is that their victories are closer than you’d like. Before the timeline, they beat Fnatic 16-14 and North 19-17. In the three-month time span, G2 took them to the 30th round. The close nature of their victories and the fact that Astralis aren’t as battle-tested on the map have made me put Astralis at a B-rank designation rather than an A-Rank. Given the two concerns I pointed out earlier, it’s possible that teams will try to build up their Train to target Astralis directly. This is a route that I think both Liquid and EG should consider going into 2020. Dust2 B-Rank FaZe: 7-1 – Na`Vi: 5-1 – Astralis: 3-2 – Mouz: 5-2 – Liquid: 2-4 – G2: 3-2 – EG: 2-5 – Dust2 is the first map where every team remains unranked. This correlates with what we generally know about the map. That it’s a high octane, momentum-based affair that can swing off of individual skill or economy. The six teams I’ve listed here have a good chance of beating each other on any given day. FaZe, Na`Vi, and Mouz have the best records, but none of them had a consistent system or extraordinary levels of firepower to make me believe they could consistently dominate the field on the map. Example of a consistent system includes Astralis control-style in 2018 and extraordinary levels of firepower include Liquid’s run in mid-2019. What I will say is that FaZe and Na`Vi should accept every Dust2 duel they can get their hands on when playing against better teams. This should give them the best odds possible of knocking out teams in the higher echelon. Astralis and Mouz are both solid on the map and are good enough to win if someone picks it into them. The two teams that stand out on the list are Liquid and G2. While Liquid have a 2-4 record, their four losses come from Astralis twice, FaZe, and Na`Vi. Almost all of their losses were close affairs that went into the double-digits and they had victories against EG and Mouz. As for G2, they have a high ceiling and a low floor. They are good enough to beat Astralis and bad enough to lose to TyLoo (though TyLoo did have a shockingly good run at CS:GO Asia). The final team in the B-rank is EG. While they’ve been having a bad run, their losses come from strong Dust2 teams: Liquid, Na`Vi, FaZe, and G2. What’s more, this was one of their primary maps when they had their run after the Berlin Major, so in terms of overall perception, it’s likely that teams will still be wary of pickingDust2 into EG. So for now, they retain a B-rank status but they could drop out if they don’t pick up some wins soon. Mirage A-Rank 1. EG 8-1 Wins: TyLoo, G2, Fnatic, Na`Vi (x2), forZe Losses: forZe B-Rank 2. Liquid: 4-1 Wins: NiP (x2), Fnatic, FaZe Losses: NiP Mirage is similar to Dust2. There’s a good amount of parity and most teams are willing to play it. In the final two months of 2020, EG’s map pool had a rapid decline as they lost Inferno and Dust2. What people didn’t mention though was that in the midst of that loss, they started to get a lot of wins on Mirage. They had an 8-1 record and Mirage is currently their best map as it lends itself well to the loose individualistic style that EG like to play with. Other teams have taken notice, most notably Mouz who have consistently first banned it against EG. While EG are good on this map, they need to improve the rest of their map pool before they can use Mirage as a feasible weapon for title runs. Beyond EG, Liquid have also had a good run of form on Mirage as well. They don’t seem to love the map, but whenever they’ve played it, they’ve come out on top. While plenty of other teams play this map, I haven’t any other teams excel at it like the NA squads. Vertigo B-rank Astralis: 1-1 – Liquid: 2-1 – Mouz: 2-0 – Vertigo is the least explored map in the map pool. This makes sense considering that it is still being updated. As that’s the case, it’s hard to know who is actually good on the map as no team has made an established meta for the map. Among the top teams I’ve watched, the three best seem to be Astralis, Liquid, and Mouz. There is too little data to go off of to actually rank these teams. As Astralis often float Vertigo, this is another potential avenue that a team could use to try to exploit them. The problem is that outside of G2, no team seems to be willing to pick Vertigo as their goto pick at the moment. Nuke S-Rank 1. Astralis 11-1 Wins: Liquid (x5), Cloud9, 100 Thieves (x2), Sharks, Fnatic, NiP Losses: EG A-Rank 2. Vitality: 6-1 Wins: EHOME, Na`Vi, Mouz, FaZe, HellRaisers, Fnatic Losses: 100 Thieves B-Rank FaZe: 4-3 – Liquid: 2-5 – Mouz: 3-3 – Fnatic: 2-1 – EG: 4-5 – Nuke has become one of the most played maps in the map pool. While it is still a haven for tactical play, loose individualistic styles have found more life as teams the variations of the yard smokes buy a lot more space for potential individualistic plays. We first saw this with FURIA in 2019, but since then teams like EG, FaZe, Fnatic, and Na`Vi to an extent can work well on this map as well. Even so, Astralis reign supreme on this map. With an 11-1 record, they have reinstated themselves as untouchable Gods of Nuke. At this point, they can first pick Nuke into every team and I’d pick them to win every bout. Outside of Astralis, Vitality have been building up a solid resume on the map with wins over FaZe, Na`Vi, Mouz, and Fnatic. Outside of them, there are a plethora of fairly good teams on the map. The five I consider B-Rank are FaZe, Liquid, Mouz, Fnatic, and EG. Liquid stands out as potentially not being there with a 2-5 record, but all five losses came from Astralis.

Stuchiu: Contrasting how EG and Liquid play against Astralis’ Nuke Since the StarLadder Berlin Major, the three big CSGO teams to look for have been EG, Liquid, and Astralis. One of the most intriguing storylines to come out of these clashes is the disparity in how Nuke plays out. Whenever EG plays Astralis on Nuke, they win the map. In contrast, each time Liquid plays Astralis they lose. This difference displays the difference in the identity and strategy between the two squads. The Baseline Stats Before I delve too deeply, we need to set some baseline stats. Both EG and Liquid have played Astralis three times on Nuke. EG played them at the StarLadder Berling Major (where they were NRG), ESL New York, and ECS Season 8 Finals. Liquid played them at BLAST CopenHagen group stages, ECS Season 8 Finals, and ESL Proleague Season 10 Finals. EG won their three meetings 16-4 at Berlin, 16-8 at New York, and 16-13 at ECS Season 8. At Berlin, EG won 12 rounds on the CT-side. At New York, EG went 8-7 on their T-side and then closed Astralis out 8-1 on the CT-side. ECS Season 8 was the closest affair where EG squeezed out the win 16-13. TL had much less success compared to EG as they went 10-16 at BLAST CopenHagen, 11-16 at ECS Season 8, and 7-16 at EPL Season 10 Finals. At BLAST Astralis had a dominant CT-side going 12-3. At ECS Season 8, Astralis had a good T-half of 7-8 and closed out the game 9-3 on their CT-side. At EPL 10 Finals, Astralis smashed Liquid 11-4 from their T-side. At a cursory glance, these base stats are surprising. EG and Liquid are both NA squads filled with highly skilled players. EG has: Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte, Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov, Ethan “Ethan” arnold, Tarik “tarik” Celik, and Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz. Liquid has: Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Keith “NAF” Markovic, and Jake “Stewie2K” Yip. If you were to compare the makeup of the teams, both squads fall along the lines of Sam “DaZeD” Marine style super squads. Teams packed with as much skill as possible. If I were to look at the raw potential on paper, I’d say that Liquid are a slightly better squad skill-wise than EG. Both squads play a more individualistic style and both of them are good Nuke teams. Read More: DreamHack reveals 2020 tournament schedule – So this begs the question, why is EG winning all their Astralis Nuke games while Liquid is losing theirs? There are multiple ways we can go about answering this question. Player form for instance, is a potential legitimate answer. Two of the three times EG blew out Astralis, they were player at the absolute limits of their potential. In contrast to that, the Astralis players always seem to be in better form when playing against the Liquid squads. While that plays a part, for me the root cause comes from the strategic differences between EG and Liquid and how that interacts with Astralis’ playstyle on Nuke. The Astralis Style So before we get into how EG and Liquid play Astralis, we need to understand the basics of how Astralis like to play. Astralis are a structured tactical squad that like to take map control and then use that to collapse on a site with a slow push execute. If Astralis gets into a trade war, they will instead use map rotations, spacing, and flanking to take out their opponents in a manner akin to dominoes or speed chess. Each move takes a piece off the board and forces a rotation that leaves a space or angle which they exploit to take another piece out. The CT-side works in a similar manner with Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz being Astralis’ primary aggressors. They are the ones who look for info and duels in smart calculated ways that often suffocates the opponent. Either they get a pick or they get the info needed to make the right rotations to get in position and make it a hard fight for the enemy T-sides to get something done. How EG played Astralis The first time the EG lineup played Astralis at Berlin, they went super aggressive and made near instantaneous rotations. In the fourth round of that match for instance, stanislaw rushed out of secret, saw that there were no Astralis players behind the yard smokes and made an instant rotation to the left corner at the bottom of the ramp. It was so fast that it never occured to Astralis to check the corner and stanislaw ended the round with his individual play. The move was emblematic of what happened throughout the half as the EG players caught Astralis off guard. In the fifth, Brehzhe used his smoke to sneak into the corner of hut. When Emil “Magisk” Rief pushed in later, he got blind sided and killed. In the seventh round, Brehze blew up the door early with an HE which let CeRq sneak in and get an early pick. EG played into the faces of Astralis and often kept surprising them in the half. The other notable thing to look at from this game is the mid-round pushes and EG’s rotations as a result. In nearly every round Brehze pushed into hut or further around the 1:00 mark. Tactically this was perfectly in sync with EG’s early aggression. CeRq, stanislaw, and tarik’s pushes constantly slowed down the Astralis machine. Once Astralis started to push out at a later timing, they could fall back and this triggered Brehze to backstab Astralis and put EG in a winning position. EG’s dominant CT-side meant that it was hard to gauge what their T-side was like since the T-side wasn’t long. We got a better glimpse of it at ESL New York. EG had a strong early half while Astralis’ economy was in tatters. EG largely went for post ups. They’d take an area of the map, let their individuals wait for the duel, win the duel, and then hit a site. CeRq looked for picks with his AWP, Ethan looked for picks with his Krieg, and in the sixth round, tarik used a smoke near main to catch Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen off guard and get a kill. Once the Astralis economy stabilized, they were able to shut down EG’s attempts and made a comeback in the half. As for the CT-side it was stylistically similar and they used some of the same early game setups. The most notable thing to take away from this is that Brehze still played the same role and Astralis still couldn’t stop him. EG’s third run-in against Astralis was the most revealing. EG changed it up on both sides of the map. On the T-side, EG went for fast map control rather than a post-up pick style. EG consistently went for fast early nades and used their speed to either hit the sites fast or to get into advanced positions earlier than normal. One of the primary effects was utility ambiguity. It was harder for Astralis to know when to use their nades early or when to save them. Stanislaw used this to his advantage as he deployed the fast utility in the ninth round and called a freeze as Astralis used their counter-nades. The other effect this fast pace had was minimizing Astralis’ rotational strength as EG were either already hitting them or they were getting in better positions faster. In the 15th round for instance, EG got into a 5v4 early on as tarik got a kill. EG decided to use this advantage by getting Brehze into the vents and deploying their smoke nades to control yard early. This forced two Astralis players to rotate down, but because the EG players rushed down secret, one of the rotating players had to hold for them leaving Brehze in a favorable 1v1 against the other player. EG’s CT-side was also different from before. EG opted out of doing aggressive early pushes from ramp or stanislaw from yard. Instead they opted for a different approach as they played forward passive positions. For instance, in the 26th round Astralis used their yard nades around the 1:20 mark and started to clear yard and garage. Instead of going for a head-on brawl, stanislaw hid behind the smaller box in the yard while tarik held secret at the second turn. Tarik won his duel against dev1ce, while stanislaw was traded. But by the time Astralis had found them, there was only 35 seconds left on the clock. So they had to commit to a site instead of using their newfound map control to create more flanks and win through rotations. While EG opted out of early game aggression, their mid-game aggression was the same. Brehzhe continued to make his mid-round pushes, fast flanks, and rotations and was still a thorn in Astralis’ side. How Liquid played Astralis Liquid’s approach was different compared to EG. They had a more structured approach to how they wanted to play out the game. Liquid like to play default as their primary go-to against Astralis. They spread out, wait for potential aggression and play out their areas, take yard control around the 1:00 mark and then take map control. They usually play out a 4-1 style with EliGE as the lurker. Beyond that, they like to mix it up with executes, fakes, and some contact plays. Overall, it’s a solid and sturdy style that should net Liquid a lot of wins against the broad field of competition. However against Astralis in specific, it’s too predictable. Astralis know how to play out the rounds, when to have dev1ce or gla1ve make a mid-round push, and where to rotate based on the information they get. As for the CT-side, Liquid play more to the Astralis style than the EG style. While they can go for early aggressive plays with either Stewie2K or EliGe, they prefer to focus more on reading the map, making the right rotations, and beating the other team through smarts and skill. Beyond that, the most stylistic thing about Liquid’s CT-side is that they like to use the double-AWP setup with NAF and Stewie2K. Unfortunately for Liquid, this style is at a disadvantage against Astralis’ T-side. Astralis have the best site executes and so whenever Liquid have a double-AWP setup, Astralis can exploit it by hitting the upper site. If Astralis can get into a 3v3 or 2v3 with the bomb down, they are at an advantage as two of the remaining three players will have to retake with AWPs. If Liquid played standard, Astralis are more likely to get into a small man 4v4 or 3v3 scenario. Astralis is the best team in these scenarios as all five of their players has superb map awareness and lurking ability, so it becomes a game of flanks on flanks on flanks. In this type of speed chess match, Astralis usually come out the victors. The difference between EG and Liquid’s Approach Now that we’ve gone through how EG and Liquid play against Astralis, it’s time to contrast them. First we’ll look at the CT-sides. Liquid’s CT-side is already less stable economy wise as they like to use the double-AWP setup. Beyond that though, they are less variable than EG. EG used a super aggressive in-your-face style at Berlin and ESL New York. At ECS Season 8, they used a more passive style to catch Astralis off-guard. The biggest consistent factor I could find in EG’s CT-side was Brehze’s as successful aggression as he consistently killed a player or put himself in a position to flank whatever Astralis were doing. While Brehze is amazing, the EG CT-side setups are all created with his mid-round aggression in mind. In contrast to that Liquid largely play the same style of CT-side against Astralis each time they meet. The other thing to note is the difference in experience. The Astralis players are the best scouters in the world, so the more you play against them, the more information they have to beat you with. Four of the five Liquid players have faced off against Astralis since DreamHack Marseille last year. In contrast to that, these EG players have only become a real contention threat within the last few months. So if you look through the EG games, they can still catch Astralis off guard with positions they hadn’t seen or considered. At Berlin for instance, in the 13th round Tarik played at the box on B-site and killed Astralis B-hit as the player from connector door didn’t realize he was there. After that player died, tarik could focus on the main pack coming from the other door. At ECS Season 8 Berlin, tarik used the same position in the 25th round, but this time Astralis switched the timing with the main pack coming out first which created space for the connector door player to get an easy kill on tarik. While I can’t go too in depth, these micro-details are critical as they can win individual rounds. Astralis’ entire history against Liquid means that it is far harder for Liquid to come up with something new against Astralis. EG on the other hand is still novel to Astralis and so it is harder for Astralis to know what positions, angles, or timings they like to use. This is why Astralis were so close to beating them the third time around. This idea also permeates the T-side. If I was to compare the EG and Liquid’s T-sides, I’d argue that Liquid’s style is better against the vast array of teams, but EG’s is better against Astralis in specific. While EG have played a fast-paced map control style and a post-up slow pick style, shifting between them means that they are less refined in either. This shows that EG is more liable to change big picture things, but this also increases their volatility. This increased volatility makes it harder for Astralis to know when or how to deploy their utility. In contrast to that, they have a set idea of how they want to use it against Liquid. The final thing to note is the difference in strategy. Liquid want to beat Astralis by beating the best team possible, EG seem to want to beat Astralis by minimizing their strengths. What I mean by that is Liquid play Astralis in a more tactical structured style generally and Nuke in specific. This puts Liquid in more small-man 3v3 or 4v4 scenarios. These situations favor Astralis as these types of rounds emphasizes teamplay, map-awareness, and rotations. Those are Astralis great strengths as a squad and while Liquid is very good in those scenarios, they are often just a step behind Astralis. Essentially for Liquid to beat Astralis with this strategy, they have to be better than Astralis in Astralis’ own strengths. In contrast to that, EG have used two different styles of play on each side. On the CT-side they used a super aggressive style to slow down Astralis and a more forward-passive approach where they don’t directly go for fights, but take advanced positions on the map. On the T-side they’ve used post-up pick plays and fast-paced map control deathballs. All four of these styles have one thing in common, they minimize the chances of the game getting into a chaotic small-man situation where everyone becomes a lurker. Those situations are the ones where Astralis thrives. Whether by design or coincidence, EG’s strategy lets them bypass or minimize the amount of slow 3v3 or 4v4 situations that make Astralis so great. So while player form, mentality, and experience are all good reasons why EG is more successful than Liquid against Astralis, the killer to me is the fundamental strategy underneath. EG minimizes Astralis’ strengths while maximizing their own. Liquid fights those strengths head-to-head. The Root Cause of the Difference After looking through these games, I couldn’t help but remember stanislaw’s twitlonger. The one where he talked about the split with Liquid back in 2017. In that twitlonger he talked about his disagreements with Wilton “zews” Prado, “I brought up several times that we should stop focusing on every little thing and focus more on the big picture – innovating new things and perfecting our fundamentals. Instead, we focused on the little things too much” If you look at how EG play out their nuke games against Astralis, you see this philosophy play out. EG’s is looking at the big picture, they try to maximize their skill while avoiding the inherent strengths of Astralis. What’s more this philosophy is shared by Chet “ImAPet” Singh who made his name off of anti-stratting Gambit and SK back when he was the coach of CLG and OpTiC. In contrast to that nitr0 learned how to be a leader under zews and Eric “adreN” Hoag. Both of them are more focused on the small details of refining the standard game. While they add new tactical setups and positions all the time, their overall goal is to refine the standard game to a higher level rather than making big picture shifts. This style of play is at the essential core of Liquid and why I suspect they revert to this style the most often when put into high pressure situations. So this begs the question: should Liquid play more like EG? While it sounds like a good solution on a superficial level, I suspect it’s more complicated than that. When I reviewed these games, I was struck with how much the underlying principles of the respective players and team identity seeped into the tactics, setups, and individual plays each person made. CS:GO is as much a competition as an art. The ultimate truth of competition is victory and the art is the expression of creative skill and imagination aimed at that truth. The synthesis of the individual player characteristics, the leader, and their combined ideas creates the style of a particular team. So CS:GO is more than just a battle between teams and players as style can matter just as much. The difference between EG and Liquid’s approaches against Astralis’ Nuke articulates this perfectly. EG’s loose variable style has given them the edge against Astralis while Astralis tore apart Liquid’s solid sturdy style. Style cannot be changed so easily, even though Liquid can adopt ideas and tactics from other teams, the will have to make their own path. For any team to succeed at the highest level, they must become the epitome of their styles. EG are as close to the epitome of their style as they can reach with the players they have in their lineup. I don’t think the same can be said for Liquid. While the zews-Liquid style is still a foundational piece to their current lineup, Liquid have shown that they can also inhabit the explosive looser style that is more akin to FaZe in late 2017-2018. Liquid are a hybridization between the structured style of Astralis and the individual style of FaZe, but Liquid haven’t reached a full synthesis of that style. Liquid have the players and ability to play a more explosive loose style, but need to find a way to integrate those contradictory aspects into a cohesive whole when they play Astralis. If they are able to manage that, Liquid will reach even greater heights.

Stuchiu: Best CSGO Players by Role in 2019 With the 2019 season of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive all wrapped up, it’s now time to take stock of the year in CSGO and decide who the best players were by role, and which players had the biggest impact on the server. This list was made to acknowledge and celebrate the best players of CS:GO in 2019. Unlike a few of the other listings where there is a hard ranking, this will recognize the best players by role. In this list, I name the winner and the runner-up of each category. As there are no real set roles, I’ve divided it into supportive, lurker, wildcard, versatile rifler, AWPer, leader, and hardest carry Criteria: Consistency – How much a player turned up tournament after tournament. – Path taken – The performance the player gives against what kind of team is taken into account. To lesser degree results are mixed into the performance/path, though there are games where the best player was on the losing side of the equation. – Mitigating circumstances – As this is an individual role, things like having better teammates or a better team count against players. This is because I find it more impressive when a player performs under more adverse conditions. – Only LAN results were taken into account. – Best Support – Xyp9x While the support role has entered the common lexicon, it’s validity is still argued by experts to this day. The way I use it is the player, given the least resources, the one that helps facilitate the other teammates. It is dependent on the team, the style they are running, and who is getting the resources to do what. In this case a supportive end player is someone who isn’t focused on by his team to be the pivotal player in their style or strategy. For that reason, none of the Liquid players were nominated for this role as none of them truly fit the categorization. Without further ado, The best support player this year is: Winner: Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth – Runner-up: Chris “chrisj” De Jong – This year, multiple support players stood out to me. I suspect this is because support players get more shine in tactical systems, and in 2019, we saw more tactical teams in general. The overall winner, though, was Xyp9x. He is the best support player in history and continues to be a rock for Astralis while giving them the extra luxury of winning way more 1v1s than anyone should expect. The runner-up was a closer race. The five other notable support players for me were: Chris “ChrisJ” de Jong, Nathan “NBK” Schmitt, Sami “xseveN” Laasanen, Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas, and Epitacio “TACO” de Melo. Among the five, ChrisJ and NBK stood out above the rest. In terms of consistency, ChrisJ was a bit more up and down than NBK, but I still favored ChrisJ. ChrisJ had to shuffle his roles to accommodate his teammates but continued to put a good had the consistency and the ability to carry. Best Lurker – sergej The lurker role has changed a lot over the years. The way it was played and conceptualized during Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund’s prime has died. In those days, the lurker was given the most resources and attention. While you can still be a star player from the role, you can’t construct an entire strategy and identity around the role. Lurkers have to switch between aggressive and passive stances, and sometimes help on entering into the site or helping their teammates. Winner: Jere “sergej” Salo – Runner-up: Emil “Magisk” Rief – There were three standout lurkers this year: Sergej, Magisk, and Robin “ropz” Kool. This was reasonably competitive between the three. Both Sergej and Magisk had somewhat comparable peaks and consistency across 2019. Overall though, I had to favor sergej as he was the primary star of ENCE during their 2019 run while Magisk is the secondary star of Astralis. Ropz got a nod as the third. Like sergej, he is the central star of Mouz but didn’t come into his own till the end of the year. Best Wildcard – JW The wildcard role is strange. Unlike the support role, everyone agrees that the role exists. The wildcard player is the X-factor. There is something about their playstyle that makes them different from your ordinary playmaker as they have a chaotic style or pull out the play in the exact right moment to turn the match. They are unpredictable, rarely the primary star, but they are the catalyst to some of the most exciting plays in the game. Winner: Jesper “JW” Wecksell – Runner-up: Keith “NAF” Markovic – JW was the obvious winner of this award. He was the original wildcard of CS:GO history, and unlike the other nominees on this list, always plays the wildcard role. What’s more, JW reached vintage levels of play as he started to make surprising aggressive plays with AWPs and rifles. Outside of JW, the runner-ups were NAF and Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander. Both NAF and gla1ve have moments where they pull out ridiculous wildcard plays. Between the two of them, I felt that NAF did it more often and at a higher consistent level across the year. Gla1ve gets the nod as third for some of the ridiculous plays he made in New York and Beijing. Most Versatile Player – s1mple For the versatile player award, it was given to the player who did a multitude of different roles for his team to succeed. Players that were impactful for their team and had to do it at any moment of a round, whether it was early round, mid-round, late-round, whichever side, whichever map, or whichever role they had to do in each round. Winner: Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev – Runner-up: Jonathan “EliGE” Jablownowski – This year a lot of the superstar players had a good overall game. The three that stood out to me were s1mple, EliGE, and Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson. Among the three, s1mple played the most roles. In the Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko period, he was the primary AWPer who took on aggressive picks and won the post-plant/clutches. When Na`Vi moved on to their current lineup, s1mple became a rifler who played on the wings of the map. Considering the dramatic role change, s1mple didn’t lose much of a step in his new role and continues to play at a superstar level. So even though Na`Vi didn’t play as many LANs as Liquid or EG, I had to give s1mple the nod here as the most versatile player of the year. EliGE was my runner-up as he was the superstar player for Liquid. While he specialized in the entry-role, his overall game was still excellent as he could play whatever roles or style was needed. KRIMZ got a nod for third, as he was the best player for Fnatic throughout the year. Best Entry – EliGE The entry role is a hard role to define as it can be broken down into different categories. There are entry players who take map control and look for the first duels of the game. Second guys in are the entry players who have to ensure the trade kill. However, they can sometimes be the players who help set up the first player in with a flashbang (a notable example of this was the Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz-Fatih “gob b” Dayik dynamic back in 2018). While not as common, it can also denote entry duelists on the CT-side. Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, in particular, is an excellent example of a modern-day CT-side entry. What’s more, it’s hard to pin down a player into a subset of these entry-fragger roles as they often switch out of them depending on form, situation, or strategy. As that’s the case, I picked out the two best players across the entire spectrum. Winner: Jonathan “EliGE” Jablownowski – Runner-up: Denis “electronic” Sharipov – In mid-2019, EliGE rocked the world as Liquid’s superstar player. His tandem with Jake “Stewie2K” Yip let him rip open any team on the T-side of the map. Stewie2k’s space-making alongside EliGE’s consistent spray made the two a nightmare to stop. While not as often, EliGE could also be equally aggressive on the CT-side. His overall consistency throughout the year made him the natural pick for this category. Read More: Thorin’s Take: The Immovable ELiGE – My runner-up was electronic. Outside of EliGE, no other entry-fraggers had some of the ridiculous peaks that electronic had throughout this year. Electronic was also reasonably consistent, given his role as well. Unfortunately, team success and Na`Vi’s decision to play in less LANs meant that he had fewer chances to shine compared to EliGE. Best AWPer – ZywOo This is relatively straightforward. Who was the best at wielding the big green gun? Winner: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – Runner-up: Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz – The big three AWPers of the year were ZywOo, dev1ce, and s1mple. ZywOo was the clear winner as he had the highest peak and best consistency. As for dev1ce and s1mple, I favored dev1ce as he was an AWPer for the entire year while s1mple switched roles later on in the year. That along with Na`Vi playing fewer games than Astralis favored dev1ce more. Other notable AWPers in this category were JW, Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, and Aleksi “allu” Jalli. JW was never consistent enough to challenge s1mple’s spot. I feel that kennyS was underrated this year as G2’s superstar. While G2 suffered, kennyS hit extremely high peaks with surprisingly high consistency. As for allu, he was good for most of the year and in the first half was a top 10 player, but once he became the in-game leader, his form fell off, so I couldn’t put him over s1mple either. Best Leader – gla1ve This year, the in-game leadership role was the most packed. It is also the hardest to judge. We don’t know what the leaders are saying or doing behind the scenes or how much we attribute to them can be attributed to their teammates or coach. Leaders also require multiple skills, whether it’s tactical, social, strategic, or a teacher. For this one, I measured it based on a combination of those factors. Winner: Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander – Runner-up: Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen – While I have gla1ve and Aleksib as the winner and runner-up, it was a close three-man race as Finn “karrigan” Andersen was right behind them. The reason I had gla1ve at the top was for three reasons. His overall tactics were still some of the best in the world. I was particularly impressed by how Astralis sprang a tactical trap to win the StarLadder Berlin Major. While it required some luck, Astralis pulling out the Vertigo pick against Liquid was right out of a sports movie script. The second reason was that Astralis resurrected their form by shifting their map pool. In 2018 they were playing Inferno and Nuke as their home maps. While Inferno is still a calling card for Astralis, they started to use Overpass, Train, and Vertigo. They’ve also started to rebuild their nuke. The final reason is that he was able to resurrect Astralis and lead them tactically and emotionally back to being the best team in the world again. While they aren’t peak Astralis, they are still the best in the world. Aleksib is my runner-up as he also pulled out a historically great run. ENCE didn’t have considerable firepower or great experiences (outside of Allu), but he was still able to lead his team into a top 3 spot in the world for a prolonged period. ENCE were at best a plucky darkhorse before 2019 started. By the middle of the year, ENCE looked like the best tactical squad in the world. So even though he didn’t play for the last part of the year, I had to give him the nod as the second-best leader of 2019. Karrigan did a fantastic job building up Mouz across the board, whether it’s tactically, emotionally, strategically, or through their map pool. By the end of 2019, he made Mouz a top 5 team in the world. While Karrigan only made third on this list, this is still one of the most impressive runs I’ve seen a leader make in all of CS:GO history. Outside of those three, there were multiple honorable mentions. The three that come to mind are Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, Alex “ALEX” McMeekin, and Aaron “AZR” Ward. Nitr0 did a great job with Liquid this year. ALEX shined as another rookie in-game leader, and the Vitality system made the most of ZywOo’s talents. AZR did a great job with 100 Thieves considering that the team didn’t have prodigious amounts of firepower, but they had reliable results. Those results came mainly from their tactics and team play. What’s more, 100 Thieves rebuilt their playbook after it had gone stale. While AZR’s raw results don’t rank up with the rest of the list, the quality of the work he did was worth an honorable mention. Hardest Carry – ZywOo This award isn’t so much a role as it is a recognition of players that went far beyond the call of duty. They were the players whose individual performance shone so bright that they were a force of nature unto themselves. This year, the winner and runner-up were quite clear. Winner: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – Runner-up: Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev – ZywOo’s K-D differential is so ridiculous that every month, it gets reposted on social media, and I’m still left astounded at the raw numbers. Beyond the raw numbers, there are other qualitative reasons why ZywOo wins the award. Neither iteration of Vitality have the same amount of firepower as a majority of their rivals, so ZywOo is often given the biggest burden to carry. His consistency, peak, and amount of games he played at those heights outshined everyone. While he was one of the most pocketed players in the year, he consistently delivered at levels far higher than should be expected. My runner-up is s1mple. There was no other choice as even though Na`Vi didn’t play that many LANs, s1mple still did play almost half the year with both Zeus and Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev. He then played with Zeus for another three months. While people praise ZywOo as the best player in the world, it wouldn’t surprise me if s1mple took back that honor in 2020.

Stuchiu: Aleksib and NBK – The exiles’ revenge tour The two most shocking roster changes at the StarLadder Berlin Major were ENCE kicking Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Team Vitality benching Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt. Both were key pillars of their respective squads. Since their kick, reports circulated that the two were looking to partner up under OG. The alliance has finally come together, and now the exiles return to get revenge and prove their former teams wrong. Cornerstones of their squads For Aleksib, the story begins in April 2018 when ENCE first made the super Finnish lineup of: Aleksi “Allu” Jalli, Jere “sergej” Salo, Jani “Aerial” Jussila, Sami “xseveN” Laasanen, and Aleksib. The only Finnish star missing was Miikka “suNny” Kemppi who was playing for Mouz at the time. Four months later, Slaava “Twista” Rasanen joined on as coach. The team slowly rose through the ranks in 2018 and then broke out to international acclaim at the IEM Katowice 2019 Major. It looked like a miracle run as they made it to the finals. However, ideas of calling them a fluke ended in the ensuing months. From March 2019 to September 2019 at the StarLadder Berlin Major, ENCE were a top 3 team. They couldn’t beat Liquid or Vitality, but had better results than any other team in the world. They killed Astralis’ undefeated streak on Nuke at BLAST Pro Series Madrid, got top four at CS Summit 4, and got to the finals of both DreamHack Dallas and IEM Chicago. While ENCE had some skilled players, particularly in sergej and Allu, tactics and teamplay was the primary driving force of the team’s success. They were one of the best teams at grinding down other squads with fast-paced, structured executes. These executes had slight deviations in timing or positioning and these subtle changes often caught opponents off guard. ENCE were brilliant at constructing a T-side half as they controlled pacing, positioning, and timing. During this mid-2019 period, they were the best tactical team in the world and the community gave Aleksib a lot of credit as the in-game leader. It’s also worth pointing out that during this time period, the differential was smaller between ENCE and other teams with the AUG meta which allowed them to use superior positioning to bolster their CT-side defense. By the time the StarLadder Berlin Major rolled around, Aleksib was the best tactical leader in the world, and ENCE were one of the favorites. For NBK, the story was business as usual. The Kingmaker had lost a round of French CS politics as Richard “shox” Papillon ousted him from G2. In the aftermath of the collapse of the G2 French super-team, shox kicked out both Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and NBK in the ensuing civil war. NBK tried for one last bid to join G2, but was denied. Soon after, NBK and apEX teamed up to create a new French project with Vitality. The plan was to create a different type of French team. With NBK and apEX at the core, they wanted to institute a different culture in the team. Both NBK and apEX have lamented at different times about the lack of dedication in French teams. apEX once told flickshot, “I think the French scene lacks really hard working, dedicated players….I think the French scene has the talent and everything needed to be on top but we are just ‘French’, we are just people who don’t work enough.” NBK and apEX teamed up with French prodigy Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. They rounded out the team with another French reunion as they got Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer and Cedric “RpK” Guipouy. NBK was the initial leader of the squad, but his time as a leader was largely unconvincing. The identity, cohesion, and tactics wasn’t up to scratch. Happy didn’t work on the team. At the end of 2018, Vitality changed Happy for Alex “ALEX” McMeekin. The community criticized the move at the time as Francois “AmaNEk” Delaunay was considered the better player. However, NBK had clear reasons as to why he wanted ALEX over AmaNEk. He told HLTV, “A lot of people have been expecting AmaNEk, but, again, it’s a matter of personality, where he’s a bit more like Happy himself, and ALEX has a role of taking care of — especially on the CT side — trinomials, binomials, so directing ZywOo and RpK.” The move made Vitality a bit better, but they still needed to make one more change. That change came between the Katowice Major and StarLadder i-League Season 7. ALEX took over the in-game leader. The team used their defaults to take map control on the map and then execute or split a site. Using this space, they created a pocket to enable ZywOo and ZywOo became one of the best closers for the team. While the firepower outside of ZywOo wasn’t stellar (relative to a team like Liquid), each player did their respective role well. Vitality used these strengths to become the second-best team in the world in mid-2019. As the StarLadder Berlin Major rolled around, Vitality were another one of the favorites to win the event. The Kicks Then the kicks happened. The first was Aleksib. On August 23rd, 2019 ENCE took Aleksib off the active roster. This was right before the start of the Berlin Major. Due to the roster rules, ENCE had to field Aleksib at the Major. At the event itself, Aleksib acquitted himself well at the event, but it wasn’t enough as Renegades eliminated ENCE in the quarterfinals. The second kick came during the Major itself. AVANGAR upset Vitality in the quarterfinals, and in the middle of the tournament, Vitality tweeted that they had removed NBK from the active roster. It was a shocking move as NBK did his role well inside the game. In the aftermath, he wrote on discord, “I don’t wish them bad things, but I don’t wish them good things either.” NBK had a right to be upset, as he was a cornerstone and founding piece of the Vitality project. While it’s hard to credit how much impact he had, it is no coincidence NBK was a part of nearly all the most successful French teams in CS:GO history. NBK earned the sobriquet, Kingmakerm due to having a large hand in crafting those teams and it’s likely that he had a large hand in Vitality as well. That is also probably why he wrote, “I’ll land on my feet and beat the French teams as per usual.” Soon after ENCE benched Aleksib and G2 benched NBK, the two of them were linked in creating a new team. Getting the Band Together The alliance of Aleksib and NBK seemed to be a natural thing. Both were exiled by their respective teams, both of them had something to prove, and an international route was their only viable option. So it made sense to team together, especially as they had two pieces that most international teams are missing: a great in-game leader and a great flex player. As Aleksib described it in this interview, “I was most interested in working with Nathan. He has shown what he can do as a player and also as a role model.” Their recent successes also attracted other talents. Soon enough Valdemar “valde” Bjorn and Issa “ISSAA” Murad were on board the project. The hardest piece to get was the fifth piece as they had to pivot multiple times. Dekay reported that they first wanted Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen, but he was connected to a VAC banned account. They tried to shift over to Valentin “poizon” Vasilev, but poizon joined compLexity. After that, the team settled on Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski. On paper, it seems like most of the roles are obvious. Aleksib is the in-game leader and can pair with ISSAA to contest map control. Mantuu is the primary AWPer. NBK is the small-site anchor, secondary AWPer, secondary leader, and overall flex player. The only question is where Valde fits in as he is a superstar with an all-around game. His versatility could let him be a star wing player like Sergej or be pocketed like ZywOo was on Vitality. Something to Prove It has taken a while, but OG have officially announced their roster. Aleksib and NBK have returned from their long exile and both have something to prove. Aleksib was largely professional in the public discourse, but even his Finnish composure cracked when he read what Aerial told HLTV about his leadership, “With Aleksib we just tried to play default and did the same executes all over again.” Aleksib’s tweeted his response, “Wtf did i just read :D” As for NBK, the desire for revenge burns fiercely. He has always been someone who enjoyed a bit of spite. He once told TeamLiquid.net that taking the trophy away from North was better than winning in an interview. The discord screenshot shows that he still has that spirit. More than that though, NBK is someone who has always had a desire to win. Proud to announce that I will be playing under @OGesports. Long journey ahead of us, let’s get to work! #DreamOG — NAVI Aleksi (@AleksibCSGO) December 4, 2019 In the middle of 2019, Aleksib and NBK battled each other as rivals across the server. Both were kicked by their teams, and now they will team up to prove to the world that even without their national squads, they can still contend for titles with OG.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: How 100 Thieves made a resurgence through tactical renewal One of the most pleasant surprises of the post-StarLadder Berlin Major season has been the resurgence of the 100 Thieves lineup (formerly Renegades). Renegades had a good start to the year, breaking out with a top 8 at the Katowice Major, then top 4 at StarLadder i-League Season 7. However, due to some internal issues, they stalled out and hit a slump. Since coming back from the CSGO player break, they have made a resurgence, and through tactical renewal solidified their spot as a top 10 team closing in on a top 5 spot. The Rise and Fall of the Renegades in 2019 To understand 100 Thieves resurgence in the last few LANs, we need to understand the initial rise and fall Renegades had earlier in the year. At the beginning of the year, the Renegades lineup was: Aaron “AZR” Ward, Justin “jks” Savage, Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad, Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas, Sean “Gratisfaction” Kaiwai, and Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunovic. If you were just looking at the firepower on paper, it was hard to think that Renegades could become a consistent top 10 team. Renegades had good players, but no one that popped out as a global superstar. They didn’t have a collection of high octane fraggers like NRG or a prodigy like Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. If Renegades was to climb the competitive ladder, they had to do so by becoming a better team. That seemed less likely as there was no experienced in-game leader in the squad and AZR had to transition into the role. From the end of September 2018 to the beginning of October 2019, Renegades made three key changes to the lineup. They brought in two new Oceanic players into the lineup: Liazz and Gratisfaction. They become essential pieces that filled out the structured system that Renegades would eventually build. The final move was kassad rejoining the team as coach. This was the catalyst that reinvigorated the team. We’ve seen many players try to make the change from player to in-game leader and fail after a few months. That slump never happened with AZR as he has made a seamless change. One of the likely reasons for that was his partnership with Kassad. The two of them were in sympatico with each other. As AZR said in a VPEsports interview, “Me and Alex… it feels like we have a better connection in-game, we have a better vision of the game together. Just like I said before, Kassad is more than a mental coach, I feel like he has a deeper knowledge of the game which makes it a lot easier for me to be on the same level.” These changes culminated into a structured tactical system. Renegades liked to run study defaults that let had a flowchart quality to them. In the initial stages, they could choose between running a set execute or the default. If they ran default, they had certain timings they liked to take map control. From there, they inserted a lurker and did a well-practiced hit onto one of the sites. When the defaults broke down into small man scenarios, the team remained disciplined. Their strong understanding of positional CS let them play these situations out consistently. In a 3v3 for instance, Renegades often did a 2-1 split of their players and had the two-man pick take first contact to increase their trade potential. This positional controlled style is mirrored on their CT-sides as the team understood the rhythm and flow of the game. Where to position, how to get info, and how to respond/rotate to that information. It also helped that during their initial rise, the AUG meta was in full swing so the skill differential was smaller and allowed the Renegades players to take full advantage of their positional play. This structured system also enabled the players on the squad. It put AZR into aggressive scenarios where he could lurk or entry. It also created a space from which jkaem and jks found their form again. Jkaem was a notoriously inconsistent player that no team could figure out how to use until he joined Renegades. In this new system, jks has become a top 10 player in the world. Gratisfaction rounds out the squad as a stable control AWPer. While he has flashes of individual brilliance, he’s largely a team-centric AWPer which is great for their system. Liazz was the stable support player who filled out the remaining roles. This system got Renegades two big results early in the year. They got top 8 at the Katowice Major and then top 4 at StarLadder i-League Season 7. However, their fortunes weren’t going to last as Gratisfaction had visa issues so it was impossible for the team to progress as a 5 man unit. Once he did come back though, the world had moved on and it wasn’t until DreamHack Dallas that Renegades realized it. “After DreamHack Masters Dallas we watched our demos and could see teams were reading and countering us, so we had to completely change it up. We did it for the Major, and since then we’ve been constantly revamping to not fall into the same path that we did.” – AZR in an HLTV interview Things started to break down even more after IEM Chicago. AZR recalls, “I remember after IEM Chicago when we got knocked out in last place we went straight to the practice room and talked for like four hours about how we can fix our shit. The main points were about being more open with each other, since tensions started to build in the team because we were losing a lot.” The Resurgence in the last quarter of 2019 The CS:GO break came soon afterward. The downtime was good for Renegades as they took stock of what they needed to do as a team. They decided to redo everything. As Kassad told VPEsports, “We agreed we needed a whole new playbook going into the Major.” AZR agreed with the sentiment. He reflected on that moment in an HLTV interview, “I didn’t realize that we had to keep changing our stuff. That was something I had to learn, personally. As an in-game leader I need to keep refreshing stuff because it gets old, but then you can use very old stuff and bring it back.” After the break, Renegades (now 100 Thieves) have been on a run. They got top four at the StarLadder Berlin Major, top four at StarSeries i-League Season 8, and got to the finals of IEM Beijing. So what changed? In terms of strategy and style, 100 Thieves are fundamentally the same team they had always been. A structured, disciplined squad that plays a positional team-based Counter-Strike. While the overarching theme is the same, the execution is different. The best way to examine 100 Thieves through their T-sides on maps like Mirage, Train, and Nuke. On Mirage, 100 Thieves had a few distinct patterns they liked to run. In default, they used a 1-3-1 or 2-2-1, took mid control, inserted AZR into the window, and then played off of that. They sometimes mixed it in with executes on the A or B site. While they still do that now, they’ve added multiple gambits and variations. 100 Thieves’ timing for mid control was fairly standard in early 2019. Now they like to rush it. Once they control mid, they can play that old style, use various boosts to try to get a one-off kill, or continue their momentum into a full-on A explosion. 100 Thieves have also started to introduce more fakes, contact plays, and variations of their executes. This pattern applies to both Train and Nuke. The T-sides of both of those maps followed a similar pattern. On Train, 100 Thieves liked to take B halls and ivy before deciding which site to hit. When they played Nuke against Astralis, they favored inserting jks down vents early and playing off of that. Both their playbooks for both maps have expanded since then. They have more explosive hits for Train and variations of fakes and splits. Their playbook completely bamboozled ENCE at IEM Beijing to the point where ENCE opted out of a first pick Train in the rematch. As for Nuke, 100 Thieves like to use the yard smokes that bisect the yard in half. From there they play their control style as they can take control of secret, garage, do a warp, or do a fast split on upper. They’ve also added surprise tactics where they can rush two players out yard with no cover, or use a FURIA style B-hit where they rush ramp and then offload their utility to secure a plant on the lower site. The CT-sides have also added various rotations, plays, and setups without changing the roles of the players. The game that sticks out in my mind that characterizes the 100 Thieves CT-side playstyle is a game at StarSeries i-League Season 8 against Vitality. They were playing on Nuke in the winner’s final. In the 6th round of that game, Vitality did a standard default yard smokes into four players down secret play. 100 Thieves did a perfect rotation as they had Gratisfaction take ramp, rotate jks down to B and AZR to the vents. This locked down Vitality’s options and forced Vitality to try to brute force their way from a disadvantageous position. Another moment from the same game was in the 13th round. In that round, AZR used an early smoke to block off any chances of Vitality rushing the A-site. Gratisfaction was holding the ramp room to hold off any rushes there. At around the 1:08 mark, Gratisfaction deploys his own smoke to block off ramp and rotates to heaven. This is in perfect conjunction with AZR’s smoke dissipates and when Vitality make a dash for the vents, Gratisfaction is in the perfect position to get a kill. These two rounds illustrate the control style that 100 Thieves like to deploy. They use superior position and teamplay to limit the choices of their enemies and put themselves in good trade situations. In the context of CS:GO Competition Perhaps the most remarkable thing about 100 Thieves is the context of their achievements. They have had this lineup for over a year now. Most CS:GO lineups have an expiration date of 6-9 months. 100 Thieves are only getting stronger and we are in the 13th month of this lineup’s lifetime. Even if you exclude the period where Gratisfaction couldn’t play due to visa issues, this is a remarkable feat. The reason most lineups die off is that they become too stale. They become stuck in their ways and are either unwilling or unable to renew and update their ideas. This is why the first SK lineup with Lincoln “fnx” Lau broke up as the lineup couldn’t change their playbook with fnx still in the roster. 100 Thieves have proven their staying power despite that pitfall. What’s more, they are doing it in the Krieg era. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire told HLTV, “it[CS] has become really random because of the Kriegs. That’s why the scene is really inconsistent lately, any team can win and then lose in the group stage, like EG. It’s because of the Kriegs, because CS has become way less tactical game and much more skill-based.” The game has become less tactical and the scene more inconsistent. If you take a look at the top 10 teams, many of them are skill-based teams: Liquid, EG, FaZe, and Na`Vi being the primary examples. Teams are trying to stack more skill into their lineups than ever before. It is only after putting 100 Thieves in this context that you can appreciate their feats. 100 Thieves aren’t a juggernaut of skill, but are closing in on a top 5 spot in the world. They are over a year into their lineups lifeline, but look stronger than they ever have. In a world sliding towards skill, they are a testament to the strength of tactical, team-based Counter-Strike.

The story behind CSGO’s greatest clutch ever Dexerto Season 13 of the ESL Pro League gave us one of the best CSGO plays in history as cadiaN pulled of the 1v4 against Gambit. He joined Dexerto along with casters Machine and SPUNJ to relive the highlight. CadiaN’s clutch in the Grand Finals will go down as one of the greatest moments in CSGO history. To break down the now-iconic moment from all angles, we got none other than CadiaN himself and the casters who called it live to walk us through it all. From the opening kill to the final moments, here’s how CSGO history was made in Season 13 of the ESL Pro League. Discover More: S1mple on the NAVI era & “best year of his career”

Stewie2K’s high school classmate goes viral on TikTok after exposing CSGO star’s yearbook photo ESL / aristokat – TikTokTikTok user ‘aristokat’ is enjoying some notoriety on the platform after posting a video showcasing the old high school yearbook photo of CS:GO superstar Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip. It’s always fun when someone who knew a big-name content creator or esports athlete from their younger days pops up on social media with a video or picture of them that nobody had seen before. The latest to experience this is Stewie2K, and not many are bigger in the world of competitive CS:GO than the Team Liquid captain. Turns out, someone he went to high school with him caught wind of the fact that he’s a huge esports star and decided to do a bit of harmless exposing. Aristokat, as she goes by on TikTok, posted a clip of her going through their old high school yearbook and showing a younger version of Yip as she flipped through the pages. As the user demonstrates at the beginning of the video, the TikTok was part of a trend that’s been very popular on social media, where people are posting about their high school’s alumni that ended up becoming famous. What’s more, Aristokat’s post has certainly gone viral at this point – amassing over 1.1 million views, 171,000 likes, and nearly 3,000 comments. Read More: Top-20 highest-earning CSGO pros – That’s a fairly large chunk of the total 900k likes she’s gotten on all of her TikToks combined, so it certainly doesn’t hurt to have known someone who made it big-time, especially on social media. At this point, it’s not clear whether or not Stewie2K is aware of this video’s existence, or the fact that it’s gone viral, as he hasn’t responded to it publicly. If he has seen it, he probably cracked a smile, seeing as it’s harmless. Several months ago, the Call of Duty League’s Atlanta FaZe star, Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr, went through a similar experience when someone from his high school posted the same type of video. That too went viral, totalling over 1.8 million views. Now we just have to wait and see which popular content creator or esports figure is next in line to be “exposed” in this way.

Stewie2k, Tarik & other CSGO pros showcase new overpowered smoke trick Stewie2k TwitchCounter-Strike: Global Offensive stars including Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip and ‘Tarik’ Celik tried out an insane new Smoke trick that even surprised the longtime vets of the game. Tarik became aware of a smoke trick while playing with Evil Geniuses team manager Derrick ‘LILMAN’ Boyne and former Cloud9 guard Stewie2k, Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta, and Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury. When the former Major champ saw the trick being performed he was taken aback by how easy it lets teammates set up one-way gaps basically anywhere they wanted. It’s a costly trick and one that can put a teammate in danger, but he and his squad were having a blast repeatedly testing out the trick that led to some cheeky kills. How to pull off the ‘levitating’ smoke trick Tarik saw Twitch streamer ‘CurtisJ’s clip on how to pull off the trick. Simply put, all you have to do is throw a Molotov at your feet and let one of your teammates put it out with a smoke. The thing is, a teammate is supposed to expend a Molly on themself, ticking them down until another player uses a smoke on them. This will leave them a bit damaged if done correctly. Extinguishing the flames by throwing the nade at the player’s character model is essential. This will let the smoke hover above the ground, on the smoke’s point of contact with the player. Throwing it at the ground won’t let you create the gap between the plume and the floor, and it’ll just put out the flames like normal. After a few tries, the collective of pro players managed to find a consistent use of the trick. The only big caveat is actually committing to the set up, lest miscommunication gets in the way and one teammate is left on a lit Molly. Read more: How Kjaerbye plans to rebuild with FaZe CSGO – This has nothing to do with a hack or some sort of exploit, so there shouldn’t be repercussions from Valve. But if the developers do catch wind of this, expect them to patch it up sooner than later if they deem it to compromise competitive CSGO matches.

Stewie2k’s Steam account hacked during CSGO Berlin Major playoffs StarLadderTeam Liquid CSGO star Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip’s Steam account was hacked on the eve of his StarLadder 2019 Berlin Major playoff series. Top teams from around the world converged onto Germany to go through the trials of the Berlin Major. The event has already sent some title-favorites packing, and those that remain are training hard to prevent that from happening to them. But TL’s explosive entry fragger Stewie experienced an unfortunate attack on his account that cost him “thousands of dollars” the day before he takes the stage to compete in the Quarterfinals against Astralis. The hack comes a day before Stewie is set to compete at the StarLadder Major playoffs. In a Twitter update, Stew was bewildered to find that he was locked out of his Steam account, making it impossible for him to access or see what was happening to the contents he’d collected in his years playing CSGO. “No idea wtf happened or what I touched,” Stew said. “CSGO (devs), someone stole my steam account and he locked me out completely.” No idea wtf happened or what i touched. @CSGO someone stole my steam account & he locked me out completely — Jake (@Stewie) September 5, 2019 The hacker had somehow “removed (his) access,” but Steam support was able to quickly resolve the issue. However, it came at the cost of expensive weapon skins that were stored in his account, that might go missing from his CSGO profile for the time being. “Much love and appreciation for the quick recovery, CSGO (devs),” Stewie2k said. “Stole thousands of dollars of skins without trade ban and I have no idea how.” Much love & appreciation for the quick recovery @CSGO . Stole thousands of dollars of skins without trade ban & i have no idea how. Hats off for the hacker, dedicated your life for these things…got what you want. Seems like @CSGO got it all under control though :heart:️ — Jake (@Stewie) September 5, 2019 Having valuable skins like that would have dealt a huge blow for the casual player, but it seems like Stew isn’t too worried seeing how the admins are on the case. “Hats off for the hacker,” the Liquid player said. “Dedicated your life for these things…got what you want. Seems like (the CSGO devs) got it all under control though.” His cheeky retort aimed at the hack’s perpetrators comes as he is a day away from going on stage to compete for a chance to advance in the $1 million prize Berlin Major event. The hack looks to be a minor setback for the pro who has his sights on the StarLadder Majors Quarterfinals versus Astralis on September 6 at 09:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 18:30 BST.

Stewie2k reveals why he’s aggravated by the Fortnite World Cup L: ESL / R: Epic GamesTeam Liquid’s Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip seemed to be frustrated with the fact that Fortnite World Cup winner Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf earned more prize money for one tournament than he has in his whole career. Stewie2k has been competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive since 2015, being part of top teams like Cloud9, MiBR, and Team Liquid. The American has seen most of his success come in the last year, which includes winning a Major, as well as the Intel Grand Slam. In total, Stewie has amassed just under $1 million in tournament winnings in his four-year career, meanwhile, Bugha was able to win $3 million from one event. The American’s feelings on the matter were captured on his stream, and they weren’t pretty. “F*ck I’m working hard out here and this kid just plays one f*cking tournament and he’s god,” said the Team Liquid player. Stewie didn’t seem very impressed with how much Bugha was able to win, and later added: “he like beat my whole career earnings in one tournament!” Fortnite’s world cup had a total prize pool of $30 million, while the biggest events in CS:GO, Majors, feature a prize pool of $1 million. It is easy to understand why the American was frustrated. The community was quick to support Stewie, with most people bringing up an argument that CS:GO prize pools should be raised to compete with that of other games. “I don’t blame him at all for being mad, he’s on the best team in the world, dominating at every event for months, and won the most prestigious event in the game and he’s still like $2 million behind this kid after winning 1 tournament” said a Reddit user. This comment received many upvotes very quickly, and it is clear to see this opinion is shared by many others. Even professional CS:GO players back this opinion. Liquid’s Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski recently spoke out about prize pools, noting that playing at one Dota 2 “The International” event, would give more money than most players have earned from CS:GO. All in all, it seems that there is some unrest in Counter-strike due to prize pools, and this may be the reason behind Stewie’s frustration.

Stewie2K responds to Cloud9’s Jack Etienne claim that he “abandoned” CS:GO team @Stewie / TwitterMiBR player Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip has responded to comments made by Cloud9 founder and CEO Jack Etienne, suggesting Stewie and teammate Tarik ‘tarik’ Celic had “abandoned” the Major winning CS:GO roster. After historic success at the ELEAGUE Boston Major in February 2018, where Cloud9 became the first North American team to win a CS:GO major, things quickly began to go downhill. Stewie2K’s move to SK Gaming was the first domino, and he was later followed by former C9 teammate tarik, after the SK roster was acquired by Made in Brazil (MiBR). After taking months off for personal reasons, the ELEAGUE Boston MVP Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham announced his retirement from competing, leaving only two members – Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta and Will ‘RUSH’ Weirzba – from the major winning lineup. Following the official signing of French veteran Fabien ‘KioShiMa’ Fiey on November 17, Cloud9 became a predominantly European roster for the first time, with Swedish duo Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim and Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist having already joined from Fnatic. The transition to an EU team disappointed some NA fans, and their disappointment was perhaps confounded by news that coach Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury would be stepping in for Golden at the ongoing ECS Season 6 finals. A concerned fan sent a message to Etienne on Twitter, laying blame at his feet for the team’s struggles, specifically the loss of tarik and Stewie2K, to which the C9 founder responded “You do know they abandoned us because they wanted to right?” You do know that they abandoned us because they wanted to right? Hold tight, we will rebuild and we will be strong again. — Jack Etienne (@JackEtienne) November 22, 2018 Stewie2K saw the interaction and the accusation of abandonment, and disputed the use of the word to describe his departure. “Cmon Jack, we both know abandonment is not the right term” he writes, hinting that there is perhaps more to the story than is public knowledge, but that Etienne would of course know the bigger picture. Cmon Jack, we both know abandonment is not the right term :neutral_face: — Jake (@Stewie) November 22, 2018 Stewie’s teammate tarik didn’t respond, although he left Cloud9 some months after Stewie2K, so it is possible that the circumstances surrounding his departure were different. At the time, tarik said of his decision to leave C9: “The sole reason I want to make this change is simple… I want to win, and I will do anything in my power to make that happen.” Regardless, Etienne remains confident that Cloud9 CS:GO can “rebuild”, although with valens stepping in for the ECS Season 6 finals, they are not best equipped to do so currently.

Stewie2k responds to backlash over trash talk vs MiBR at ESL Season 9 Finals DreamHackPopular CS:GO pro Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip has responded to backlash, after his trash talk during Team Liquid’s match against MiBR at the ESL Season 9 Playoff Finals. Stewie2k got himself into trouble after finding himself matching up against his former teammates on MiBR, in a deciding group match to see which team would advance to the tournament’s Knock-Out stage. The group stages of the ESL Season 9 Pro League Finals were held in the Montpellier Exhibition Centre without a crowd, meaning that the players could shout across the room to get some trash talk in mid-map. Stewie2k took full advantage of the opportunity with many comments during the game towards MiBR after their round wins including asking coldzera “how mad” he was after being knifed in the back. The Team Liquid star later received backlash from MiBR’s fan base, with many taking the in-game trash talk as disrespect towards the community who had supported him in the past while he was under the Brazilian organization. Stewie2k issued an explanation to the MiBR fans after the match saying that he and his ex-teammates always trash talk each other and that what is said is kept in within the game, explaining: “We always trash talk each other all the time, there’s rivalries between us, we’re ex-teammates, we don’t want to lose, we always bring the heat, there’s a little bickering here and there but its all banter, it’s nothing outside the game, you know I love the guys.” :green_heart::yellow_heart: GOD @Stewie – sabemos que é coisa do jogo! Por isso amamos o CS pic.twitter.com/jjSZqu86VZ — Gaules (@alegaules) June 21, 2019 Stewie2k followed on by adding that he still hangs out with the MiBR squad a lot outside of the game and that he did not mean any disrespect towards the Brazilian fan base when he was trash talking during the series. After the dramatic win over MiBR in groups, Team Liquid have continued to advance in the ESL season 9 Playoffs with a 2-1 win over the former number one squad, Astralis, in the quarterfinals. They now look to make back-to-back Grand Finals appearances after their victory at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 but must first overcome Mousesports in the tournament’s Semi Finals.

Stewie2k responds to backlash after complaining about early CSGO matches ESL[jwplayer hJeqcv18] Team Liquid’s CS:GO phenom, Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip, was the target of online criticisms suggesting he was being entitled for complaining about an early ESL match, with responses filing in from star pros like Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen, Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin, and more. Stewie and the rest of Team Liquid were on course for a 10 AM PST matchup against Evil Geniuses in the ESL Pro League on September 22. Hours before players filled the server, the former Major champion expressed displeasure at the early start time: “F*** 10AM matches, that’s all.” That was all the ammunition online critics needed to flame the 22-year-old, with some saying that he was demonstrating a lack of professionalism, that he had a bad work ethic, or suggesting the notion that he was being entitled with the privileged life of a CS:GO pro. “I’m not complaining about my position in life,” Stewie responded hours after the CS:GO community had its say. “But the overwhelming amount of tournaments that saturate the scene and the inconsistency of starting 10am, 12, 3, lack of practice, and other factors.” If it’s so easy then why don’t you guys come do it for yourselves or..you can’t. I’m not complaining about my position in life lol but the overwhelming amount of tournaments that saturate the scene and the inconsistency of starting 10am, 12, 3, lack of practice, and other factors — Jake (@Stewie) September 22, 2020 Of course, esports pros have to contend with more than just showing up on time for a match, but reactions to the tweet really started escalating the conversation. “Guys listen, I think you are not aware about what we do.” Sangal Esports’ Engin ‘MAJ3R’ Küpeli said. “We f**king win money playing video games, you just need to wake UP at 10 am and play the game.” The Franco-Turkish pro was simply noting the “privilege to play video games and win money” as opposed to more common career paths that come with their own mental and physical strains, but it still rubbed some people the wrong way. “We as pros are not living in a fairytale,” Karrigan responded to MAJ3R’s take. “Yes we all love what we do, or else we wouldn’t and appreciate what game gives us besides our huge passion. But you sacrifice A LOT, in many parts of your life to achieve greatness in this game.” How can you have a morning structure and morning routines when sometimes you play until 2 am. Then suddenly one day you play 10 am? It can take weeks to change your sleeping schedule for it to be effective. I’m fine playing 10 am if the last game starts 17. — karrigan (@karriganCSGO) September 22, 2020 Newly signed Cloud9 IGL, ALEX, backed the notion of Stewie’s root complaint: “Performance is about routines, as an IGL if I were to want to be prepared for a game at 10AM I would probably be getting up at 7AM, now if it was standard to have games at this time there would be no problem everyone would be used to it, but it’s simply not the case.” Even before the online era of CSGO, there was been mounting concerns over the state of the esport in regards to the saturation of competitive tournaments/games. Now, the problem has become even more complex as entire leagues, and in-turn, championships, are converting to online-only formats. This is elongating events and resulting in teams (from Tier 1 to Tier 3) having abnormally packed schedules, even for esports standards. This isn’t a one-dimensional discussion; all career paths have their hardships or nuances and Stewie stuck to this theme to end his take on the conversation: “Whatever. People can have their opinions. I hate 10am matches.”

Stewie2k hits outrageous CSGO 360 jumping no-scope snipe in FPL-C Team Liquid pro Jackie ‘Stewie2k’ Yip has hit one of the most impressive CSGO snipes ever during an FPL Circuit match, taking on a 360 no-scope dare from Mohamad ‘m0E’ Assad and pulling it off in style. Stewie is one of the best CS:GO players in the world. The American superstar has won a major with Cloud9 back in 2018, and was a major part of Team Liquid’s Grand Slam run early in 2019. He’s been spamming some FPL-C in the off-season to keep his skills up while also playing with old school names like Erik ‘fl0m’ Flom and m0E for his stream. He’s still showing up as well, pulling off one of the most insane snipes in the game’s history, on command, in front of thousands of fans. Stewie and his squad were storming ahead in their matchup, and were starting to showboat a bit for some New Years Eve fireworks. With the round in Stewie’s hands, m0E asked one thing of the pro — pull off a 360 no-scope. Stewie, who was walking on short looking to stop the terrorist from planting, took him up on the challenge. As the player looked to duel Stewie, he pulled out and started his 360, before flicking back to the man on site and snipe him. Read more: Mixwell leaks Cloud9’s new CS:GO roster – The play was made all the more impressive by the fact that it was a no-scope while falling, making the shot wildly inaccurate, and his team went nuts over it. Stewie’s snipe wasn’t an isolated incident though. Just a few rounds earlier fl0m, landed one of his own in CT spawn, jumping from short before landing the wallbang through the boxes. Fl0m did miss the first shot but he got it on the second attempt, with the rest of his team still in awe. However, the definite winner of shot of the night was Stewie, getting in just in time for quite possibly the best snipe of 2019. Stewie, fl0m, and company ended up winning the game 16-5 to finish the year off with a win. The crew kept playing until well into the early hours, waiting to crest midnight to bring in the new year. While Stewie had a lot of success to look back on during 2019, he will be hungry for more wins come 2020. His fire to win is still there, as seen by his grinding in the off-season, and he will be looking to prove himself as one of the world’s best when the next Major rolls around in May.

Stewie2K: My parents thought I would be a failure DreamHack / Adela SznajderMIBR’s Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major winner, but he has revealed that he had very little support from his parents as he pursued an esports career. “I could hear her saying how I’m gonna be a failure in life, saying how I’m gonna be homeless, I’m gonna be begging for money,” Speaking candidly in a player profile video for the FACEIT London Major, the North American player says: “my parents were the stereotypical Asian parents who wanted me to grow up to be a real successful lawyer, doctor, dentist, something that’s common.” “My parents actually kind of gave up on me. I was listening in on a phone call one day and I could hear her saying how I’m gonna be a failure in life, saying how I’m gonna be homeless, I’m gonna be begging for money,” he continues. The 20-year-old, who helped Cloud9 to become the first North American team to win a CS:GO Major at ELEAGUE Boston in January, goes on to say that he thought his mother “kinda failed at being a mom.” “I just said ‘I might as well just leave then, I don’t want to be here.’ At the time I was 17 and I just flew to LA,” he reveals. Stewie2K would go on to be picked up by Cloud9 shortly after his move to Los Angeles, but even that achievement came with some significant hurdles. “The idea was that we bring in fresh blood, a new hunger to the team, and not some of this old guard that had been recycled over and over,” says Tres ‘stunna’ Saranthus, who was Cloud9’s coach at the time. “We wanted to bring someone with a new perspective on the game and perhaps someone that could reignite where we left off.” Stewie then picks up the story again, recalling the day when he was offered the Cloud9 contract and having to ask the organization to wait until he turned 18 so that he could sign it: “A week later stunna, gave me a call and he talked about how the contract was ready for me,” he explains. “I was only 17 and my parents would never sign the contract for sure, so I told them ‘my birthday is in a few weeks, if you can wait for it I’m gonna sign it right away.’ ” “I was only 17 and my parents would never sign the contract, so I told them ‘if you can wait for it I’m gonna sign it right away’ “ Stewie2K’s addition to the team came as a surprise to some, and the news was greeted with a good deal of backlash from the “old guard” that stunna mentions, but the doubters were soon silenced by the young player’s performances on the server. And the rest, as they say, is history. Stewie2K joined the Brazilian SK Gaming side, now playing under the MIBR banner, just a few months after the historic ELEAGUE Major win. The young player explains that some members of Cloud9 lost motivation after their amazing achievement and says that this is what his departure. MIBR have advanced to the New Champions Stage of the FACEIT London Major and will face compLexity Gaming in the quarter-finals on Thursday, September 20. If they win the $1 million tournament, Stewie2K and Tarik ‘tarik’ Celick, who joined him on MIBR from Cloud9 in July, will join a very short list of players that have won a CS:GO Major back-to-back.

Stewie2K taunts ex-teammate coldzera after knife kill at EPL CS:GO Finals: “How mad are you?!” L: StarLadder, R: DreamHackTeam Liquid’s Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip hilariously taunted former CS:GO teammate Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David after knifing him in an elimination game at the ESL Pro League Season 9 finals. Stewie2K joined Team Liquid in a trade from MiBR, swapping places with Epitácio ‘TACO’ de Melo. Since then, Team Liquid has gone on to secure the world number one ranking, with recent wins at IEM Sydney and DreamHack Masters Dallas. Despite this being the first offline event that Team Liquid has played since becoming the number one team, they got off to a slow start and were punished by North, being sent to the lower bracket in the first round. That set Stewie2K on a collision course with his former team, with only one able to advance to the playoffs. Unlike the playoffs, which will take place in the Sud De France Arena, the group stages occurred in the more intimate Exhibition Center without a crowd, meaning that the players could shout across the room to get some trash talk in mid-map. In the second map, with Team Liquid already leading the best-of-three 1-0, Stewie2K took full advantage of this after getting a knife on coldzera, who is known for his distaste for knife kills. “hey cold, how mad are you right now?” Stewie2K yelled at the usually infallible superstar of MiBR. Team Liquid went on to take the map 16-9, closing out the series 2-0 and advancing to the playoffs, while MiBR are eliminated. Team Liquid will move on to face Astralis in the quarter-finals in what could arguably be the most significant match of the event. While TL look to prove they’re truly the world’s best team by beating the squad they could almost never previously get past, Astralis are hoping to reclaim their world-beater status after an underwhelming few months by their high standards. Cementing their number one ranking and claiming another trophy isn’t the only thing on the line for TL at the EPL Finals. With their IEM Syndey and DreamHack Masters Dallas wins, they’re already half way towards securing the $1,000,000 bonus prize of the Intel Grand Slam Season Two, and the EPL title would put them just one win away from claiming it.

Stewie2K is back! Return of Liquid’s smoke criminal | Richard Lewis reacts at IEM Katowice IEM Katowice is providing fans around the world with fantastic plays that are fit for the history books – and now, Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip has bounced right back into full form to add to that list. Richard Lewis reacts to Team Liquid‘s sensational IEM Katowice run. After running through FaZe, Vitality, and NaVi to reach the Playoff semi-finals, one thing is clear — Stewie is back. With Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo now steering the ship, Stewie2k is performing with a new lease of life — throwing us back to the smoke criminal days that propelled Liquid’s Grand Slam run. With confidence high in the Liquid camp, Jason ‘moses’ O’Toole will be looking to Stewie to lead by example instead of the calls from now on. Next up, they’ll be facing either Astralis or Virtus.Pro — but can he continue his hot run of form? When Liquid was the top team in the world back at the end of 2019, Lewis believes that it was like looking at a North American legacy. But with changing IGLs and Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella stepping out of CS:GO, there were lots of unanswered questions and what-ifs. Richard firmly believes that Stewie is the player that has to picks up the pieces for the team of whatever was missing from their roster – he’s been an AWPer, IGL, and continually played positions unfamiliar to him. Now, though, he believes that with the team setup we’ve got, Liquid is primed to beat Virtus.pro, and Astralis if they continue to play as they have been. As Stewie2k has now been freed of being pushed into roles that don’t come naturally to him, this is looking incredibly likely. For all IEM Katowice news, make sure to stay tuned over at our dedicated event hub.

Stewie2k hits out at “shady” CSGO match fixers amid MDL investigation Helena Kristiansson, ESLTeam Liquid star Jake ‘Stewie’ Yip has hit out at CS:GO match-fixers following an ESIC investigation into teams competing in the Mountain Dew League. Outside of the major pro leagues, the Mountain Dew League or ‘MDL’ has been one of the top places for tier 2 Counter-Strike teams to compete against each other and qualify for events throughout the year. However, it seems as if some teams in the MDL league are now under investigation following suspicious betting activity which suggested that match-fixing may have occurred. ESIC investigating MDL teams for match-fixing The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) announced, on September 3, that they had been conducting an investigation, which was administered by ESEA, into the MDL teams following unusual bet alerts within the last eighteen months. ESIC revealed that while they are still in the final stages of the investigation, they decided to provide CS:GO fans with a brief update after speculation began to spread on social media in recent weeks. “ESIC is now in the concluding stages of its investigation and will issue a formal statement relating to the investigation within four weeks,” they added, in their September 3 update. ESIC Update on MDL Match Fixing Investigation. ESIC Investigation to conclude in the next four weeks with determination to be issued upon conclusion. Read Here: https://t.co/LgSg7GRCdp pic.twitter.com/OELykpd23Y — ESIC (@ESIC_Official) September 3, 2020 Stewie2k slams match-fixing in CSGO Following the report, North American star Stewie2k hit out at any players who match fix and claimed they should be no longer be involved in competitive CS:GO. “We saw the big regrets from iBP when they match fixed. They were set as an example to never do it again and got pushed away from competitive CS for it,” he explained, using the iBuyPower scandal as an example. “People still match-fixing and thinking they’re sneaky since they aren’t tier 1,” he added, “get your shady ass outa here and keep the dirty [money].” Knowing the iBP perma ban situation and continuing to taint the scene… y’all really think you deserve a 2nd chance…..in any game 🖕?? — Jake (@Stewie) September 4, 2020 Stewie2k followed up by suggesting that players caught, following the IBuyPower case, shouldn’t deserve a second chance “in any game”, referencing social media speculation on CS pros who recently made the switch the Valorant. However, as of now, it is unclear whether or not any players have been found guilty of match-fixing but ESIC is expected to share the final verdict around October 1.

Stewie2K hits back at ex-EG coach EVY: “I can’t believe I had respect for this man” João Ferreira/PGLEvil Geniuses captain Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip has responded to criticism levied against him by former EG coach Paolo ‘EVY’ Berbudeau, disputing his version of events, while admitting fault for his poor form and leadership. Evil Geniuses’ roster coming into 2022 was a mix of North American talent that had been on the periphery of tier 1 in CS:GO for much of the previous year. Along with former Cloud9 teammates Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba and Timothy ‘automatic’ Ta (fresh back from a stint in Valorant), he joined Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte and Bulgarian AWPer Tsvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov. Despite hopes that this team could be a dark horse NA lineup, it very quickly became evident that this would not be the case. Failure to qualify for the PGL Major Antwerp was followed by a string of early exits at ESL Pro League, IEM Dallas qualifier, and BLAST Premier Spring Showdown. In an interview with 1pv, EVY, a former assistant coach at EG, laid the blame for much of the team’s failures at the feet of Stewie2K, specifically his inability to work with head coach Damien ‘maLeK’ Marcel. He said Stewie wouldn’t say hello to maLeK and would turn away when he was speaking. EVY also called into question Stewie2k’s form inside the server, which has undeniably been a shadow of the once-Major winning player who shone on Cloud9 and Liquid rosters. “He doesn’t challenge himself as a player anymore and he’s not a good leader,” EVY said. Stewie denies involvement in kicking coaches Addressing EVY’s comments directly on stream, Stewie said, “I can’t believe I ever had respect for this man, ever. […] On my life, I had nothing to do with changes to the coaching staff. I didn’t even know it was happening. No one on the team knew.” EVY had claimed that Stewie2K was the only EG player that didn’t reach out to himself and maLeK after they were kicked. He also claimed that he found out he had been kicked through posts on Twitter. Stewie addresses his performance Stewie also hit back at EVY’s criticism of his personal rating and poor performance. “Don’t you think I’m aware I f**king suck? That I’m putting the team in front of me? That I’m worried about the other side of the map? “Even the fact that we’re not ready, and trying to focus on everything else but my game. Like, yes, it takes a toll. And I’m not blaming anyone for that. I took accountability for that.” He said that after their EPL exit, he took the blame on his shoulders. “I sucked, I don’t know why I can’t kill anybody, I don’t know why I can’t put up numbers. There’s so much more to account for. This [rating] doesn’t define what happened to me this season.” “You don’t think [I know] I failed the project? You don’t think [I know] I failed being a captain? I want to turn back time and fix it the right way. I want to do all of that. But I can’t. And I’m sorry for all the fans that had to see our results this year. We couldn’t win a map. We couldn’t do any of that.” Stewie concluded by explaining that he reached out to maLeK after his removal to apologize, and acknowledged he “isn’t cut out to be a captain.” What’s next for this Evil Geniuses roster is unclear. EG launched their ‘Blueprint’ project in June, now fielding three complete rosters of NA-based players. Operating as a “fluid” roster, the Blueprint is aiming to be a development program for NA talent.

Stewie2k hits back at Envy’s Nifty for calling Team Liquid “overrated” StarLadder / RivalryTeam Liquid star and major winner Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip didn’t take too kindly to comments from Envy in-game leader Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis, about the Liquid’s status and commitment to winning. Team Liquid hasn’t even clashed with the new Team Envy roster yet, and already a rivalry is brewing between the two North American teams on the backs of their star players. This began with an interview segment from Rivalry, during which Nifty was asked to list various things in CS:GO as overrated or underrated. On the topic of Team Liquid, he bet on the over. “I would say Liquid is overrated. They’re a great team when they want to be. They struggle with their own problems outside the team, it’s really tough to have a roster like that and perform well together cohesively all the time. They have to leave their egos at the door.” Nifty’s sentiments weren’t completely negative, however, saying they “obviously have the ability to be the greatest NA roster of all time.” Section about Team Liquid starts at 0:31 But Team Liquid’s Stewie2k didn’t focus on the positives when he delivered his reply. He suggested his Nifty was ‘speaking out of his ass’, and that he ought to look in the mirror. Lol sounds like you’re speaking out of your ass about us. Doesn’t make sense that we don’t wanna be the best ??. We understand the meaning of being teammates aka leaving egos out the door. Look yourself in the mirror — Jake (@Stewie) February 19, 2020 Stewie took offense to Nifty’s claim that Liquid aren’t always trying to be the best, saying it “doesn’t make sense.” He acknowledged that each player does think highly of themselves, but that being teammates and checking egos is more important, advising the Envy captain to consider the advice for himself. Stewie’s last words appear to be a nod to the drama surrounding the Team Envy roster from January, when Jacob ‘FugLy’ Medina took to Twitter about his benching situation. That situation included a story about supposedly Nifty cutting a player after finding out the rest of the team apparently wanted to drop him. Stewie has never been shy with his opinion in the past, and fellow former Cloud9 player Oscar ‘Mixwell’ Cañellas remarked that he knew he would reply as soon as he saw it. When I saw the video I was thinking, Stew will reply to this. ? — Oscar Cañellas (@Mixwell) February 19, 2020 For fans hoping to see this rivalry culminate in a match between the two rosters, they may have to wait some time, but there’s a possibility these teams meet on a massive stage. Envy qualified for the closed qualifier for the Americas Minor, and if they finish top two at the Minor, they make the Challengers Stage of the ESL Rio major. If these two teams eventually meet, both sides will certainly have something to prove, and the players will likely have something to say when the dust settles.

Stewie2k is bringing trash talk back to CS:GO and it’s glorious L: ESL / R: RFRSH EntertainmentTeam Liquid’s Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip is becoming CS:GO’s king of trash talk after weeks of unrivaled smack talk both online and on LAN. Stewie2k has been a vital part of Team Liquid’s rise to the top, consistently putting out top performances to secure his team vital victories. However, the American hasn’t just been winning in-game – he’s also been dominating the Counter-Strike trash talk game. Read More: Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – 12th July 2019 In June, Stewie2k received criticism for some hilarious trash talk where he yelled at his ex-teammate Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, asking: “How mad are you?” during an intense game. This didn’t deter the young American, instead, he’s decided to turn up the heat on his peers with some brilliant quips. Just before their match at BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles, Stewie2k fired a very creative shot at the whole MiBR organization, replying to one of their tweets with “UH VAI MORRER”. This phrase is a popular chant in Brazil, which translates to “You’re going to die” and is often used by fans at sporting events to intimidate the opposition. Of course, Stewie2k added some of his signature personality to the tweet with a cheeky smiley face emoji. Later in the event, Stewie2k still hadn’t had enough. This time he turned his eyes to his grand-finals opponent Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač. Read more: CS:GO: Team Liquid take down FaZe to win BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles “Bring your form bitch because we coming for that revenge,” wrote Stewie2k, clearly feeling confident before a main stage showdown with FaZe Clan. .@fazeniko bring your form bitch because we coming for that revenge Finals time baby — Jake (@Stewie) July 15, 2019 The American’s trash talk extends to the best players and biggest events, with Stewie2k taunting Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev at ESL One Cologne. He tweeted at s1mple telling him that only the best team wins, and that’s why he was going to win when they faced off – a prediction which proved to be accurate. .@s1mpleO no doubt the best player in the world but only the best team wins in this game…and i’m on the best team. See you tomorrow, Undertaker :kissing_heart: — Jake (@Stewie) July 5, 2019 Stewie2k was also up to his antics a few weeks before that at the ESL Pro League Finals, poking fun at Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub with an old picture of the two players hugging, stating that “It ain’t going to be so pretty today brotha”. He lived up to his words as it wasn’t pretty at all, with Liquid destroying G2 3-1 in the finals. .@G2kennyS it ain’t goin to be so pretty today brotha. pic.twitter.com/BLLIxfEiW5 — Jake (@Stewie) June 23, 2019 All this trash talk is a refreshing change to the mostly professional and calm Counter-Strike scene. It’s always great to see players throwing in some attitude and making games that much more exciting, especially when it’s at the highest level, and Stewie2k shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Steel loses his mind during CS:GO stream after crucial round loss L: ESL / R: ValveCounter-Strike: Global Offensive professional Joshua ‘steel’ Nissan was enraged by his team during a livestream, after losing a crucial round that would have secured the win. Steel is a CS:GO player and streamer with a wealth of experience, having played competitively since 2010. Following an exit from Ghost Gaming in June 2019, he has shifted his focus on streaming full-time. The Canadian tends to play competitive matches, which can get heated, and in one such match, he teammates cost a key round win, prompting an understandably furious response. “This f*cking team just f*cuking runs around and…” said Steel, who followed up with incoherent rage and flailed around in his chair, implying his teammates had thrown away the win with stupid errors. He did manage to get a few more words out after his theatrics, advising his team to “slow down” and “take five seconds to think about this.” It seems that the Canadian just had to vent some of his frustrations following a tough round loss. Steel’s unique reaction received attention on social media, as Reddit users especially found his reaction both hilarious and somewhat respectful, as he didn’t complain to his team, only his stream viewers. Read More: How CS:GO players can improve their game – One user commented “This is what we call being toxic responsibly. Say it to hundreds on stream just not in-game. What a pro.” While another added “Funnier every time you watch it” – everyone seemed to enjoy Nissan’s antics. It is understandable why he was frustrated at his team, as they had just lost the 30th round, meaning that instead of winning the match they had to fight for a win in overtime. However, the Canadian’s team was able to close out the match just four rounds later – perhaps some of his teammates saw his interesting reaction and were motivated by it.

CSGO pro jdm on 2020 goals and reinventing himself as a player ESL / Turtle EntertainmentFormer Team Liquid Counter-Strike star Josh ‘jdm64’ Marzano released a series of tweets about being ready to compete at the highest level in CS:GO again on September 11 – and he’s also willing to take on an all-new role. jdm, who most recently played for Team Envy, said that he’s “spent the last few months really grinding,” with aims to re-join a competitive team to “get the job done.” “With the major just ending, I’ve spent these last few months really grinding behind the scenes on developing myself as a more all around player,” said the veteran player from North America. “I’ve seen so much improvement in myself which I know I’ll continue to grow.” With the major just ending, I’ve spent these last few months really grinding behind the scenes on developing myself as a more all around player. I’ve seen so much improvement in myself which I know I’ll continue to grow. I can play any role comfortably now — Josh Marzano (@jdmarzano) September 9, 2019 Known throughout his career as a primary AWPer, jdm was criticized for a lack of versatility at times during his stints with the likes of CLG and Liquid. However, the 29-year-old has been working hard to develop into a more well rounded player and made it clear in his Twitter posts that he’s willing and able to try new roles. “I’m looking to IGL and be whatever my next team needs me to be whether that being an IGL/hybrid or their awper,” he said, before revealing that he believes he can become one of the world’s best players. “It’s safe to say tho, I’ve never had this amount of potential and I know given the chance, come 2020 I will be on HLTV top 20 players list. I could give a shit about that sort of accolade but that’s the sort of goal I’m setting for myself as I know I can reach it, my main goal obviously is to win championships. I’m tweeting this out because no one knows what I do behind the scenes and how hard I work — Josh Marzano (@jdmarzano) September 9, 2019 “I could give a shit about that sort of accolade but that’s the sort of goal I’m setting for myself as I know I can reach it, my main goal obviously is to win championships. I’m tweeting this out because no one knows what I do behind the scenes and how hard I work.” “When I say I will get the job done, trust me it will happen given time. I love challenges and I’m more than ready for any that is thrown my way” he said. “I’ve said this already, but I’m willing to play in EU or NA. I’m fucking hungry to play at a high level again, so get at me!” Read more: CR4ZY hoping to replace Vitality at Moscow – Jdm concluded by saying that he is even willing to move to Europe if the opportunity arises to prove himself in the top flights of Counter-Strike once more: “When I say I will get the job done, trust me it will happen given time. I love challenges and I’m more than ready for any that is thrown my way. I’ve said this already but I’m willing to play in EU or NA. I’m fucking hungry to play at a high level again so get at me!” When I say I will get the job done, trust me it will happen given time. I love challenges and I’m more than ready for any that is thrown my way. I’ve said this already but I’m willing to play in EU or NA. I’m fucking hungry to play at a high level again so get at me! — Josh Marzano (@jdmarzano) September 9, 2019 The first big break for jdm in CS:GO game in June of 2015 when he was picked up by the rapidly improving Counter Logic Gaming roster to be their main AWPer. Playing alongside the likes of Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik and Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta, jdm quickly established himself as one of North America’s best snipers and helped propel CLG up the rankings. However, the team eventually stagnated and struggled to find success internationally. In June of 2016 jdm was part of a swap that saw him move to Team Liquid in place of Kenneth ‘koosta’ Suen, who in turn took jdm’s spot on CLG. Team Liquid’s skilled roster included Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski, Nick ‘nitr0’ Cannella and veteran star Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin. Also playing for the roster at the time, returning as a stand-in, was Ukrainian phenom Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev. With Team Liquid, jdm achieved the best results of his career to date, including a second place finish at the ESL One: Cologne 2016 Major just a month after he joined the team. The team would continue to rack up solid placings throughout jdm’s two-year stint with them, but they could never get over the second place hump at international tournaments and, in June of 2018, jdm eventually departed. A few months later, jdm64 returned to activity with a new North American roster under the Team Envy banner. The team included a number of ex-Splyce players – such as Kory ‘SEMPHIS’ Friesen and jdm’s former CLG teammate Steven ‘reltuC’ Cutler – as well as former Renegades IGL Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis. Unfortunately, the team never managed to produce solid results, despite a number of roster changes, and jdm announced his free agency on July 1 of 2019. With the Major cycle in full swing at the time, jdm had to watch from the sidelines until the roster lock period came to an end. North America was well represented at the StarLadder Berlin Major – both Team Liquid and NRG advanced to the playoffs. Team Liquid is currently the number one ranked CS:GO team on the planet and NRG sits in third place, just behind the back-to-back-to-back Major champions, Astralis. However, there are a number of other North American squads and international lineups that could be on the hunt for a new player now that the Major has concluded. With his wealth of experience and new-found versatility, jdm believes he can be a valuable asset to many of them. This article has been updated. When this piece was first published it mistakenly attributed the first Tweet to Joshua ‘steel’ Nissan when JDM was in fact the originator. This has been corrected.

Steam bans high-value CSGO traders for dealing with gambling sites: “It’s just getting started” Valve / broskinsA fresh ban wave appears to be taking place against CS:GO skin traders who have sold items to gambling sites, according to a number of social media posts. Steam is thought to be banning accounts that trade with skins gambling websites, some of which exist in a legally dubious position. CS:GO skin trading is a full-time profession for some enthusiasts, who often act as middlemen for buyers and sellers, taking a fee or simply flipping skins for a profit. Skin trading itself is not bannable – or at least, Valve does not take action against it – but it has long been thought that dealing with gambling sites specifically could land traders’ accounts in hot water. On May 17, tweets began circulating that numerous high-value inventories owned by traders had been community banned – effectively rendering them worthless as they are no longer able to trade items. In these cases, it is believed the traders had sold items to gambling sites. CSGO traders banned in gambling crackdown On May 17, a trader named Oliver was banned, losing a “large collection of skins” in the process. It was quickly identified that the trader in question had sold skins to CSGO Empire, as well as other gambling sites. The ban then, came as little surprise to other traders and investors. “They all play with fire,” said one. “Knowing that plenty of big gambling resellers got banned in the past, and still are getting banned, and get surprised once they get burned.” CS:GO streamer fl0m commented that the bans were “just getting started”, indicating that Valve may be initiating a wider crackdown on accounts that deal with skin gambling sites. If this is the case, it comes at a notable time. Just ahead of the BLAST Paris Major, G2 Esports, one of the most popular teams and among the favorites for the event, announced a partnership with skin gambling site CS:GO Roll. They faced some backlash from the community as a result. This deal, along with the countless sponsored streamers and YouTubers who have deals with skin gambling sites, raised concern in the community about a repeat of the 2016 gambling purge from Valve. Back then, Valve sent cease and desist letters to 23 sites engaged in skin gambling for breaking the Steam Subscriber Agreement. Why gambling sites pose a risk to CSGO traders In the wake of these latest bans, CSGO Empire issued a statement. They said that the banned trader in the viral tweet was active on many other sites, despite only mentioning Empire in his post. “In the past 30 days, 34,518 users safely traded on Empire without issues. Across all CSGO markets in this period, only 84 accounts have been banned. Of these, less than half have ever touched Empire. Only one user traded solely on Empire – the rest used multiple other large marketplaces.” Empire concluded its post by saying it plans to enhance safety practices to “minimize the chances of scammed skins entering our system.” This is the crux of the issue with these sites. Putting aside the legality of the sites themselves – which has been called into question in some cases – their easy cash-out options with limited checks make them the ideal place for scammed (stolen) skins to be sold quickly by the scammers. For obvious reasons, Steam will be keen to clamp down on this practice, even if it means some legitimate traders are caught in the crossfire.

Stats show how much coldzera struggled on FaZe debut at ESL One NY Brazilian CS:GO star Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David’s highly anticipated debut with FaZe Clan did not go as expected at ESL One New York. Many fans of FaZe Clan’s CS:GO roster had high hopes after the announcement was made that former MiBR star, coldzera, would be the final addition to the lineup before ESL One New York. Over the past few years, the Brazilian has been listed among the likes of s1mple, NiKo and dev1ce as one of the best individual players in the world, but his debut at New York did not reflect that. Coldzera, who has won multiple Majors in the past during the LG/SK era, can often take over the series completely for his team and many fans were shocked to see that the New York event ended up being the Brazilian’s worst career performance. ESL One New York marks only the fourth time coldzera has had a negative kill/death ratio while competing and with 49 kills to 75 total deaths, it also marks the worst K/D he has ever had at an event. Despite his rough start under the FaZe brand, he remained positive about his future with the popular esports organization, explaining the team’s performance as a whole was not bad for their first showing. Not a bad game from us considering we didn’t pracc Vertigo, was a gamble from us in the veto. We had our chance on Nuke but the round from Brehze broke our economy and made the game really hard for us but for the first match together was not bad gg @EvilGeniuses — coldzera (@coldzera) September 26, 2019 Coldzera also highlighted that the new roster has yet to get in much practice on all of the maps after their defeat to an impressive Evil Geniuses line-up, “Not a bad game from us considering we didn’t practice Vertigo, was a gamble from us in the veto,” he explained, before praising EG’s performance. Although many fans were disappointed with the level of play from the new addition, it is likely that the roster will quickly return to form after players have a chance to form their synergies after some weeks of practice. Many also suspect that coldzera’s lack-luster performance could have been due to the extended period during his benching from MiBR where he was forced to miss out from competing at the highest level. As FaZe Clan will be missing out on the upcoming DreamHack Masters event in Malmö they will have plenty of time to practice before their next tournament.

Stats reveal most clutch CS:GO pro players of all time eslIf you’ve ever wondered which Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro player has successfully pulled off the most clutches at big events, statistics have settled the debate once and for all, thanks to HLTV. CS:GO is one of the most popular esports, partly thanks to the ability for an individual player to grab a round by the scruff of the neck and pull off an incredible highlight, or ‘clutch’. It’s the reason that millions tune in to the big tournaments, such as the upcoming StarLadder Berlin Major, in the hope of catching the best plays from the best players. Although players like s1mple and ZywOo are known for their flashy highlight plays, fans have long debated which player is the most ‘clutch’ in the big moments. A clutch is counted as any time a player wins a round left as the last man standing and new stats shared by HLTV revealed just which pro players made up the top three. The statistics revealed that Astralis’ Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth led the way with a staggering 228 successful clutches at big events, closely followed by the former Brazilian duo of Marcelo ‘coldzera‘ David and Gabriel ‘FalleN‘ Toledo with 184 and 176 clutches, respectively. Top 3 players with the most clutches won at big events in CS:GO according to our database :flag-dk:Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth – 228 clutches :flag-br:Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David – 184 clutches :flag-br:Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo – 176 clutches pic.twitter.com/t2byHywdgC— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) August 9, 2019 It should come as no shock to see Xyp9x holding the top spot, as the Astralis pro has always been known to be confident in his plays as the last player alive, regardless of who he was up against. However, fans were surprised to see both coldzera and FalleN up so high as they had teamed together under MiBR for such a long period making their number even more impressive. The current clutch king, Xyp9x, also holds the crown for the most prize money earned by any professional player in CS:GO, making a strong argument for himself to be considered among the best players of all time. There will be younger players hoping to usurp these veterans, like the aforementioned ZywOo, or Team Liquid’s resident clutch expert, Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken. All of the top players will be looking to add some more clutches to their name when the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 kicks off on August 20, offering another $1 million prize pool for those competing.

StarLadder respond to allegations of late payments to CSGO talent StarLadder have responded to allegations made by various CounterStrike: Global Offensive broadcasters who claim they have not been paid on time by the tournament organizers. After a number of cryptic tweets from talent who appear on CS:GO broadcasts, Richard Lewis and Dexerto revealed that many commentators, analysts, and desk hosts had been left waiting for payments from the StarLadder Berlin Major which ended on September 8, and other tournaments held by the organization. Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer was one of the most outspoken casters, who stated that he had yet to be paid for his work at the Major, even though he was informed that the invoice had been “taken care of” in November, and stated that he would not work with the Ukraine-based organization again until all talent had received payment. Following the reports, StarLadder have released an official statement in response to the allegations, claiming that most payments were made in November, with some completed at the start of December. “We consider the entire cycle of StarLadder Major Berlin 2019, from Minors to the Grand Final, as one project,” the statement reads. “Usually, when we collaborate with talents, all payments are made within 45-90 days from the date of project completion. As we all know, the Berlin Major ended on September 8. Most of the payments towards talents were completed in November, two months after the Major.” “The last payments, to SPUNJ and Machine, were made at the beginning of this week, so as per usual we’ve paid in full within three months. The transfer for HenryG was sent on November 8, but unfortunately, there was a delay in a correspondent bank. HenryG was aware of this situation. We provided all the documents confirming the payment, and also asked him to contact the bank and provide these documents in order to expedite a resolution.” StarLadder finished their response by stating that they are “doing their best to help HenryG to resolve the problem as quickly as possible,” and that there “are no outstanding payments to CS:GO talents for StarSeries tournaments and StarLadder Major Berlin 2019,” apart from those who appeared at i-League Season 8, which ended on October 27. HenryG and fellow Counter-Strike broadcasters have yet to respond to the tournament organizer’s statement.

Starladder late with CSGO talent payments; includes Valve’s Berlin Major Following several cryptic tweets from various members of the CS:GO broadcast talent pool about tournament organizers not making payments on time, Dexerto has learned that one of the worst offenders for delayed payments is the Ukraine based company Starladder. Starladder was selected by Valve to host the most recent CS:GO Major that was held in Berlin after a series of high profile tournaments. While the event itself was mostly hailed as a success, it has now become apparent that the majority of the on-air talent that worked the event, which took place back in August, has yet to be paid their fees at the time of writing. It is often the case that broadcast talent does not often speak out publicly about delayed payments from tournament organizers as there is a worry that in doing so you guarantee the company will not hire you again in the future. This is especially worrying if the company in question is responsible for organizing some of the most prestigious events on the calendar. However, many of those affected by the delayed payments feel they can no longer wait for the company to resolve the issue in their own time as the holiday season begins. One such affected person is Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer, who recently was recognized for his work when he won the Esports Awards commentator of the year. He was happy to go on record and explain that he would no longer be working with Starladder in any capacity until they settle their debts. “From the outside you would assume that everything is just peachy within the esports ecosystem and it’s smiles all round. Sadly, if you take a look under the hood it reveals a grim outlook for everyone involved who isn’t directly on the payroll of the tournament organizers,” he said. “If you’re a freelancer, and I can only comment on broadcast talent regarding this, working with Starladder means unfortunately you will have to pull out all the stops, commit to their events, deliver a world-class show only to be paid when they feel like it, which is usually about 3-4 months after the show at best. “They are by far the worst offenders when it comes to this sort of thing and I can confirm that as of writing this, on December 3, I have not been paid for the Valve partnered Berlin Major that took place earlier this Summer even after being informed that the invoice had been taken care of in November. “I find this disgraceful and I can’t imagine how bad it is for others who don’t have large platforms or regular work. I won’t be working any more of their events until they have cleared all their debts with all of my colleagues.” We reached out to several members of Counter-Strike broadcast workers that were employed at the Berlin Major and found that the vast majority were still awaiting payment for their contribution to the event. The situation becomes more convoluted when Dexerto learned a couple of members of the broadcast talent had been paid, raising even further questions about the methods employed by the company when it comes to payment. “There’s no mystery to it,” one told Dexerto off the record. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease. If they ever think you’re going to tweet about it or go public then they will put you at the front of the queue for payment. It just makes it awkward when you’ve been paid and your co-workers haven’t.” This was corroborated by another, who said that they were able to accelerate payment by threatening to go public on Twitter in regards to the matter. “It took over three months to get paid after being ignored or told the classic ‘soon, it’ll be this week’” they added. Another source who has worked multiple events with Starladder and asked to remain anonymous, said that it wasn’t just payment for work at the CS:GO Major that was outstanding. Some, they said, were still chasing payment from the CS:GO Minor events cycle that took place as far back as July. “As someone who’s done events with Starladder over many years it has certainly got worse. It never used to be like this and sadly a lot of key staff keep leaving the company making things even more complicated,” they said. “Now these payment issues that I’ve been involved in are three, four and even five months late. It is just not acceptable. You struggle to live and get by and then they just lie to you saying this week, this week and it’s like an endless battle where we waste so much energy just to get paid.” Dexerto also understands that similar issues have been affecting the broadcast talent that has worked Starladder’s PUBG events. We have reached out to Starladder for comment and will update this report accordingly.

StarLadder EU Minor CS:GO groups, schedule revealed: Mousesports, North, Fnatic, more ESL / Turtle EntertainmentStarLadder have announced the groups for the CS:GO EU Minor and things are looking tough for favorites Mousesports and North. The EU Minor is set to kick off on July 17, with eight teams battling for just two Major spots and one spot in the last chance Play-In qualifier. Normally, the favorites would expect to face weak opposition but this time things won’t be so simple. In Group A, favorites Mousesports face Cr4zy, Sprout, and NoChance. A few weeks ago Mousesports may have found this group relatively easy, but the recent form of Cr4zy and NoChance means that it will be a tough test. Cr4zy will be Mousesesports’ toughest opponents. The Serbians have had impressive results lately, beating Mouse in the ESL One New York qualifier on July 9, as well as taking down Vitality and Heroic in June. All it will take is one slip up from Mousesports and Cr4zy will be able to fully capitalize on it to take the group. Meanwhile, NoChance are a wildcard that could cause some trouble. This squad is fairly underrated, but they bring a ton of experience and high-level skill through two veterans, Mikail ‘Maikelele’ Bill and Martin ‘Styko’ Styk. If they are given a chance to really get their engines going then they have a very good shot of not only stunning the group but also taking a Major spot. Mousesports will need to be extremely careful around these two teams if they want to advance in the tournament. Even the underwhelming Sprout squad could pull out something special for this event and are not to be overlooked. In group B, North’s opponents don’t look as formidable as the team’s Mouseports will be facing, but they could still ask serious questions of the Danes. They will be going up against German team BIG and fellow Norfic outfit Ancient, but it is Fnatic who will provide the toughest challenge. The main challenge for The Danish favorites will be Fnatic. The Swedes are no strangers to premier events and will be giving it their all to attend another Major. They have also been very active recently, and while their results haven’t been the greatest, they have been consistently battling it out with the best. Fnatic have a great legacy and North will need to be wary of veterans Freddy ‘Krimz’ Johansson and Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell, two legends of the game who are always able to bring game-changing performances, especially when the stakes are so high. The remaining teams, Ancient and BIG, don’t pose too much of a threat. Both of these teams have been in poor form and have not had any notable results since they qualified for the Minor. They may be able to bring something special for this event, but North’s real threat will come from Fnatic and the teams advancing out of group A. StarLadder Berlin EU Minor Groups The full Schedule (in CEST) for the StarLadder Major Berlin 2019: Europe Minor is as follows: July 17: • 16:00 Mousesports vs NoChance | Group A | BO1 – • 16:00 North vs BIG | Group B | BO1 – • 17:15 CR4ZY vs Sprout | Group A | BO1 – • 17:15 Fnatic vs Team Ancient | Group B | BO1 – • 18:30 Winners’ match | Group A | BO3 – • 18:30 Winners’ match | Group B | BO3 – July 18: • 16:00 Elimination Match | Group A | BO3 – • 16:00 Elimination Match | Group B | BO3 – • 19:00 Decider Match | Group A | BO3 – • 19:00 Decider Match | Group B | BO3 – July 19: • 16:00 Semifinal #1 | Playoffs | Upper Bracket | BO3 – • 19:00 Semifinal #2 | Playoffs | Upper Bracket | BO3 – July 20: • 16:00 Semifinal | Playoffs | Lower Bracket | BO3 – • 19:00 Final | Playoffs | Upper Bracket | BO3 – July 21: • 18:00 Final | Playoffs | Lower Bracket | BO3 –

Starladder forced to change Berlin Major observers following community backlash StarLadderThe StarLadder CSGO Berlin Major has been handicapped by less than stellar in-game observing, and the results up to this point have been noticeable. But Connor ‘Sliggy’ Blomfield, an experienced CSGO observer, is on site to set things right. Observing is a pivotal part of the CSGO broadcast, especially at a major. Observers in any esports or responsible for manning the virtual cameras and catching all of the action. And through most of the Challengers stage, and day one of the Legends stage, it wasn’t up to the community’s standards. Pivotal moments like a bomb drop or a late round clutch were missed, gunfights became dizzying because of spastic camera switches, and unnecessary split screens were more distracting than informative. Fans were not happy, especially since the major already got off to a bad start when the first matches of the Challengers stage were massively delayed. In this clip, only two kills or player deaths are shown, and one of them (the AWP shot from dev1ce) was in the smaller split screen. They missed the kill by magisk because they cut back to the dead player that dev1ce had already killed. The impressive jumping MP9 kill is also missed. During this round on Mirage, the player with the bomb is flanked in T spawn, and it is isn’t cut to at all despite nothing going on elsewhere in the map, and the casters calling attention to it. I will pay to fly an observer out. I’m not even joking. @StarLadderCSGO — DeKay (@dekay) August 28, 2019 Jarek “DeKay” Lewis took to Twitter and even offered to pay for an observer to be flown in. Read more: s1mple slams Berlin Major Observers – David ‘prius’ Kuntz thanked fans for giving love and support to him and the other well-regarded observers who weren’t brought to StarLadder. Seeing all this support for observers in the past couple of days has been heartwarming. I’m happy to see the community cares about having good observing. You know an observer is doing a great job when you don’t even notice they’re there. Just know we all appreciate the love :heart:️ — DJ (@priusCSGO) August 27, 2019 But prayers have finally been answered, in the form of Connor “Sliggy” Blomfield, a freelance UK observer who’s been observing as far back at 2014 Gfinity events. Sliggy was an observer for the past two majors, IEM Katowice and FACEIT London, and has also observed for multiple ECS and BLAST events. Happy to announce I am Observing at the @StarLadderCSGO Major. I will give it everything I’ve got. — Sliggy (@Sliggycsgo) August 29, 2019 Sliggy announced he would be observing halfway through day two of the Legends stage, making it seem like StarLadder called in an audible to save their broadcast. The CS:GO community exploded with joy on Twitter as the Legends stage continued.

StarLadder Berlin Minor Americas and Europe results – CS:GO teams who qualified for the Major StarLadder TwitchAn experimental collective of impressive European talent that make up CR4ZY’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team are the last in the StarLadder Berlin Americas/European Minors to directly book their spot at the upcoming Major. CS:GO’s second Major tournament of the year is quickly approaching, and while the top dogs already have their tickets to Berlin in hand, others have to test their worth at the qualifiers for a chance to compete at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. While there are still teams in contention to make it to big stage, the production has wrapped on the four orgs that have secured their spot through the Minors. Americas Minor winners The Americas qualifiers unfolded – as many expected – with FURIA and NRG earning the right to move on to the New Challengers stage in the Berlin Major. NRG have been playing like a well-oiled machine as they clean sweeped their entry to the Major, without dropping a single map. The North American org were only severely challenged twice in the Americas Minor in their series against Sharks Esports, then again with eventual Major-contenders FURIA. Speaking of the breakout FURIA team, they were relegated to the Loser’s Bracket early by NRG, meeting up with the Sharks who they were able to convincingly get past. The only thing standing in FURIA’s path to the Berlin Major were fellow Brazilian countrymen who formed INTZ eSports. It was here that FURIA were tested the most with the series going to the third map of Mirage. Though FURIA were able to take down INTZ in a dominating 16-6 effort to book their spot at the Major. European Minor winners The road to the Major in the European Minors was filled with stunned disappointment from teams who had expected to make it through. Even though there were only two spots to claim, four teams in Fnatic, North, BIG and mousesports each had tremendous expectations to move on to the big tournament. While the path was as clean cut, Group A runner-ups mousesports were on a victory march as soon as they entered the Minor playoffs. Their series with Fnatic started out competitive, but mousesports stepped on the gas and finished the legendary Swedish team 2-0. The Winner’s Final featured two heavyweight teams who everyone saw as shoo-ins to go to the Major in mouse and North, but the series only had one team show up as North seemed out of sorts after their Semifinal win against CR4ZY. Mousesports beat North 2-0 to secure their spot in the Major, while North now faced a rematch of their previous series against CR4ZY. While North won the first skirmish 2-0, it seems like the momentum dramatically flipped as CR4ZY were on a warpath since dropping down to the Loser’s Bracket. The overwhelming offensive creativity and unpredictability from CR4ZY proved too much for North to handle in the rematch, quickly dropping the series in a similar 2-0 fashion. The way the StarLadder tournament is set up, INTZ eSports and North both still have a chance to qualify for the Major when in the 3rd Place Play-ins start up July 29 after the CIS and Asia Minors conclude.

CS:GO: Surprise rule change for StarLadder Berlin Major confirms MIBR roster BLAST Pro SeriesA last-minute change has been made to the roster rules for the StarLadder Berlin CS:GO Major that will allow Made in Brazil to resolve their roster issues. According to a report by HLTV, a rule change was made on Wednesday, July 17 that will allow teams to field their coaches as a stand-in even if the situation is not an emergency. MIBR were left in an awkward position ahead of the Major after star player Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David requested to leave the team and was moved to the bench following a disastrous performance by the team at ESL One Cologne. Though coldzera apparently offered to play with the team for their upcoming events, MIBR preferred to field coach Wilton ‘zews’ Prado in his stead until they can find a permanent replacement. Zews competed for the team at BLAST Los Angeles, and is due to do so for IEM Chicago on July 18-21. The roster rules for the Major, however, originally stated that a coach could only step in for a player in a case that StarLadder deemed an emergency, such as a visa or health issue. Mais Esports reported that StarLadder did not consider MIBR’s situation an emergency, casting uncertainty over the team’s options for the event. Following the update to the rules, however, teams will now be able to swap their coach in as a player even if the situation is not an emergency, with the only catch now being that such a swap cannot be reversed – the coach will have to play out the remainder of the tournament as a starting member of the line-up, while the substituted player cannot return. According to the report by HLTV, StarLadder admitted in an email that the emergency roster transfer rule was “unnecessary and unhealthy” and had “created a lot of chaos”. MIBR will undoubtedly be pleased to have the situation resolved, although they still face a Major with a stand-in rather than a complete starting line-up.

StarLadder Berlin CSGO Major Legends stage set as Challengers concludes The first stage of the StarLadder Berlin CS:GO Major has concluded, with eight teams advancing through the Challengers stage to the Legends stage. The Challengers stage sees the teams who qualified through the Minor system face off against the teams that failed to secure Legend status after competing in the Legends stage of the previous Major. What once was a separate Major Qualifier event now acts as the opening of the Major itself, narrowing the sixteen teams down to eight that will advance to face the eight Legends waiting in the next stage. The Challengers stage featured a Swiss system, with teams needing to win three matches to go through, or lose three to be eliminated. While many of the world’s best teams have yet to make their debut at the Berlin Major, the nature of the circuit does mean that some top squads have had to fight for their place in the Legends phase – and not all of them have made it through. While Mousesports and North claimed the top spots with 3-0 records, followed by the likes of G2 Esports and NRG who also made it through without too much drama, Brazil’s FURIA – who made a name for themselves with some big results earlier in the year – were eliminated with only a single win to their name. Vitality, who enter the tournament ranked second in the world behind Team Liquid, suffered some surprising upsets early on, resulting in their having to claw their way back to go through with a 3-2 record. Though it certainly wasn’t the start the team will have been hoping for, surviving to the Legends stage will at least give them the chance to reset. The eight qualifiers will now move onto the Legends stage, where they will join the Legends of the previous Major, IEM Katowice. The Legends stage will once again feature a Swiss system, with three match wins required to qualify for the playoffs. Legends stage qualifiers The following teams have qualified to the Legends stage through the Challengers stage. North – Mousesports – G2 Esports – NRG Esports – CR4ZY – Avangar – DreamEaters – Vitality – Existing Legends teams These are the teams that finished in the top eight at the IEM Katowice Major, and will enter the Berlin Major in the Legends stage. Astralis – Team Liquid – ENCE – Natus Vincere – FaZe Clan – MIBR – Renegades – Ninjas in Pyjamas – Eliminated from Challenger Stage: INTZ Esports – TYLOO – Complexity – HellRaisers – FURIA – Syman Gaming – ForZe – Grayhound Gaming –

StarLadder Berlin CSGO Major Champions stage set as Legends concludes StarLadderThe second group stage of the StarLadder Berlin CS:GO is in the books, as eight teams advanced through the Legends stages to qualify for the Champions stage. The victors of the Challengers stage faced off against the returning Legends from IEM Katowice. The sixteen teams battled in another swiss format group stage, again needing three victories to advance to playoffs of the StarLadder Berlin major. In addition to a spot in this major’s playoffs, the eight teams who advanced through Legends stage also earn a place in the Legends stage of the next major, which will be in spring 2020. The location and details of that major haven’t been announced yet, though. The Legends stage was not short on surprises. Despite plans to replace in-game leader Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen with Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi after Berlin, ENCE ran through their competition with a 3-0 record. NRG Esports also picked up an impressive 3-0 record that included huge wins over favorites in Team Liquid and Astralis. Team Liquid’s struggles continued after their loss to NRG, getting stunned by AVANGAR in overtime to send them into the 1-2 pool. But the defending major champs performed their best with their backs against the wall, with 2-0 series wins against North and mousesports to qualify on the final day. Speaking of backs against the wall, Renegades found themselves down 0-2 to start Legends stage. But the boys from Australia dug themselves out a hole by winning three straight series against DreamEaters, FaZe Clan, and G2 Esports. ENCE were in that same spot in Katowice, and ended up in the grand finals of the past major, so hopes are high for Renegades. Hopes were high for other teams as well, but a lot of big names ended up on the wrong side of the table after all was said and done. North, FaZe, and MiBR were all eliminated with 1-3 records. G2 and mousesports were eliminated on the final day. Ninjas in Pyjamas went 0-3, and won’t even have a Challengers spot guaranteed at the next major, along with DreamEaters. There were no 16-0 shoutouts this stage, but plenty of overtime maps, including an Astralis-NRG Train map that tied the previous major record of 59 rounds (set at MLG Columbus 2016), and then an Astralis-CR4ZY map on Dust II that broke the record with 60 rounds. Despite losing both of those grueling maps, Astralis still qualified for Champions stage with a 3-1 record. Champions stage first round matchups ENCE vs Renegades – Team Vitality vs AVANGAR – Astralis vs Team Liquid – Natus Vincere vs NRG Esports – Eliminated from Legends Stage CR4ZY – Mousesports – G2 Esports – MiBR – FaZe Clan – North – Ninjas in Pyjamas* – DreamEaters* – *Finished 0-3 and will not obtain a Challengers spot at the 2020 spring major

StarLadder announce venue and date for Berlin CS:GO Major StarLadderDetails about the dates and venue for the fifteenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major have finally been announced as StarLadder confirmed that they will officially host the prestigious tournament. The IEM Katowice Major is currently in full swing, however, that hasn’t stopped CS:GO fans from searching for details regarding the next major CS:GO tournament. Now, fans know just where and when they’ll be able to watch the best teams in the world compete for the $1,000,000 prize pool and honor of being known as Major champions. As initially revealed by Dexerto’s own Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis on February 7, nearly two weeks ago, the eyes of the CS:GO world will switch their focus to Germany over the summer as StarLadder will host the next Major event in Berlin. Read More: Dota 2, to the Chinese audience. We are pleased to inform all fans of the game that we are honored to host the fifteenth Major tournament in CS:GO!#csgo #StarLadder #SLBerlinMajor The main event will take place from 5th to 8th September 2019 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Read more:https://t.co/iU7H6M0h2z pic.twitter.com/oNa9FPewJF — StarLadder CS:GO (@cssltv) February 18, 2019 In their announcement, the dates for the event were also revealed by StarLadder. The regional Minors and Major stages will also be held in Berlin to help teams avoid visa problems and will also follow a similar format to the IEM Katowice Major – having two Minors running simultaneously to save time. The full dates for the event are as followed: July 17-21 – Europe & Americas Minors – July 24-28 – CIS & Asia Minors – July 29 – Minor Play-in – August 20-25 – Challengers Stage – August 27-September 1 – Legends Stage – September 5-8 – Champions Stage – Tickets for the StarLadder Major Champions Stage will go on sale during April, however, there is no word on if fans will be able to attend any earlier stages. –

StarLadder announce full talent lineup for CS:GO Berlin Major BLAST Pro SeriesStarLadder have announced the full list of on-air talent for the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 2019 Berlin Major. The Berlin event will be the 15th CS:GO Major and is just around the corner, with the first set of matches in the New Challengers Stage to be played on August 23. On August 21, the hosts of the event, StarLadder, announced the full list of on-air talent, which features some fan-favorite community members. StarLadder came under fire in July when Dexerto first reported suggested that key members of CS:GO talent were overlooked for the Major. After some backlash from the community, the organizers reportedly reconsidered their talent lineup, and it is now confirmed that certain fan favorites that were previously overlooked will be attending the event. The ever-popular duo of Anders ‘Anders’ Blume and Jason ‘Moses’ O’Toole have been announced to be attending the event, after reportedly being overlooked. Meanwhile, other staple CS:GO talent like Tres ‘Stunna’ Saranthus, Chad ‘SpunJ’ Burchill, Matthew ‘Sadokist’ Trivett, and Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer have all also been invited. As reported by Dexerto’s DeKay, the casting duo of Sadokist and HenryG are expected to split for this Major, with Sadokist on the desk in some capacity instead, possibly hosting while Alex ‘Machine’ Richardson casts with HenryG. A total of fifteen talent members will be running the show from August 23 – September 8, guiding fans through some of the highest level Counter-Strike in the world. A full list of talent for the StarLadder Berlin Major can be found below: Desk: Tres ‘Stunna’ Saranthus Alex ‘Machine’ Richardson (Possibly casting) Chad ‘Spunj’ Burchill Sean ‘seang@res’ Gares Jacob ‘Pimp’ Winneche Matthew ‘Sadokist’ Trivett Casters: Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer Anders ‘Anders’ Blume Jason ‘moses’ O’Toole James Bardolph Daniel ‘ddk’ Kapadia Hugo Byron Harry ‘JustHarry’ Russell Interviewers: Sue ‘Smix’ Lee James ‘BanKs’ Banks

StarLadder announce CS:GO talent lineup for Americas and European minors ELeagueStarLadder have announced the talent behind their upcoming Europe and Americas Minor, with some of the most recognizable faces in CS:GO heading to Berlin. Before the StarLadder Berlin Major can get underway on August 23, a handful of teams from across the world will descend on the German capital to play out their respective Minor qualifiers in the hopes of progressing to the latter stages. The action kicks off with the Americas Minor on July 17, as world number five NRG Esports arrive as favorites, looking to banish the memories previous missteps. Later in the day, the focus will also expand to the ultra-difficult European Minor with top squads like Fnatic, Mousesports, North, and BIG hoping to secure one of the Major qualifying spots. However, the event can’t go on without the production or casters, and StarLadder has roped in a stacked talent lineup that is sure to be one of the best of the year. The show will be headed up by hosts Alex ‘Machine’ Richardson and James ‘BanKs’ Banks while popular casters James Bardolph and Daniel ‘ddk’ Kapadia will call the action. They aren’t alone, however, with Vince Hill, Halvor ‘Vendetta’ Gulestol, Hugo Byron, and Harry ‘JustHarry’ Russell rounding out the commentary line-up. As for pre and post-match analysis, legendary ex-pros Joona ‘natu’ Leppänen and Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson will join Mathieu ‘Maniac’ Quiquere and Mohan ‘launders’ Govindasamy at the analyst’s desk. In a further extension to that post-match analysis, Sue ‘Smix’ Lee will be interviewing players after each hard-fought series and the getting the inside scoop on all the highs and even the lows. Of course, StarLadder will also provide a full in-house Russian-speaking talent line-up for their alternative language broadcasts. All of the games can be seen live on StarLadder’s CS:GO-dedicated Twitch channels, with multiple streams running side-by-side so you won’t miss a moment of the action.

StarLadder address controversial CSGO Major Twitch streaming bans StarLadderCounter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament organizer StarLadder have issued an update on the controversial bans of various Twitch streamers for broadcasting the StarLadder Berlin Major. The challenger’s stage of the highly anticipated StarLadder Berlin CSGO Major kicked off on August 23, with teams battling it out for a chance to compete at the latter stages and trying to cement themselves in CS:GO history. As ever, many CS:GO community members have offered up alternative streams to the official broadcast from StarLadder by using the in-game GOTV feature to give their own commentary and analysis. On August 24, a number of high profile CSGO streamers were handed DMCA takedowns on Twitch for streaming the event – prompting backlash aimed at the tournament organizers. However, prior to day three of the challenger’s stage getting underway, and plenty of community members gearing up for another day of action, StarLadder addressed the issue with a statement on their website. They said: “The tournament license for the CS:GO Major grants StarLadder rights to broadcast video content of the tournament. We use those rights to find the sponsorships and media contracts that make the event possible.” 600StarLadder continued by ‘welcoming’ community broadcasts for those community members without an official language stream. The organizers are currently running broadcasts for Chinese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish speaking fans. The majority of streamers who were taken down on August 24 were English-speaking broadcasts, and for these, StarLadder noted that they are “happy to work with community streamers” if they would share sponsorship obligations with the organizers. Following on from that, StarLadder has also taken down any DMCA claim that have been made against streamers – which will help to get anyone that is banned, unbanned. They also stated: To avoid misunderstanding in future, please read our statement for Community Streamers,” while again advising anyone who has questions about the whole situation to get in contact with them. StarLadder has withdrawn all DMCA claims for community streamers on Twitch 8 hours ago. To avoid misunderstanding in future, please read our statement for Community Streamers: https://t.co/cFTzQrHqlb If you have questions, please contact us via marketing@starladder.tv — StarLadder CS:GO (@StarLadderCSGO) August 25, 2019 While the Kiev-based company is seemingly wanting to make things right, the sponsorship obligations could prove difficult for some streamers, however, as there could be some conflicts with their own sponsors and backers. Whether or not these issues continue to roll on, remains to be seen, but you can follow all of the latest CSGO Major action with our dedicated event hub.

StarLadder Berlin CSGO Major: Results, interviews, more The StarLadder CS:GO Berlin Major 2019 has concluded, with Astralis defeating surprise opponent Avangar in the final to claim the title. In their victory, Astralis not only become the first organization with four Major titles to their name, but also the first team to win three Majors consecutively. The Danish squad pulled off the victory despite coming under plenty of scrutiny in the months leading up to the event, with Team Liquid having dethroned them as the world number one. Nevertheless, Astralis were able to overcome their usurpers and secure the trophy. Here’s everything you need to know about what went down at the event. Dexerto Interviews at the StarLadder Berlin Major Interview with Moses pre-Champions Stage “This Major is signaling a new era” @onfiremoses tells @getfrank why the #BerlinMajor 2019 might be the beginning of a new age of #CSGO Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/g0oI6R64pz — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 4, 2019 Interview with Smix pre-Champions Stage “It’s emotional”@Smix talks with @getfrank about the most heartbreaking moments & team eliminations of the #BerlinMajor 2019 so far! Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/WKOgpgqARH — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 4, 2019 Interview with James Banks pre-Champions Stage Which #CSGO team can cause an upset in the #BerlinMajor?@BanKsEsports shares his predictions with @getfrank ahead of the finals! Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/veWdizyiVP — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 4, 2019 Thorin on ENCE before the quarter-finals “You can’t keep on doubting them”@Thooorin gives his thoughts on @ENCE ahead of their quarter-final clash vs @Renegades at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/HhRGtkdWcU — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 5, 2019 Thorin on Renegades before the quarter-finals ?️ @Thooorin explains why @Renegades could make top 4 at the#BerlinMajor. Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/jMEIRuZRYy — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 5, 2019 Thorin picks Team Liquid as Major favorites ? @Thooorin on why Liquid are still the #BerlinMajor favorites and why mousesports should have made the playoffs. Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/2XCx31xOmo — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 5, 2019 Thorin on Avangar before the quarter-finals ? @Thooorin on why @JAMEPAIN is perfect to lead the @Avangarkz team in the #BerlinMajor playoffs. Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/w9sE3f5R3e — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 5, 2019 Thorin on Vitality before the quarter-finals ? @Thooorin discusses @zywoo and why there’s pressure on @TeamVitality to reach the #BerlinMajor final. Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/ujMezlHagj — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 5, 2019 Interview with Jkaem after the quarter-finals ? @jkaemGO of @Renegades on whether ENCE’s roster issues gave them an advantage, and what it means to make the semi-finals of the #BerlinMajor. Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/VtqCvbqseD — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 5, 2019 Interview with Kassad after the quarter-finals “We win. Simple as that.” After eliminating ENCE, @Renegades coach @kassadCSGO talks about a potential final with @astralisgg at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/vqFsEeyUg5 — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 5, 2019 Thorin on Na’Vi before the quarter-finals “This feels like the last ride for Na’Vi”@Thooorin on what @natusvincere can achieve at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/mpqxnFtWWD — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 6, 2019 Thorin on NRG before the quarter-finals ? @Thooorin explains why @peterjarguz has to lead @NRGgg beyond top 4 at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/IvF0b4AwZ0 — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 6, 2019 Interview with Stanislaw after the quarter-finals “We wanted to come out swinging like we have done the entire tournament”@peterjarguz talks with @getfrank about @NRGgg‘s epic match against @natusvincere at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/pKoxeakfN3 — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 6, 2019 Interview with Tarik after the quarter-finals ? @NRGgg’s @tarik talks with @getfrank about teamwork, crowd support and keeping the momentum going to reach the #BerlinMajor semi finals! Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/9fBLAGXpax — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 6, 2019 Thorin on Team Liquid before the quarter-finals “Team Liquid aren’t even at 85%”@Thooorin says that if the right @TeamLiquid shows up, they are unbeatable at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/jWZcdoSBkI — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 6, 2019 Thorin on Astralis before the quarter-finals “They are the team that can change their whole storyline”@Thooorin explains how @astralisgg can cement their legacy at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/VNrjcx2slq — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 6, 2019 Interview with Qikert after the quarter-finals ? @Qikert of @avangarkz talked to @BanksEsports about whether his ‘team work’ tweet was aimed at Vitality and Zywoo following quarter-final win at the #BerlinMajor. Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/ehll0yi1ZQ — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 5, 2019 Interview with Dupreeh after the quarter-finals “We feel at home in the major” @dupreehCSGO tells @getfrank about @astralisgg‘s opportunity to make #CSGO history at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/lzDIJwGRbG — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 6, 2019 Thorin on Avangar vs Renegades before the semi-finals ? @Thooorin predicts @avangarkz vs @Renegades ahead of semi-final clash at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/47X4AvTPK1 — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 7, 2019 Thorin on Astralis vs NRG before the semi-finals “I think they will win the major if they win this match”@Thooorin reveals his favorite to win the epic @astralisgg vs @NRGgg #BerlinMajor semi-final. Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/g5zCBPPVBD — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 7, 2019 Interview with Dastan after the semi-finals “I feel like I’m a star”@avangarkz’s coach Dastan talks to @getfrank about the key plays that led his team into the #BerlinMajor grand final Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/BZdsJJ5bjp — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 7, 2019 Interview with gla1ve after the semi-finals “There are different ways of preparing. Theirs is talking on interviews. Ours is actually preparing”@gla1ve_csgo talks to @getfrank about eliminating NRG at #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/qh2w1tHFox — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 7, 2019 Frankie talks about the grand final ? @getfrank talks about what she is looking forward to in the #BerlinMajor grand final between @avangarkz & @astralisgg Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/q82BXuK6He — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 7, 2019 Thorin on the biggest disappointment of the Major Who was the biggest disappointment of the #BerlinMajor 2019?@Thooorin gives his opinion ahead of today’s grand final! Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/OMEgf1XW3G — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 8, 2019 Thorin on the biggest surprise of the Major Who’s the biggest surprise of the #BerlinMajor 2019?@Thooorin reveals his pick ahead of @astralisgg vs @avangarkz grand final! Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/RUXKuCgwi9 — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 8, 2019 Thorin’s prediction for the final ? @Thooorin predicts today’s #BerlinMajor 2019 final between @astralisgg vs @avangarkz Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/9PfXqwwmmG — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 8, 2019 Interview with Magisk after winning the Major Recently crowned #BerlinMajor Champion with @astralisgg,@MagiskCS talks with @getfrank about his team overcoming adversities to make history. Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/kPZqchVTDz — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 8, 2019 Frankie wraps up the Berlin Major That’s a wrap for the #BerlinMajor 2019! Here’s our goodbye with @getfrank Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/UoWUe6jLRs — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 8, 2019 More StarLadder Berlin Major content G2 Esports CSGO coach explains bomb defuse fail at Berlin Major FaZe Clan’s NiKo apologizes for “embarrassing” performance at Berlin Major StarLadder Berlin CSGO Major Champions stage set as Legends concludes Images of apEX comforting former teammate kennyS after G2’s Berlin Major exit go viral Sean Gares explains why StarLadder Berlin Major has been “excellent” even with DMCA drama Vitality hires a bus to bring French fans to the Berlin Major HellRaisers bench their entire roster after early Berlin Major exit Banks notes s1mple’s surprising lack of confidence at the Berlin Major Stewie2K makes dev1ce rage in FPL game ahead of Berlin Major matchup Stewie2k’s Steam account hacked during CSGO Berlin Major playoffs CSGO analyst SPUNJ celebrates in style after Renegades upset at StarLadder Berlin major FaZe Clan’s NiKo destroys CSGO team with insane 1v5 clutch Images of a dejected aleskib go viral after ENCE’s Berlin major exit S1mple reveals his biggest weakness ahead of CSGO Berlin Major playoffs Renegades’ Jkaem reveals main reason for success at Berlin Major Vitality explain why NBK has been benched after Berlin Major exit Dupreeh reveals why Astralis chose Vertigo vs Liquid at CSGO Berlin Major CSGO star NAF shouts out Clayster after falling off map at Berlin Major Astralis make history with win at StarLadder Berlin Major – Final Placements Astralis’ Gla1ve takes shots at NRG after eliminating them at CSGO Berlin Major NBK takes shots at Team Vitality teammates after getting benched Astralis’ Magisk reveals identities of shirtless stage crashers at CSGO Berlin Major dev1ce breaks trophy at Berlin Major and his reaction is priceless Stuchiu: The opportunity cost of missing the Karrigan lottery Stuchiu: The Impact of FalleN, The Godfather of Brazilian Counter-Strike Stuchiu: TACO, Brazil’s most decorated CSGO player The story of the StarLadder Berlin Major: Astralis’ CSGO Hat-Trick Dexerto Documentaries The Berlin CS:GO Major Documentary ??? The Berlin CSGO Major Documentary: Hat-Trick Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsportshttps://t.co/3s3FtIzoQ5 — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 12, 2019 Fallen: Brazilian CS:GO’s Only Hope? ?? @FalleNCS: Brazilian CSGO’s Only Hope? ? Full Episode: https://t.co/GegtQX1fdA#ThisIsEsports w/@TeamRazer | A CSGO documentary pic.twitter.com/OfgSlHqyYl — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 15, 2019 TACO: The Sacrificial Lamb of CS:GO ?? @TACOCS: The Sacrifical Lamb of CSGO ? Full Episode: https://t.co/nDPefP7xz6#ThisIsEsports w/@TeamRazer | A CSGO documentary pic.twitter.com/mFy6K5IPi0 — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 18, 2019 The Cost of Missing Karrigan ?The Cost of Missing @karriganCSGO: A CSGO X Factor#ThisIsEsports w/@TeamRazer ?Watch Now: https://t.co/Mk8gwzid8A pic.twitter.com/SQHwVkSNOV — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 23, 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major New Champions Stage General Info Location: Mercedes-Benz Arena – Berlin, Germany – Dates: September 5th-8th, 2019 – Prize Pool: $1 million – Total Teams: 8 – New Champions Stage Rules and Format The New Champions stage used a single-elimination bracket. No double eliminations here, if you lose, you’re out. The seeding is based the teams’ scores from the New Legends stage, and teams with the same score were seeded based on their Final ELO rating from the New Legends stage. All playoff series were best-of-three matches. While only one team – Astralis – could lift the trophy, all eight playoff teams have now already confirmed their spot in the New Legends stage of the next major. You can check out who finished where and made how much money by visiting our Berlin Major Final Placements and Prize Split hub. StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 New Champions Stage – Schedule and Results The New Champions stage began on September 5th. Here you can view the bracket schedule and the final results. StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 New Champions Stage Schedule and Results Thursday, September 5, Day 1 Friday, September 6, Day 2 Saturday, September 7, Day 3 Sunday, September 8, Day 4 StarLadder Talent list StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 New Legends Stage – Schedule and Results The New Legends Stage is all wrapped up. Here you can view the full results and rankings from the second group stage of the major. StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 New Legends Stage Rankings StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 New Legends Stage Schedule and Results Wednesday, August 28, Day 1 Thursday, August 29, Day 2 Friday, August 30, Day 3 Saturday, August 31, Day 4 Sunday, September 1, Day 5 StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 New Challengers Stage schedule and results The New Challengers Stage is now complete, but if you missed any of the action, or are wondering how teams performed, you can view the full rankings, alongside every result, from the first week of competition. StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 New Challengers Stage results Friday, August 23, Day 1 Satruday, August 24, Day 2 Sunday, August 25, Day 3 Monday, August 26, Day 4

Stanislaw is letting EG down | Richard Lewis reacts at BLAST Global Finals BLAST Global Finals is already off to a head. There are some shining stars amongst the roster of teams competing in the event, but are some outliers holding some back? Evil Geniuses may be doing well in the LCS, but at BLAST Global Finals? Not so much. Richard Lewis reacts to EG’s sorry showing against a ‘mortal’ Astralis side at BLAST, dropping them down into the Lower Bracket. Lewis explains why he put too much expectation on Stanislaw and co. going into the tournament, and why the roster could be in trouble if they don’t pick up their game soon. Can they turn it around vs FURIA? Coming into 2021, Lewis believed that the dark horses of the event could very well have been Evil Geniuses. Their opponents in the form of Astralis have been humbled over the past seasons, too, with roster changes switching up how they approach their game, leaving them with gaps presenting opportunities for opposing teams to swoop in. So, theoretically, EG should have been able to slip by with a sneaky victory. This could have been a period of time wherein the team honed their tactics and showcased just what they were able to do. The potential for a rivalry with the likes of top talent Team Liquid is definitely there, but without winning a single game during BLAST’s Premier Fall Finals in October, this is looking much less likely. It’s fair to say Stanislaw has a lot to prove going forward, with a huge reputation as a talented in-game leader. For all CS:GO news and events, make sure to head over to our dedicated hub.

Stanislaw and ShahZaM Find Immediate Success With New Team Following Their Removal from OpTic Just days after their removal from OpTic Gaming, Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz and Shahzeeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan have joined a new team, gone unbeaten in official matches, and qualified for DreamHack Summer 2018. April has been a tough month for stanislaw and ShahZaM. The two North American players were rather unceremoniously released from the OpTic Gaming CS:GO team amid a storm of rumors and bad blood on April 24th. OpTic opted to go for a full Danish roster instead, bringing in Heroic’s benched AWP star, Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen, and in-game leader, Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer, to replace them along with former North coah Casper ‘ruggah’ Due to replace Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh. A number of comments made after the roster announcement made it clear that the North American side of the team had struggled to get along with the Danish contingent which resulted in a rift that the Danes believed could not be fixed. But it isn’t all doom and gloom for stanislaw and ShahZaM as they have already been picked up by compLexity Gaming and have seen instant success. In fact, they have already won their first three official matches, all in 2-0 fashion, against Mythic, eUnited, and Rogue in order to secure a spot at DreamHack Summer 2018. Check out the final moments from our #coLcs victory as we qualify for @DreamHack Summer! Great job @peterjarguz @ShahZaMk @dephh_csgo @ANDROIDX23 @yay_csgo @RonRamboKim @coLWarden! pic.twitter.com/rjt0PasJh9 — compLexity Gaming (@compLexity) April 30, 2018 Qualified for DH Sweden! I know it’s early but playing with these guys just feels incredible. Let’s go! #coLcs — 21 (@peterjarguz) April 30, 2018 The excellent result comes in spite of the fact that the team had not had any chance to practice since picking up the two former OpTic men. DreamHack Summer 2018 is due to take place in Jönköping, Sweden, from June 16th – 18th and will feature an impressive $100,000 prize pool. The compLexity players will be joined by the mixed European team of Imperial and six invitees that are yet to be announced. The compLexity Gaming CS:GO Roster now consists of: Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz – Shahzeeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan – Rory ‘dephh’ Jackson – Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker – Bradley ‘ANDROID-X23’ Fodor –

Staggering 0.3 per cent of CSGO players got a Diamond Coin for BLAST Paris Major ValveOnly 0.3 percent of CSGO players got a Diamond Coin in their Pick’ems for the 2023 Blast Paris Major, showing how many upsets there were in CSGO’s last Major. When it comes closer to Major season in CSGO, one of the most important things for a CS fan to discuss and debate over is their Pick’ems for the tournaments. Unlike other games, CSGO rewards fans who are able to predict the group stages and playoffs winners right with coins. And depending on your picks, you can either get Bronze, Silver, Gold or Diamond, and the better you do, the rarer the coin. The percentage of Diamond Coins earned is always indicative of how predictable a Major was. And it seemed that CSGO’s very last Major was filled with upsets. According to a blog post from Leetify, a total of 0.3 percent of players got a Diamond Coin from the BLAST Paris Major, with the majority of users obtaining Gold coins. They decided to omit Bronze coins. However, it wasn’t even the lowest percentage for a Major, with 2022’s IEM Rio only having 0.1 percent of players with a Diamond coin. 2021’s PGL Stockholm had the highest percentage of Diamond Coins at 57 percent. Only a select few CGSO players receive Diamond Coin for Blast Paris Major The abysmal percentage does tell the stories of the plethora of upsets during the Paris Major. As many probably saw their Diamond Coin dreams get crushed in the Legends stage, when Major favorites like G2, Navi, FURIA and ENCE were eliminated. And most did not peg underdogs like Apeks and GamerLegion to go as far as they did during the playoffs, thinking they were going to be stopped by the likes of Team Liquid and Heroic. So if you do have a Diamond Coin for the Paris Major Pick’ems, you should probably showcase it proudly in your Steam inventory for somehow managing to pick everything correctly.

SpunJ warns CSGO pros to dedicate more effort into their “brand value” ESL[jwplayer lb2OBWtT]Times have been tough. The world health crisis has forced the esports landscape to adapt, and beloved Counter-Strike: Global Offensive caster Chad ‘SPUNJ’ Burchill is imploring pro players to do the same. In an impassioned plea on HLTV.org’s ‘Confirmed’ podcast, SPUNJ veered a bit off the rails from the topic of events’ scheduling during the pandemic to get CSGO players to invest more time in developing their own “brand power” due to the strain of the time. “I’ve been talking to a lot of players and trying to get them to understand the situation,” he began, showing frustration from having dialogues with people that aren’t trying to optimize their “brand value.” To SPUNJ this could mean anything from getting better at interviews, amping up efforts in social media, expanding content to different platforms, and more. The problem is that as more events go offline, the more tournament organizers (TOs) have to elongate their competitions online to deliver on some metrics promised to sponsors at the beginning of the year – even considering the unexpected pandemic. “(If I’m an event sponsor, and the pandemic hits) there’s going to have to be renegotiation for what the value of my money is,” he said. With these extended events, they create more games between the same teams. While this wouldn’t be a problem if fans were genuinely invested in the matchups, the lack of initiative from pros to build up their profiles can make some of these matches pass without a beat. Burchill painted a picture of how everyone from TOs to the staff they employ have all taken a hit because of the times; and pro players are going to quickly feel the impacts next if they don’t adapt. “(Outside of a few exceptions, pro players) have zero (brand power). When you are not playing in an official game, you offer nothing to your organization,” SPUNJ said, noting that the offline era reduces players value to orgs (and sponsors/partners) since they can’t capitalize off of event signings, fan-meets, and the like to make metrics meet. “We can either pay you less, and have less tournaments; we can’t pay you the same amount of money for less value, we’re trying to find your value in (these times),” he said. “I don’t understand how in your 24-hour day, you can’t put enough time to balance your f**king life.” While he warns against burnout or creating mental health problems from a busy schedule, he wants pros to do their part in keeping the scene thriving during uncertain times – ultimately for their own sake.

Spunj & Stunna start GoFundMe for CSGO refs who caught cheating coaches Twitter: micha9_ / ESLCounter-Strike commentators and analysts Tres ‘Stunna’ Saranthus and Chad ‘Spunj’ Burchill have set up a fundraiser to pay back the grueling work put in by Michal Slowinski & Steve Dudenhoeffer to expose the use of a ‘coaching bug’ at professional tournaments. [jwplayer TyNHVfoS] As a result of their investigation, three coaches: MiBR’s dead, Heroic’s Hunden, and Hard Legion’s MechanoGun were all handed lengthy bans from playing or coaching in ESL and DreamHack tournaments. The coaches had been found to have exploited a spectator bug, that would allow them to view the game from a static, elevated position on the map, and possibly give their players information they wouldn’t otherwise have. To find the evidence necessary, freelance admin Slowinski trawled through thousands of demos (and used the standard CS:GO demo viewer, which is notoriously buggy), meticulously analyzing the coaches’ perspectives. This was thankless work – even more so when some of the fans of affected teams reacted on social media – so as a way of paying them back, Stunna and Spunj have set up a GoFundMe page, with a target of $10,000. The fundraiser is already halfway to its goal at the time of writing, only five hours after it was started. On Twitter, Burchill said, “without the hard work of Michal & Steven this problem could have become much more rampant.” These admins dedicated their own time, they were not paid or asked to do this. This was exclusively done due how seriously they take their jobs. — Chad Burchill (@SPUNJ) September 3, 2020 “This is a donation that is being taken in appreciation of the efforts of Michal Slowinski & Steve Dudenhoeffer as they spent countless hours reviewing game footage and spotting exploited mechanics of CS:GO.” The GoFundMe explains. “Most notably and recently, exposing several coaches for utilizing this bug and spending hundreds of hours in their pursuit. This sort of behavior should be rewarded as well as the hours of hard work put toward it.” ESL has also confirmed that they will compensate Michal for his work, and have spoken with him already.