Good kill.
Long smoke on the Xbox to hit that short position.
And Marko with a open and kill of the 75, Lexus these follows right up.
the C4 the CTs do not have a kit they have Julie to have boozey on low HP
oh he's gone now same story of Rio and to Ferry
it's the first shot that's a Q to go now shooting gallery in front of impops in the flash
damage converted yappies people known to be deadly need to trade here but not gonna happen
No scope from Maka, excellent round of him, three and a half kills.
If one smoke available, a Molotov and a Fuzi.
Now maybe a little bit too excited.
To some of the communication we've been talking about on the Astral side, they have Fuzi though.
He's so rocks on it.
And the third one again.
I'm afraid.
Seven and fourteen.
He's had a couple of good rounds.
Thankfully, that grenade, Hooksy, is spectacular.
The spraydown's not bad either, given the ace.
It's wild, how expensive.
It blocks a lot of my fangs.
Come on!
They gamble correctly. 20 seconds and Astralis hit the holdoff.
This could work for you. Just the first one of the defense.
We're down to 14 seconds. 3D Max, it's now or never.
If you want a chance to win the map, you've got to do this.
Hooksy picks up another kill, doubling up before he goes down.
One on one.
Foozie now four seconds left.
The compound, the bomb they have to find is going to hit the lounge.
Die!
Fuck you.
See?
Ah!
My turn's going to take a little peek in through the squeak door.
Kruveni just skidded some top of the heart, but spotted on the shuttle.
Kruveni descending down into the height, now pushing into lobby.
He turned around, there's an AK-47 available.
One player in A main, and Blitzkrieg just passed his crosshairs.
Extremely bad.
Kruveni did it!
Oh my god!
What is he doing right now, Kruveni?
That is a ridiculous amount of kills that he's picking up.
Smoke's gonna be more of his wall on that cross.
You at least get to fall back if your cemetery took a lot of damage.
Both rank is through and Xemio stepping right into it for some reason.
He's got down towards Jukes, here he comes.
Stepping up in the fight, fucking full on legs toward the double gore.
Jukes double gore.
And now we've got a 3v1.
So difficult.
Techno, if you get this down to what you want, no cemetery is left.
Bomb is being planted and Cobra Techno trying to race into a retake position.
He's going to charge once and piss him off, but how is Techno coming away with a double kill?
Now he doesn't bite, he doesn't peek on the first go here.
Techno moves under the wall, pulls Kripp at the end, and Techno goes back to that diffusel.
But there's no clue that Techno just outplayed him.
Techno going to wrap around the back.
B-Bomb players to come out and then Techno should be taking there's no problem.
He pulled off the knife as well.
Big some extra money Techno.
Four players going towards the B-Bomb so they're going to try it again for many.
He's going to be the lone.
Now last on the half here they come to Cobra.
Secondary on looking clean.
And Azera in the apartments having to shut down the AWP.
It's just perfect.
I'm right through you got the player that is at least a really strong set up here for
good aggressive.
You are clear.
No chance for him.
I was made up for it was such a beautiful 3k.
Even out from top ticket.
And we got over going.
Ahhhh.
Welcome to PGL Bucharest, it is Grand Finals Day and we're here to warm up the show and
pray for you for what to expect.
My name is Sam, I'll keep you company for this third place playoff and joining me we
We have Prof and Stryker and James, Prof, the whole event, you've had this like fun fact
moment.
So I'm going to share a fun fact with you.
It turns out that today, HLTV is older than almost every foot eSports player we're going
to see in the grand finals.
What, what a moment.
What I actually didn't even think about that.
And actually great, great moment for the two of us to be here on the desk.
What a, what a fantastic day, um, 24 years.
insane. Yeah, that's kind of crazy. It's a great celebrity picture there as well. Yeah, I'm kind of
shocked still that no one used it in a in a bad way, feels very, you know, well now it's out there
friends, go mad, Photoshop away, share it with us on X. It's a birthday celebration, right? We can
have a little bit of a fun time with that and meme it. But it is, it's incredible how much
this website brings to Counter-Stark to be fair. I'm gonna glaze you both up a little bit.
A bit of a glaze.
A little bit awkward.
Glaze session.
That's the truth.
I've said this to other broadcasters who come into the space, obviously working in other
games.
I was like, your life is so easy with HLTV when you do research.
Everything you need is there.
In other games, you actually have to sit and watch demos and write your own notes.
Some other games don't have demos, so shout out to Valve one time.
Well, there you go.
Okay, let's get into what we've seen so far.
been quite an interesting event. A lot of crazy moments have happened. Are you surprised by the
two teams that we're seeing in the Grand Finals, Astralis and Foots? I don't want to say surprised,
but there would be like not the first choice but the second choice. I think Astralis and Foots
of the first choices would be Mongols and in a parry vision, but definitely the young side of
Foots super exciting to watch, so happy to see them there and also for Astralis to finally
recover. Yeah, I mean for me they were kind of the first on my lips to think of
because Paris, Virginia and Mongols have obviously shown they can be a little bit volatile
and so I thought this was actually a really good chance for us to put from the beginning.
That's why we kind of put them as very realistic dark horses of the tournament
when we were talking about the, when we did our little tier list before the tournament was black.
So yeah, this, not that a big surprise, definitely would have been,
yeah, I definitely was going to be one of the four, a combination of one of the four at least.
Do you think Ford can do it in a best of five against Astralis?
I mean that's kind of the the issue with them the closing maybe not always the best
I think yesterday what we saw in the Mongols game showed a bit of confidence in that that regard because Mongols were in the driver's seat for
For that Mirage to force it to a third but foot manager close that out
May as a close the game before in earlier series
They're also showing that you know things maybe go bad against bait, but they keep their composure
They managed to close it out. So I'm I'm optimistic about the youngsters hopes both maps really
I was a bit surprised with that because even Yook, I think they were down 9-10 and and then end up pulling through so
Yeah, not exactly the their identity so far and but but it is a good sign going for the final
I think it also helps that it's not an arena, right? They have a very few arena games
In there in their back pocket. So then this in a studio environment there
They're getting there, right?
They're obviously been around on the top scene maybe for six months playing these top tournaments before that
There's all online, but they're getting enough reps in studios
And I think that's gonna be a bit of a positive factor
But it's always different with the trophy you walk in the studio. We saw it earlier
It's like okay
I want to lift that and it's gonna change maybe how you play a bit. It's a best of five grand final coming up
Obviously a straw list up against foot before that we have got 3d max playing Mongols for third place
But now we're gonna move on to HLTV
be unconfirmed and what we've decided to do is have a little bit of fun and go
through the event so far and hand out some awards not real awards there's
really nothing you just get a little high five and a thumbs up but let's get
straight into this now first up the the breakouts player award yeah I mean
there's only been probably one team that we'd be looking at for this award
that's focused. I think in this in this team it's it's Banjo that stood out the
most. He has been probably the most out of one going into this lineup most
experienced in Infanatic Academy but he had a really solid tournament
throughout and proved that he might be someone to look forward to and someone
for some big teams to look at. Yeah 100% agree I mean I had him as one of my
players to watch in in our little thing that we did before the
tournament alongside with him. I think there are some other worthy contenders
I think Klim had a couple of good games, another player that was on our lips for you know player to watch out for this tournament to see whether he has what it takes to
To step it up to the next level. I had also Davey and I think as much as you know, his final rating was fairly
Average it was like 103 or something. He had like four really big maps for for in a circle as well
So I think a lot of the players that we were looking at before the tournament actually delivered
Yeah, I mean Mattel also from focus was a was a good one
He had a great tournament to the last series against eyeballers wasn't really his strongest showing
I want to also get a give a shout out to another a Swedish offer
JW he had a great
A lot of people watching today probably never saw JW play on land
So, you know, this is a this is a moment for him to shine as well. Kerrigan's the highest rated player of the tournament
That's another edition who holds this in a strange place and the next award for me
I'm very excited because I think very very few times do we get an opportunity to make an e-sports gift
But once we get one it'll live on forever the crash outs award
I'm not gonna lie
I still wins after having seen it maybe 15 times because it's been on the replays every single day and all that so
That's obviously you jerk over since eyeballers, you know after getting eliminated not gonna lie
I have not I have not seen anything that bad in a long time. Oh
Oh my gosh, really rough. I haven't seen this angle before
I find it very funny that ZTR and Vol' just don't react at all
Obviously they're disappointed and they're going through their own thing about losing that game
That was the eyeballers obviously a game to go to the playoffs which would be huge for this team
That's together for like a month and a half maybe two months at this point, but yeah
I think my runners-up would be Nota and Zelo
They also had a few moments in the in the group stage when
and you could notice that television,
as much as they don't want to have these high expectations,
they also, they have won a tier one tournament this year
and they see themselves as a big team.
Nothing will beat that though.
That is a gift, that needs to be on social media,
that's going to be my response to so many things
that I'm moving forward.
Let's move on, the Overcook Award.
How are we doing on this one?
Well, I mean, this is a special one.
There's maybe a few moments that you could think back to
that a player overcooked,
this one goes to Blitz from yesterday. He is a very special player and he will get in these
situations where he can you know resolve the round in his favor. This is a 4v2, they managed to get
it as a 3v2. Blitz is here, he's hearing the guy come in, he doesn't get checked, he doesn't get
checked, he has opportunities waiting maybe for the right, that was not the right timing. That
was not the right timing. Then leaving 9-10 in the 1v3 ultimately it falls apart and this
This was 7-9, could have potentially been 10, 10-7, not 7-9.
Could have been 10-7 for Mongols on Mirage, could have been a different story.
Yeah, probably also a crash-out moment. I don't know, those guys don't really react too much, but I imagine he did in that moment.
That is going to haunt him. Do you know that he's going to bid every night reliving that moment, being like, I'm an idiot?
That is happening.
Well, it's one of those, I understand why you're waiting, because it is still a disadvantage situation.
The bomb is not planted for you as well, so you kind of want to get a double in that situation
But the moment of shooting despite you know you can wait, but then you could have waited a bit more maybe I don't know
Beeping also had one of those but you know, I still think this this one takes the crown more impactful
Yeah, okay, this one was I mean I think everyone's gonna have a strong opinion on this one
But the best play yes, they must there's so many different moments and depending on who you're a fan of
you're going to have a different opinion, but you two seem to have agreed on this one.
Yeah, I mean the shock moment I think even for Maxter himself, of course against the Stralis,
the one with three on ancient just had a really really amazing play we can see it now.
I mean this at this point you just thought it was it was completely over.
I just like I just like the reaction to be honest not even not even he can believe what just
happened. Honestly Maxter had a couple of moments in that in that game even on that
map and in the previous mirage as well he had that big big 4k that could have
also you know had had been a pretty good candidate if you didn't do that you know
the next map on the decider yeah I mean there was there was a few other like
910 had a 4k on the on the op on the a bomb site hooks even had a 4k on the
a bomb site of overpass belchanox eagle is maybe my second favorite a few early
kills and then that double on the B site of mirage that was that was an
insane one I'm still gonna use that one as a gift as well I've just
realize we're getting two from this tournament.
Yeah.
So many great social media moments.
Prof and I were in the trenches for this.
We lived through it together.
The Will It Ever End Award.
Yeah, I mean, this was always going
to go to just one game, the Mirage between Paravision
and Wild Card.
What a wild game.
I can still understand what I watched there.
It was the funniest thing was just bomb site hits
for 50 rounds on Mirage.
Practically no mid-control, you know at some point Wildcard did some stuff and they might I was like lurking around
But overall it was just like let's just execute on a bomb site that any split was not really working
It was it was it was vibes. I think it's like the fourth longest CS to competitive match as well
Yeah, yeah, yeah rec was in two of them
He was in the one the longest one when he was an M80 on a no one against fanatic
You know this guy is kind of cursed. I feel like if he's on the server
Be wary. Yeah, we were saying another award from that game
50 bomb award for four right yeah yeah I want to remember we had to go with the
bullet ever end because it was something we've all lived through and you had to
live through it as well okay this is the comeback award this there's been some
interesting moments throughout the tournament where we've seen teams come
back but there there is one that even they didn't believe they could do it
techno was shocked after that one the interview we saw after that I don't
know if you saw it but he was even he seemed kind of surprised by which
just happened. We actually got some insight out of it. Yeah.
For once. I mean, look, it's it doesn't it's not complete without
seeing what happened in the first half where everything was just
so good for paravision every call that Jane makes perfect, even
Anders was just going off about it. It's just like how how
how have they done this again and again. And the second
half starts the same way where Jane makes all the right
calls, and they still lose all the all the wrong rounds in
all the wrong ways to be honest. Yeah, fantastic. I
I mean, I don't think I've watched a lot of flawless T-side ancients.
I don't think I've ever watched a flawless T-side ancients.
I think Mongols have ever had a flawless T-side ancients before.
Again, another one to remember and then one that, you know, we can talk about the Blitz whiff in that round.
I think what happened there to Paravision is ten times worse because it was like a team-wide collapse
and in a situation where you also played so well.
You played so well or it wasn't like scrappy rounds that got you the lead.
You're just in complete control and felt like the better team, but yeah some magic happens
Well, this is the thing as well as I felt like if you look at that scoreline
You don't really understand if you're watching the game
But like you said that the first half James just looked so dominant calling against them their faces at halftime the Mongols looked
Defeated like they couldn't understand what was happening and then come the secret wasn't even like the Mongols were like doing anything
extraordinary they just somehow found this like sixth gear and off they went and you just saw the
facial changes with paravision was only like what what is actually happening here but you know what
they say a man can be destroyed but never defeated that sounds like a dream boat i'm not gonna like
that sounds like a dream but it's not but it's techno code oh okay yeah that that was a really
nice one i actually nicely done let's get into the final one best monologue and for me the
the highlight of the tournament so far.
I mean, we kind of went, well, maybe best interview,
but it was like it wasn't really an interview.
It didn't really do much, except say,
we would like Dastan to join us.
That was pretty much all we did here.
Fantastic, he just went off.
He went off, go off, King.
That's what I can say.
Dastan interviews are my favorite thing this year.
We've seen the rise of Paravizion.
I've always loved this guy,
even for dating back to the avant-garde days,
when obviously he was with,
with Jayme already at the start of the Berlin Major.
Yeah, it's just one of my favorites to listen to
and that was just another one of those examples.
I did love obviously when the show was over,
so many people sort of feeding back,
being like, that was a great interview.
And I just giggled the whole time
because I was like, we did nothing.
Like there was no interview to speak of.
We said hello and then he did the rest.
He's like, can I start?
My favorite is like, Sam is like,
oh, we have two questions for you.
Can I start?
He's like, okay, go on.
He didn't say can,
I'm actually, if I remember correctly,
he went, I will start.
He wasn't even up for negotiation.
And I'm so glad that he did that.
It was really, it was just really fun.
We've had some great moments
at PGL Bucharest.
I mean, I think people,
if they want, send us your, your awards.
That's always good to either a chat or Twitter.
Send us maybe your ideas for different categories.
Maybe you can touch on them later in the day
and in between maps or whatever.
So I also shout out to the PGL production
for like putting all the graphics together.
I'm sure they didn't expect us to like for a third place decider to go so hard in the prep, but yeah, that was that was fantastic
Let's talk about the games are coming up. There is that third place to cider. Obviously, you've seen all the action over the last few days. And now here we are 3D max up against the Mongols for that third place.
And, I mean, Stryker, we've spoken about this before.
We spoke about it a little bit yesterday in the evening,
and we'll talk about it now this idea that sometimes,
for a third-place decider, it is far more important
for one team than the other.
Yeah, it can be a very awkward match in that way,
whereas sometimes it doesn't matter to either team, right?
Where both of them are coming in big favourites,
they just failed the semi-finals, you know,
that it is a kind of a disappointment for them
to be in the third-place decider anyway, right?
And so they're coming into it a little bit down.
Sometimes it matters to both teams, like both of them are just coming into it underdogs,
losing the semi-finals, it's an extra match that they can play, get a little bit more playoffs experience in,
more importantly VRS points in.
And this is actually what is definitely the case for 3D Max, even though maybe not as much for Mongols,
it is two very different teams in terms of expectations that we have for them coming in.
3D Max was a team that had just missed the Major, obviously bombed out of some of these open lands,
not really doing so hot and then they come in here and they just tear up the place and
grab even a couple of big ups that's along the way, like the one against the Paris vision
in the group stage, you know, and then we are like, okay, this is the 3D Max that we
knew from late last year, you know, even early this year that they were getting some
good results in.
On the other side, among goals, a pretty big favorite, so heading into the tournament,
obviously, you know, one of the two teams that we saw as the most likely to win
it, and a team that finds itself number four on the VRS at the moment, you know,
So no real pressure on them to get a big result and to keep themselves in that position.
Can you explain for myself and pretty much everyone else, because no one understands how
VRS works, so for 3D Max they obviously, they beat ParaVision, that's a big upset that I'm
presuming will be good down the line.
If they beat Mongols as well, that puts them in a really good position when the points
readjust depending on how these two teams finish in the later.
The problem is like when are invites being handed out, right?
You want to be in the right position at the right time in the ranking.
And generally speaking, it's every two months or so, it's when a lot of invites get handed
out for a lot of tournaments.
And after the major invites have been handed out a few days ago, the next big thing is
like EWC in June.
So June 1st is the next big VRS cutoff date when you want to be good.
So essentially that's before the major starts.
So all of these tournaments in between are leading up to that point, essentially.
I do think it is important for them to be in a good position by June, you know,
before the major results come in, because that's the tournament that they will miss.
That's the tournament they will not be able to put any more ground in, in terms of the BRS rights.
They started this event at number 25 after the ordeal that they went through in the open lands.
Now they're about to be number 13 if they can win this tournament, which is kind of a big deal, you know.
for that, the WC, they obviously invite a lot of teams,
so it would have been kind of easy to get in regardless.
But otherwise, you know, it is a good starting off point
because they also have real, they also have CAC
before that comes for them to keep growing a little bit
and make sure that they don't get left out
in the second half of the season.
And also we talk about the VRS points
with the winnings also quite important.
And I mean, it is something that we don't really focus
on that often, but it's a good chunk of change
if you finish in third place.
Yeah, and I mean, especially if you're not going
for the major no sticker money for this season.
So you want to go and get as much as you can
from this tournament, right?
Yeah, it is a good 60,000 improvement.
If you look at both across the prize money
and the club reward that goes to
either the organization or the players themselves.
It's, you know, for these players,
it's not too little money.
It's a pretty good amount.
So now let's take a look at this matchup.
These two teams, Mongols, 3D Max,
they played each other a few times, right?
It's quite a silly match history to even see and have to go on HLTV and click like show more and then it's just like explodes with
10 series played since July 2024
1410 and maps and
64 and series for the Mongols not even like a crazy lead because obviously when this this head-to-head
Started models weren't really a crazy good team that they are right now. So I think that's
That's one thing that's for sure is that these teams know each other.
They know each other intricately in detail and the little things and the clutches and
stuff like that, that's where that's going to come to the fore.
Yeah, that's obvious from the history.
These two teams are actually some of the oldest in terms of cores out of all the
top teams that we see these days.
I think Mongols are a little over three years for the core and 3-max a little
over two years with at least four of these players actually
within gravity who was a little bit later to the other three guys who have been
in that team outside of Bisruta, of course, who is the
the earliest or the latest addition. So yeah, teams with a lot of history
between them. Let's take a look at the video now. How much of a role is this going to play?
Well, it could and it could not. I think overall the overlap between the maps is
pretty pretty high and I think for 3D Max is really hard to know like how good are they
on some maps because they are just so bad at the start of this year that they are just
bad across the map pool and in those situations that don't really like to go too much it's like
oh this map is bad because they lost they lost to everyone on every map for a period of time
but uh just looking at that I think inferno has always been a map that they like a lot
just like dust2. Funnily enough they banned dust2 second rotation this time around. Yeah I
thought there could actually be a nuke pick coming from mongols so c3 max to to ban
just to take it to Nuke, by the way, speaks to their faith in the map.
Inferno, I think, is more of a punish pick than anything else.
Obviously, historically, a good map for 3D Max, but recently,
they've been pretty up and down on it, and even more singles talking about it,
you know, that it was a map that they've had to fix their T sides on,
because that used to be where they were strong,
but not so much anymore in more recent times.
So that's probably the biggest surprise.
It's probably the ancient pick for me, to be honest,
because Mongols, as much as they had that comeback,
we were talking about against Paravision, it was not necessarily through some masterclass of a map
and otherwise the results on the map have been pretty dodgy. It is also a weakness for 3D mags
though, so I'm affecting a little bit of a slog for us on the second map. Do you have any fun facts
to close it off for us? I didn't prepare for the awards, didn't prepare for the fun facts.
My only fun fact is how interesting two players on these teams are and I think in Blitz and
and gravity.
Think they're both players that teams don't like playing against,
because if they're in their element, they're so annoying.
And I think Blitz is kind of more like a rat.
We saw that round earlier when he's behind enemy lines.
I think gravity is a chihuahua.
He's loud.
He trash talks.
He's just running around.
This is Mac 10.
He's just like, what the hell is this guy doing?
He's so annoying.
He's all over you.
But it's also hard to deal with that.
I think gravity is in no way like some star player.
And also, Blitz is also not in some great form,
but either of them in their right element,
in the right time, can be a nightmare to play against.
Andes, Henry, gravity at Chihuahua?
I'm trying to walk out of the two of us.
Who's the rat news at Chihuahua?
I think I'm the rat.
Maybe you're the Chihuahua.
What do you think?
Chihuahua, a lot of bark, something like that.
A lot of bites.
I think that's probably accurate, yeah?
Yeah.
I think being a rat in Counter-Shike
is a compliment, though.
Yeah, I think so.
It's not a bad thing.
This one's going to be interesting, Anders.
Yeah, like Stryker said, about $60,000 difference
in prize money.
I think it is significant.
Mongol is definitely the heavy favorites,
but 3D Max has been the surprise package of this tournament.
Not many people expected much coming into this,
but the fact they've made it to the third place playoff,
I think that's still exciting for them.
And I'm hoping the gravity does turn up today,
because I do really enjoy the Mac 10,
Rattiness, Chihuahuanus, whatever it was you want to
really want to enjoy.
No, I love it as well.
I think it's going to be exciting.
3D Max, no pressure maybe.
No pressure.
I think that's maybe a key detail here because going up against the Mongols
They can just play their game as it were. I think Mongols should be winning this to zero
But infernal be very indicative as to which way it's going whether we can see that
Ancient performance again when they get 10 rounds in a row on the T side
I don't think anyone will ever do that again, but for now ladies and gentlemen welcome to your third place to side a matchup
We've got a couple more games here a PGL book arrest
It's been a lot of fun a long tournament a lot of Counter-Strike and we will see 3d max starting on the T side
their map pick we have got a Molotov and a flashbang smoke and a couple of flashes
unlucky as well and aggression of course you're gonna see these players
bolster the wall today they're not gonna be holding back they're gonna be trying
to assert their dominance early on on the server. Bolster the wall counter strike
is my favorite so if you can promise me that Henry then I'm ready to go
Mimxenio he's certainly ready he's got the doolies here back up is behind
him but there's no flash to set him up it's gonna be all distalcin he's
immediately traded out 9-10. We're just about 7 bullets left, needs another headshot, needs to buy more time.
It's not going to happen. We suitable take him down instead, and the bomb's going to be planted here.
There's only two defenders. It was all on those Jules.
The Jules do not deliver this time. They are smoked off and there's still four players to deal with.
You've got no kits. The Mongols might be out of luck on this one.
Ganniko Brazera really, he's to buy some Wontas, but 3D Max being very disciplined, not giving anything away.
It looks like this one's all but done as we'll see them just look for exits at this stage
But the looks of things and there's try and lock them in they'll be forced by in the second round trying to save some Kevlar
We do say they have a CT kill as well for an extra three fifty dollars
I should say sure there it is so check them for okay. We'll find one just trying to lock them in contain
Running out of bullets here cobra Zera now trying to avoid the blast with a flashbang
But it will be resuited to drop him the suits have been surprised active the tournament as well
I think. Not a fresh face, not a new name, brought into this lineup to replace
body and he's actually looked very good indeed. The team seems somewhat
revitalized with him in the squad. Even after a bumpy star here in the group
stages, the fact they made it to the semi-finals, the fact they made it to
the third place decider, I think this has been a very successful tournament for
them in general. I mean they've taken down Bates and Paravision along the way.
That's pretty big achievement, even if Paravision look a bit shaky at the
moment like you gotta give them a lot of credit for that. So we've done MIBR which
I was surprised by. MIBR looked I think like one of the surprising teams of
this tournament and still they managed to overcome it. They did lose to Astralis
of course but I think at least they could have won Dust2 against Astralis.
That was on the cards for them there. They didn't make it work at the end.
We're not gonna be playing Dust2 today however so I think that's good news for 3D
Max to be honest. Inferno, Ancient and Nuke. Yes. As we said the 3D Max
yesterday I think it comes down to the first map. If you're not
winning inferno i think the mongols will have their wicked way with you on
ancient we saw they did the power version on their t-side and presumably
be starting on the t-side considering it's their map pick so you will you
work it out for you but it's a good start from the french got the 1-0 be
up against the force by now the snapping turtle the 5-7 waiting in
towards the B bombsite that's a bit of a B bombsite stack retake utility
deployed coverage error confirming there's no one at least past the
half wall, but we are grouping up to head back in that direction. How much utility have we got left here?
A lot. Quite a lot on the CT side, you're dead on. HG grenades, that one could be perfect.
Wow. Doesn't do crazy damage, but enough to soften them up on this.
That was going to be my point. It makes the SMGs a little bit more powerful,
meaning if I could end half a second earlier, which is a lot.
Yeah, true. So full B execution, we've got coffin smoke here, CT smoke,
God flashes to come through courtesy of XCC, Molotov going in as well, three Molotovs.
Absolute river of flames.
Another Ritchie already landed on them, they're already softened, they were before,
and here's Tecno on the other side.
Takes down gravity, Cobra on top!
What the fuck?
They have an infinite amount of bullets on the bomb site!
And Blitz will get the last one with a USP.
That was the slaughter, if I've ever seen one.
Absolutely true, and three players survive.
A full-on B execution where you haven't taken too much damage at the start, you've kind of thrown that one away.
The perfect smoke deployed just before they go in and they said they had a lot of utility and that one in the mouth of the bomb side completely shuts them down.
Sure, they pop it open when the first player goes down with nothing, then all of a sudden the smoke comes back up, you're running through one by one,
and it's seen that there was so much time, so much comfort, you've not time to dump all the bullets in your SMG and pull out the jewelies and still no one's looking at you.
That's a good point. Yeah, he just went unchecked forever
Now they thrown a deep smoke at the bottom of banana and they thrown a double incendiary to really clear this out
You can see there was fire everywhere at the bottom here
So they wanted to make sure that nobody from 3d max could get this control early on but for the Mongols
It's pretty good work
fighting back early on
Until 3d max they probably from their side they read that last smoke that goes down as the desperate attempt of a
Solo B player to try to hold on you think it is only going to be one person to the side
They stacked for the A bomb site which is not uncommon
Not the case though
The third round here. We're gonna see some utility towards top mid and deep towards library
And then they are gonna recommit towards banana, but
That's about good enough for blitz that was nowhere near good enough lucky gets to okay
They've got a smoke for spawn as well all of a sudden. This is favorable for 3D max comes down to 910
Is it go over to spam through the smoke or is his way for his teammates to arrive could be flashed through? Oh
My god, he's headshot him. Yeah, he is. It's a push through the smoke. The bombs not planted yet
It's getting a little bit weird out there
They're gonna go for the boost surely ecstasy is ready for this one
But no doesn't seem like they are double kill for 910 a little bit sloppy to be honest with you from the 3D max
Max can maphead deliver the goods, he's getting wild out there, Tech9 needs a double kill,
there's going to hunt him down knowing he's low, he's chipping away at him.
Good attempt from 3D Max to be fair, but the fact he won't anticipate the boost with that
sort of smoke is a little bit disappointing.
Especially because they actually picked up another one from someone dead in the sights,
they actually have even another smoke, so if they had anticipated it, they could
have kept smoking CT spawn forever.
And it's the only play that Mongrelson really brings to the table at this point.
You should be watching that and be ready for it.
I think they just forgot to consider that as an option. It was looking so promising as well sure double kill from techno 4k
But lucky finding fortune with the pistol as 910 as we said that boost shuts it all down
Yeah, lads you got to be aware of that boost no one even thinking it was a possibility
I cost them the round and with the plans we will have another partial buy available
I say that did they even get Kevlar? Let's just more of an eco and as they've got a upgraded pistols a few pieces of utility
but yeah, no Kevlar to speak up.
So should be a pretty convincing round for the Mongols.
Should being the operative word here.
You never know, NCS2, that's the beauty of this game.
Gotta be careful right now,
Blitz finding himself in a little trouble here in the back up.
There we go.
They have one more player inside, but they should know that.
They were flashes coming over.
They're gonna be aware that there's a third man on the bomb site,
They're not at all exceased just walking straight in and now the backup started to get a 10 a rem is shot for him
But over Sierra is the new guy under squad and must say I'm really taking a liking to him
Replacing sense who not easy, but I think I think he's really out there fighting every match
Yeah venomous round there from Cobra Zera. He has been very good. So especially on that secondary AWP
I would say he's looked very very impressive
Just if you're joining us, wondering what the hell's going on today.
We've got the grand final of course later on.
That's going to be a lot of fun.
The fact that we've got Futs and Astralis, I called it from day one, right?
I called Astralis, could have won this tournament.
You said Futs.
We both thought correct in a way.
In a way?
In a way, they both made it to the final.
So far, so good on our predictions.
This is the third and fourth place decider, which is actually quite significant for a
team like 3D Max who haven't made the major this time around.
That's important.
They need VRS points, right?
Yes.
there's a difference of $62,000 in terms of the difference
between third and fourth.
And that includes ClubShare to be fair,
but still significant amount of cash.
Like, normally, we're talking about, oh, there's $5,000
difference.
And these sort of players wouldn't care.
But $60,000, I think that's worth getting out of bed for.
I think even for the Mongols, right,
it's going to shape the storyline going into the major,
right?
Because there's a bit of a difference between finishing
third, you know, PGL Progress 2026,
or you look at the teams that were here with Volcker
and Colkness and a lot of the teams
that people had in notifications.
You can't even make the top three for the Mongols, people are going to say,
wow, how much of a chance?
I mean, they're in the third stage, I think, of the majors,
so they're going to be deep in there no matter what.
But still, you want to see them start to turn the ship around
and look more dangerous.
And this is a prime opportunity, I think, to do exactly that.
Double HE to the corner while we're talking.
Glitz is here, and even flashed.
He gets the kill.
Techno in the corner, though.
He's not going to have any backup here.
He has to get at least the first kill.
Yasuta goes down, but they keep trading it out.
And now it's a mad advantage here.
Oh my goodness!
Pandemonium in the B bomb site.
It was looking very promising there.
A 5 on 3 essentially for the Mongols.
Since Grenade do anything, it does max damage,
but not enough to take down gravity.
The bomb will be planted.
Vision for now for Cobra's error, but it's quickly removed.
3 on 2, and they're popping smokes open.
Now, spot a player towards the new boxes.
Can they do anything about it?
I don't think so, so...
Another smoke.
They're going for it. They're gonna flash through.
Well, that's what they're known for.
Group force gameplay normally with Mac 10s rushing be time and time again and managing to barge their way in towards our bomb site
even losing the first two kills there, but
910 maybe a little bit too keen to get involved he gets taken down through his smoke at the AWP
Could have been a valuable asset in the retake, but not gonna happen will take a tactical timeout
I assume for the Mongols who famously haven't really been taking them the last couple of tournaments without Mario behind them
But now it's going to be calming things down, their money is starting to run thin, but still
a buy available.
It's going to be Blitz on the MP9, they've got three rifles otherwise, and the reliable
910 AWP, which has been in unbelievably good form right now.
Who is your one player to watch?
You've got to pick just one here Henry, who's your favourite player?
Just one right now.
And it's difficult, quite a few to pick from.
Okay, on Inferno I would say Exorcise, I like the way he lurks on this map,
I think he is a very good reader of the game.
You can only see his teammates going in towards the B bomb site.
He'll be towards Boiler.
He'll be towards Top of Middle, backstabbing.
So on this particular map, I would say watch out for exorcism
on the T side especially.
Generally speaking though, 9-10 for me.
I don't think MZNEO is in the great form this tournament.
It hasn't been.
9-10 has been super consistent, super accurate.
Nothing like too flashy.
He's had some ridiculous moments
but in terms of just hitting the shots that really count
and winning your rounds,
9-10 I think is one of my favorite offers in the game.
That's a good answer.
I like that.
Well keep an eye on Exorcise as well as a nice little detail to hold on to.
Yeah on Inferno this is like Exorcise Masterclass, he's a really good lurker, got a great read of the game.
If you want to get fun with it as well, look out for Gravity.
When he gets that Mach 10 out and he gets in the zone, he's one of the few players in the scene that will have $10,000 on the T side bank account
and buy a Mach 10 and just be rushing banana. If you like to have fun, watch out for him.
Okay well they took a feat grenade at the beginning, another one lands on them, there's so low on health.
They love the B side.
They can still make this work though. One kill will do it. Blitz though.
He stomped them. What a mess that was.
Okay. It's not great.
Are you going in or not? You sent two players in and you got flashed.
That's your in-game leader's nightmare.
You've called for all five players to go into the B spawn site.
A smoke goes down, a couple get dropped.
You get flashed and everyone backpedals out.
Like are you in or are you out?
Because now you've lost the round either way.
You might as well have gone in and tried to get those trades.
and mose them down. Blitz with the double, this round's over. Gravity and Maka, too low, locked out. Go back to Teespawn.
Yeah, the only way you get back into this one is if there's some crazy mistake. When the smoke fades, if somebody from the Mongols peeks in,
Blitz is a little bit too careless, you kill him. Of course, yeah, you can get back in. They play really good Counter Strike,
they re-smoke it, that smoke's not going to inspire until it's too late to plant the bomb anyway.
So, yeah, nobody went through, they're just going to be waiting up here as the timer slowly
runs out.
I can't see them trying to run for this in the last 10 seconds.
Yeah, pretty sloppy round.
It was.
They love this B bombsite, but yeah, you either go over the trade to your dome, they opt
for the dome option that time and cost them the round.
Now they'll at least save the weapons, I suppose, so they'll save the AWP on Maka,
a couple of AKs, and we go 4-2.
Are they, could they be trying to sort of teach the Mongols
something about how much they love hitting B?
Like, could they be trying to pressure them
into defending B?
Condition them, I suppose?
Perhaps, we've commented a lot of 3D Max games.
They love a B rush, they love the B execution.
To better or for worse, they love the game.
They love the game and let's see if the Mac 10 comes out
and that's what I want to see going forward.
Show us the Mac 10 gravity.
Go on.
Yeah, and then some shit.
There it is.
Okay, we're in.
Let's go.
Okay, this is where things get spicy.
He does have a very unique quality.
There are just a couple of players in the world that somehow
they just find a way to make it work.
Even against the helmets, there's plenty of them,
actually on every player on the other side,
but said that's not really been known to stop gravity.
He can somehow make it work regardless.
Round number seven here.
It is pretty stuff for the Mongols right now.
They have some bank behind them.
It's a tremendous amount, but got a bit of money to work with.
Let's see, more of a default setup this time with 3D Max, checking out top mid, A-apartments
here, some of the work they didn't do earlier, they just kind of went for the B-bombsite,
but this time they want to test it out. Lucky, he sees at least one guy jumping back, which
close, could have fought the helmet there, trying to get the entry. Oh, I'm so excited
for this round. This is where it gets fun. Not as much pressure in the third
and fourth place playoff. Anything can and will happen.
And Xenia wants a slice of the action.
He's swinging towards middle and gravity strikes.
He's so ready.
Cobra Zero locked in the corner here.
You don't even really have to face this marker
if you don't want to.
The bomb is going to make its way across no matter what.
You could just grenade him and smoke him off.
Yeah, it's going to be a save here.
Techno and Cobra Zero are going to be forced back.
That was actually really cool.
I think fundamentally 3D Max, they took control of Banana
and then they waited for the Mongols to re-clear top mid,
which that is the normal approach from the CT side, right?
If the CTs lose banana control,
they normally at least want to know what's happening in top mid.
So pretty good read, I think, for 3D Max there.
Ready and waiting for that CT investigation
towards top and middle.
If the Max tend to open things up, of course it is.
Now or not, he'll make it work at close range
and it's a flawless round, at least for now,
as 3D Max fighting back on their map pick,
We're gonna go 4-3.
The...
For me at least.
The OG Mac 10 abuser is Chopper.
Yeah, that's fair.
And Rayback.
If you think about Inferno as well, maybe not a Mac 10, but an MP9, you think a Boomage?
That's true.
Yeah.
Jumping around in the sandbags, like every single round, like to the point where he's
actually throwing games, but he's still doing it.
Still doing it, yeah.
That is true.
I still love watching Boomage play.
It's quite fun.
He's still going.
Still going.
Well, we've got a 4-3 scoreline.
And at the moment, MC Neil's still not really getting active.
Maybe he don't need him just yet, but he's 1-4.
And I think what do you say is correct though?
Well, this is a guy that can really frag.
When he's playing his A-game, he's one of the scariest rifles in the world, it feels
like.
But we're not seeing it all the time, unfortunately.
I feel like he's kind of fallen off completely, like against Paravision, he was so quiet, right up until they needed it most of them.
To be fair on Ancient, on that streak of 10 rounds they had, he didn't really do anything until the last three rounds,
and there were three of the most important rounds, we got them over the line, but yeah, he's been a shadow of his form of self to be fair,
But let's see if gravity continued to thrive here opens things up. He'll get 9-10.
Let's fighting back. Tetra will join him.
Unadvantaged, but not for long.
Back to a 4-4.
That's great information. I think they know either they saw him jump or they heard the footsteps in that corner.
And Lucky manages to take him down. They didn't let him escape.
And now they have to take a little bit of a risk here. We say this all the time, but you're a man down on the CT side.
You always have to try and manufacture something.
And Oceania was the one to do it. Down the boiler steps.
Here's the grenade thrown out. I don't know if he could catch ecstasy at this stage.
They are going back to their favorite site on the map.
And actually it's being read. This could work.
There's an incendiary on Techno. He's over here. Cobra Zero is starting to get there.
With 30 seconds, that incendiary can really slow them down.
And an HE.
That's if they can read it.
an advantage for 3D Max, but they have struggled on the speed bomb site.
CobraZera ready and deployed the God Flash from the coffins.
It is so wishes.
He's just going to go for the rifle only approach.
They'll run right in front of him.
This is the first couple of bullets, but the second connect.
He's down to take the 4K now.
He's a step up now.
It's 10 seconds remaining.
Can he deny that plant?
Can they find the old important kill?
There's no chance to win it anymore.
Even with the timer being so low,
it will be the Mongols mopping them up
and extending their lead to five to three.
the money is still okay with 3D Max but another pretty underwhelming round they
had the man advantage yes contact play in towards B and it just felt too easy
there was no pressure towards a coffin position he wasn't blind he was a
molotov no one even checking it once techno for another names that soaks up
all the attention to 3D Max they immediately they're only looking at
this nobody cares about coffins at that point yeah shouldn't have the
utilities already do much of it a smoke CT spawn but just way too easy we'll
I see a 9-10 crack, things open.
They knew what that smoke meant.
That's a great read.
Oh, and now they're coming for him as well.
Flash around the corner, cover Siri.
He could feel the pressure trying to back on out.
MCNL.
Oh, he ran out of bullets.
I said he ran out of bullets, but he didn't even kill anyone.
Where did they go to begin with?
I feel like that spray, they were on top of each other.
Now Techno wants to bring it back,
but that's a great shot from his suitor.
And inside, over, he's finally managed to reload that from us.
He was running back trying to do that.
Okay.
It's going to be one of those games where we're just rushing every single round.
I love it.
We've got CTs pushing down middle, 3D Max rushing middle.
Everyone locking horns at the start of the round.
This is going to be a lot of fun here.
The pressure is off and the players can cook.
We are going to see 3D Max coming out on top on this particular encounter.
4 vs 1 and we saw 9-10 going for that second mid-pick,
but as you mentioned, they were well aware of it,
It's spamming the smoke, get an instant headshot on him, and it's going to be a one round game
here.
Five to four.
What's the money like?
It's pretty bad overall, Mongols.
That's not great.
Now, I wasn't paying attention to this part of the game yet, but when the CTs throw
that smoke for 9-10 to make the peep, if they only do it in a round that he does
it, it's a little bit more obvious.
Now, some of those smokes you'll throw every round no matter what.
I don't know if that's one of them.
Maybe we can start to look at a minimap a little bit just to kind of see how often
do they throw it.
suspicious if you don't do it for eight rounds straight and then suddenly oh here we go now
we're throwing them in smoke. Yeah it's a very good point. They've thrown it a couple of times
but this one yeah very aware of the prospect of 9-10 going for that second mid-pick. 3D Max
taking their advantage of running with it straight up middle and the Max 10 is out once again
and this is gravity's a bread and butter. But again they could have fought something else.
They didn't have to play with the accent.
But he absolutely loves it.
He's gone helmet-wise. Four players of our helmets, so yeah.
Perfect weapon for the job. Suits his play style.
No longer the in-game lead-up. It's back to Maka.
With that responsibility, his team has had a pretty wonderful 2026.
At one point, we're known as the gatekeepers of Tier 1.
Denying playoff spots, always getting to the quarter-finals.
really doing much more than that but always getting those up several results
seems like it seemed that would have been a lock-in for the major in the past
right for sure maybe a wake-up call but it didn't make it this time as we get
aggressive once more at Texas East I said to watch out for him in his lux but
this time he goes and by himself lovely grenade lands in the face of gravity
sends him crashing back to earth and the helmet is on the side of the
map blitz this year makes it a little bit more difficult but the rest of
Maybe gravity could find him. He's first in charging through techno again on check
I put the box just throwing them down three kills
I guess they checked gravity try to take him down, but nobody else did you really need gravity to get it opener
If he doesn't we've seen that outcome a couple of times now running through the smoke one by one flashed and
Looks again. There's two comfortable. Where's the Molotov for the first oranges?
How can they keep playing that position and going unchecked and having just open?
Open run at the wrong site, like it's not blind, it's not Molotov bomb, it's not enough pressure
Give us some T-Rex that will actually stand the entire team in the smoke
And then just underhand-fashioned go through, obviously it's risky in a different way because the CTs can just spam it
But I feel like the one at a time approach here is a bit rough
I thought you just have to...
Let's start Molotov-ing first Oranges
Okay, that's enough
That would be my advice, he's killed you four times there now
That's that's stop washing their position out. Perhaps you make a good point. I I appreciate that
We'll see if they can
Figure it out or if they can have another good opening like they did against nine ten in the middle because 3d max
Themselves are running low on money now. It's a messy game, but it's an entertaining one
That's why this is this is not high level CSC seeing right now
But it's been the theme for a lot of the games we've been covering this you and I Henry
Yes, it's been really fun like we've been the entertainment level for an all-time high
a lot of mess between obviously you know paravision against Mongols on ancient
sure but it was great fun. The entertainment is there but Mongols again that B bomb site
we've saw it from the POV and you know blind you know dancing around flames like
that you've done something fundamentally incorrect on the T side there and you
had the advantage it was you the one the previous round and you were the one
applying the financial pressure you even buying a Mac 10 when you had more
enough money for an AK. That's what you were up. You've given over four AKs to the outside.
However you've not flushed out those key positions and why is no one aware of it? Either way,
we do go down to the partial by penultimate rounds here at the first half,
at the first map of our third fourth place playoff.
The utility being deployed towards the arch and the library from this spot.
Grenade could do significant damage, or it's going to do a lob.
Yeah, again. The utility damage here for the Mongols must be impressive.
I will check it with the Optimist round. I'm looking at the numbers right now, they are high.
There's your boy, Excese.
Yeah.
Getting like lurking around on the other side like you said.
He's one to watch and actually he comes through the smoke with a deagle and wins the fight against 9-10.
So that's impressive.
Yeah, this is his best map in my opinion.
Okay, well he's proving that in this round for sure.
That's such a high value kill, MCNEO.
We know we could do it. He hasn't been doing it, but we know that he can.
Now he's down at the pit, the grenade can land in front of him, makes him a bit uncomfortable.
He still comes up with one more kill down to the USP.
Looking for a 30, can't quite get it, but he's done a lot of damage.
Gravitee and Masuta both very low on health here, big advantage for the Mongols,
even if the bomb is planted right now.
Gravitee, you've got to dance around here, Masuta.
Can you get tagged in the south of the open?
They both go down Blitz, was covering that one line.
That's great communication for the Mongols.
Another convincing round there. Uncomfortable towards the end, couple of nice tech 9 kills.
It was exorcised there, opened things up and gave them that avenue of approach towards the A bombsite,
but overall it will be the Mongols retaking in style. Another couple of headshots going in their favour.
I feel like typically if you're the entry on banana you expect to get grenade down,
but I feel like a lot of these rounds for you Max, it's not just one person, it's like three or four of them.
Check in with the U2 damage. I told you it was going to be significant.
Blitz has 500 utility damage after 11 rounds of play, Techno 4K has 200 utility damage and
the highest on 3D Max is 78 exorcists and so yeah, 500 dude, he has been absolutely
owning them.
And what that says somewhere about the spacing of the 3D Max, like he's over there towards
B, he's like dumping that grenade behind the half wall and nailing the timing.
Here comes another grenade.
the knock-through damage to find some intel, and intel, he shall find. 5910, dropping lucky.
I'm unfortunate for him. And so we go into a 5 on 4, things are looking very good for
a huge lead on the CT side here. This map is still considered slightly T-sided,
not massively unders, but not a good scoreline for 3D maps on your pick to only get 4 rounds
here and further. Yeah, that's good context. Techno, I think it must be one of the better
players for the Mongols in this tournament. I feel like there's been a number of maps
that I can remember where Techno's been the one trying to really turn for his team.
Oh, there he comes.
What a laser shot.
He's had enough.
Yeah, he wants this round.
It's a two versus five and nine, 10 missing a shot that you actually have to try to miss, I think.
Gravity.
Did he find one inside of the smoke?
They are baiting out some shots there, hoping that someone's going to jump through.
But Exorcise is on a look.
I like the fact that he's living up to the role that you ascribed him earlier.
He's all the way in here now.
And that shot on the senior.
That was something special.
Or Rosira could get the better time at his gravity and that would be the bomb down.
This is the round. Okay.
They open it up.
Now there's just one player left and it's Blitz who's not really playing on the other side of the map.
So you're not going to be expecting him to be able to...
Oh, he's done it again.
He's actually missed the opportunity, but it could be a...
Oh!
down to the very last bullets on the desk. They gave him the overcoat award where he was
in towards a mirage position and cost him the game. Essentially, I thought he'd done it
again five before he had the chance to actually get the kill, but he makes up for it. It will
be the double and it will be eight rounds on the board here for the Mongols. And I'm
just going to check in with that. You till damage at the end. Did he get even higher
than before? No, we say 500 for Blitz. Um, but still, I don't know what the records
are. I don't know how that works. I don't think we really track it too much
utility damage, but for me that's one of the best CTs I've seen with the grenades.
B trans is out there, he's the guy.
He's the guy.
I feel like it's one of those things, considering the HLTV guys here as well, on the score bar,
I think it should track utility damage along with kills and deaths.
Gotta put that out there.
I think it should be tracked.
Yeah, I think it could be fun.
Let's put it on.
Okay.
You've made the executive decision.
Can you go in the green room after this and see if they can add it for the
next game?
I'll make them do it.
You'll make them do it.
Okay.
Like you know I am I'm gonna as we were to talk about like flashes and stuff, but I think utility damage
Yeah, I think I should be trapped they gave the star on the monologue of the event award and that is fair
But I just want to give a shout out to hook see okay. Why did some of those listeners he was
He's just telling everyone to stop freaking out up whining. Yeah, it's great
If I think that's that is very valuable advice. They are a team that's very exciting to watch one of their flaws
are still too emotional, they panic too much. If they can hold their nerve today, they are the
favourites going against Foots, IMO. I feel like they're a better team. Crazy opinion, but it's
I think it's close to a point you get right now, very hard to read. Masuta pushing in,
I love it. It's a ceases here, not fostered at all. Very dangerous fights,
Marka down the middle. I want to see more of Marka. He was shouting yesterday,
Calling Astralis bots. I want to see that kind of French Counter-Strike where they're yelling where they are excited
That's that's a fun part for me. What are you doing you effing bots?
That was good
Hopefully we get some good listen-ins as this one gets going the thing is Mongols are quite a subdued team
They don't really celebrate too much. No, and I think unless your opposition is giving it back in yelling 3d max won't be too rude today
They'll probably just be okay over the motions. They're not actually winning right now
So probably won't be giving too much shit on the other side
Yeah, take a special kind of person to trash talk when you're losing in their set. Yeah
Though you could try well speaking of losing it's currently a four on two in favor of 3d max
But anything can and will happen in the old game of Counter-Strike like this for ecstasy like if 30 seconds
This is nice, Molotov down. Forces to fire too.
Yeah, had to be a quick kill there though.
Yeah, let's try.
Try to hit him with a burst fire as well. We're down to 25 seconds.
I mean, it's still winnable, but now you need something truly special here.
Marker, just clean shots coming in.
Techno though, he's gonna take down XCC, he's 15 seconds.
Just wait for the backup to be there and it's lucky.
Hatching Techno as he's flying out of the apartments and I reload.
He's gonna get him killed every time.
Okay, 3D Max, that's a critical round.
it really is okay let's listen in let's hear the sound
that's a good plan it's one of the og plans okay he was quite calm when he said it though but
I like the plan now four rounds is all they get
Well
They're up to five now 3D max can operate
Yes, I'm just a victory
Ask the question in the first half you push behind it. They throw it down. They do push behind it
But it won't get the opening the utility is back even on the tea side here for the Mongols
Is they get the grenade kill on the shooter now make it a bit of a jump lucky you're alone here
If they all burst through even with Glocks and you only have the M4A1 you gotta be a bit careful Marko also taking a bit of risk
Yeah, 3d max really trying to get something working but a bit nervous. Okay, maybe they've stabilized this now
Gravity. Oh you say it's stable. It's anything but yeah
I would say yeah everything is going wrong at this stage and as this is the full eco
We've seen plenty of these go down here at PGL book arrest is this another Glock victory
It looks like it might be I don't think you got the HP doing think about it and a backstab from Cobre Zara
He's pretty much guaranteed to kill Mac, but he's showing some discipline here
Waits him for his opportunity wants to headshot and there it is. That's round table like a late game of Jenga Henry
Guess the final one the second one that was criminal
Well, there it is
There it is indeed. I can't believe that Anders. How many times are we going to see this at this tournament?
It was the Mongols against Paravision who lost to the Glocks twice on Dust2, if you remember.
Yes, true.
And now, dishing out that same punishment here.
Yeah.
Nothing really invested. Let's have a look at that again.
If one of those rounds is saying, okay, this one is a foregone conclusion,
but they bought a few H2 grenades, it is significant damage, they recover an MP9,
jumping kill comes in. I think you hit him on both jumps. Yeah.
That's just so bad. Oh, just when you said four rounds will be enough.
Just when I said it was stable. Yeah, you actually have to say that.
Oh, it's looking very stable out there, very comfortable.
All of a sudden, two clock kills, MP9s.
That's all we wanted to see here today in this third, fourth place playoff.
It's been an amazing tournament, lots of entertainment.
This is single even though, you know, you know, you can't make the grand finals obviously you can see you still lose a lot of
Confidence in the team in these kind of matches like 3d max losing a round like that
Even if the pressure is less that's still gonna be something you have to talk about later on say like what are we doing?
Like why are we losing these rounds because you're too over-aggressive you're trying to challenge you?
Well, why are you even at the car position? Yes, that's a good question. Why are you even there?
That's what I would like to know, but let's see if they can bounce back
Normally, just for context, you know you're up against Glocks, especially if you can hear
the Glocks in his non-technize.
Hold the bombsites.
Lock them out if you till Crossfire.
GG.
It was a very nice idea though, to be fair, to, what, triple HE towards the top of Banana.
That was pretty cool.
But still, I feel like you are giving them opportunities by being too aggressive and
going for your anti-ego kill.
I was trying to boost your own stats.
Play it by the book.
The full luck is going for here.
No double kill though.
I'm afraid of that 5-7.
Desert Eagle will have to do for Mach up 20 seconds. I mean, it still should be fine
But that is too much here unless he gets three kills on the 5-7 and something goes horribly wrong
One not even
You could even see I think techno was gonna check that like he has just gonna run up on the bomb
So overall those little details and even if you wanted to make the excuse and say well
They probably maybe they don't care it's a third place assider
I don't think that mentality works if you if you only care when you decide in your head
head that it's like oh this is a game that's really important to us I think
turn I think you should care about every game in some sense might be difficult to
do my critique a little bit more but 3d max I don't think they have the luxury
I think this is a prime opportunity right now for them to stop these
mistakes from happening at all don't don't let it creep into well maybe they
can offer up equal punishment with their D4 pistols and there's always a
world there's always a chance that's the beauty of Counter-Strike that any
Any round is technically possible to win.
Yes.
We've seen his boost from 3D Max before.
We went and had a look with this beautiful camera work last time.
This is what you're walking into.
It's not as scary as it might look because as soon as one goes in they normally find
two kills.
It never seems to actually do anything but it is cool to look at.
The idea is there.
It's obviously really funny if it does work out.
The Max 10 that they do have on the morals is on the other side.
They've missed the boost mode so something there might be a little bit preoccupied
worried about that but it seems to be more of a fake oh they're missing lots of
these things that's what are you doing throwing grenades all over the place
okay yeah like you said you're gonna go back pretty quick confirming there is a
big okay and then it's probably for the best you miss a utile maybe a bit more
tentative on your entry spots couple get the hell out of there cool boost
but it's all five players 3d max this has been the tournament of missed
You tell that's also I haven't seen anything quite like it in my all my 12 years of commentary
This tournament has had a lot. Yeah, I don't know what the cause of it is, but we've been tracking it all throughout talking about it
Giving up the DK
They definitely shouldn't either so just the one or two kills actually got one right again there on techno by the way is
nineteen and eight sold to the good tournament the very good tournament
yeah they win the pistol and that was supposed to be the beginning of a great
start to the second half here yeah there's not so more is enough now we get
them unfortunately you lose the full eco that probably they get you yeah I
that's it that round is becoming more and more tragic every single time now
because the triple H is a cool trick but really all it gives you is one
kill like you're sleeping was around yeah on any normal round just over aggressive over
confident not displaying good fundamental understanding of what you're up against there as soon as
this glocks confirmed tuck tail enable crossfires delay should be no way to lose it the facts
you've got close range and you give enough an mp9 as well allowed him to have a close
range fight he's got no kevlar yeah and you're having you're letting him have jump
fights towards the half-war like come on yeah we want more out of 3d max at the moment I mean
it's been entertaining of nothing else and that's what we're here for that's you know yes
you did want a bit more output from 3d max and they're not done yet there's definitely a chance
of a bit of a comeback here cc saddened for no they're my pick our last chance saloon though
loses round smack points Mongols nothing too crazy tactically just hitting
their shots it looks too comfortable on their CT side never flashed never Molotov
there just felt like it was going for the motions you give them targets they
hit just like that they will tell you head off and the suit up goes down with
nothing no damage inflicted never search a clean peak from Blitz he
prefires the crazy pre aims into the wall and just slides out well that's
That's the thing, Mongols are on a tactical team.
They're a brute force squad who stick together,
hit their headshots and are good in the mid rounds.
Yeah.
The best possible test of that statement
is that ancient game against Paris,
where Paris vision tactically demolished them
and then the Mongols mechanically demolished them
afterwards.
So nice little, not so much a fake,
but it's parking up the MZN for the luck towards middle,
keeping three CTs in that side of the map.
Let's see if the U2 will be deployed correctly.
I pretty got it is.
I don't think my heart can take it anymore.
Maka keeps in the round.
There's the lucky player going down.
Pretty much means you have to commit to this now.
The smokes have landed nicely.
Lucky, have you got any U2 to find and send them up there?
You do not, but you do have a smoke span
that's got in your favor.
The round is back on Anders.
Oh, Maka, surely not.
We've got them on man lead.
You're not trying to no scope them in the smoke.
I feel like we've got a truck from the retake here.
Gravity goes down before the gun is started to set it up.
It's gonna be XCC's coming in though with a Molotov in fact, so that's fun.
You can maybe throw that in and try and cause a bit of chaos.
I mean, you can throw it towards the sandbags, I suppose, and try and flush him out.
That's good, it's good to go out, but no one home.
Should be clean, kill for 9-10.
Should be round, should be in the operative ward.
They do not have a kit, they do not have Lucky, and now it's just the open mack out tries you might make.
You're not winning this one.
Yeah, already so far ticked.
They're hiding, which is exactly what they should be doing.
Very good work. Good off angle for 910 like you pointed out. Would you like a utility check-in? I would actually love that. Yes, okay
Hasn't really changed be honest of you. Take those up to 300 blitz 550
126 no one has broken a hundred utility damage on 3d max in the highest gear before his x-season 78
He's set on 78 so just down to utility alone
If the fact you all you think you haven't changed since you started the CT side when our six runs deep on the CT side
And you haven't really done any utility damage. Yeah kind of says it all
Like it's one of those maps where you should be doing most the damage before the kills with edgy grenades and incendiaries just like this
But the HG's this haven't been as effective
That's right on to
Sita hunted and killed in the corner.
They just landed one on top of the two top banana players there.
I've got three more to go with me though.
One by one we go.
One by one they fall.
That might be GG and those, I hate to say them.
I don't see anywhere around it.
They checked out it. They know there's not one in the bomb site.
They've already cleared it out.
They're just doing this for the fun right now.
Maybe you do only have one at the bottom.
You know there's at least one B, and you know A's clear.
Yeah, they've got the... I think they're just fighting a ton of it.
I think you could put your kids in the line.
You could say that it's going to be GG.
That is comprehensive. The Mongols take the first map.
Okay, so 3D Max comes into this. They pick Inferno,
and then they have nothing for the Mongols.
It seemed very easy for this Mongolian side.
They didn't put themselves in the best position to start both halves really, you know,
burning the pistol, but then losing the second round right after.
Also in ways that, you know, inadvisable, some kind of missed timings on pushes for the smoke,
this is kind of where it started. Now they got kind of shut down on the B-bombsite in general
by Techno and Cobra, we have the highlights coming in, and that was effectively the story
of the first half, and then second half on repeats, lose the second round, and then
Longo just come away with a very very straightforward one.
Yeah, I don't know is it checked out, is it just sloppy?
It's not like 3D Max plays some like perfect counter strike
that you could say like oh usually they would never make these mistakes
but it is like when you look at this that's a
that's a that's a gravity play right there running to a small
trying to farm some ecos and having everything fall apart.
I don't know I mean the the money wasn't on their side then you know
the banana control is harder they are getting
just smash their Blitz 500 utility damage if Henry was pointing out like that's
gonna make the B holds much easier but I definitely think T side the the anti
colesloppy and then after that was was hard I think the CT side they could have
come back but completely inexcusable way of losing that eco if you're if
you're seriously in the game and if they're really playing this seriously
that's inexcusable. I know we speak about 3D Max checking out but in the
We also spoke about how much more value they get from doing well in this matchup.
Well, they would get decent amount of value out of it.
It's more about it wouldn't be enough on its own.
They would still have to continue kind of this form.
Just this tournament alone isn't going to save their second half of the season.
There's still going to be a couple of tournaments that they would have to do well at.
So realistically, you know, not a massive impact, but it is something that will give you a little bit of an edge.
Yeah, I mean, between these two teams, they should definitely be the more motivated one.
But it seems like it was just comfortable technology we see here.
You'd say having a great tournament.
He's having an average tournament, but he had some really good maps, influential maps.
And this is again another one of them.
So what was Mongols doing right?
Dragging, shooting in the head, throwing nades.
I think delaying utility.
We saw here like the anti-equibat 3D Max Luz is just waiting around for too long.
And then there was a smoke on B and then the first second gun round is kind of the copy paste
It just feels like the same thing technolize on on the first boxes or cobra and then someone's coming through a smoke and
Killing them. It just feels like very much basic
Basic inferno stuff, you know 3D backs have more success towards a finding some pigs exercise
Did some good stuff. They're waiting for a mid aggression
So I don't want to say that they're like completely trolling the game because if you're like waiting for this mid-aggression with four people having a nice set up
Killing them going into the bomb site. It's not like you're that round at least wasn't trolling
So I think I think they are still in it. Just they were just worse
I also felt like they read the couple times that they were about to push through through smokes on the B bomb site
You know, they had three guys in both times that the 3d max went for that play, right?
I don't know whether that's prep or what it whether it's just a gamble that they went for in that moment
but it was something that made a big difference.
I think the cast mentioned it during the map,
Blitz on more than 500 ADR on the utility.
That's what Inferno is all about,
if you can get the utility damage in,
he had something like 10 assists
in the first like seven rounds of the game,
which is, yeah, if you get so much damage with Naze,
that's what's gonna happen.
It's gonna make it easier for OB guys to finish them off.
So that's definitely what they did, right?
But now we're looking at Mongol's map pick,
going to Ancient.
We were a little bit surprised that they pulled that one out,
But do you think the same sort of dominant performance is going to occur here?
I mean, I think they're ancient. A lot of it came down to Blitz and Mazinio not really being super great.
And I think this tournament, they're the two worst rated players.
But Mazinio didn't really do much to be honest on this map.
It was most of the action was towards B.
They can't really single them out as like he played poorly or something.
But his overall form is not that fantastic on ancient.
They're the A and mid defenders, and they are in a lot of action a lot of the time, so yeah, this time around, but it's looking much better.
I think it's something that I spoke about, even when they were playing the Paravision game.
They are not good on their T sides in that 10-0 run that they had against Paravision, it was a massive anomaly.
So for them to take this map, it was more of a punish against 3D mice who were also a bit struggling on the map.
It is one that they play quite a bit,
but just haven't found a lot of success on.
I don't see the same thing happening as we'll date it
against 3D Max, against Paravision.
But that was through actually Mazzinho coming alive,
kind of halfway through that half.
And he is kind of influential on the sides,
because he is the guy that eventually turns into
an entry in and goes into that A bomb site,
you know, as the Alark first in, you know,
and his aim can just overpower the bomb site
if he's on.
And that's sort of what we saw yesterday when they were running.
It was more towards B on that, not yesterday, two days ago.
It was more towards B in that game, but still, yeah.
For me, the player on 3A Max, that is kind of weird,
and I can't really quantify him as lucky.
You never remember a 20 bomb from Lucky, but there he is.
He's like the highest rated player,
aside from Masuda now that he came in.
He's in a lot of the key roles, rotating around,
but I always feel like he gets like one or two kills
the least impressive way that your brain just can't remember at all.
I think he's a part of when they are playing good, he is in his element.
I think the player that reminds me of most is like Hunter back in G2,
which is like always getting one or two kills and never looking too impressive
and then at the end of the year is like Hunter number 11 in the world.
It's like what did this guy even do?
I was thinking the same thing, because when you said it, I was like,
why am I bringing up Lucky?
And then as you spoke, I was like, ah, yes.
Like I actually agree because he is he plays a big role in the team
But we don't really pay that much or talk about him ever ever he met
Yeah, it's actually you never you never bring him up as a player to watch
But he is the a staple there for them that they need. Yeah
He when he was on the team with body it always felt like they kind of shared a lot of the the main
Rifler duties for a lot of the maps
Bansion was actually one of them
We saw lucky in med which is where you usually see more aggressive guys a play but lucky is more
you know put together more waiting for his for the right opportunities and things
like that he's not going to be the guy who's just like coming in into the smoke
like as as the T's are about to come out and things like that that was more
body you know when they were playing that side together and that's the
same on other maps you know so now he's kind of had to slot into some of
those roles on its own because Bessouda is also more of an anchor rather
than rather than the main aggressive rifle for for 3D max so it's
It's the focus is on him now.
Do you think it's going to be a 2-0?
I mean, Anders and Henry alluded to that.
They feel like Mongols can wrap this up.
Are you expecting the same?
I mean, I feel like it's a really rough start.
We know that 3D Max had some issues with mentality and chemistry
and belief and stuff like that.
And they were talking about how this tournament has
helped rebuild that.
The coach, Wussink, said about the whole major
qualification, the IGL change and everything and then they ended up failing.
He said that there are past demons we needed to deal with and we didn't deal
with them in time and apparently they have put them behind them.
You know, but I still feel like they have a lot to develop and they still
have to deal with that problem. I think after a first map like that, it's
going to be kind of hard. Yeah, I agree. I think that it was really, really
flat after, you know, fairly good starts. They just fell super flat and
it feels like it's kind of over.
I do think that I just struggle putting a lot of faith
in Mongols' ancients.
I really don't think that it's a very strong map for them
and it is more of a slog face between the two of them really.
So you can expect a slog face.
That's what Prof and Stryker are saying
and hopefully a little less one sided
than what we've just seen.
It is the third place playoff here at PGL Bucharest,
your current and razor before the grand final
later today with Astralis and Foots.
We're going to take a quick break and when we return, Henry and Andes have you covered.
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I
What's up Counter-Strike fans all across the globe.
You join us for the third place playoff here at PGO Booker S 2026.
It's the final day of a great tournament and you join us for the second map between
3D Max and the Mongols.
The first map-handers left a lot to be desired.
3D Max didn't really show up.
At some point, it felt like they were trolling
as Mongols ran over them 13-5.
They had that one big opportunity
winning the pistol in the second half,
and then they immediately threw it away
in a very literal fashion.
Yeah, it felt like gravity,
like trying to get the anti-Eco kills,
rushing down banana, pushing a smoke.
Like, kid, what are you doing?
You trying to throw this game?
It's not acceptable.
Like we said, it's a big difference
between the third and fourth here.
It's tough for nothing,
and 3D Max are not going to be the major.
They need everything they can get right now.
So not only is it Grand Finals Day here at PGO Book
Rest, it is a birthday, a special day for Pasha Biceps,
38 years young.
Shout out to one of the absolute kings of Counter-Strike.
Kind of crazy to think I'm the same age as him as well.
Makes me feel quite old.
Well, imagine how I feel, Henry.
What are you, what are you, 14?
14 now.
Yeah, dude.
Yeah, we have been around for a while,
but I wouldn't change a damn thing.
Hopefully 3D Mask can make some changes
as he enter the map pick of Mongols.
It is going to be ancient, I expect more of the same, because that T-Side star, that's what they did their best work against PowerVision 9, 3 down and 10 clean rounds in a row to win it.
Yeah, I still can't really comprehend what happened there, but we are into the action.
Gravity, front of the cave, it will be MCNEO on the other side here.
And in the middle, Lucky is looking to hold off anyone that might be showing up.
They are leaning the other way though, I think this is a bit of a fake right now.
MCNEO goes down, but the rest is happening at the A-bomb side.
Exorcise is already getting tagged up. He needs some backup luck. He's gonna be there with a donut
So he's not dead yet, and that's a great shot from lucky
They do need this this round here 3d max not a good start on inferno
Let's see if they can get up to something a little bit better here and start to make it work
Bomb isn't planted but exorcise wanted to see if he could run through now everyone's in donut
Oh, no.
Cut down to what is going on cobra, Sera. He's found two that's trying to run in
stacked on top of each other
And there's still no bomb plant happening.
Blitz gets that headshot and Lucky's now alone.
Oh five on three.
One smoke and they didn't want to be patient.
They wanted to push down and Cobra can't believe he was lucky.
He has about 300 damage and hits up two kills.
Zero chance for Lucky.
It was looking promising, very promising for a split second there.
Opening kills, denying the plant, and then we had Ecstasy's
tagged it on the bombsite staying alive.
He swings out trying to deny the plan, but Mongols will read them like a book, not a very good one.
It all started with his nice aggressive push from Gravities, you might expect.
Like I said, 5-3 at this stage.
XC is trying to deny the plan, fair enough he was large P, but then it has come one by one, and that was the story of Inferno.
It was, running through smokes one by one, and not taking their time.
An unfortunate smoke that comes down, but one that is suddenly punished as you have an A rush, and this round is already over.
An Amid Rush.
An Amid Rush, yeah.
Um, it's already 2-0.
pushing up behind them I kind of wish if they just waited a little bit here
Mongols it could have been a really funny fight but I think unfortunately
position yeah this is brutal especially with the galeel right yeah you have your
35 bullets they wouldn't really be checking it okay he's made a bit of a
meal of it she gets a little too still oh well you get four here we go not
really much to write her about I'm afraid needed a good start here 3d max and
you haven't got it but again they could have had it they could have done
Yeah, that's fair, true as opposed, can't argue with that.
But that just has to stop, like I said at the start, I think even if you're
fighting for a third place here, you know, we end up losing, but you give it your
all, you play like a really good game against the Mongols, but they're just
a better team. That's fine. But if you end up losing and you end up
throwing away some of these rounds, I mean, it's hard to justify.
Not happy.
Feels like this is Curtains already with 3D Max after their performance on
Inferno, I just don't have much hope for Ancient here.
It's all about the mechanics, all about the individual jewels, mid-round calls.
And this is where Mongols really do shine through the mats.
You have to really get going in this series so far in the back of the third place.
Bear in mind, there's a significant prize money difference.
$62,000 difference between third and fourth.
That's include club share to note, but still very significant chunk of change.
If you remember, my big criticism for the Mongols on the T-Sign was their fanfare to Blitz.
It's really bad at doing any kind of mid-entering,
but they switched that around against Paravision.
They just did it much later.
They said, we're not going to fight early.
We'll do it later, and we'll get more people to join.
We'll have Techno in there as well.
They just changed up their game plan, but I think it's great.
With the bonus situation here, we've
got a couple of Mac 10s at Galil as well.
M4's across the board pretty much.
3D Max got the world cut out for them.
Gravity locked in towards the cave.
I guess it tasted his own medicine.
And boy, is it ever bitter.
It's going to be an opening, Mach 10 kill.
Mach going to try and pick up the pieces.
Knowing damage is done, they're going to try
and retake this spot because there is that.
A dink, lots of damage.
Should be able to find him, surely.
The grenade's going to kill him.
Oh no, it's not.
How has he got away with another one?
I can't even believe that.
The grenade landed right out of range
and then he hits the headshot.
Okay, Moussuta's going to bring one back
and they're very low.
Both Cobra Zero and Techno here.
Lucky, I think it's the nearly boxed thing,
but there's a player behind them in the red room.
If Moussino turns around.
There's double kill here, though.
There might be, okay, it's a Mach 10 at range,
he's sticking to the job, bursting him down.
That's the bonus round picked up.
Yeah, I have no words.
It felt like that was way too easy again.
Go on, Henry, what would Moses say?
Moses would be looking at the other side of the coin.
He'd be saying that was unlucky.
Okay.
He'd be saying there's still gonna be a partial buy
going forward, the loss bonus is accumulating.
But yeah, just again,
so many 1v1 jewels that just fall apart.
it felt like for a moment now
we've got all that's what's happened
of the chance of a double kill
but actually set a flare in towards the red room
even with the Mk10 finds them a range
and they've got half of your pistols once more, three-zero
Reel's already falling off here for the French
Sacre bleu
That's the most French I've ever heard you speak
I said, I think I said whatever I say
I haven't heard one the other day, coup de gras
Oh yeah, right
building some phrases yeah very nice well this French team at the moment it's
not performing like they should in fact it feels like they've let go of kind of
a position they had at the world of one point looking like they could improve
always I think able to upset teams and a lot of team were farming them for
funny grenades and cool ideas but they're not working right now
Exorcise never seen somebody more flash than that. He was so confused
I think you see a more convincing round of Counter-Strike than this either
They have a clean sweep and nice masseuse to combine a double which he cannot
Surrounds down and it's gonna be 4-0 and
Gravity couldn't be much further removed from the situation himself will start to creep in towards CT spawn by
Leasing his logical conclusion
it is going to be a very strong start with the Mongols but maybe a tactical time
I require the eagle maximum loss bonus a chance to bring out the maca AWP if you
want to you don't have to but we'll see what the first real gun round has in
store for us because bear in mind they lost to the bonus run before and now
we've got all the bells and whistles everyone's got their AKs their M4s no
warps on the server but let's see if the Mongols can keep this pace going
Yeah, at this stage, they are all vibed out. They're having a great time, everyone fighting, but it's nice to get up.
Actually got softened off it, but lucky gets the opening.
It's cold with zero, it goes down first, and now they're pushing outside of the B bomb, so they're looking for a tech note.
Again, it's been a very good penalty.
The team just loves running around. They really do.
They could have walked right into the AK, and they're still taking a lot of damage, right?
So even if they have an advantage here, that's great, but Mishutra is at 42, 26 for Lucky, and 15 on Makka.
So all it takes is one mistake here, and you're right back in the depths here.
Well, it's the best chance they've had since the pistol where they had a 5 on 3 advantage.
It's now 4 on 3, but as you mentioned, very low health, but plenty of time to work with their Lucky.
Realizing that he might have to do something he'll be close towards the elbow and we'll be looking for a backstab here looking to find a timing
More misuse ill or unless maybe he's trying to flush out that position
I'll maybe give him the benefit that I didn't seem pro at but we are gonna be
Okay, that's good
Should a theory cement the round
nine ten
Take care of business
But took a little bit of damage and returned it down to 40 seconds
Start of the rotating through donuts and Blitz is walking. I mean in theory he could still walk in and shoot them in the back
Or they're actually gonna be the bomb back as well
So see if they can angle their way towards the site. The damage is still the thing that's a bit worrisome
For the 3d max side who are in desperate need of picking up rounds here on the CT side
It kind of has to be right now. Masuta is completely alone in towards B
He cannot overcommit that he's fine here. If he hasn't come in for the cave is 10 seconds remaining
Okay, well speaking of miss you till the mortal definitely didn't land that time
I'll tell you that my little what's going on this tournament, but they they were scrambling and there's a 10 seconds left
They still got the kill and they missed the utility and just shoot him in the face instead. It's really efficient
Exes sees walk it up here 9 10 could be a free kill. No one's looking for this
They're not expecting it and that's a good pick off and blitz solo on hell for you
He shouldn't be winning it there is an h you on ecstasy so if he goes a little bit of a longer fight
the Navy, but okay they're gonna get them instead get that bomb defuser right now they didn't have a kit so long fights there
It's not gonna be an option, but um, alright
3d max they pick up their first round. They suddenly do pretty convincing finish as well low HP in a few players got a little bit precarious there
Once I saw my suit to go down early with nothing but the two on two works in their favor
It's always ecstasy is lurking around the map go for this back stabs times a two perfection
brings it into a 2-1-1 and is converted cleanly.
But I need a lot more of that came from because you save two players,
you get $3,500 into the next so your finances will be stretched
as the Opel 910 comes out. This is the final form of the Mongols where they'll do their
best work.
There's a tactical timeout as well so we'll see what they've got in their sleeve. They love to
boost 910 up towards those B boxes
as we get ready
Round number six, give that 2-0, look for that third place.
Grand Final coming up later, our two favorite team,
you said you wanted to see Foot take the championship
behind Astralis, we've got them in the Grand Final.
I think that's going to be an happy fest of five.
I think that's going to be a lot of fun.
I think Foot will test them for the limits of their ability.
I do think Astralis are going to win,
but they are a team that can be very emotional,
very aggressive, they can freak out a lot,
but Foot's are not closers.
They're not used to a grand-final environment.
That's also true, yes.
The fact that it's best of five, yeah, I think we're locked in for some really fun counters right there.
I'm definitely going to be tuning in and having a great time with that one.
Techno, who would start to this one, but he will get shot in the backhand, so will gravity.
Oh, great to continue. It's actually not far off.
That could have been a headshot right through.
Oh yeah, Marker. That's a three on three now, and they're all locked on the other side here.
Let's see if we can actually escape.
Flash is over. Pretty good read, I think, for him to realize that if he just tries to run away, he could get a shot down.
There's a minute on the clock. It's a three on three. It's another one of the better-looking ones on 3D Max here.
Exescease.
They have a sm- If they smoke him off at the donut here, he has an incendiary that could really slow down the bomb plant.
He's gonna hear them.
Okay, they're not trying to be quiet. They're plenty of time. I don't know why they're running that hard.
Flash is going in. Is there gonna be a smoke for that donut position or are they just gonna fight it?
to find it. I guess they could do that too. Very deep on it. Let's see if he can actually
get the incendiary out to try and stop it. Oh. It's a really good idea. I think that's
a solid idea for Rengar's team. You've given up your position. They now know you're definitely
there on the other side. So that's one player tagged. Named plays it towards the donor
position. We've got a bit of a backstab coming in. No, that's a bit of a second player
towards donor. They have got kits. But what's the move there? I don't know for
I'm sure this AWP for 9-10 is a bit of an issue.
They've got one flash or an exorcise.
If they want to try and flash him off the corner,
that's how you have to do it.
Didn't throw one yet.
It's a clean shot for 9-10.
Blitz will get the follow-up,
and Marker, I think, he is out of luck here.
Without any utility,
you're not going to get over the map of this position.
Oceño swings in, won't let him escape behind there,
and the Mongols, they win that one.
It was a three on four in favour of the Mongols,
and they end up winning the round as well,
but there was a moment there.
Aggressive as usual 3d max trying to assert the dominance towards that B ramp and cave position
Didn't come out on top and the jewels man advantage for the Mongols that they went in towards a made pretty light work of it
Smoke locked them out
Retake it just felt like they were just having to go for as they needed around didn't feel like there was any real
Chance of them picking around up at all. There was no smoke. There's no incendiary kits were there
But they were too late even when they did attempt the retake there
Just a very very easy round win for the Mongols in the end
No pressure applied another tactical time-out. I guess it's called by the French. Yes 3d max holding this one
So they're partial by territory and is
They're feeling really here is that for us to kind of have a different attitude towards 3d max
We need to see them win like five rounds in a row here. It has to be something really impressive
It can't be the odd round where it's kind of close
Okay, they want a 2v2 like I want to see like a whole string arounds and that's we're not getting a sense that they
Well, look at the kills there on the French side, they're not getting them anything.
They are known to be an aggressive team and these are the sort of rounds where you can full send it.
You go to 5-7s or MP9s out at lucky M4.
He's number one in the mini-maps, so we'll look at and see what his sort of play is going to be.
Volts up towards the Heaven, look at the spam damage here, but smoked off.
It's a T side smoke to remove that sort of vision, you have no idea as what's behind it.
They're trying to get some information there, pushing the B ramp and so they've confirmed the B is completely clear.
Yeah. The problem is to defend the A-bomb, so he got Maka with no grenades, half-elf and a 5-7.
Exorcise will join him, but he hasn't had much luck here from the donor.
Gonna be dropping a lock, smoke him to allow him to try and get out towards the bomb side,
but Molotov lands behind him, locks him in, hit that smoke as well.
And here we go, Maka. And then there's one kill, and I'm pretty sure that's the round.
It is, because they don't even have a flashbang.
I was gonna say maybe they could set up and, you know, flash away through the smokes that the cheese are gonna put down,
but they just don't have anything to get through, so they just have to walk away.
walk away yep to save that m4 another disappointing finish here good idea i
suppose clearing out the b lane but the topical for the mongols already decided
they were going towards a at the very start out of sport and yeah nothing
really collected here you leave with the hero m4 yeah i mean one of the one of
the benefits of the mongols at the start of that round is they're hearing all
the utility in the middle for 3d max so they know that there's a minimum two
maybe three players in in that CT mid and that's a you know you just keep walking to
be a bomb site you're gonna get there maybe before they rotate back some CT teams I guess
they will throw their utility and immediately run a donut just to to be sure to catch any kind
of a fast a play but this time it was perfectly timed again for the Mongols looking looking like
they're just positioned already to win that third place not bad I hate to say yeah it
this feels like it's already over we need 3d max to give us something else to
work with this issue right yeah this tea side this has been way too clean way too
comfortable another gun round first time with Mac is AWP it's a very capable
sniper no real aggression the CTs this time to be Cobra Zera negating the
initial wave of utility smokes down towards cave in the b-lane flashing
through here's a boost for Mac up looking towards those B doors but no
home they're already passed under towards a cave that's where gravity
defends. Mr. No SMG that takes grenade down to 78 points of health needs to be
very careful here. Two players towards going up. Maco he said his orb has to
be influential here. Defensive angle in towards our red room looking for anyone
creeping up would have to be a perfect headshot here. Looks like he will be
challenging. Well that's a headshot himself not too much damage through the
the wall. Nice work from Lucky, fortunate save the least. More of that whatever it takes
right now for 3D Max to start to get some rounds on the board and don't give it up now.
Nice on 3. 4 by CobraZera, XCC is going to come in and get one. They might not think
that there's another player that's stuck by it, so unlikely because you already got
two of those kills. I guess the bomb is in the middle so they don't really have
to go anywhere. Yeah, but you're waiting for CTs to rotate and try and bolster the
defense around that bomb. That's where MZ and EOS counts go right now. Okay.
gets a free kill here oh no what's the wrong way a mischievous you did turn
around he must have seen and he's aware of the cross cut a map coming in if he
walks into his cross there as well the round could be done yeah you're right
straight headshot against the map against us Maca gets us definitely seeing
the shadows all over the place but uh how smart is him senior can he drag in
somebody else maybe technical to take it the first peak 15 seconds to the
one versus two he's charging it in the flash is so good that he can't see a
Lucky with three kills. I mean it's not really sustainable
Living up to his name there lucky gets a double kill through the smoke like calculated spam
Don't get me wrong. They need a place towards middle
But it's not likely get to do that again firing off one mag into a smoking getting a double kill on full HP players
Have a look at it
That's why I said yeah fortunate for lucky still a nice spam. I
Used the word fortunate. I don't think it was lucky
Um, whatever, I still have communication with from the AWP in red.
Yes, he said there's two players making their way towards red, giving them a spam.
It's great, you get two, but is that sustainable to continue to win rounds here? I'm not so sure.
I'm going to continue with these late mid-takes.
You don't see them run through the smoke anymore into middle,
which again in past versions of this map they were a little bit more aggressive with,
but I don't mind the later mid-takes.
Seems to be working out for them.
9-10 boosted up on top here could be dangerous if you're peeking this on the CT side you just might not expect it, but
We're gonna give up on that as well
Marko back there
I think you're right. He has to be instrumental in this and he could be kind of a firing trail once you get up and going unfortunately
It's XC to take the peek and they are not gonna run in behind either so Marko can't even get that kind of a trade frag going
Patient play for 9-10
50 seconds, and they are bringing a bomb back to the CD spawn, and they're going to make
the way over to the B bomb site, which, unfortunately for 3D Max has no defense.
Out of the hole.
They're right there.
So when they go, presumably any second in, the Molotov-Down-Dought CD spawn really does
slow down rotations.
And you know there's two there at this point of running through smoke, and you can
We've got one player towards the short. The tips has to be Cobra as you're playing very well looking for a double not gonna find it
Round still off the now here. We're gonna see the author at 9 10 shining bright
Bomb has been planted all for Mac a spotted noted and his teammate lucky looks like they might be
Falling back of this one. What a shot that is from 9 10 known to hit the bangers and
Back down we go. It's gonna be Mongols finding their seventh round here
terms of loss bonus and is that they will be receiving $2900 into the next
rounds you have to save this AK to give yourself a nice buy to the next it will
be a buy won't be an eco or anything like that so they save the AK47 looks
that they probably will so four on four in theory but a completely empty bomb
site like you said those deep the deep utility to really slow it down I made
things so uncomfortable to try and retake again you have to go through
one by one one player trying to brave the flames and the smoke he gets dropped
you manage to trade Alcobra over there 9-10 starts hitting ridiculous shots the
wall bang on to Macca straight in the dome 7-2 already feels like enough
rounds here to finish this one off and get that bronze medal see if they can
keep it going other said though the money's okay on the CT side you'll
be making some concessions mainly with the helmets and some bits of
utility but you do have five rifles one of which is to save AK-47 in the
He's had the best moment so far I suppose with that double spray down through to smoke and he's going to be trying his luck towards A main this time.
We're going to get the timing right.
Is there another one?
That CT smoke went so deep by the way.
Maybe it does make a big difference this round.
They actually are for once going through a little bit earlier here the Mongols.
9-10, aggressing towards the red room.
That's scary with an AWP like that.
Now they have a man advantage.
Are they still going to be pushing this?
MCM is holding it.
If you give up a kill now you could end up losing the round again.
around again. You've got to be happening a lot. So careful against the Mongols in
these sort of positions. They are so mechanically gifted across the board.
You give them an inch, they will take a mile every single time. We're
minute on the clock as well. They can definitely make this work. Yeah, playing
it well on the city side to players both and kind of retake positions towards
the B bomb site. They've got full information towards they main. It
should be fine. Gravity though has not been playing exceptional CS this
particular man she's had some good games some good maps but currently three and
eight and alone into all to be bombs at his teammate the suit will be drawn in
the red room not a clean defense and that same Molotov is going to cause some
troubles it's gonna cost you seven seconds on the bomb a little smoke
on top of it at least they don't have that yeah so they will be able to hand
Ryan flash piggy this in a second but he's gonna happen I think he's coming
with a bit of a fight if he wins the fight against Corvus here then maybe
of an opportunity, MC Neo though, and now Techno on top and he's already backing out, so.
Well, I did say, you give them an opportunity to hit their shots, they're going to do it every
single time, the BD fence collapses with nothing, you're trying to hold a pixel gap and that's all
they need. Take down the first and sort of like that Molotov again. Molotov goes deep in CT,
seven seconds or you can't even retake and then you're just getting flashed off, picked
Bar one by one and three players if I have a four and three advantage ever 3d max and they don't get a single kill
You'll remember this Henry
Cuz this is not that much talk about this moment
We had another gravity back in source with a why Danish player Danish. Oh, yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah
I played against him many times. He's the is this CTO skybox now. Yeah, cool
It's gonna say I actually played against him a lot back in the day. Yeah
He's a good player, he was part of one of the best, those are the period where the Danes were the best nation and source.
We had some good ones, he was a really good player, yeah, fetish, from source.
Yeah, absolutely.
3k2?
3k2, yeah.
Anyone watching this stream probably never heard of any of these games, maybe even fetish, who played RCSGO as well.
But yeah, at one point the games were very, very good in that particular game and there
was terrible gravity.
Yeah, that's a nice boomer-rector for you from about 20 years ago.
There we go.
And when I was a pro player, well, you know, still, you're still out there, I'm just
saying.
Yeah, stuck in counter-sanction.
There, on the other side of the screen.
How are you?
Yes, indeed.
Here, the scoreline is 8-2-2 when you get the audio listeners out there and there's
not much to really report here.
The Mongols are going through the motions, they're doing everything correctly.
The firepower seems to be heavily on their side, even when it's somewhat closed like
a 4v3 or 3v4 or something like that, it's still Mongols coming out on top almost every single
time.
3D max of results, they don't have a lot of utility, they've got one smoke left in
this round with a minute and 20 seconds.
So everything is tough at the moment and we haven't really seen much from them at
all so far in the game.
But it all changes here Anders.
Okay.
This is where it turns around.
Full change of pace here.
A call out of spawn.
The old classic, a B execution.
Smoke long, smoke short, molots off the pillar.
Flashbangs going after.
And it should be a chance to spray them down for the smoke,
which to be fair, 3D makes me very good at getting killed
through smokes.
Yeah, we'll deem some of that right now.
That's what I'm hoping for.
They blow it open instead.
There you go.
Really good trick there.
Lucky, you will get the first one now.
Wrapping around.
Locker coming in for the cave.
He's going to get the one killed there.
that still slows them down quite a bit.
Bomb is planted finally.
We do have a defused kit as well as Misuta,
so they can take that time to set up this retake.
They've smoked off the ramp,
which is actually not gonna work.
9-10 is just pushed into the other side.
They have one kit.
They've got one kit, in fact,
and no more utility for the retake.
Trying to go through one at a time,
blitz, he sprays two of them down,
and now it's a one-on-one.
9-10 makes it look easy.
As he gets a double kill
and can't shoot it against gravity.
Close. Got to say that. It was close.
Unfortunately, 3D Max, it feels like they are done.
Two rounds on the board. They did not win the pistol. There was 0-4 down.
Managed to win one scrappy round. One more after that.
Round number 11 comes to 1 versus 1, but a clean finish there for 9-10.
Final round of the first half of the second map. Maybe the last map here in the series.
The bronze medal seems to be going back home to Mongolia.
Yeah, which given the teams in attendance,
a lot of people probably thought the Mongols
could do better than this, but at the end of the day,
you know, it's still not that bad
and they've got the firepower with them
and a bunch of teams just haven't been able
to stand up to that.
Gravity, inquisitive towards that B ramp once again.
Seems like he's aggressive every single round
this time he'll pay off.
Man advantage. Hasn't done too much with 3D Max time and time again. CobraZera using that until they push to be ramped.
Look at Makka.
Help himself to the cave. He can hear a lot of footsteps there. Makka is all the way in T spawn as well. Surely they pull this one off.
You say that when he was about to get shot in the back. In fact, he just parked himself there. It's interesting. Now CobraZera is on another flank.
Oh no, it's going to blow up in everything. There's the spray down on the first little bit sloppy grabs. Masuta goes down and now Makka is flanking still.
But, who's he actually gonna get there in 9-10?
He's done it once.
That's a bit out of a flang now.
They are all dead.
Oh!
14-4 and 9-10.
You said he was probably the player to watch overall
in this match, and he's certainly waking up on this one.
OK.
He'll get one.
But what does it really mean?
Not that much.
Honestly, if you had the kit, I'd say smoke it and go for it.
Without the kit, though, 10 seconds.
I don't think it's gonna happen.
They're quite far away.
So if you had the kit, I think he could have put some real pressure on Cobra Zero back there.
I don't think he was here for the goddamn time.
It's gonna be a headshot. Cobra Zero with the triple.
The Mongols finished a half-ten to two in their favor.
Well, we all know how damning that is for 3D Max.
They did not show up in the first half of their table.
It's another ten rounds for the T side of Ancient.
They saw it against Parapigin.
It's a tackle of Mongols going ten in a row to win it.
So it feels like a bit of a full-fledged conclusion.
be closing this one out it just begs the question whether it'll be a close game
maybe 30 minutes when a pistol and get a funeral but they could have won the
pistol on the first half yes so I don't know if that would have changed a ton of
things right now because it feels they'd look very flat but at least like even the
moments they have where they could spark something where there's something
that could be celebrated like you win the pistol on the have to think as well
and is the only round it really picked up was when they got two kills
through a smoke from donor like it wasn't like the old tactical master
glass they shut them down with a retake you know it's two clean kills for a smoke
and that's one of the only rounds they got. I think you've pointed out something
important though and we saw it on Inferno as well this whole time this one
at a time mentality like the spacing they're walking through the smoke just
kind of stumbling on top of each other or they're way too late like there's
something about the the timing of the coordination on this 3D Max team that
just is not working out right now. Second half will be coming up right
here 3d max now we've got some utility let's see what they do with it's leaning
towards the A side of the map okay a rush smokes down early all the
incendries brutal they have to run through yeah this afternoon through
that's gonna do that take a lot of damage for it but they find the opening
it's techno so it's probably worth it XC goes down that's just straight for the
smoke and there's a quick flank blitz is actually here with lightning speed
They might not see this coming
Yeah, you see they're looking, but they're not really thinking about it. There's one follow-up is there blitz ready
The chihuahua absolutely biting their heads off. Oh, that's crazy. Oh, man
Like the fact he takes his time of it as well in the USP so difficult to find those sort of sequences. Yeah
absolutely dominates them as a really nice a rush as well they had all the
smokes the utile out of spawn the flashes a great early bomb plant and then
we get this let's just take in his time gets himself a ridiculous little three
piece with the USP so well played so well played so calm of it as well he
was the chihuahua in the analogy I think gravity was the rats that yeah
Brian, Professor, the brothers up. No, no, Blitz was the rat.
Blitz is the rat. Yeah, the rat. Okay. You try. It was good though. I still liked it.
It was a 50% chance I was right, Henry. Still messed it up somehow.
Yeah, it's because the Mach 10 and running around, that's why gravity was the chihuahua.
Okay, well then, there we go. A little science experiment. Rats coming out on top of the moment.
techno and the rest it's hardly even worth pointing out it's fair but the
3d max have not even fought back on this map at all it's it's this is a force
thing this would be a free go no they went for it and got nothing at all
progress here with 16 girls well I came into the office today thinking you
know what I'm gonna give this game everything I've gone and is yeah of
course the last tournament I'm gonna cast for a while it's what we want to
do I've been on the road for three months you've been everywhere wanted
give this one the beans when it's here making an exciting game for the viewers
at home but unfortunately it has not delivered we have not got much to talk
about here it felt like 3d max just turned up and rolled over yeah that's
that's probably the best summary of this game to be honest we're a little bit
critical but to be honest they'd serve it if they're showing me mistakes there
they've had opportunities in multiple rounds on inferno and on this one to
do more maybe they don't win the thing is though it's the hardest round in
well to pick up we all know it that's true no one's ever one thirteen two there's
always something to be said yeah there's always a wacky play and here it
counts okay it's rated out it's pretty good still blitz though we'll get that
one that's the bomb locked in the middle now they can't even keep running
they have to go back and try and figure it out techno gets one and gravity alone
versus three he's found the first one but he has to commit to the fight so
sure smoke flash I don't hate the idea he comes bursting out of there
right underneath him. He's actually hiding, he's already dead. Blitz is just twang, I
don't know why he's being so cruel about it. Is he really gonna try and knife him in the
final round, Blitz? Ha ha ha, he's done it! 13-2, an absolute humiliation here for 3D Max.
Damn, that was nasty at the end. That was, that was very, very nasty.
No humiliation ritual needed, that was the game itself, through to be, uh...
Well, that's done, I guess.
That looked so checked out. I'm not gonna lie. That looked so checked out from 40 Max. I didn't expect that.
I mean, a lot of work from...
Look how dejected they look. I mean, that was rough.
That's kind of what we were talking about. As much as there's not too much to gain, there is something to lose in terms of the mentality
and the chemistry and the theme and the belief in the theme after this kind of a stomp.
You're not really, you're not in it at any point.
It didn't really look like a serious game and you see that they are a bit...
They are dead. I mean, they were affected by it.
Yeah, they definitely care. You can see that from the, yeah.
It's kind of crazy. I mean, to me, it kind of reads a little bit like...
they've run out of energy later into the tournament because obviously, you know,
by the time you lose the Sammy and you're technically out of the tournament,
the tournament, you know, you can't win the tournament anymore.
Subconsciously, that has to have an effect on you, regardless of what happens, right?
And these guys have been on a pretty long run.
They had to struggle through to get to the playoffs in the first place.
They had a couple of events coming into this, you know, that probably took a
lot out of them, if anything, we kind of expected it to be over earlier, right?
And it just feels like kind of an effect of that long schedule just
finally caught up to them.
Now that the pressure of them being able to perform was off.
I mean, bad news for them, they need to get on a plane and get to Rio as soon as possible, so playing a new tournament on Monday.
So I don't know how much they'll have time to rest or recover or reset from this kind of a stomping, askable thing that Mongol just handed there.
But this is the thing that you've said, this is the issue, right? So they now have to be straight away, they're going to be packing,
They've got to get on that plane. They've got to start traveling. You're feeling you saw what they were feeling
It was written clear on their faces. There's no real time for the reset
There's no there's no time to sort out any issues. There's gonna be a lot of the blame game happening
This is where it becomes really difficult for teams
And I do think this is where fans don't truly appreciate how rough that the schedule can be
On teams that are fighting to try and get VRS points and not fall off the rankings
Yeah, for sure. It was something that happened to 3DMAX before as well, I mean towards the end of last season
They were also in this position where once they reach actually this tournament in Bucharest this time
Last year in October
I think it was they were on a huge streak of events and it eventually it then ended up catching up with them
And it sort of what led into the beginning of this season
You know they lost a little bit of confidence towards the end of last season
and recovered it a little bit towards the end,
but didn't really do that great in Budapest either.
And then starting this season,
it's kind of been on the downturn.
So this is their first kind of return to form,
but it looks like the schedule's gonna catch up
to them again.
I think the Mongols are the perfect
enthysis of that, like their approach is like,
we'll show up to the tournament,
I am biggest tournament of the year outside of the majors,
like, well, we didn't really practice.
It's gonna show up and see what happens.
and they're like to take their time off.
They have now, I mean, they ended up now,
this tournament on a high third place finish,
I think not too bad for Mongols at the end of the day.
Lost the foot who might end up winning the trophy.
I would say my favorite.
And now they go on a little break before Astana.
Am I correct in saying that specifically for Mongols,
they are only lost to the two grand finalists.
This is true.
Yeah, they lost to Astralis and then.
The foot.
OK, so it's not so bad when you look at it that way.
And then you just annihilated 3D Max.
Mongols are with Pala right now.
So let's find out what they have to say.
Down on the floor with Techno of the Mongols.
Techno, congratulations.
You and the Mongols finish third here at PGL Bucharest.
Is third a finishing place that you're happy with?
I guess we should be happy about that,
because at least we won the last match.
Was it important to not finish in fourth?
Yeah, I said that, but as I said also before,
I hope we don't want to lose the rounds
and we kept losing the rounds,
so that's why we lost yesterday
and the fact that it could be a champion thing.
Absolutely. Talking rounds, let's talk a bit about the maps. By all accounts, this was a very strong 2-0 victory.
So you go into Inferno to start things off. 3D Max's map pick. 8 CT rounds. Why was that CT half so strong today, Techno?
I think we were just playing digitally today, I think. Like, very chill.
You know, it's the both teams playing for the third place and like
Kinda yesterday we got we both get got eliminated
mentality together, so today is the kind of chilly I think but also it's a completely match
that's
How we went well on the city side also to map techno you had a really good first map
20 to 9 did you just wake up on the right side of bed today why was your
performance so good on map one I don't know sometimes it's hard to know right
sometimes you're just clicking heads all right map to ancient yeah 13 to 10 t
rounds this side why was the tea side so successful for you guys on map to as
I said before we were all on our individual and we were better to be
guess. Yeah and I guess the final point Blitz finishing in all on a knife kill
how was that to watch? He always did that. All right well with that said I've
got to ask you what's next I think your next tournament is Astana. This is the
third place here in Bucharest set you up for that tournament? Yeah yeah we were
aiming to Astana now and the most important thing we need is now rest
and relax because we're almost one month and one month and a half we're in here at the Europe
the far from home the food everything's kind of you know the exhaustive tyrant
some kind of I have to say that yeah everything it's the game I have to say that we're so
So long time, far away home and playing Counter-Strike for almost every day, all we need is rest and yeah, that's all.
Well, Techno, congratulations once again on getting third place and hope you now have the rest and relaxation that you so need.
Anything else that you'd like to say to the fans at home before I let you go?
Thank you, bye.
Wicked, alright everybody, yep, Mongols finished third.
Well, we spoke about this with 3D Max, how tough it is on teams and obviously
technologists confirming that they've been on the road for a month and a half.
You want to go home at some point, especially when you are so far away and
I imagine you know European culture like he said even the food, not as great as
what he likes. He stopped himself from criticizing European food.
I mean it's just you know it's not really an objective thing. I mean there's
some objectivity about food but it's just whatever you're used to that's
That's what you like, that's what you're seeking out.
And yeah, they did EPL, obviously bootcamping
for the online phase, then going into the playoffs there,
then Rotterdam and now, you know, in Bucharest.
So that's a long, long run.
You said not so bad.
It feels like Mongols can't beat
the Asian miles allegations, to be honest,
because you're third place at the tournament,
lose to the two favorites of the event.
It's like Prof knew what he was talking about
when he dropped that line.
Okay, Jens, the grand finals is on the way, so really quick,
because obviously we're going to be saying goodbye to both of you.
How does this play out? Who takes it? Fodor Astralis?
Five maps over time in the end, and a long striples play.
Just spray down with them for A4.
Okay. That's it.
I've been on the foot train from the beginning, so I think it is them.
It's very interesting. Some of the other talents in different opinions.
You're going to hear from some other talent very soon.
obviously Dustin Blair will be with Richard here to get you ready for that
grand final which is on the way it should be starting at 5 p.m. local time so
quickly get some refreshments get some snacks because we got some banger
counter strike on the way. What is going on everybody and a welcome to Wingman
where we play Wingman with one of our wonderful CS pros and also have a
little chat and get to know them a little bit better today we are joined
by louse of foot great to have you here bro how you doing thank you for having me good let's
start focusing in on what we're here for the gaming this is the most important matchup of pgl
bukrain right yeah for win this with the 10 all right let's do it i'm nervous man you're gonna
have to carry hard right i've stuck to you tell me what to do yeah follow me oh sorry it's fine
this foot project man congrats it's going super well including now um what's that like
as an experience.
I mean, it's insane, right?
Because especially I've played for so many years already, right?
I've been since I'm 14 and now I'm 21.
Yeah.
So it's seven years already of playing pro, kind of.
Yeah.
So I mean, for me it's enough because it was a long road.
I got into a lot of stuff over the time and yeah.
But I'm happy, turned out good.
And I'm happy the guys gave me a chance
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah, you've been playing, it's funny because you've been playing for perhaps a longer time
than maybe some people realise.
In terms of the projects that you've been on before, what's your confidence in this
foot project?
Do you think it's the best project you've been involved in?
Yeah, by far.
Yeah.
Player-wise, management-wise, everything, it's much better.
And people know how to work, if I can call it like that.
I filled in the other situations and other teams we didn't have.
But it was needed, to be honest.
He's a monster.
I'm leading him.
He might be behind us more.
Look, I don't see Flash for you.
You're going to be...
Oh, OK.
Oh, I'm Flash.
Oh, he's behind me.
Sure.
Are you sure?
Yeah.
My bad, dude.
That's fine.
Endorse, you know.
I'm no problem.
But I wanted to ask something.
So when did you go pro?
Professionally speaking, my first team,
because I would call it professional just because like we were playing tournaments,
like we're playing for points, cup and stuff, but like we had a schedule and everything, right?
So I would call it professional team. Yeah. And it was when I was 14. It was like after six months,
I started playing CS. I met up with these guys through community servers as far as I remember,
if I'm not mistaken. And like all this much more order guys than me and they said I have
good talent and we make this team. What year was that? 2019. You guys have been playing
The scene has been more fleshed out, you add all these things together and it feels like people like you are created.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, it does make sense, but I think it's the same in everything.
The way I see it is the old players, right?
The 1.6 guys that made the transition into CSGO.
For them, it kind of applies. It's the same. They walked so we could run, right?
So I feel it's changed a lot from them, but it's because people are changing.
It's not only in CS, but it's everywhere in real life.
There is new changes everywhere, you know?
And I think CS is just another situation.
Yeah, you have this wiseness beyond your years, that's what I said before.
Do you see that in yourself?
Yes, but it's because I had...
That's the thing, you know?
Some people might call it crazy stuff I've done in my young years,
but I'm calling them teenagers, so everything is possible, right?
And I feel I grew up a lot from these situations
because honestly I do feel and people who know me
from my young age and who kind of kept in touch with me
over the years even when I fucked up, sorry for the iPhone.
I grew up a lot, because when I stopped playing CS, but when I started losing focus into CS,
I went on the real life side. I started doing everything that's possible out there, meeting
new people, chitchatting with people, getting into new places, doing sports, which I didn't
do before, and that kind of opened eyes a bit for me. I had this period of time
where in CS I was very bad but I got the edge in so many ways mentality and life
experiences in everywhere you can think of and I always said I'm blessed for the
path I had because I feel that what I've done in this 21 years of life I think
not many people did in 40 and it's with good sides and bad sides but that's
helped me a lot in my in my young years because now I'm feeling like a
30 year old man stuck in a 30 year old body. Well no to be clear as well
You still have young energy, but just the other stuff.
I mean, I have young energy in the game, because that's the thing.
Like, I have some very little to know people close to me, right?
I can count them on a finger hand.
How many close people I have to me, and they know me and your life.
I'm not as crazy as I used to be.
I like when I'm at home, I like to chill.
I like to do only sports, relax, spend time with my dogs,
with my girlfriend and not do anything else.
I like this chill side.
What are these sports you're getting up to in your spare time?
You've referenced sports multiple times.
Tell us about the sports you're doing and what kind of positive impact they have on you in your life.
I mean, I tried mountain biking, right?
Oh yeah.
But I realized, because especially in real life, I like to do a lot of energetic stuff, crazy stuff, right?
And basically, when I went with the bike,
basically when I went with the mountain bike, I kind of, like, I loved it.
I loved the single moment of it, but I realized it's pretty dangerous.
It's dude is crazy.
Yes, and then I had to stop because I realized with my craziness I would for sure break an
arm or a leg and then again it would put a stop to my career.
But now I'm doing as much as I can via ferrata.
You know, you know, you know, via ferrata.
I feel like I've heard is the thing with the harness and you have a helmet and you
have to climb up the mountains on a fixed line.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I know what you mean.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I feel like the mountain made me web who I am now, to be honest.
OK.
Because the struggles you found in the mountain,
and I went through hard weather like crazy storms
stuck in the middle of the mountain.
I had to go back five hours.
Then you're really scared for life.
Then the real stress kicks in.
And I feel after those, as I said, the real life situations
outside the room, outside the tournaments,
I feel they help me a lot.
That's why I have no pressure when we play, I don't feel any emotions because I do think that if you have real life experiences and we did enough in your life until one point, for me there is no way you can have this pressure on your mentally.
I don't see it possible and I think people who do it also, these kind of activities or like just knowing how to balance sports and career, they know what I mean.
It's very important and once you kind of unlock both sides, it's easier to work.
It's much easier.
Yeah, I mean, I completely agree with what you're saying.
I would guess that's something you'd recommend then to other young up-and-coming pros,
just people in general, to be doing some sort of physical activity.
As much support as they can.
I've not the best, like, doing sports and having good sleep and eating schedule.
I think it's the most important thing.
The advice of giving is timeless, it's ageless.
This applies to anybody of any age, any career.
And I do think that a lot of kids are not doing it right now.
And I don't want to see small kids go to what I want.
Because I know it takes a lot of strength, a lot of resilience,
and you have to be crazy in the head.
I do think so that if I was not crazy in the head how I am right now,
I wouldn't have continued things, yes.
especially in our seven months on the bench.
I do think a lot of people have dropped right there,
especially with the situations that have been going into my career.
But I just didn't.
It's just a mentality thing.
And I want to say this for everyone at home,
because I saw on Twitter also quite a lot of comments.
I feel people should be aware of what you sign up into
when you start playing professionals.
Yes, because everyone thinks you make a lot of money
and you travel and you don't do anything.
you just sit in front of the computer.
But that's the whole thing.
I think it's problematic.
I have people think this is easy because once they
get into a professional team and they don't do good results,
it's not going to end up at all.
And I think upcoming kids should prioritize food, sleep,
health, and relationships.
Like these four for me, these four
took me out of the slump, right?
Like, when I realised those are the most important things in someone's life, actually,
everything that thinks by itself.
And with that said, we're done.
This has been Wingmen with Lounge and Paola.
And Paola.
And, yeah, thank you to all of you at home for joining us, Lounge, anything else you want to say?
No.
Just go for it.
Much love, everybody, and peace.
Welcome back to PGL Bucharest and we're about to get into the grand final.
First off I'm going to say I have indeed caught the cold that has been slaying the pros one
by one.
So my voice will be a little bit scratchy and crackly will level out over the course
of the day.
Fortunately for me I've got two of the strongest soldiers.
A fellow man could have in broadcasting history.
We've of course got this Murray and Blair joining me today.
So super excited about this grand final mode out.
Oh yeah, I mean this is gonna be an absolute banger.
You got two teams that have been heating up
over the course of the year
that clash many times already.
But now they're doing it for the biggest match of all.
That is the Hoist of Trophy for the first time this year.
Yeah, especially if you look at Astralis as well,
for example, when was the last time
you hoisted a trophy of this caliber, right?
In 19.
Six years ago, Rich.
It's been such a long time.
And that was the all-time goat roster right there.
So it's been a very long time coming for the organization.
For Foot, a young up-and-coming team
was a surprise, a lot of us pleasantly.
If the Hoysa trophy over here is going to mean so much
to a team with average age, by the way, it's only 19.
Also, it's their first big international grand final
and their first time they will ever have played a best of five.
So it's going to be very interesting indeed
to see how it all shakes down.
Yeah, well, I mean, where they got their start
was Cluj Napoca.
And the good news is if you're a fan of the PGL Global
Tour, we will be going back to Cluj.
You can see there it is those are the official dates February the 11th of the 21st
We're gonna be back in the BT arena every time we've gone
It's been just an amazing experience for all of us here indeed
I mean obviously it's the site of the 2015 major
After 10 years we returned the clues and now we will do it yet again
So really really awesome the crowd there is always fantastic this past clues
We had pretty much all the top teams there by tally finally got their PGL title
was the biggest non-major from PGL in many many years and you'll see here on
your screen that it was just such a great time really for everyone and I can't
wait to return back there again. It's nice to have another you know prestige
city on the calendars we go after the wall of countless right? Yeah absolutely
and also you know a place where a lot of people wouldn't have thought about it.
I love the fact that PGL you know starting in the last couple of years
they've been built you know what let's not go for the usual cities let's
not go for the usual places let's go for Astana which was great last year
I'm sure it's going to be a bang for this year as well.
And again, just the fact that Cluj is becoming kind of like this go-to city and becoming an important part of the calendar.
I think it's just great stuff.
Yeah, I mean all the PG elements you've got Cluj now.
We got Dracula and Romania has really become a little counter strike, especially if you face.
You know, it is.
Sue catching strays.
Why not?
So anyway.
Hey, Kerrigan's number one player in the tournament.
Alright, I'm just saying, he may not be top either.
So let's set it up.
Let's do our level best.
Astralis versus Foots, no strangers to each other this much.
They've played each other what, like six teams?
Six times, sorry.
Yeah, I know it's six to six in maps.
So I think they played each other twice online in EPL,
and they played each other online in EPL,
also Cluj, and also Krakow.
I guess it was like five times in total, yes.
We got there in the end.
So let's do it then.
Yeah, I mean, this is going to be an awesome match.
I mean, when you look over at the foot side of things,
they haven't dropped a map since the first one they played, right?
They have won, you know, 10 straight since then, you know, some close games,
obviously some, you know, bruises and bumps along the way, but they always
fought and were always able to two go their way all the way to the grand
final. And they had one of the harder pass to do so. You know, when we
started this tournament, we said that, you know, you know, Paravision,
Mongols, these are some of the favorites to win the whole thing.
Foot, Astraus, those were kind of the next in line. Well, Foot's
already defeated two of those teams, right? They beat Paravision in the
group stage and they obviously took out Mongols yesterday, so they just
need to capture the third and final of the top four in this tournament to
get a trophy and what a better what you couldn't really ask for a better
environment to do it right you know we're in a studio we're not in front of
the big crowd you're in the same space have been playing all day long you're
up against a familiar opponent so this should be a good one. Yeah very
familiar opponent and just the fact that they picked up our vision of
convincing fashion data and even Mongols yesterday sure it was a bit of a
scrappy affair but they did punish the Mongols and if you saw Mongols today
they were just kicking ass but the fact that they were able to kind of
counter whatever place was throwing their way very impressive stuff and also
the individuals as well I feel like foot coming to this event have
They have looked better than Astralis.
Tiny, tiny little level altogether, but they look really good.
And for me, the most impressive thing has to be Cemetery, man.
This kid coming in, right? You come into this tournament,
if you had a point to one player and this team being like,
he might be a bit of a weak link.
He might be, you know, the one player,
because that's shining as much as the rest of his compatriots.
It has been Cemetery.
But so far, he's given into the nature of the TV as well.
You know, we can probably bring up the code very quickly
where he pointed out how he's like, you know,
once we beat some of these names, once we beat Maus,
you know, just a couple of weeks prior,
conference has really gone up as well.
So for me, him coming alive in the fashion he's done so far
against likes of Mongols, against likes of Paravision,
suddenly make the squid team even more dangerous than they
were just a couple of weeks prior.
I mean, it seems to be doing better at land.
Absolutely.
That's historically online.
Absolutely.
I mean, foot leveling up has been really fun to watch.
I mean, they kind of popped up last year at CAC,
and they had those upset wins against FaZe, which maybe
aren't considered upsets anymore these days.
But we saw them narrowly miss out on the playoffs
and crack out and Cluj, which
is a little bit devastating because they played some
really good games to get some top level opposition.
But EPL, they made their mark.
They had a top four finish there.
Now they come to this event with a chance
to do something even better.
And going back to the individuals
that Blais was speaking of, you know,
this team has always been prided on being able
to shoot hard and shoot fast.
You know, they're a very aggressive in-your-face team
and they have skilled players all across the board.
You know, Kerbini,
one of the best-fragging IGLs in the world right now.
He launched one of the best performing entries.
You know, and then, yeah,
Cemetery was kind of the one
that people had their microscope on,
kind of wondering if you would be able
to level up next to the rest of the team.
and he has this tournament.
I mean, going into that game against Mongols,
he was one of the top five rated players in the tournament,
had one rough map on that one,
it kind of knocked him down a bit,
but still really damn good.
And also just looking at this, right,
like coming into this as I was highlighting earlier,
0.97 rating is a primary offer,
not something to be super proud about.
And this is across the entire year, by the way, Rich.
I'm talking about Crycon,
I'm talking about Cluj,
I'm talking about, I'm sorry,
EPL and all these events.
And then this event,
they played against Paravision,
against Mongols,
against a close game against Bait,
inner circle and all these guys.
1.2 rated,
finding so much more better round swing moments,
and sure he might not be like crazy like how jokes has been so far some of
the other players on the other side like Yabbi and whatnot but he's more than
doing his job at the moment and that for me could be the deciding factor in this
match. I only dropped one map as well. Yeah. Only dropped one map. There are
sort of five match win streak that's the quote I was touching on after we
beat Maus again a lot of confidence now it's easier to play and you can see
it it's not just in empty words right here you can see it in the
surveys way more consistent way more confident as well which is something
you really need and again I want to highlight how young this place as
as judges only, what, like seven years of age,
symmetry is only 18 years of age.
He's such young players.
And the fact that they are ramping up
so convincingly against some of the best in the world,
it's super impressive.
Yeah, I mean, four of their players
are above a 1.1 rating.
Some of them are top rated players in the tournament.
And even Deemann stepped up this event.
I think Deemann was a guy who was really highly touted
at the end of last year when they first got on the map,
kind of settled down a little bit.
I feel like he kind of got overshadowed
by some of the others.
But this tournament, he's also been playing very, very well.
I mean, we're going to see the whole line up there.
I can't just look at the rate on the page.
It's actually unbelievable just how much firepower
they're getting in every single role on the server.
And they all have that same aggressive mentality.
They're all on the same page.
And when the CS is flowing right for them,
they're one of the most exciting teams to watch play.
We can highlight the game yesterday
with the Mongols as well.
I mean, like that was a really good clean win.
Yeah, and even though it got a little bit, you know,
close on a second map, for example,
some really good resiliency.
And the one critique you can get for foot
has been in their ascent so far this season. They have struggled to close out
certain games right when it comes out to games getting very tight coming to
overtime they have choked you can't deny that. But to do that against a team
like Mongols who seem to no show no nervous whatsoever yet being able to
close it out I think that's a real good sign in the right direction.
Speaking of some of that I mean Astralis let's look at the other end of
this because this is a team that had the easier end of the bracket no
excuse not to make the grand final nearly got too old by eyeballers
and got knocked out in the quarter finals. I will say things were a
bit better for them in the semi-final. They had a pretty decisive win against 3D Max to improve
and Javi, the man you just saw on your screen there is a number two right-of-play in the tournament,
your boy Karrigan up. Sampel size of two, Max. Give him the W's where you can, okay? Yeah,
the smaller W, K is going to take that, but no, I agree. Javi has been absolutely lights out so
far from his tournament. So is Stair. Yesterday Stair looked a little bit off, a little bit
in a couple of moments in the overpass where he really wasn't delivering, but I've seen enough
I'm sorry to know that he dragged him through the eyeball exactly right so he is consistent enough
I know he's gonna perform this guy seen a screen as well
He foes he has been such a hell of a pick of Henry said best pick up of the year thus far
There can be an argument to be made about that
But I really want to talk about one guy the giga chat hook see right because yesterday every day before we heard the coms
We heard we had a little bit of snippets of the comms happening this server and you could see how he's like when things aren't going
their way. He is a leader in a survey. He's not just an IGL. He's a captain of men and yesterday in
Overpass, man, he single-handedly dragged them kicking and screaming over the finish line.
This is why I've always said I feel like Hoogsy is better in these teams where there's no established
egos, younger players, more inexperience because in the relationship they have there,
he is the bad cop, Ruger is the good cop. Ruger is going to give you the gentle feedback.
Hoogsy is going to tell you in game this isn't good enough and we've heard that time and
time again through the listeners. Yeah, I think it's also this big that he's already had experience
you know running international teams right there. This is the big move for Astralis to move away
from being fully Danish to now bringing in Ryu, bringing in Fuzi, change the dynamic of the team
but they've really done well like a good debut at Crack Out of Finish top eight I thought,
third place at EPL. You know they've been going total to us from the best teams in the world
and delivering and you know I think Gabby's had a resurgence in form this year which has
has been huge. Susie has proven that he is really an odd prospect. And then Steyer was
already solid in the past, in my opinion, leveled up this year and done it in one of
the harder roles. He's got all the star CT positions. He's their main entry fragger,
very high yield one. And I mean, this team, you know, short of some of the playoff kind
of woes in this tournament has looked really sharp.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think you made a graphic as well, or you requested a graphic
as well. I was going to probably bring it up. I want to just highlight Longs
and longs in stair right when it comes to these star players they are the the
main pieces for these two teams right for me the most impressive thing about
stairs like just pointed out T side entries during all the hard work and
yet and that's a hard role by the way and no matter how you look at it but
even then he's able to maintain such a high rating such high impact throughout
the game oh look at how close these numbers are it's actually unreal how
well both these players performing what you have to remember as well as
This waltz was on bleed, not that long.
Shalakasad one time.
But yeah, no, 100%.
These two players have been,
I wouldn't say the rock, so to speak,
but more like the key star pieces for these two teams, right?
And it's just been so impressive for me,
the fact that Stare,
even when things were looking great,
like the last year, last couple of years,
I was still able to put great numbers
with some very uncomfortable roles, so to speak.
Coming into the star position,
I could see a lot of players struggling there,
but he's like, you know what?
I'm gonna show you the responsibility,
and I'm going to deliver it.
And with him giving that free, with that happening,
now you've allowed Yabi to get a bit of confidence as well,
fozy as well.
So he's been kind of like this talismanic figure
for this team, which honestly a couple of years ago,
you wouldn't have even thought about saying.
Yeah, I just think it's impressive
how often they're going for opening attempts
and then how successful they have been.
But also what's really been big is
some of the perimeter players for the teams, right?
So you're seeing Jugs there on the right hand side.
He's going up against Yabi,
who is the number two player in the tournament.
And again, both of these, I think, Juge is number three.
So they're very, very close in performance.
They play similar roles on the T side,
very different roles in the CT side though.
Juge's more of a true anchor.
Yabby has been allowed to have more star positions
in this configuration, which I think
is what's helped him perform a lot better
because he's been able to be more active.
But again, first best of five, four foot,
and the first real big grand final for them.
And this is where you're gonna get tested
on your stamina and how well you can play
a very long match.
This is one of those best of five matches where I really do see it going all the way,
of going the full distance, right?
Because no Anubis, no infamus, it's not going to be any shenanigans when it comes to the
bands.
It's not about the order in which the maps are going to be picked in, unless I'm very
much mistaken here.
If you're foot, you just go into Mirage, right?
This is a map, this is your whole map, you beat Mongols on yesterday, one of the
best teams on this particular map.
For Astralis, I think Ancient would be the right pick.
Show, they're almost choked against Eyeballers, but it's a map, the CD site especially.
They are the best CD site in this tournament thus far.
Foot on the other side are the best T-Site
in a tournament thus far.
So it's like a movable object and unstoppable force.
Slight pushback.
I think a shot should just get overpass and clicker.
You know, I wouldn't be opposed to something else,
but I just thought that is a map
that they have been so sharp on this year overall.
I think they just leave it as a decider.
I think that's going to be the final map, honestly.
I think as far as go for Nuke,
because the last time we played foot on Nuke,
they destroyed 13, 3 or 13, 2 or something
of that nature.
And yeah, there we go.
Nuke going to be coming out.
If I'm foot, you go with Dust 2, because even though Astralis looked good against
3D Max yesterday on Dust 2, it was still 3D Max.
And Overpass, I believe, is going to be decided.
There we go, Rich.
This one's going to be, I really feel it's going to be a five-man.
I like this order for Foot, bro.
I'm going to tell you that one real quick, because I don't think that Astralis gained
that much of an advantage with that ancient pick.
I think Foot's been really strong on ancient this year.
I don't think there's a clear winner on that one in my opinion.
I do think Foot is the clear, better team on Mirage.
Nuke, I think, yeah, maybe he's slightly to Astralis, but Foot's proven
can play at a high level yesterday and it's models and just generally throughout the year as well so
I like the order for flit. I feel ancient is going to come down to this right astralis is pick
they're going to starting in the t-side they have struggled on the t-side we've seen how
their series has rock solid probably the best in the tournament thus far but it's like how many
rounds can get on the t-side to get a little bit of buffer so your cd side can activate so I feel
I agree with you guys I think we're going to be pretty happy with the order of the maps
over here but it's completely dependent if astralis can get off to a good start on the t-side here
Yeah, seven and a O Astralis this year on ancient foot seven and three so very good records. There's a bit of big change though on foot before the last time they're putting into each other. During this tournament they debuted new CT positions.
It's now the main mid defender on this team and set a locks that actually move locks into a B bombsite anchor role
They put demon over in middle with juice
Which is kind of crazy because demon and Jews are normally anchor players and pretty much every single other CT side
So to see them being put in star mid positions and lots being that heavy firepower to anchor B
That's a big defensive pivot between now and the last time they're putting it to show us on this one
I'll pivot from getting your opinions to bring in a lot commentators and see what they think
Think oh Moses, excuse me
Who have you got winning this one?
I actually feel like Foot are going to win this one today.
I feel like they've been playing so well in this competition,
getting through all of their opponents relatively easily.
I feel like I'm really back in foot to take the next progression today.
Yeah, they're in a little bit of a heater.
I think they have a lot to prove.
Both these teams actually have a lot to prove.
I think a lot of this test is going to be mental more than anything.
You guys mentioned Foot playing in their first best of five,
the mental tenacity to stay in it.
If it does go deep, but for Astralis we hear there's listen-ins with Hooksy, right?
How many times he's got to get them refocused and kind of building towards the goal.
So I mean, if they get knocked off that,
that could be an issue.
There's cracks there.
Well, I'm looking forward to getting into it.
I like what Dustin was talking about,
about the mids change up in terms of the players.
Oh, yeah.
Playing in mid.
Juergens and Deeman,
I think it's such an important part of this map.
And it makes a lot of sense.
You put two of the heaviest hitters to try and deal with that mid aggression
that Astral is going to throw at them today.
I also like the idea of it going away from maybe your kind of standard roles
just because you feel like you need the improvement.
You need to change up somewhere.
So seeing if a player can adapt to a new position,
maybe a new philosophy in the way they play things.
things. Set piece towards the B bomb so it looks like at the moment there's some
decoys out maybe trying to bait out some utility none comes yet now the Nade will
come down deep. Our launchers jump spot, let me see Krabeni stepping out of the
cave going down to the B lane. Oh missed the Nade, not a great start. Not a great start, but
Astralis gonna be happy about getting into the site. Spokes are up, look at the plant, you're gonna chase down Krabeni inside of cave and it's a one for one.
Yabbi able to respond and that bomb plant is coming in now for Astralis.
All these dualies commit to that fight, not letting the land a shot.
Yavi has no HP, finally goes down.
Smokes have cleared as well, so the retake begins.
And now Hooksy just waits on default.
We got Fosy just bottom of the ramp, his teammate gone and started the site.
More pressure on the ramp holders, and they're just getting destroyed.
Stare at him what he can, but it's not enough.
And Fook gonna bring the energy after winning the pistol round.
Decided to play retake on that site, and it works out exactly as they would have liked.
Take a missed detail from Astralis there.
They spot the dualies peeking out cave who gets the information on them starting to cross
up to be ramp.
I think Astralis needed to have a little bit more focus on clearing out cave.
Once those smokes fade, as we all know, if you haven't taken control of cave as the T side,
there's nowhere in that bomb site to be safe.
And the retake begins, you got two players stuck on ramp, they can't pair up in any kind
of a fight.
So really well done from foot playing it passive and just kind of winning in the post
plant.
Richard was asking questions.
They did put some episodes on it.
I guess Cemetery just, I mean, Yabbi's left alone at the end of the fact.
You know Richard was asking about you know on ancients
Chance and you can see why you know you ask that question
Hasn't exactly been competitive a shot of one of 13 for 13 6 on ancient
But I think I've seen enough in this tournament to not feel as confident in Astralis is ancient
I think that eyeballers game in particular have some significant weaknesses. You know folks. He was asking guys
Are you trolling me? Yeah?
I mean certainly we've seen those out of the Astralis side definitely
I mean he's referenced a number of times specifically that eyeballer series
They play dropping the first map in that series having to come back into is really disappointed in how they played in that one
So yeah, we've seen the up-and-down nature and you add into it as well
Since the students have played each other so many times 12 maps so far in 2026 five series
There is that kind of like game within the game that you know
There's gonna be some adjustments are used to how these teams like to play. Oh look at the way foot's getting pulled
They have no information towards all they miss everything missed absolutely every time in that even demon has a look back into the
side, but they already got past his cross hat.
They haven't planted yet.
Good kill from Hooksie, necessary,
but now Foot realized what's going on.
They say, oh, OK, well, we definitely know it's a fake now.
And without planting that bomb, you're
not going to get another chance.
So Astralis missed the window of opportunity.
Now they've got to fight themselves back into the round.
Yeah, Stardust waiting on this big box.
Demon already moving out.
Some damage being done.
And Astralis, it looks like a missed opportunity.
They get themselves into the site.
They got the defenders to leave the bomb site.
Everything was going well on the leadout.
But yeah, just not being able to get that ball implanted.
Foote able to rotate back in time.
And the strollers get nothing out of the round.
Yeah, nothing at all out of the round.
Unfortunate, but it felt like it was there.
Felt like the chance was there.
And we saw yesterday in the semifinal,
Foote going blow to blow with the Mongols,
so many low buys won and lost from both teams.
Like Deagle's coming out, we're super efficient.
Tech nine, super efficient.
Foote was just dropping rounds,
unable to beat the Mongols low buys.
So that's gonna be something we'll keep track of
throughout the day and see if that improves.
Yeah, you know you mentioned how many times these teams have played in 2026 a lot right 12 maps played so far
Only three of them know I've been all that competitive. Everything else has been a blowout only three of the maps out of the 12
Have gone beyond 23 rounds of play
So for me, I'm expecting a quick best of five here, and that's why I'm happy to overpass
Final map because I feel like I might just speed run to the final map
And then it can just be an overtime banger over there
I bet you're also pleased that Inferno isn't in the pool as well.
Everyone's happy about that.
Everyone's celebrating.
Everyone's very happy about that.
Inferno haters having a great time.
Feasting.
Ryu, Fuzi and Stare are going to start stepping up.
That smoke will delay things even further.
Big match for both of these squads, obviously,
not just for the Grand Finals,
but the bigger implications for the organizations, right?
Astralis, Evan won a Tier 1 trophy in seven years.
2019, the BLAST Global Finals.
That was the old legendary roster as well.
So for an organization that's been trying to kind of step out of that shadow,
a trophy would go a long way to being that first step.
And you add into it the new ownership that came in last year,
the shift that into an international roster rather than sticking with the games as well.
There's a lot of reasons that success here today for Astralis
would just be a huge celebration for everyone who's a part of that organization.
Astralis obviously the reason the Danish unemployment numbers are looking better
because they just hire everyone for this team apparently.
You Danish, you play for Astralis.
Yep.
Unfortunately, that didn't work out.
They decided to go and hire a Sweden.
They're back at the Grand Final.
So, yeah, I don't know.
That'd be a small victory, I suppose.
You bring a Sweden, you get into the winning position.
It's cool, though, like listening to the guys,
the players that talk about things, you know, like,
they don't, I know, Hooks, he gave an interview
where he's just like,
we're not really setting expectations.
My expectations and my hopes are just
that we're improving each and every game
and each and every series.
And we haven't gotten that impression necessarily
throughout this event, but obviously, you know,
improving in terms of the final result
you're gonna have at the event.
Improving their VRS ranking is all number three in the world. We heard who he say though. You know, it's nice to be there
But I think we're gonna get knocked off that perch very quickly once Rio comes around
But tells you all you need to know about this Astralis that they've climbed up to that third spot for now
Finally got a buyer here though for a straw is coming into this remaining and very very passive as well to open things up
Sense this aggression over in B lane with the smoke
The smoke...
Bunkz is ready for a fight. All of his teammates have backed off, so he's very much on his own.
You've got cemetery looking over in middle off angle towards elbow.
This is all again a fake towards the A bomb site, and here comes the attention towards longs.
Well, folks, you're just walking right through. He's going to catch longs towards the bottom of the ramp.
Clear is about another B bomb site. He's completely open.
So the utility reigns on in, and so do the Astralis players.
And you've got to ask yourself right now if your foot is worth challenging.
When the smoke comes down, I don't think so. I think you just kind of save.
You're not going to want to wait that one out and risk all these weapons.
So I mean you almost got to feel like this round you just you're just beat.
Except the defeat early on on this round but we'll see if Astralis can start turning this
into consistent success.
I mean the fact that they've managed to get around one here without losing a player
will start stabilizing that money.
I'll tell you what though early on they've kind of pulled the defense away twice
now with these like little a-fakes we've seen how jumpy they are in the rotation
and this is where you have to wonder is it that kind of game within a game where
where they've played this ancient so many times,
where they feel like they're reading exactly
what Astralis was doing.
And O'Hooksy was up late last night saying,
let's build some new things off of these.
Let's really throw these guys for a loop.
So tactically, in this series,
I think O'Hooksy has a chance to have a real edge
over foot over Krabeni's calling,
but I think foot's gonna be punching harder.
Yeah, when you come back
and you have that conversation that you brought up earlier,
just with the sheer fact that there's a game
within a game when you've played so many times
in one season, you would think
that the more experienced IGL is going
to have the advantage there, right?
Oh, yeah, Nick, especially when you look at Hooksy, too.
We talk about, you know, more experience than Krebbeni.
He's got, you know, the three big trophies, last world finals.
He's got Cologne. He's got Katavica as well.
Some of the most storied ones winning three trophies
when he was leading the G2 lineup for two and a half years.
Still, regardless of any success he finds,
it feels like he's always got questions he needs to answer.
Oh, we were talking about this mid-fight dust was highlighting
the changes put in and having demon and jugs play towards middle.
They're going to have to deal with Stare in this map.
He is comfortably taking mid control. He's taking damage though, but actually back away
They don't want to get involved in any fights early
Yeah, well, Astralis was able to split and break into the a bombsite quite a bit now when they played in the third fourth place
Decider at ESL Pro League looks like again. They're gonna try and execute something similarly jukes playing over towards doughnut
He'll try and block this off drop of smoke is not gonna delay things make it disjointed
Look like they wanted to force the issue but gonna hold back for now one minute on the clock or just over a minute
And while this delay is happening, good timing for
Krebbeni to make this information move.
Clearing things out, shrinking the map.
So it's going to put notice or cemetery on notice to watch
towards the red room for any kind of a flank,
any kind of a lurk.
Oh, okay, Krebbeni.
Every game we go into, we talk about how Krebbeni
is such an important playmaker, a striker for this team,
not only the in-game leader, but can be a star.
And here he is making the kind of plays in a grand final
that we love to see from foot.
They've got Longs making his way up B lane,
but they know the A-play's coming.
You're gonna hear those steps.
The marching players into it's jugs.
It's a one for one.
So, team it peaks out and getting that kill on Ryu
allows him to hold down his position at the big box
and that's the bomb gone.
Longs on the flank and Yabbi now 1v4 total.
It looks to a C-team, but Salah Trigger dropping
and foot loving, how that route transpired.
Look, we always call this foot team
an aggressive squad,
but there's some method behind the madness
and this is a really well orchestrated round.
You feel that pressure, you spot them out in middle, delay smoke towards donut.
During that timing, your B defenders start pushing up, start gathering information,
start getting aggressive. The follow-up smoke delays towards AMAIN,
so you've kind of disjointed both sides of that attack
and bought your teammates 20 to 30 seconds to be able to shift
and get in these positions at very fast flanks.
Well orchestrated from foot, a step ahead of Astralis in that round.
I think that's the confidence of just shutting us down so emphatically in the previous round.
Like you guys aren't going to test this, at least not yet.
Maybe you come back to it later, but we'll call your bluff.
You're not stepping towards A in this one.
Smoke towards CT spawn makes them a little bit nervous
that they're incorrect though.
Demon has shifted back over to temple
just to be honest about it.
And a double cave set up.
So foot playing it safe, saying you can have the bomb site,
you can have the plant if you come in towards B,
but we want to maintain this position for afterwards.
So the tree blinds, doesn't matter, takes the shot, gets back into the cave.
Another kill here for Foyth.
A lot of damage done is what's a foezy and the abbey, you're going to try and plant that
bomb at least, but for Astralis you still have to try and win out a 3v4 here with
Proveni coming down B lane.
You've taken out Hooksie and you've left these two plays inside of the site feeling
absolutely sworn.
So many CETs coming at them from so many different angles.
And Flut have come into this grand final swinging.
And we are seeing that, Astralis,
that we've seen earlier in the competition,
where they start slow, they don't get into it at all,
and Flut are not slowing down.
Yeah, you might wanna hit that timeout button
if you're Astralis at this point.
Exactly, I think it's much, much necessary.
This is what I just mentioned earlier coming into this game,
is that mental test of Astralis,
where we've seen some of those cracks,
where we know that they've had some rough games.
They know that there's been some frustrating,
some frustration spreading throughout the team.
So it's time out here to calm things down as you're staring at a 1-5 deficit.
But Foot's playing so damn well.
Now when Astralis has beaten this team on Ancient,
one of the things they've done very well is being able to find some opening kills
and then hit the pause button, because you know there's going to be a reaction.
You know this team likes to be proactive, they like to find information,
they've said it in interviews, we don't like to play when we're not moving around the map,
we don't like to play when we don't have intel.
So Astralis, they've been able to find some picks in the past
by getting an AWPer aggressive towards K,
by getting Wifler's aggressive towards K, targeting Krebeni in that position,
and then they've been able to do further punishment based off the movements afterwards,
but so far in this game, initial contact is going the way of foot.
They haven't had that benefit yet, Astralis.
The problem for Astralis is they can't fall back into another good fight here.
They're going to be down with a Galeel Prohokse,
Deagle's and Attack 9 for Ryu.
And Foot realized, well, they're going to be up against here.
So you've got Demon pushed up in towards A main.
That's the most aggressive position being taken in this round
We'll give mid control over if Astralis want it and we'll stack three players a little closer to that B bomb site
Leaving it around like this secret Benny is just always checking for information
Look at a block out Jag
Spots hook see on the peak blue and to fight him as well, and they block that B ramp willing to fight it when that smoke pops
And he knows it's gonna be awkward for hook see meanwhile at the B ramp that Nate half breaks the smoke open
Yeah, there's no game through this no not at all it should be able to clean them up with relative ease
Nothing Astralis can do for the moment, so again, another round they might just get beat.
Krebbeni's trying to just track footsteps for information. Good kill as the smoke fades.
At least one kill back here from Hooksie.
Demon now moves out of A main, realizing no one's coming here.
I might as well get a move on and see if I can cut off the rotation option
and funnel them into the final play at B.
So Demon peeks out from elbow, Hooksie goes down,
and now if you're Astralis you realize you have to go to the B bomb site
and just waiting for you.
Yeah, this is this is the problem and I mean it's around with just Eagles as well
So it's just something to watch out for the gun rounds if you can't win that initial engagement
You get stalled out in a 4v5 foot is going to be pushing those flanks pushing those extremities from the defensive positions
Foot is so rich right now. They've got so much money built up six to one
And Astralis has come into this grand final cold absolute nightmare scenario
Yo, I'm gonna check him for a pulse at this point.
I'm gonna buy him a back at least.
Fosy gonna have the AWP.
Everybody else on the AK47s.
You know, Hooksie and some of his interviews
was talking about some of the games they played earlier.
They can't be proud of some games that they've played.
You know, they've thrown away a bunch of situations.
He said, and he kind of blamed it and he said,
you know, I think there's a few nerves out there.
He's like a couple of players struggling with nerves.
I don't really notice it,
but not all these players have been on the same ride
that I've been on at the big events that I've been at.
So he very clearly realizes
his players kind of struggling sometimes with the pressure.
So big job today for Hooksie, keeping them motivated,
keeping them focused, and keeping them headed
in the right direction.
Well, Krobeni, certainly not lacking confidence.
Gonna push himself up all right behind Hooksie.
He's taking him away.
It's gonna be so frustrating to lose your life
in that fashion.
Semitre then getting the follow-up,
not putting himself in a position where he can get traded.
And look at Krobeni.
He's not stopping.
He's walking all the way through the T spawn.
no fear whatsoever.
Oh, he has the reed. Is he going to be scoped in?
I see. It's okay. Nice timing, Fosy, to check for that.
Now, you do have Yabbi as well with an advanced position up in cave.
Lownc's watching for it, but because of this, he's pulled Fosy and Ryu back.
Ryu yet to find a kill so far on this map would be a great round to find it
if you can help recover a 4 versus 4, I should say.
Stalled out by the smoke and that's kind of a signal in and of itself especially once again. You have demon closing the gap
Just pushed a main you've got jugs pushing donut clearing out middle. So I put no everything that's happening right now
Blocking the smoke leaves a gap and allows him to continue to fight towards Dave yabby
The next next thing were you also toppling another flank has arrived fozy realizes. He's the meat in the sandwich
And he will be eaten by demons, so it will be 7-1 for a foot, and you know, I feel like
Foote has done a great job at not allowing any mid-success as well from Astralis, which
is usually their T side engine.
You see Stare and Ryu getting out there, depending on who has spawned.
How many times did we see that was the way that they stayed alive against the Eyeballers
when they weren't having a good time?
They could find a round in mid, Foote haven't even made a mistake in mid yet.
Yeah, I think also Astralis is now, I mean, I think you're going to start
getting frustrated.
getting killed by Kribeni pushing the smokes like that. That's one of those things
that's just like it. It's almost like mental warfare on top of the actual in-game
counter strike. It can be very frustrating with that when that keeps happening because
you know Hooks, he's probably looking at the mini map trying to organize the
team, trying to figure out what's going on and where to go and all of a sudden
gets killed by a player coming through a smoke. Smoke for no good reason.
Blockout team here with a smoke grenade. He's gonna blast that open just
for information. Doesn't see anybody crossing or continuing their pressure.
Remember how good the fakes were working earlier for Astralis?
Yeah, now that they have had no success anywhere those fakes aren't gonna work anymore everyone's just planting themselves
There's the chef cemetery, bro. You just seen the shadow and you put utility wall
Demon luckily getting to cemetery goes back to the angle, but both that was a play
Yeah, he gets his tech nine out now an ak-47
Bit of a micro mistake over towards a is looking like it's gonna cost them this round
So foot now rely upon Krebbeni to win this one v2
to go off and fight Yabi, but he will not be able to win that.
And that round comes out of nowhere.
And I'm so confused as to why Sevetry pulls utility.
You can see the shadow against the wall.
Yeah, the utility pull, the knife out from longs
on the rotation.
Yeah, plenty of mistakes.
And those are kind of the mental mistakes
we saw at the inexperienced squad yesterday against Mongols
as well.
We've seen a lot throughout this event as well.
A lot of players with nades and hands and weird moments
get caught here.
Got to be frustrating for the foot guys.
But still, we up by five.
No reason to let it slip away.
But if you're a Stralis, you're looking on the line as hooks in, you're saying this is our opportunity.
This is our chance to bring them together. Let's start chipping away at that money.
Let's close the gap as the half comes to a close.
Finally a mid fight going downstairs. Trying to come out, he's got the opening.
All a second as well from Starr. And finally he's had his moment in mid.
A beautiful triple kill. And that is what Starr can do when he gets those fights.
Cemetery steps up, Fosy knocks them over. And Astralis are making the most of their opportunity.
Yeah, I'll tell you what. Starr, that's a lovely play. He's earned his spot at this team.
He's had to work so hard for it over the years.
He's outlasted so many players throughout this
Astralis organization, trying to put a team together
to contend for trophies.
He's had to change roles and he still just keeps delivering,
no matter what situation he's put in for Astralis.
That is beautiful work.
You've got three players you've got to deal with.
Here he is, coming out.
Good flash, he says to vote.
See, realizes he's likely poached up there to the elbow.
And Stan, once he gets to those boxes,
he can be a real threat.
And back to back rounds, you've got the two players
from Astralis you'd point out to say
we need you guys to deliver good performances
if we're gonna win this grand final.
Yabi for the first round win,
and then Starr in this previous one as well.
Those guys are critical to Astralis' success.
Okay, there's the mid fight
starting to go Astralis this way.
For a long time, Foot were controlling middle,
not giving them the fights they were looking for.
I thought like they were making the right decision
in mid every single time,
and now they start throwing themselves into fights
and Astralis are winning them
and grinding their way back into this first half.
Nice tag, Sametri's open, he can press forward with the USP to clean it up, but no look, Krebbeni needs to win this fight.
Oh, what a snap stare is on fire. One player left to defend in its longs.
Just coming out of the doughnut where you walk into the open, the big spray down, the commitment nearly gets away with a third there.
But, Sametri rotating instead was always going to get that kill. And a huge sigh of relief, I'm sure, for Astros as they finally start to do something on this T side.
side. Yeah, I'm going to give a lot of credit over to Hooksy. We have those
individual performances that we've mentioned with Stare and Yabbi and
Fosey with this opening kill here, but Hooksy, the change of pace now. Instead of
spreading out in the default, taking control, going map control, going step
by step, it's been faster paced out middle. Aggression from Stare, faster
paced off of kills that you're getting. Escalate things and make foot
make the decision. I mean, this all starts because foot have a round or
cemetery decides to pull utility instead of taking the off shot, puts
himself an awkward spot both 8 players get traded and then launch rotates with
knife out and from that point onwards it's good Astralis winning every round.
Got demon pushed up in towards A main. Yeah well it's good to see too we said
there might be some fast maps and dominant maps from both of these teams
this one was looking like Astralis wasn't even gonna wake up enough to
play the map. Good to see them recover here to make this a challenging CT
side miss shot from cemetery can't get away comes back for more. Yeah unfortunately
missed but at least he's able to get away. He now knows the pressure is
on though, but you can't miss again. Finally getting one on the third time of asking Demons
pushed up in a main. He's got to kill. Okay, Semitri opens up the great shot, throws them
in, and they're all dead, liberating the A-bomb site. Full response run at the end, not allowing
Astralis the remainder of the rounds available. One extra on top.
Yeah, a little bit of redemption there for Semitri at the end after you're just
referencing the mistake he made to get Astralis started with that three-round streak.
is a great sequence. Couple missed shots early, but recovers the scenario very, very well,
and Astralis can't break into the A bomb site. They do, I mean, carve out four rounds in
that first half, where at one point this was 7-1, that could have been a disaster. So really
nice recovery from Astralis, just as they're about to switch sides, for its offense is
going to be tested. We'll see what they're going to be able to do. Both teams have
They played Ancient three times here at PGL, Bucharest, throughout the events.
Both teams 3-0 on Ancient as well.
Dust mentioned Straalus, I think, 7-0 in the last 7 games, and then I think it's 7-3 for Foot on the map overall.
Both teams beating Bates, Inner Circle, NRG for Foot, and then Mongols and Eyeballers as well for Straalus in the series that they played.
Up, up, up, pick together.
Let's kick it off!
Get yourself a friend like Longs. Get yourself a friend who's gonna hype you up for everything you do.
Now that one deserves some hype as well.
And then get yourself a hearing aid.
That is real loud. Here comes Jirik's out towards middle.
It's gonna be a couple of kills. Make it three from foot.
The round feels done. You just cut them open and unless Hoopsy can get a couple of kills here,
then it's absolutely over.
Ryu comes over the top.
Kruppetti is ready for that next fight.
Footwind the pistol in dominating fashion,
and they can get right back to where they left off
in that first half if they can start to get this ball rolling again.
Yeah, both pistol rounds now over to the foot side of things.
And let's see if the philosophy holds up.
Very simple pistol round, right?
Just kind of four players coming out mid
and just taking every single fight they got.
Not giving Hooksy any time to survive,
closing the gap on him as well.
He's trying to buy time for his teammate on the flank,
and that's not going to happen.
Time out. Go by Astralis.
going into round number two.
There's second time out that they'll use to talk things over.
And yeah, I got to ask the question, is it going to be for some kind of a set up?
Normally you have this conversation during half time.
Here's the piss around.
We're running if we win, we do this.
If we lose, we do this.
You might even have the first gun round prepared.
So I'm wondering if it's maybe something to go over, change things up.
Or if there's maybe just like it's, it's a real quick, hey, boys, like a
shape up because now we got a long road back in this map.
But it begins now.
I mean, we've heard that from hooks.
I'm just wondering, how worried do you get for Astralis if they lose ancient?
We have Mirage up next, a real opportunity there for Foote to go 2-0 up in this BO5.
Yeah, you have to be at least somewhat worried considering we know it's the map that Foote
love to go to, although I'll tell you this, their Mirage didn't look that great yesterday
against Mongols, so we can get back to that more in the second map, but yeah, definitely
cause for concern if you're hoping Astralis is going to take this grand
final. Stack in middle and towards donut all five players from Astralis
present no flash bank to activate anything complete save with USPs.
I don't know, an empty B bomb site always feels nice to arrive to, Krobeny on the adventure.
Always on the search, always on the lookout.
The T sides, he's generally like the solo man for this team as he's kind of calling
them in plane away from his calls.
He likes to be the one to hunt down information, see what he can find.
hasn't seen anything now but cemetery has he goes down the glill is in the open
okay these fights not as clean and the pistol is doing good damage two players
survive no chance of losing the round but very expensive and the unfortunate
side of Krebhanyi being the one to go investigate is he had an AK-47 so that's
a very nice weapon passed over to Ryu well let's see if Ryu can do anything
with it you know he's had a really tough final so far 0-11 yeah I mean
You'd have to point, you know, I mentioned the hooksy in the interview saying, you know,
there's some guys who I can tell are a little bit affected by the nerves.
You'd have to think reuse one of them as one of the more experienced guys coming into this team.
And that's where I also feel like it.
You've got to win ancient here.
If you if you end up going two maps down, you talk about the mental
weakness at times for a shot, say you're going to have to be incredibly
mentally strong to pull off a reverse sweep in a BO5.
Yeah, it's not an easy thing to do.
We've seen teams, this happened so rarely over the history of Counter-Strike.
10-4 right now, 4-foot e-sports.
Finally, a buy coming in for Astralis.
You can see his weaknesses in it already.
Stands out of the play with him from us.
Gavage out of utility already.
Let's see if Foot can just pounce up to 11 rounds here.
Demon under a lot of pressure.
Spring, and because of the damage gone,
the utility is enough to take Ryu away.
So he's 0-12 now. The woes continue.
similar CT opening to the half that Astralis ran back at the pro league third
fourth place this side are aggressive down the B ramp to open up the gun
rounds they dominated him in that time so demon well prepared on what beat him
previously already into the B side demon cashes hook see sure he's gonna be
shocked that he's getting taken down with utility his hands with players
already all over the B bomb site that's the round done that is 11 to 4
tell you a cooler given interview the coach at foot saying like you you know
we know exactly what we're coming to this what our game plan is and what
want to exploit and I think we're seeing a lot of that here. Look at how convincing, look at how
decisive they are after that first push from Demon for them to just be like, let's just walk into
the B bomb site. Like decision is just made. It's just there. Because they're so quick to make
the decisions, you can see like catching hooks here off. He's like, oh, I didn't expect you to
be so committed to the B bomb site already. He's like, okay, they got a pick. They'll probably
pause, wait for reaction. And I got some time to put out this smoke and look for someone to
take this portion of map control, but Foot's playing a different game right now.
Now, thankfully, Rhea does get that AK-47 in the previous round because he's got $2,000
in the bank.
That's going to help him buy into the next round.
The tough thing for Astralis, however, is I imagine you're still going to be kept off
the AWP, right?
Like, Rhea can buy one and drop it over, but then he's going to be a glass cannon M4.
That's no fun.
I mean, we were bringing it up, right?
Yeah.
Astralis didn't have a great game versus iBall.
They referenced that.
We referenced that.
But they still come back and they win ancient the difference is when you're playing as a team like foot
They're not going to allow you those mistakes and those moments as
Consistently to allow you back into the game the way they got against eyeballs
So you've seen run out of ideas immediately who you see make mistakes and feed the strawless kills
You're not getting those right now from foot
So when you have a slow start you're actually is going to be punished and I think foot also
I mean there's also like the exponential build on that which is foot just
is going to be very strong at playing with momentum.
They're a little bit faster.
They're a little bit more pacey,
like really good at trading kills, really sharp aim.
They want to get stuck into fights.
I think they're really creative too.
So the problem of eyeballers running out of ideas
isn't the case for foot.
They're going to keep coming up with ideas.
And I think it's fantastic to see them come out swinging
this hard in the grand final,
because this is a team who are so inexperienced.
We literally talk about them only coming on to the world
stage in the first season of this year,
and they're in a final.
And they're about to go one map up in the grand final.
Yeah, that was a question back in early as well
when they upset miles in the quarter finals.
You can see I'm like first time on a stage,
granted it wasn't a big arena stage,
but they handled that pressure extremely well.
Good start here from Steph.
Ozy trying to slow them down.
He's got a decent job like that.
But then Jukes just keeps on coming.
So foot relentless, merciless,
as they get into the site.
Another opportunity that Ryu finally getting a kill.
And it's a very important one as well.
It keeps us drawn as a head here
and Jukes is on four HP.
Yeah, this round is all in Kerbini from here on out.
He's the only one who's going to be able to win the round,
and I think he's just saying, you know what, screw it.
Let's just come right back, see if they rotate off.
Another smoke comes in, and that one's
going to scare them away.
So backing off, two defenders in Donut Ryu and Yabi
starting to slide through for mid control.
Hooksie's going to slowly move towards the B bomb site,
cautiously checking every single corner.
Timing is everything on this mid play.
They might just meet here at elbow,
but if Ryu and Yabi are jumping up.
Clean head shot down to 1v2.
He's going to back away.
Obviously the big issue here is 4 HP left on Jugs.
Yeah, but this is a sick play from Jugs.
What he's done is just a hard bait on
Krebbeni because he wasn't there for the trade and obviously no HP.
So he's trying to find his timing, but that's his fault.
Yeah, hopefully he comes at the right time.
Okay, something to celebrate there if you're as straws,
but it has to be the firmest of many.
Yeah, it took three timeouts as well to kind of get that around.
They had to burn their third one a little bit early,
or extremely early, I should say.
11-5, a 6-round lead, plenty of money over on the foot side for another buy.
They're out of cash after this, so that's the reprieve for Astralis.
They're burning, gonna fight for it.
You might get that economic reset, it'll be just home to space to play with.
And it would happen at a point where you could still come back and fight for a win in regulation.
It's gonna be perfect, but it's like that.
Yavi, gonna move over and get into the Delta.
You're going to have Hooksy stepping out of the cave, Ryu making his way down to the bottom of the ramp, and he's going to have to fall back due to that utility, so Ryu once again playing from the site.
Demo trying to connect it.
We're not going to be landing any of those shots.
Looks like he's gonna be forced out by Molotov. He pairs up with Ryu.
He's off the goose egg. Two kills for Ryu.
Seeing if he can build anything more into it. Flash is in. He takes the angle.
Kriveni just backs off. No desire for that fight.
I felt like his shots were losing everything there, right? They lost mid. They lost cave.
They had to fight for something back to get a little bit of control towards Jag.
But here come foot. They're gonna be setting players up in the B lane. Could be a B execution.
But where's the utility for that? They've only got a smoke, a flash and an HE.
not great three players here is for now a contact peak you're just gonna try and
catch them off guard and you might just be able to do it this time exactly not
bad yeah they're up stands out of position and staff will die where you
goes down inside of caves and now it's foes in your last hope that rifle
unchecked needs a multi can't get it and hooks me will try and dish out some
utility but I mean you have four players over here and foot have no
utility and they still get in this cleanly yeah that's that's one of
those rounds. It's going to be atrocious when you watch back on film.
Lovely work from Foot. They've got all the answers. Just walking in. Who cares about the utility?
Nobody's spotting it deep enough for Astralis. And a seven round lead.
Seven chances to close out this first map. The map that Astralis wanted this to come to.
The map that Astralis felt the most comfortable on in this series to pick it first.
I'm at the Astralis have won both times. They played it against foot 13-6 the first time it came out and a 13-4 most recently
Well now they're down 12 to 5 what a different story
We've got longs running up middle looking for the opening kills. It's gonna be jokes to take it. Yabbi burns longs away
So trade at least in from Astralis
Hooksie trying to fight get out towards having it but you see jokes is waiting for that and it's done a lot of damage to hook
It's not going to slow him down, though. Not to Tarrim. He's actually just got to take a risk, so he
drumps down into middle. He picks up that AK, but it's going to be foot going for the A-finish,
hoping this is the knockout blow on Ancient. Yeah, but there's a pretty decent... oh, shadow
shows. Shadow's... oh, wow. That one's just barely off the mark. Ballads off towards CT spawn.
You've got Hooksy over in Donut. He's going to be joined up by two players as well.
Oh, Fosy dies. And now you have to rely upon Yabby, but he's now being smoked out.
A risk needs to be taken. Hooksy will be the man to do it. Hooksy gets traded.
You still got yabby close by but that plant is coming in he goes out to deny
He will deny the plant and put it all on Ryu
Two kills in the entire map and now he's asked to double his kill count into one V2
I haven't seen him in CT either so they have a great read of his position. He's got no kit on his back
He steps out into the open cemetery holding for it and he's got the kill
Dominus in the opening map for this grand final foot have taken it 13-5 on ancient
Astralis need to wake up.
Otherwise, this could be a very quick final.
Indeed, it could, Dinka.
We talked about how quick this best of five could be
because of the pace that foot liked to play at.
And Astralis, they weren't able to slow that down on Ancient.
That was a good old-fashioned ass open
we caught in the South there, Rich.
I don't really know how else to phrase it.
I mean, they came out the gate, swinging, seven-one.
Lee dominating in these new CT positions
that they debuted at this tournament.
You can see that it's been fruitful that they have made these pivots really well done here.
I help Herxia has one of those incredible speeches right out of wake of his team,
because they are just asleep at the wheel.
I think we saw a couple of signs from Stair from Fosy, but the entire supporting cast
nowhere to be found.
A couple of here rounds from Yabbi, a round from Stair, that's about it.
There's no one showing them. Really, it's still just, I don't think he's woken up yet.
So, not looking good, right?
This is a map that they picked.
like we've beaten them twice convincingly even though we struggled against high
ballers earlier this should be a good map for us but they showed us virtually
nothing and I'll refer back to what Jason was talking about on the cast you know
Hoekse has been in the pressure situations before Hoekse's been the guy
at G2 all eyes on me you know and when things have been going tough so he
doesn't feel the pressure of a best of five final here at PGL Bucharest but
to some of his new pickups like Ryu, you know, pressure unquestionably getting to him right.
Yeah, and he didn't get his first kill until, I don't know, like the last couple of rounds
in the second half or something. Yeah, I mean, definitely a tough day at the office for him.
But again, just want to highlight, you know, these changes that Foot made defensively on
Ancient were drastic compared to what they were playing earlier this year, you know,
moving locks away from the aggressive mid position to being more of a b anchor,
you know, putting Demon who was kind of the b anchor before now kind of playing,
you know, in doughnut in
more aggressively and you
again, this is a guy who
maybe that we clink on th
looking at some of this
the course this year, but
this guy takes forward a
just don't do. Yeah. And
you know, there's not a
high numbers. He's done
He has indeed. And also
the kill spread for the team of Rokham Karbeni because of the roles he plays, I think he had like nine to ten kills.
The difference within the other four players was like a total of three or four frags. Everyone was coming in.
I want to actually highlight a couple of rounds here from the side of foot.
Because last time you played Astralis, the biggest problem was they never really went for extremity control on the CV side.
They didn't push towards AMA, they didn't go for round control. What happens here? Round number four? Astralis won the first round.
They're going to do the usual deployment utility. They don't give these early fights a stay.
They're not really duking it out, throw a bit of utility, and then they just pivot back.
See what happens right now, the push ramp, right?
Simultaneously, you're gonna be seeing,
I believe it's demon, sorry, that's the later on.
The push ramp, they have the information,
it's gonna be the push coming in from the straw.
Let's guess what's happening.
Every CD player just lying in the way on the bomb side.
They even have a flank coming in from AMA as well.
So straw is just walking into the trap
being set by that early CD aggression
from the side of foot.
Fast forward a couple of rounds later,
we're gonna see a similar thing coming in, right?
Now you have the confidence flowing through you,
and then we're gonna see an AMA push.
Again, same thing. Utility being deployed early on, not giving the fights early towards
stairs, and then it kind of plays out normally.
Around the 1 minute 30 second mark, Krebbeny, pushes through the smoke towards Cave.
He's going to get a kill here.
There we go.
This is a sneaky play.
Meantime, Demons actually push AMA as well.
They have so much information to work on Krebbeny now, it's a five versus three.
He's going to get taken down here, but doesn't really matter at this point.
They know what the game is going to be.
25 seconds remaining on the clock, pointing out that hole from Cemetery as well.
up close to its cave. And by the time Astralis are attacking the B bomb site, the A-men guys pushed all the way to its T spawn.
You have the donor player pushing out towards mid, and they're like, guys, it's going to be B hit.
And guess what? They have another smoke deployed towards the top of ramp.
There was nothing Astralis could do. In fact, the only two rounds they were able to win on the T side,
kind of convincingly, was when they gave those early midfights, right?
It was Stair getting a triple kill over there, and later on, I think the next round,
foes instead of teaming for two kills.
But I think they had such a good playbook
as to how to approach a strollers
and they learned from the mistakes
of the loss that you played on this map.
I mean, it's just a situation where if I gave you
that mini map, that's what the main plates off.
You know, it was foot.
It would take you just a few seconds
to kind of indicate, oh, that's, that's foot like.
Especially with Krabini.
Krabini is the rat in the most beautiful way possible.
I don't mean that as an in-saw.
I mean, this is a guy who just sneaks around,
finds these little timings lurking around smokes.
Like, it's like.
Carl and NASA splinter, right?
Yeah, it's like it's like what art tried to be, you know, he's
he's able to do that same similar kind of crazy individual
antics but yield really good facts when he does it. And when
he's doing it from the end game leader slot, it's not only
giving you added firepower to a role that normally doesn't give
you a lot of firepower. But because he is the one call all
the shots when he's making these aggressive maneuvers, he's
able to get those instant reads on what's going on and
being able to read that information to the rest of the
teams. It's just a beautiful combination.
It just, you know, just a great switch up from what
we saw in the CD side. The last time they played as
like I pointed out, they're being so much more active,
moving in packs together, going for info play.
So that's why Astralis are just walking the stacks
every single time.
Yeah, I mean, I'll bring us back
to the importance of order in a best of five.
You know, you're gonna play all of the maps,
there's nowhere to hide,
but you wanna get off to a good start.
My worry, like Dust articulated,
was if you give foot two zero
at the start of the best of five,
there's so momentum based that the maps
might almost become irrelevant.
Yeah, I mean I really did think that even though Astralis has beaten this team on ancient a couple of times
And even though it is a good map for Astralis, there's no doubt about it
I do think that there was other maps they could have selected first that would have maybe given them a bigger advantage
Overpass, I think would have been a good one. You maybe could argue Nuke as well as another
I'm gonna count. I don't think overpass necessarily would have been better
You watched their CD side yesterday, would be something Astralis
It looks shoddy, man. It was hooksy of all people who had to not just give them some rallying cry
You know trying to calm calm them down, but also fracking out like he was the deciding factor on the map
So I totally understand was Charles like less on the old pass here yet
Also, man, you're gonna start a T side if you get shut down early on it can be really hard for you to mentally reset
So I get why they went for the ancient play what is shocking for me is the fact that they
Probably thought through just gonna play the same style
They played the last time on this particular map when when they beat them, right?
They were not ready for these info plays they weren't ready for these
You know kind of rat a place from Caribbean and and whatnot and I think that is a bit of a shocker to me
Also, doesn't have been half the individuals that are asleep.
Fair point.
Well, we're moving on to Mirage.
Sure.
We'll have to get the rack together on this one,
because this is Foot's Home app.
We've talked about this one so many times for them.
And I think Astralis have some good pieces here.
Don't get me wrong.
I think Yabbi, ever since they put him back over on B,
I think he's been an absolute nightmare to deal with.
But unfortunately, I just think Foot just,
they're everywhere all at once somehow.
Yeah, I think you're right.
to talk about earlier in the tournament that when they made this change to bring in Ryu and bring in Fuzzi
It kind of freed up Yabi to get back into a star role instead of having to be an anchor
And he is a guy that can be a big playmaker there
The tough part for him though is going to be is that this foot team is so dynamic on their t-side
They have so many different opening variations of how they'll take mid control how they'll stack next remedy with
Jigs and demon to lean heavy one direction. They're obviously going to bring a lot of pace
They can sneak players into window they could fake you out by conditioning you to think there's three four players middle
but really there's only one guy there
and they're actually hitting you somewhere else.
So they're just super well-rounded team offensively.
It is interesting because last time
these two teams played in Mirage,
it was a Stralis winning very convincing there.
I believe it was 13-13 for the scoreline,
starting the CT side.
And what would fail to do,
and I'm sure they're gonna be switching it up
on this particular map,
was they didn't really target Hooksy
and the B bomb site all too much.
What they did was for the usual default mid control,
right, and they tried to go for this A wrap,
there's A crunches all the time.
But what Stralis did very well
in that particular game,
But they wouldn't give early fights towards mid.
They're like, we're not going to fight.
We'll let you take mid.
And then they'd go for these mid-round info plays,
figure out, oh, there's no one here.
Or if there was a lurk towards mid that get the kill,
and it was usually always A here.
They were getting shot down there time and time again.
And I felt like the game plan for foot
was lacking where they were not
abusing hook C enough towards B. That, I feel,
is going to be a switch up coming in here.
Yeah, could be one.
I think the other big thing we've got to think about
is maybe we can talk about the offers a bit,
because Fuzi and Cemetery have been two
of the best offers in the tournament.
They've been playing very, very well.
Futhi's obviously been doing it all year long
since he joined the Strasse.
It's been kind of a revelation of an opera
that many other organizations didn't catch on to,
click enough, and the Strasse were able to back them up
and he's been a huge producer for them.
Cemetery, we've talked about how he's improved
his level of play so far this tournament.
And these are two guys who are playmaking operas,
they're not sit back home line operas.
You know, they're gonna look to take forward angles
and get in your face and, you know,
we're taking a look at it here.
Like these guys are very, very efficient.
And you know, at Cemetery, he's just a guy
that again, like on virtually every map
He just plays forward English.
You just don't anticipate like this guy is so fearless.
And when his shot's accurate, he's so deadly at just locking down.
Certain areas are creating openings and Fuzzi though on his own right,
very, very good CT operator as well.
Yeah, for Fuzzi, it's not going to be anything to crazy mirage.
So I'm going to CT side.
Once he gets the AWP into his hands, he's just going to be put up in
the ticket position most of the time.
He's just going to be holding there.
But the thing is, he's so reliable.
He's so smart.
He makes sure he doesn't give away a life of free.
So it's going to be a ticket.
And a couple of things I do like from Astralis CT side,
especially with Fusey is sometimes, depending on a spawn,
they're just gonna put him towards the apartment's position.
Hold the deep angle right there,
and they go for this heavy A-stack.
So they do this very often.
So I'm curious to see how Fude
are gonna be dealing with that.
All right, gentlemen, we'll see how it pans out.
So in this grand final,
the foot is on the throat of Astralis
as we head to Mirage.
We'll see you in a moment.
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to the PGL, Bucharest 2026 Grand Finale. And it's not so grand right now because Furve
come out and they've destroyed Astralis on Astralis' map pick. We now move to Mirage
And it does feel like we're getting that foot that we want to see in this grand final.
The team that plays this attitude that's always ready to make a play and get in your face.
And Astralis have started so slow that they just can't handle it.
Yeah, well, they better, they better come out with a complete 180 now,
because you're saying we got that foot that we wanted.
Well, that foot that we've seen in the past is three to one on this map
against Astralis in the series that they've played throughout this year.
The most played map they've had across all five series.
So strong in the favor of foot.
Both teams had struggles on it, though.
Recently, you know, this is the map that is
Astralis lost to eyeballers early on in the group stage
of the event that made Hooksy really frustrated.
Mentioned they couldn't be proud of their performance
in that game.
And Foot yesterday against the Mongols
in the semifinals had a really, really tough time
on the T side, which is where they'll be starting today.
I went back and looked at it last night.
They didn't win.
They won four rounds in the first half on their T side,
but it was all at the A bomb site.
They didn't win a single round going, you know,
going to the B bomb site.
They didn't win a, they weren't even really
able to take mid away from the Mongols either. Everything focused on these A
executes and if that continues today strategically Astralis might just be
able to get in front of that one. Well surprise surprise we're going A for a
foot in this pistol round. They're gonna be coming out of Palace and the ramp
into Woodstead. You'll play from CT spawn. Got a teammate with him as well.
Fosy. Damage being done. Stairs taking first blood but jukes to
respawn and then a follow-up from Cemetery. So that site is overrun.
Launce gets a killout towards jungle and hard to see how you throw this
one away. They did yesterday. Yeah, that's I mean, they can play the game. They're good at it.
All right. Longs is going to find the kill. This time it's secured. This is exactly what they
did against Mongols yesterday, right? It was the quick A hit. They got into a CT, but then they
went a little bit too far and you heard Krebbeni immediately as they lost that pistol saying,
okay, we're not doing that again. We're not allowed to do that again. And I think it slowed
down that T side and they only got the four rounds you mentioned because they had a slow
start to the game because they messed up the pistol. Yeah, it could have been a much better
better one for sure. This is getting them started on the right foot and also
helping them carry that momentum over from ancient. You can just see how
aggressive they are. Stralis players trying to take some passive angles.
Maybe just clip one player off as they cross into the bombsite, play to live
and play for the retake, but Futscher is so sharp right now. Those kills
come in so fast when they peek into the angles.
We know Counter-Strike is a game of confidence, right? We hear that
all the time. You know, mentality is so important and you've got to feel
confident. I mean, foot on their run, have something to be proud of and
can be confident with how they're playing as individuals. I mean, the
whole season has been fantastic for Foote who have risen up from a tier 2 team to making
it to playoffs of tier 1 events, now on the grand final. So there's a lot to be confident
about 4-foot.
Well, you say all that before adding in, like especially if you wanted to zero in on this
map in particular, I mean we just mentioned the Mongols when they had in the semi-finals
even though it wasn't pretty, they also had ParaVision on this map.
They've had some very good wins on this map, they've had some very good runs recently
I think they've even mentioned, it was Cemetery who said that win over Maus in
the playoffs at EPL. That was the one that's given him more confidence as an
individual. He says he's feeling very comfortable. I gave an interview with HLT
but they said like, you know, you've been under a little bit of scrutiny. How are
things feeling? And he's like, yeah, well, ever since we played that game and we
matched up and we upset them, I felt really comfortable and haven't felt any
nerves and I feel like I'm doing a lot better just moving around the map and
hitting shots. So yeah, confidence just at an all-time high for foot
right now. Yeah. And I'm flipping out to the other side and look at it as
as a team that something I love it when Hoax is being candid and speaking and telling us what he's actually thinking about his team
It's that if you know just putting a PR out answer out there
But as a player, you know like we're younger players like Ryu or a foe's he coming into the team who haven't had like the greatest
My experience in the top, you know, do you think that there's any element of like oh our income leaders kind of going out there and like
Saying they were not playing well enough saying that we're like mentally weak at the moment
Well, if then you get banged down, you're open to map the ground final.
I mean, your confidence is not going to be at an all time high by any means.
I mean, if that bothers you, then you are mentally weak and that's where you need to show your most improvement, right?
I mean, and I mean, you want to draw, okay, hold the phone.
Uzi's going to push up.
Forces long to fall all the way back.
Double piece of aggression up these stairs.
So control of the B halls, but look at the reaction.
Look how quick it is.
Foot's just going to walk up con.
Smoke to provide some cover.
Resmoking towards window.
I have to think they're going through the smoke.
I have to think they're not going to slow down whatsoever.
Yeah, they're into jungle backtracking into what's hooksy.
Oh, a team kill actually.
So the kill comes in anyway from team in
and they do crush this defense.
So...
Okay.
The comps could have been a little bit cleaner,
but it's going to be okay.
I'm sure it was a lovely shot from Jigs's point of view.
It looked great.
It did.
It was just like the eclipse of a team night throw in front of hooksy.
An unfortunate scenario there, but it doesn't matter.
That was the only kill they...
maybe we'll see it in the replay maybe he was actually shooting at the CT and
and in preventive just walked in front of him a stroll is don't get a kill in this
room every kill even the team kill happens to touch I want to go back to
that hook see point because if you want to draw a comparison look over at apex
because that's been a conversation of his leadership is like how animated he
is and how emotional he gets and and how clearly sometimes in the matches
especially you know on the rise of vitality you know now that they're
winning everything nobody really talks about it but when they weren't winning
everything it was like is this actually making them perform worse but on the
other hand you do need the leadership figure in this team pushing you towards
perfection right always trying to attain it you're a your mental
performance performance business and get some of those performances here if it
yet yeah but then demon just goes and clears out everybody anyway so no
No problem at all, great round from Thiemann.
Oh, love. I'm sorry, baby.
I just didn't get him killed.
Dude, that count, uh, yeah.
I like that he called him baby.
Yeah, I like that.
Deep voice as well, Jason. That was good.
That's how you know it's a team.
Sorry, baby.
I like that.
Alright, well, 3-0 start here from foot.
And it's just the one rightful here for Fuzi.
So really not expecting too much to get going here for his Charles whatsoever. So
At this point for foot you've just one ancient really quickly now. You're gonna great start a mirage a map
You have a great head-to-head history on
I'm feeling really good about foot in this grand final. Yeah, this is it's shaping up very well dust matching
If the before the game would started that he loved the map veto the sequence of maps for foot
We're seeing a little bit of that here good turn from the flash for foesie and Cribbini's not ready for it
two players in there and doesn't make a recovered a Molotov and
Fuzzi is going to go down but they don't like Yabbi yet.
Good win and now they realize the window is compromised.
What a turn from Cemetery.
Can I catch a break?
Good reaction.
Cemetery with two in the round.
Now on these three five sevens you still stand a chance.
Looks make a little sound there.
Still stand a chance especially considering
considering foots like one by one by one, all in their own different positions and locations.
Jokes has taken a big risk clearing this out all on his own, Hooksy's moved up towards short,
he's going to turn the corner now, what's one of those rifles over in ladder room?
Good kill.
Gets away with a second two.
Lounges, why not get all three? There we go.
Lounges, no problems.
I have a foot of love in this right now.
Yeah, that's absolutely perfect.
Three different angles, and Hooksy just shaking his head.
I think that's a little bit of frustration,
maybe not that anyone necessarily did anything wrong,
just feeling like, individually at the moment,
Astralis not able to match up with the foot side
with how hard they're hitting.
I mean, you had a couple of those popoffs
on the first map from Yabi, from Stair,
that felt like I could get the energy in it,
and I could turn things around,
but still haven't seen the individuals from Astralis
continuously and consistently able to contend
with their counterparts on the other side of the map.
Good start, Krebbeni and Yabbi, one for one.
Yabbi looking to maintain some mid control, but you mentioned just how often foot are going to hit this A bomb site.
Here they come out the ramp, Lee, you needed it!
Got a second.
Cemetery to trade it, still a 2v2 and a minute 30 on the clock.
You've got Krebbeni in middle and you'll see Cemetery back away.
Yeah, how fast do they pivot over to the B bomb site though, right?
though right there are smokes up at the moment. This feels very much like a
commitment to the A bomb site and again very convincing. Krebbeni already
moving up short. He'll be able to get up in the latter room if he wants that he
can push towards market. Great position to have information on how fast the
rotation is coming and as Seralis is just parking themselves at the wrong
map. All that attention towards the A bomb site probably the knowledge that
Foot loved to go to the A bomb site as well as keeping him there. This
one's gonna close out nice and easy for free essentially. I think if you're
Javi and Hooksy and this bomb gets planted now. You're not even moving to go for this.
No kits and no significant utility to speak of.
Let's cut the information here.
Sporting the player on call and Krebbenny is going to move in towards the ladder room.
And Cemetery is going to play back towards the bench. We've now got Krebbenny stopping Hooksy
from walking out a little bit closer to him. It's now Javi going down as well.
even though Astralis give it a go, they still do not recover the round,
foot holding on, and that even number situation falls in favor of foot.
Just continuing to have woe after woe piled on top here for Astralis.
Yeah, this is getting rough. This is getting really, really painful.
I felt like they really needed to go for that two on two.
We'll have to drop down to MP9s. Just getting absolutely buried back to back maps.
Ancient started out seven to one in the favor of foot. Now they're up five nothing on Mirage.
Well, 3 MP9s, a 5-7, and a D-Go for Astralis.
Reverse sweeps are hard enough without getting completely deleted on the first two maps.
We need to see the fight out of Astralis from here on out.
Time to show us what got you here.
They've had these frustrations and these stresses and these kind of lackluster starts at different phases throughout the tournament.
They've made it, they've been able to turn it around a number of times.
I do feel like they are showing us how they've got here, Jason.
I think they've been limping through this tournament at times.
And they're getting punished by a team that have run through it and got to this grand final
It's gonna be stat with an AK just that's it
There's nothing you can do about this if you're sad just try to hold on to this
For a foot. I mean this we've talked about this team in the progression. It's happening really quickly in this season
You know every step they take is like another step towards this team leveling up and they come into the start of the year
They look great, you know, they don't make the playoffs of crack off
No one was really expecting them to do so.
You know, they lose a ridiculous round against G2
where they had lost against full USPs
and went on to lose that map
and then lose the last game off the group stages.
They come back to clues.
They get close again, but it's heartbreak
before they can move into the arena.
They come to Pro League.
They qualify to the playoffs via the online stage
and then they beat Maus.
They happen to come back in that game
and beat one of the favorites for the whole tournament.
We say that's the next step for them.
And now they come to this event.
They're in the grand final
and they're looking like they're going to win it.
The next tournament coming up is Blast Rivals in Fort Worth and so you look at that tournament and
yes that's where the likes of Vitality return, you've got Furia, you get that next test, that next
step up right? But I feel like Ft could do some real damage over there especially with the confidence
and experience of a tournament win. Yeah it could be very cool and then let's take a let's
take an even wider lens on that zoom out a little bit even more. There you go to the major.
Yeah well we also touched on Astralis said this being the opportunity to grab their first
trophy in seven years since 2019. They've had it's taken seven years for them to find a
to line up and find a group of players that it feels like is making progress in the right
way and consistently enough to start contending for trophies.
FOOT as an organization just stepped into Counter Strike a year ago.
It's been a year.
Starting out with the French lineup, they had Scream on there as like a six man who
was like a streamer in contact.
I believe Nivera was there.
And then they kind of find-
It wasn't actually exactly Scream competitive ambitions.
Yeah, but then they strike gold with picking up this roster when they're dropped by
the Na'vi program as well from the Academy and Junior System.
So man, like what a contrast of foot who's just able to step in and say, yep, it'll take
a year and now all of a sudden we're looking at trophies.
You mentioned that Paravision went on Mirage and how much confidence that's given them.
And Longs in particular was the star of the show against Paravision.
He's nine and one at the moment, so we're getting that Longs Mirage deliverance.
And I want to see a little bit more of it.
We're going to see Fuzzi going towards top middle.
The head of Demon will be spotted and they're not taking off.
So the strollers have mid control.
Yabbi is alone.
All of his teammates are going to fall away,
but he'll maintain his position.
It seems almost like they're between
multiple different ideas.
Three players playing around Khan at the moment.
They're kind of taking a risk that the A bomb site
is going to be the point of attack,
but so many resources in middle and aggressive
in middle has taken any support away from Hooksie.
Yeah, and you see it as they were falling back
towards connector.
Yabbi's mouth was racing there, communicating.
Kravendi's going to throw out these smokes
for mid control a little bit late to try and throw a fake.
I mean, it's not going to fake anyone out
because they're in front of the smokes,
but it might keep them frozen here to make sure that no one's going to be swinging wide.
Hooksie's on an island.
Yeah, an important fight to be won there that allows you to come back.
And here we go. Can Hooksie hold on? Can he get anything?
He should play his light, but he's hunted down.
Jukes has removed him.
That plant is coming in towards the site,
and Astros will have to play this one on retake.
Now, they have got health advantage.
And now, player advantage too.
Longs is gone.
Jukes on 33 HP.
You can see Sembetcher trying to pull that kill back,
but everybody's going down.
All of a sudden, no, Demon and Cemetery enter the kill feed,
and now Cemetery on his own, the 1v2 required,
and the gates of the Cemetery are open!
He clutches it up!
Incredible attack from the player who's received a little bit of criticism inside of this squad,
but he is stepping up in this grand final.
God damn, Ateno.
What a clutch, what a round, holding on over towards Short as well,
just protecting his team as they come in, eliminating that part of the attack.
Plays it just about perfectly.
Almost caught off guard, but we know he's fast.
He's real quick.
That's the confidence we just touched on.
Look at the way he's able to build into it,
step into this clutch.
The confidence as well.
Switch to the D.
We don't know where he's at.
He needs the dynamic weapon.
And the double tap to Fozy.
No!
I did that, D. Glomen!
This team is fired up in these grand finals,
and they are burying Astralis.
Spread out and do a default to start round eight.
Fosy's got a hero up. The number five man that's over towards ticket.
Moving in this direction with two players up in holes.
Lownc's over at ramp but he's got to hold himself back just a little bit. Don't take that angle.
Don't take that peak dry. Cemetery's getting plenty of time after that clutch to find a pick,
to find an Astralis player wandering into the open, but the defense
standing their ground for the moment.
Oh, well, that sounded like a clean one tap. That did sound like a very clean one tap, indeed.
29 bullets left in the mag as well. Oh, just taking a nap.
Fair enough. Chillin' against the wall. 8-0.
He's about to get backstabbed, Kerbenny. Not considering it, and then as soon as he dies, that's going to be the go signal for the rest of his team.
Yeah, and the meantime though, Lance is also taking a kill. That's the all-on-fozy, so you're taking the big weapon out here.
Reused 5-7. He's getting one and an AK-47 now picked up.
Still a few pieces available here for Astros to make this one competitive.
An important kill from Demon, and all of a sudden it is Jokes into 1v2.
Lance Clutch went away afoot looking forward again! Oh my god, nearly transitions down for it!
If he had gotten that one, I just don't know how Astros would get back into this half.
No, but that's around. I think you're gonna if you're if you're cool you're marking
He said in an interview, you know that we have young players they control in certain situations
This round is a little bit trolley four and three don't even be jumping over to the stairs to clear that out
You know, it's a lower by you've already seen some of the weapons out
He's taken away the off just play the range play distance play for the bomb plant
And they just get a little bit too eager to close out this round
And maybe it's where like the momentum is building the adrenaline is pumping
You're up seven and nothing and you're just feeling on top of the world
So, Astralis, this is their chance like Ancient. Finally, they carve a round out. Can they build upon it?
On Ancient, they were able to rattle off three in a row to bring this back to a respectable scoreline.
Flaps with acceleration. Here they come. Fast into the bomb site. Hoopsie can't handle the pace, and all of his teammates are gone.
He's got Yaby in middle. He's the quickest rotator back, and Fozie as well from Market.
So, a smoke break to really important kill coming in from Astralis to keep this one on the table.
table. A nice think as well. This is going to be a tough one to hold onto if you're foot. Double kill for Longs!
Murderous for Longs! Demons in the kill feed and Fosy can't do anything about this. Even when Astralis
flicked themselves into a position where they have the advantage, it is ripped right out of their hands.
Foot with the acceleration, smashed into that B bomb site. Hooks, he can't handle it and his teammates
rotate over. They even do enough, but in the end that post plant is too strong. There's
There's too much happening on the map that Astralis can't really play for.
There's too much success everywhere on the map now for foot that Astralis can't really
call to be, you know, you're losing the B bombsite.
You're losing middle when they go there.
You're losing the A bombsite when they head in that direction.
You can't ever like call to set something up.
You could see they want to have the plan at times of taking mid away, but the pace
change is just absolutely brutal.
And unlike against the Mongols where they struggled in all those B hits, there's
not a second player at the bombsite.
There's not nades and molotovs just disjoining the attack.
They're just getting ran over.
Eight to one now for foot.
We're coming into those tournaments and we were discussing who were the favorites.
Obviously we're missing out on the top dogs.
You don't have the likes of vitality, fury, spirit, but you look at this team
foot and I don't, they weren't in the top conversation.
It was Paravision, it was Mongols, it was Astralis,
with the three teams that people were listing off.
Foote obviously is Thark Hoist,
but the way that they're playing right now is incredible,
and they have beaten those favorite teams along the way.
Taking Paravision, Mongols and Malastralis
sitting in this situation,
they're getting absolutely wrecked.
Now, a couple of kills at least coming in for Astralis
to kick this round off.
Another fast B hit, Foote into a 3v4.
They got Utility, Smoke Molotov on Semi-Treat.
No longer does that evanthed stand
with Astralis. Once these bomb plants come in, Foot looks so good in the post plant. You
can see they're always looking for the next fight. Keeping track of information, DPC Utility,
that's the all-down huge kill, but better return from Lox. Very important. Now a one
on two for Ryu. Yeah, trying to step up here, Ryu. Mark the window, out he goes, down
he goes. Lox ready for that, and it doesn't matter how many casualties Foot take along
the way. As long as that bomb gets planted, they always stand a shot at winning the
round here. I think Foot's just hitting this like crazy critical mass of confidence
to where they're just they're willing to like peek and take every single fight.
Astralis always feel like there's going to be an extra beat, you know,
an extra moment where they get to breathe to make a move.
And it's always when the fight is coming in, because foot's not afraid of anything right now.
I mean, you were talking about the fact that the other day we just seemed
for the kind of one dimensional was a lot of a hits.
No, a couple of different looks to get into the A bombsite.
But, you know, it was all about a this this game is quickly becoming.
OK, we sense a weakness on that B bombsite hooks.
He's the anchor quite often alone and he's got one in 10 right now.
So they're just hitting him over and over again.
I think there's there's also the issue, you know, Astralis on this map against
eyeballers in that disappointing game that they lost.
The only rounds they really want on the CT side is when they were hyper aggressive
in middle and setting up traps in middle and stopping eyeballers from controlling
part of that map. So I think then in some sense they're almost in a trap where
they're looking at that and they're feeling they just got out of that
mirage game and feel like middle is where they have the most effective
defense. But foot's playing the extremities of the map right now,
just walking right around some of the setups that you're playing with.
And I mean, at this point, the hard thing for Astralis is you can no longer
leave Hooksy alone. Like, that's back-to-back rounds where he just gets
destroyed. Not necessarily by any fault of his own, he's just the only one there.
There's no support to stop everything, to stem the tide of players coming at a
halt. We're gonna have to reallocate some resources to defending B, which
obviously weakens somewhere else on the map. Send a treat, miss shot. He's running away,
doesn't have the bomb on his back. Look how quick this is again. They're
in connector. The rounds just started. Stare's gonna spot them. Okay, that's
more like it. Stare taking all three places. They walk through the smoke
Yeah, hard to fault foot for a fly like that.
Everything's been working.
They walked through the smoke earlier.
It's a success.
They walked through a smoke to beat Mongols on this map, 13-11,
to get into the Grand Finals as well.
This time, just get caught.
Nice shooting from Stair and Hooksie.
First time, we can really commend the Astralis players in this half.
A seven-round lead for foot,
looking for double digits before switching sides.
I hope they haven't woken up yet, you know this is a nightmare that's what we're having
right now but it is reality, from the other side they haven't woken up, I think it's
DAS or a black highlighting now on the desk, like, Astralis's individuals aren't here,
They're not online.
Foots have tried everybody popping off.
I mean, this is great.
I mean, Astralis is saying, we will leave Hooksy alone again,
because we know you like to go to the A-bomb site.
We'll stack up there for the last round.
They're just dead wrong, because Foots had so much
success here.
Hooksy manages to go one for one.
Oh, they keep doing that, though.
They keep giving Foesie the chance
on that market window break.
So at least they pulled a kill in favor of Astralis
for the last round of the half.
They're going to try and get through.
These post plans have been so good for a foot.
Well they always have so much utility left, right? When they get in because it's so fast paced, they just dumped everything.
Only two flashes remaining for the foot side.
The other worrying factor is they're all coming through the same position.
Yeah, no flank. Uh-oh.
Oh, they're about to get shredded.
They're about to get f-ed!
Cemetery with two!
Yabbi and Stab, both dead!
And just like that, the advantage Astralis once held has comfortably gone in favor of foot.
Foot arches, steamrolling Astralis, and stepping towards the trophy.
Another huge half from foot 10 to up. How do you even come back from this?
I there's just no way I can see that happening
No, not at all
I'm not even worth talking about a reverse sweep at this point because the straw is not even here yet
It's the way you could see that coming as soon as he falls the flash pulls the flash bang out
You're like, oh god those players aren't so much trouble
Three versus four in the post plant and foot dominate the situation
Can you imagine Hoaxie and the colms as well as like well they've rushed me again guys. I don't know at this point
This point you might not it might not even be worth getting angry about I
Mean just the fact that okay truly this is the round they go back to a no they just they just can't be again
But I mean that's yeah, and it's it's that's gotta be a frustrating thing too
But like how are you supposed to call it?
How are you supposed to read it when no wherever they go? They're getting kills whenever they wherever they go?
They're shutting you down. They're getting into ball sites winning rounds
There's no way to really read what's coming next, because it was so dominant that
Provene just had complete control of this game tactically in that half.
How do they get anything that's going to switch here?
We came into this feeling like both these teams were very evenly matched.
I still believe that, to some extent, obviously clearly a really, really bad day so far for Astralis in the office.
But man, Foot's making this just look, they're making it look so one-sided, so crazy.
Astralis is going to be heading towards the A bomb site in this pistol round.
As the weaker defense as well, so at least something is going in the favor of Astralis
at least for now.
They're coming back though.
Before the shooting begins.
It's time to treat.
Astralis is going to be good on to Yavi, he's 20 damage, can move out of the site,
they cross it beyond the smoke.
So Astralis into the site, not losing a player, as soon as I say that, Lance
gets one through the smoke, Ryu pushing down towards CT. Now he needs to be
carefully doesn't go too far. If he's to round that corner, multiple targets ready
to remove him. So Ryu stands and he waits because he knows he's got his teammates
behind him. Here comes the flash. Ryu with the first was in front of that flash
bank so it's ineffective on him and the Yabi sent forward into the fight as
well. They're cleaning up and foes he gets both of those kills towards CT so
it's Launx 1v3. Yeah well that one's pretty much done and dusted
isn't it? No kit either. So Launx just trying to manage these angles it's
It's not going to happen, Astralis.
A little bit of a reprieve off a weakened A defense
with only one player playing retake,
able to get in, able to control CT spawn retake,
and a nice pistol round victory.
They're first of the series.
Yeah, it was a strong hit towards the A bomb site.
And that's even a great 4v5 conversion as well for Astralis.
They lost the initial player.
Long's got one through the smoke.
Obviously needs to be one hell of a T side here.
Yeah, Astralis.
really does.
Got a bit of a buy going on here.
How many of these rounds do we see footwind though?
When they get a D.Eagle out, when they have a couple of D.E.E.Es on the server.
Kribani's D.Eagle was wild yesterday, wasn't it?
Yeah, demons too.
Demons as well.
Obviously, if they win this, Death Sentence is on the map for us trawlers.
That'd be Death Sentence of the series.
Yeah.
Like, morale at an all-time low if that comes to pass.
Good name.
46 HP here on Kribani.
Caught it with his face. Utility up in window room. Utility at top con as well.
So Jigs line of sight is taken away. Just some spam shots through the smoke. Hope
he can get lucky. Nothing connects. Look at the difference in philosophies as well.
Astralis doing the classic. Takes a little bit of map control. Take it piece by piece.
by P slowly move into the bomb site restrict where the defense can be playing
or the first half it was brute force from foot.
10 picked up, Krebbeni just jumped out of the window
and there was your moment, the first kill coming in.
Can't let this one go.
Starts a strong position, Nate towards him, backs off, longs look good to fight him.
And he has lost that engagement.
Stammering, oh, it's demon.
Not wanting to step through.
I want to be as competitive as he can.
Look at his teammate, though.
This is why he doesn't want to stay. He wants the attention to remain here.
Oh, this worked out pretty well. Yeah, he's looking for it. He's low as p.
Take a body shot. He's down.
Okay, there's the shot for Juggs. Hasn't taken it and eventually Stan does get demon walking through that murder hall.
So as Jarl is, I mean, getting into the site, not looking like they were going to lose that round.
Fizz bumps come in.
Nice attempt from Juggs. Nice slow little flank over towards jungle.
Yeah, look at the foot side of things. 17 kills on Logs. He's been a beast, but 11 kills apiece on Demon, Cemetery and Juggs.
There's team-wide effort.
The Astralisade of things, Yavi's up at 10, Rui at 9 with Stare.
Proveni's invested in a Hero M4.
Positioned over at the A-Bombs, I imagine he'll be pretty mobile depending on what he senses,
but Astralis is reconvening towards this bomb site.
No stack yet, no read, nobody from foot aggressive on the map to gather information or say that anything's clear.
So Astralis a huge advantage, but the X factor of that M4.
Now Utah flying over, execution arriving.
Jokes open, he can catch one initially.
Trying to set up this Krabeni rifle off the back in triple, but Jokes has got nothing for Benny.
Good for one, going out in the open needs to be clean.
They're not so clean on that second attempt.
Astralis fall to three, apply a cemetery. This is knife on just the USP, so...
Not going to be getting too much here.
It's a fair trial for Astralis.
Contention was there though, right place, Krabeni.
Ooh, good dinks. Okay, not able to do it.
Hooksie is able to spray him down.
So Astralis creep a little bit closer, the lead is cut to just five.
10 rounds for foot, 5 for Astralis, but the first buy round for
foot's defensive side is coming in right now.
Cervetti a little bit limited on utility because of the M4 in the previous round,
but they do have the AWP on cemetery. They got a kit on longs to play with in this round.
And that AWP is going to start over on short.
Astralis, here are these footsteps pushing towards Cat.
Nobody's home in middle to get punished though.
Very heavy B.
Now the B bombsite, I feel like failed a lot of times against Mungle yesterday.
Astralis might think both defenders are on short because they hear two footsteps,
but Demon's there as well, waiting inside the bombsite.
That's a rare miss from Cemetery. Good job from Kribbendi to pick it up.
Oh, now they know.
It's going to be this B hit. Longs is looking hot today,
so he's taking himself ahead.
Shaw and Yabi going up a gank can't get stabbed,
but Demon certainly will.
Well tries to control himself for that kill on Ryu couldn't finish him off
But then Ryu steps into the open for Benny had already leaped through that window back into the B bomb site and puts foesie in the clutch
The 1v2 bombs killed to the ground and for Benny. He's not even sitting back
He's still moving forward. He's looking for you and then he will get that kill
You know I mentioned the start of the series that I thought a straw so it's gonna be the better tactical team and foot was just gonna
Be punching a lot harder
What's what's the better tactical team so far in the end? They're fragging better. They're better tactically look at this trap
I don't even know if they necessarily intended it, but the double push with one player hanging back at the B bombsite,
Astralis get completely caught off guard by that third defender. And once again, they just have to burn their third and final time-outs just so early.
5-11. Both maps, all three time-outs used by Astralis, and it never seems like it's been able to turn things to click in.
Haven't been able to find the recipe on Ancient, haven't been able to find it here on Mirage either.
Nuke is going to be the next map in this series, the third map, and that could just decide
who's taking the trophy home between these two teams.
Likely to be the decider, unless Astralis have a complete turnaround right now.
to be a third defender of this A bomb site.
They're basically just swap positions with jugs.
So it looks like they want to clear out middle first.
Two players on short, two players in con.
They're happy with the five on four at the moment.
Content to let Cemetery just try and pick one player off
on any kind of an A-exec.
They want to make sure the middle of the map
is under their control,
and no portion of this attack can get up through con.
Let's just hook C in mid.
D.Go behind the top boxes.
Gonna be put under pressure.
Krebani goes out, gets that kill.
And now the reaction from Astralis, the thrust in towards the side, now you have taken Semitra down so quickly, you haven't allowed him to kill, so this is the only way in for Astralis, they get into the site, but can they hold on to it?
Rosie's got the bomb, they want another kill first, so now he's going to get back.
Okay, swing from the AK inside the site, now he can't get killed.
Oh, that bomb is going to go down, Launce has removed him, and now the last headshot, Launce has got that one as well.
20 kills on Launce, what a performance.
You'd love to see that from the guy who we can tell has just been the heart and
soul of this team. Well, Krebbeni is the brains. He's the guy keeping them hyped
up and keeping the energy in the right place. It's the role he's carved out
for him in this squad.
There's Navi, junior team, then once more, and Mikaze, the most promising player getting
ripped out of his team and sent to the main roster of Navi. We've seen what he's
capable of, but then you go and find Launcse too. He was touted as one of
The next up and coming player, he got a couple of chances but he said he wasn't the real major, right?
Yeah, exactly. He said he wasn't mature enough or wasn't in the position or up, didn't have the players around him to really make the most of that.
And he wants to be that player for these guys and he's been such a talisman for them.
Coming into this roster, really leveling up for its maturity and they have done some special things to kick off 20-26.
They're about to go 2-0 up in this grand final, cemetery holding on to the B bomb site, Astralis flooding in, kills coming through and a 3-D3.
Yeah, I couldn't find that follow-up. Molotov is out. Retake on the cards.
Molotov not gonna spread over to Fosy, so the bomb does fall.
Excuse me, Dougie does get planted.
Jokes trying to spam, trying to find the timing, almost had it.
Another smoke over towards Market, so Krobeny's probably gonna have to play earlier than Jokes and Longs.
Krobeny through the apartment, spots the head, hooks he's dead.
Now they're crumbling, they're strawless with just one play alive.
given it a good go. The Tech 9 has taken away two, but Krebbenny now running him down,
time ticking and he will find the kill. And so Moulins will finish as dominant as ancient
and four are looking to eradicate Astralis and show there is absolutely no competition
at this event.
Certainly looking one-sided at the moment. We will have to see if Astralis can course correct the player. I'll start with you
You said last time they played they didn't go to be enough foot
That is of course a mirage and they were able to abuse that bomb site very effectively. Yeah
That was a case of a hydrogen bomb versus a coughing baby the coughing baby being that B bomb site right there
I'm like they did the same call
I think five times almost in a row in that first half and Astralis had zero answer and dust like just love the fact
They and the in ancient and they're like, you know what we're not gonna lift our foot off the pedal
No pun intended of course and just complete sheer domination everyone is still on point and for Astralis like I still feel they're asleep
I still feel they are back in the ancient at this point. What's not just trying to win the tournament
I'm trying to do the speed one record of how fast you can win the best of five
I mean, they are absolutely ripping the shouts apart right now.
I couldn't even anticipate that it would be this one sided, you know,
kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier with the whole
like permission to be bomb site, it just goes to show as we were discussing
that push is so dynamic on this map.
Yeah, you never really know where the numbers are.
They're so good at, you know, creating presence, kind of fainting, poking and
prodding, keeping you guessing where the resources are truly intending to be
committed. And so they can then catch someone off guard alone in a site
and then run them down with four players.
So it's just a team that plays a lot of pace,
but it's very controlled.
It's not, you know, loose chaos.
It is, you know, very, very intentional.
And I love the conditioning they did as well, right?
If you go back to the first, what, four or five rounds,
it was nothing but, you know,
super fast place towards A, right?
They're not racing anytime.
The one time, when they played Astralis the previous time,
they went for a super slow methodical defaulting
towards mid and then trying to go over
this late crunches towards A.
Instead of like, we're gonna be hitting A.
We're gonna be hitting A again and again and again.
What happens after that?
We see way more aggression from Astralis towards mid.
And that's when Krebani is like,
You know what? We're going to hit B once and again and again and again.
The one round, the loss of A was against what was a bit of a mistake from them against pretty much upgraded pistols.
That's about it. But they conditioned Astralis so well, that entire half, but I think like half between the half, I'm like, yeah, this map is done.
Yeah. I mean, the heat map kind of shows it when the loss is creating that type of pressure through connector and on some of the entries that they did have when they did go for a couple of their A plays.
And this is very hard to want to commit additional resources to B bombs, even though, you know, hooks is getting run down over there.
You just know that threats always looming, that foot could hit it, that foot could go for like a three-man mid-push into connector,
or that foot could go for an A-set piece.
And because the shots are never really able to establish any forward angles or gaining any intel or getting any early picks,
I mean that's the other big thing, like you're not winning any open rules to give you the flexibility to try to move around a little bit.
Like footers come at you fast, hard, and they're winning every duel.
And also so impressive is the fact that we've been phrasing how good Huxley has been as leading his team, iJelly,
but man, Providio is calling circles around this entire map.
And on top of that, many of the times they entered a B bomb set, which they were losing players initially.
The opening kills we were going to with Astralis, it was like a 3v5, a 4v5, a 2v3, whatnot.
But the way they played those post-plats, like perfect crossfires, perfect utility usage as well,
popping out, taking fights, just out-dueling them, and not a single retake went the way for Astralis there.
Yeah, I want to point out, like, you know, even whenever they were down the man, just the way they set up,
the way they timed when to use their utility, the communication was so on point,
Like don't ever really got left like blindsided or kind of wondering about something they had every angle covered and their retakes were just as good
You know, whatever they were in a situation where they had to come into a site
They were able to discreet through it with a lot of confidence. You were talking about the B focus
So I just want to point out like they did the same thing again and again again
So ridiculous because they've been we're actually going to see Astralis go for this heavy midfights
Boom the moment that happens a fast play towards me and if I'm hook see I'm just like oh guys
It's all be it's all be they run on in he gets taken out instantly right there
And then again the B bombsite pretty much lost utility to getting deployed again
If you notice there's a three versus four and yet they come out on top once again
Just sharp shooting in this cut situation cemetery pulling off a 1v2 as well
I believe it was 8 and 0 at this point couple of rounds later. I saw it's with that half my route
Look at this is speeding into the B bombsite hook see blinded native left and nothing
Cravenia get to a Smith but look gets found out and despite losing a couple of players there in his defense
They still clutch it out then go to the next round
I can't it's gonna be another Cravenia look to what Smith gets found out be hit coming in
Hooksie plays a little bit more passive this time around trying to prove up with his teammates
But still taken down and then yeah, I get all the clutches going their way
In fact the final round of this half was them doing the same thing again
You know what Astralis that round they had four players to it say because hooksies like guys listen
They're not going to be going B again.
It's going to be A this time.
They have three players towards Ram.
And what did they do?
Hit B again.
It just, it was just completely outclassing,
out calling the side of Huxley.
And also, we're talking about just the individuals as well.
They had so much confidence.
They were just running away.
We are the better players, we're a better team right now.
And for the side of Astralis,
they could just see the trepidation, man.
Just retakes.
They were just like,
are we making the right play?
Are we going to be going for this?
They just seemed to lack confidence.
And how are we even going to be getting confidence?
We're just getting ruined right now.
positive moment I even remember from this house that game was when stare got
that triple kill and connector that's it I mean I it's hard for me to really even
narrow down like how they were able to get the few walks through a smoke for
that yeah exactly you know and it was actually like a cool pacing change when
they did do that too because they had been hitting the b-bomb sites of often
that they did try to catch them off guard with a three-man kick to push I'm
telling you guys like foot is one of the most dynamic mirage teams out there
right now everyone should be on alert if they play this team because they
look different every time that they play it you know obviously this game
was very B heavy offense but I've seen so many games where they completely
change what their focus is in the midst of a match the thing on who they're up
against and what they're feeling so there is such a hard team to figure out and
then you can clearly see the amount of prep work they've done for this particular
match because against Astralis last time they played ancient they lost it
convincingly last time you played Mirage they lost against Astralis
convincingly I said it on ancient they were a little too passive towards
extremities towards AMA and towards Ram what did they do on ancient they
went for that control they were annoying they were disruptive to have
done Astralis right there what did you do Mirage last time they didn't
abuse me enough what did you do this game just abuse me non-stop they've learned
from the mistakes and they've leveled up and that's so cool to see so much of
prep being done there well nuke coming up sure obviously I think this is I mean
because what I'm saying now a trawler's have to win it but I always felt it
crossed the best of five wherever it was positioned this had to be the map
straws have to take they were first picking it at this environment at the
start and a lot of best of threes and I don't know man they're still
Jekyll and Hyde for me on
tough one. I mean, this ye
a lot. They've gone three
strength of schedule though
foot who has a better rec
but they're only real not
the one they had against
lost to the Charleston be
you know, pretty decent f
that said, just a format
we just haven't seen any
like that's really concer
look at the map here. Fo
on the CT side. Krabini
monster outside dude. He is so good at picking and choosing his battles when he
wants to aggress, when he wants to you know push secret, when he wants to use
different little maneuvers and cemetery has been on point with the yacht like
that yard to be so hard for stare to fight for. And this is what I'm looking
at because last time as I pointed out there does when foot plate Astralis
they started a CT side and Astralis just ran circles around them on the
T side. And what Astralis did was the constant outside yard control right
through the smokes and what surprised me where foot were not
disrupting, they're not fighting for outside yard. What they did was when
the loss control of outside.
They just pivot a couple of players down to the lower bomb side and Astralis were abusing
them.
They were abusing the rotations and punishing them, right?
But what I expect to see from Ft.
And the CT side this time around is Krabani as you pointed out, is Cemetery.
Take those fights, blow the smokes, make them feel uncomfortable, push towards outside
red and just try to get those opening picks.
So far I'm so impressed at how they picked the errors they had in the previous two
maps and they've won so convincingly.
So I feel like for Astralis, also remember against Bait, they looked miserable.
Astralis is T side.
So this could very well be the writing on the wall.
This could be a 3-0.
Yeah, it's one of those tough things where, again,
like stairs are going to have to be that star that they need.
I mean, this guy is a yard player on both sides of the map.
And usually he's very effective.
He's going to have to do even more today.
The other person I'm going to be looking at is Ryu, bro.
Ryu has been really, really struggling throughout the course
of his series.
To be fair, no one's really lighting the world on fire.
But he's been a marked weakness.
And he's their ramp player, CT side, playing it alone,
obviously.
He's their lobby hold guy.
And this is a foot team that will push lobby
and it's gonna make Reed responsible for having to hold that.
And going back to the cemetery angle,
again, this guy just holds angles, no other operas do.
He's gonna push hut with a knot.
He's not afraid to take these crazy unorthodox plays
that people just can't really anticipate.
And with the form that Footer looking in so far this series,
everyone's firing on all cylinders,
it's very hard to find a way to believe in Astralis.
Yeah, I mean, like we all in the talent,
we thought this was gonna be a three, two,
it was gonna be all of the maps.
It's gonna be competitive at the very least.
But here's the thing, if Astralis do win, you get that extended break, right?
If you're coming in, you're the momentum team, young guns, gets in your head a little bit.
I mean, there really is a window back for Astralis there, if they can win this.
And this is where all the pressure is on Rugga and Hooksy, right?
We were talking about how this team, when the pressure is on, they can crumble a little bit,
they can start bickering and just getting frustrated.
We saw that yesterday, we saw that in multiple games in the past as well, so far in this event.
So if I'm hooks and ruga, I'm giving the speech at a tournament right now.
My guys forget about map number one, I'm never to wake up.
This is our map.
Take we need to pull this one off and they can't.
I really believe they can switch it around.
They have the experience in the form of folksy have experience in the form of
ruga.
They even have experience in the form of stare and yabby to
can't forget like yabby, man.
He's been paying for such a long time.
You have the more established talent.
You have the more experienced person, much more high pressure situations.
This is where you show why you deserve this trophy.
If not, it's over.
It's going to be one of the fastest of best of fives ever.
I think what's crazy about those,
how we talked at the beginning of the game,
how one of the issues that Flut could face in this game
is that it's a best of five.
That there is a different level of composure
you have to be able to have and mental stamina
to be able to go deep the distance.
They haven't had the face that fear yet, right?
I mean, they just blanked out Astralis and two mats
only allowing them five rounds a piece.
So they're not feeling real tired at this point.
In fact, they're juiced up and killed.
Here's a stat for you.
I'm not sure about the numbers,
But I believe in the past 12 CSGOs, the advent of CSGO, right?
I believe we've only seen like maybe four or three or four reverse sweeps in the best of five,
especially in the big events.
It's pretty rough.
So it's going to be the Astralis pulling off almost a night impossible for them to get this win.
No, I think foot's going to find this trophy, man.
I think this is finally their moment.
It's the perfect environment to do it.
You're in the studio.
You're feeling comfortable.
You've got lots of home soil firing.
I mean, this seems like everything's aligning for foot.
So it's always that trophy here in a second.
All right.
So we are going to go to a break when we come back.
It's gonna be you, kids, now or never for Astroalus.
She said she loves you, but she can't love me.
But I love you!
I won't play window anymore.
What's going on?
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Oh
These Grand Finals went live at 503pm local time here in Bucharest.
It's been an hour and 40 minutes to get through the first two maps in such dominant fashion.
It's not enough right now for foot to win the Grand Final and lift the trophy.
They got to try and set records as well.
through some of the previous Grand Finals at the HLTV MVP level events that we've had.
The least I could find was Maus getting 18 rounds against Vitality at Pro League Season
21 Finals.
Astralis is sitting at 10 right now.
FOOT is speedrunning these Finals and they're doing it in such a dominant way that Astralis,
we haven't even been able to talk about them getting into any of these maps.
Ancient was a wash, Mirage was just them getting wiped off the map and now we switch
to Nuke where it could get even worse because this is a map that Astralis picks so FOOT
What gets to start on the CT side, the stronger side on the map?
Right, and they've just had good starts every time, and they've been able to turn it into
just a dominant first half, and it's really sad to see Astralis bring this level to the
Grand Final, because we mentioned how they haven't necessarily always been close maps
between these teams, but at least they've been one side of blowout back and forth,
right?
Astralis is not answering the call right now whatsoever, and this could end up being
one of the fastest BFIs we have ever had with the way Filtre playing at the
moment.
Yeah, I mean, they're pacey, they're hitting their shots, they're very decisive
at the moment and obviously the other side of that coin too is just absolutely no resistance
from the Astralis side as they sat down at the PCs today.
Third map of these grand finals could be the deciding map for foot as we're set to go live
into the pistol.
And the conversation between maps for Astralis, yeah you have the big one about waking
up, about everybody getting locked in, everyone focusing, not going out 0 and 3 in these
finals, more than anything.
And the conversation had to focus on the start of this map.
You started out the first map down 7, nothing before getting your first aim with
the second map. Like this has been an absolute disaster. We see Longster putting his in ears
in.
Yeah, getting ready for this one shaping up for Nuke that we're hoping will end in celebration
of a tournament win. This team coming into this event, definitely a team you would have
in the conversation as a dark horse, but weren't in the top predictions to be the
team that would win the trophy. We thought this would fall to a more favorite team,
a more experienced, terror vision, vision, even Astralis we expected to be better
Mongols maybe we would have said had a chance coming into this. Yeah, but paravasion that have
Obviously not stepped up and we've seen them get smashed by foot and now they're looking to do the same thing to Astralis
Alright ladies and gentlemen third and possibly final map of this best of five. We've got foot stepping out
They're gonna be on the CT side. It's all eyes on a straws to see what level they can bring
Can they get into this final at all?
Looks like they want to go straight towards the upper bomb site or the Abbey drop down
the vents, maybe attack towards the ramp room.
This little attention towards the upper site is going to pull Kribbeni's dualies close.
Kribbeni gets peeked and destroyed.
He goes down.
Demon is going to be taking a pause for a second.
Nothing, jokes come over.
Take that next contact.
Demon also taking the headshot and that takes the sting out of the attack.
His trawler slowed down, foes get hard cleared.
They just can't catch a break whatsoever.
Foot have just dragged themselves back into the pistol round and done it in a stylish fashion. It's now Yabbi
Now you do have that chance now foot to get a good start again and start racking up these CT rounds
It's been two maps of play already and Astralis still haven't gotten the message that foot is gonna fight you for every single inch
They're coming for you every time you get something foot is gonna be right around the corner
You know, I mean how unexpected is this how many times do you see teams go this aggressive on a retake?
especially when you lose a player.
Now, because Kriven is so pushed up and so far advanced,
the rotation is able to get there in time
to take that fight at that moment.
You just don't see CT teams fight like that.
Most teams try and rotate to get ahead of the next play.
Yeah.
Hold on.
Astralis is going to be investing into this one.
So a technicality has come out.
There you go.
P250.
That's all you've got to work with if you're Astralis here.
And you haven't been able to burst through in the first timing.
But you're hoping Yabi can sneak his way out
with the flashbang.
It's effective to blind the Raptors player to gets it under control though it gets a second kill
But both openings here for a strong as a chance to get into the site
But cemetery goes in peels away with an advantage and now you have to play a post-bomb
The bomb is even planted yet and they're always ready to fight so if it come in
They don't allow the bomb plant and they will make sure that they do not get upset in the second round
Yeah, three on one and you know when the bomb gets tapped you've got basically a
I mean you just can move in you just have so much freedom coming in as that guy's occupied a
A little pause, long sevens and issues.
I'm not happy to snap the headset on there.
I think he's tangled up there, so he's
going to be getting pulled down by the headphones.
We've all been there.
Yeah, wires getting in the way.
Yeah, looped around the handles.
We're going to make sure you got the right one,
and you don't want to be getting steps coming to the left.
I don't know.
Apparently, some players just never
fixed that across the entirety of their life.
We've heard of some players playing with some inverted sound.
It's like the craziest thing in the world.
I don't even know how it works.
your brain never registers.
I mean, this is fantastic to see foot get into this position to
start off this year. We got to see a glimpse of them at the end
of 2025 when they went out to Shanghai, they knocked FaZe
clan out of that tournament and really showed that, okay, this
is a team we could all get excited about. Didn't expect
them to rise this quickly, though, and coming into this
season. I mean, the statement performance in Krakow, the
teams that they were really challenging and making themselves
look like a real tough team in a G2 immediately coming out
Hunter saying that foot reply like a top 10 team right now and they're shooting real hard
I think I want to take the next step make
Again includes just nearly looking like they're gonna make it through just missing out in playoffs
But they always managed to level up and they keep leveling up and I loved hearing the interviews about how you know
Some players have had options to go elsewhere
But they've decided that none of those are appealing they know they've got a great five-man squad here
And they like what they're doing and it's it's really paying off
Oh cool you had an interview gave like the old classic and answer was like we're not really like most other teams
We're more we're more akin to a family which which we've heard from many teams over the years
To his credit though someone who's been coaching Navi
What I think he had like two and a half years than on the as a coach of the Navi junior
Especially with a bunch of these guys he mentioned he's been coaching jokes since tricks was 15 years old
So I mean you got to imagine the level of I mean you're working with someone that closely for that long
And with the team that closely for that long you get an opportunity like this finally
This is what you've been working for, for years.
I think this team is really kind of united
and banded around that common goal.
Obviously, of chasing this down
and just look at how focused they've been all day today.
Average age, 19 years old, I believe, as well.
New age players, new gen players coming in hot.
Two to nothing for foot.
Astralis muster up a couple of D-goals at AK-47 on Ryu.
He's trying to have something that can do some damage to this foot economy.
You know you took a number of players down in the last round, so if that AK can get something
going at least you keep them somewhat modest.
Looks like he's going to take damage on the cross.
Yeah, but he wants to bait some of these CTs in towards swinging wide to spam and
some of these kills, trying to get for you the opening to maybe pick someone off
who's distracted.
Obviously he hasn't worked out nearly as clean as he would have liked.
The rest of the player is going to come in front of the smoke wall.
Nice shot from Rio, good reaction, he does get dinked up, brought very very low but
good advantage provided, 5 on 4.
Yeah, tosses that AK off.
But are you going to expect Juerks to be in this position already?
Shadow, Rio was completely tunnel visioned on the right fall.
Now Krobeny is going to catch, hopefully he's going to fall.
And now Kribeni can just peek up, take another, and look towards Heaven and tell Longsther that, in fact, Stara is no longer in vision, so he's either committed to that Heaven or not.
Fight, or he's down on the lockers.
And it's heard him drop down off the ladder now, so I mean, Longsther's tracking by sound this whole time.
Stara's gonna take the fight, Kribeni. Lovely triple kill from the captain of foot.
I love the way Jirg celebrates round ones, even like that.
You got to. Keep the energy up.
Three to nothing.
And Astralis is going to come in with their first buy of this third map.
Mac 10 on Hooksy, passed over in AK-47, it was Yabi who dropped the Hero AK in the previous round,
so he needed one replenished to him, it's Hooksy who takes the hit.
Round four set to begin, and I mean the first two maps of Astralis never got started until seven, eight rounds in.
It can't be the case here, we've said that a lot in this series because we're still waiting for it to happen.
I mean, outside of Launc Street, we don't know any of the players here from CSGO days
as well.
It's just cool to see a completely fresh team for the CS2, and right now, playing the
game as intended to be played with some space, with some aggression, and they now have
to deal with some of the wrong because the straw is trying to charge out of the
height into the site. It's actually worked very well for Astralis to break through
this upper bomb site, blasts come in, demon goes over the top trying to make it happen,
but it will be Astralis to finally break through with the wrong way.
Yeah, great double kill for Hooksy. This time well prepared for that retake to
come in much quicker than expected previously. Last time they tried to
plant the bomb, the swing came immediately on the tap. Hooksy so
prepared for the run out from heaven. First kill with the MAK10,
swaps out, gets a second, and foot get knocked out with the upper play.
So, Astralis makes it a little pacy aggressive round with that upper bust and it works perfectly.
Money is going to be an issue for foot in the next round.
Krebbeni can drop one over, but you can see cemeteries at 50, longs at 450, they're going
to be missing a few things.
So, a chance for Astralis early to break them and as we keep mentioning, Astralis
needed to get rounds on the board before round 8.
This is a great chance to break the economy, start getting that breathing room, start
getting to a point where you have the rounds necessary to survive and work for
the second half, but then you can add a little bit more on top and a timeout is
taken. This one by foot, first time we've seen them pressured this early on, but as
I just outlined the economic situation, they want to have the talk to make sure
that it doesn't come to a crashing halt here way too early on their CT side of
Nuke. They've really enjoyed playing with the lead with an extreme advantage
in both of these first two maps. It's let them have extreme confidence,
Let's let them just build into this crazy momentum that Astralis can't handle so not wanting to disrupt that here early on nuke going into round 5
Op will be in the hands of cemetery
FAMAS on jugs longs has a deagle
Rifles otherwise
The Astralis also have to establish that they can win rounds in a different fashion, right?
You're not gonna be able to win this game just by hitting that a ball so over and over
No, but you can't break their economy by doing it.
And you do have them on the ropes, economically.
See what they call in this round for Astralis.
Gonna be the outside smoke to point straight away.
Got Krebbeni, who's playing all the way back in garage.
So no information really being picked up in terms of how many players are gonna be
crossing towards secret.
That's gotta be in the back of the mines here afoot.
Do you want to just call their bluff?
Take the gamble.
No one's gonna be walking down secret to B.
They're about to find out shortly though. Astralis do intend to hit this A bomb site again
What's the setup looking like here for the CT side we got demon up on the rafters
You got lounge on high it's a strong setup, but a missed PC utility jokes can stand at the back of the site
It's fine. This isn't this is all a fake
They want to show the upper exec so that they can cross without any utility without a smoke wall
Krebbeni here's these footsteps and calling it out stairs watching for his feet at the moment
Lauch's is Digo to defend this cross on the initial play
No, with under a minute left on the clock,
Clarence's Deagle is now blinded,
so they get across the first point.
Cemetery's missed with the AWP,
and where does Hooksy go now?
His teammates are dying.
Alper Stair has died on top main.
There's the ball.
I'm gonna fall in the decision to come back up to A
and try and split it fire.
The vet has been a deadly decision.
That falls in favor of foot.
It's Fosy and Riu left at a 2v5,
and they just can't do anything about this round.
Yeah, it does feel like a little bit of a crazy idea,
but the round's not done yet.
Ryu and Fuzzi bring it right back into a two on three.
There's no kids if this bomb does get planted.
Yeah, Ryu now waiting at the vent.
When does Demon decide to go up the ladder?
Samurai is now arriving towards secret.
Great recovery to this round for Astralis.
This did not look like there was gonna be a shot
in hell at winning this,
but Ryu takes the risk to come up the vent.
Fuzzi gets his kill out hot.
Now Ryu gotta be looking at Heaven.
He gotta move on here for it.
There's no kid available.
They've only got one flashbang.
Ryu with eyes at Heaven.
A great turn around from Astralis, but can they convert it?
Ryu, sharpshooting, loss comes in,
and then Deemin with the distraction peeks at the right time,
and Foote do convert it in the end.
It's slow, so slow, so patient, no noise being made.
Astralis could never locate where the retake
was going to come from.
I'll tell you what, I'm with you that.
I mean, you throw the fake towards the upper bomb site
to pull people to attention to the upper bomb site
so that you can cross for free,
but then jump in right up the vents
without any real information.
I mean, you see the AWP over on control side,
But I'm surprised that's enough to kind of dissuade you from attacking into the lower bombsite
They only have two players there so might have just been called out a spawn. They're just so dedicated to it
But it does end up just being extremely ineffective
All right, so looks he's saying you can't just sit around even with the bad advantage and expect it's gonna win
You're gonna have to go make a player have to go find a kill at some point
Try to get the guys motivated to fight back here a little bit
He'll be pleased with this opening provided by Ryu, and the space it offers stairs he drops onto the mini-roof.
Oh, feet spotted.
Fosy's got the kill here on Demon, so now we're at a 5E3.
Hard to see how his trawlers are going to lose this one now.
He got information as well. You know you've got Krobeni trapped, so he can't make you a play to get you out of this situation.
I gotta try and help him get out of the spot with some Utah and not a bad chance there but
Fozy sends him to the sky.
Yeah, hits the ceiling.
Two on five.
Joe's being watched as well.
Yeah, you can be as patient as you need to if you're a Stralis right now.
I would obviously know that.
But at some point, Jigs is gonna have to make a move to go for a kill and lose his life
in the process.
53 seconds left in the clock and cemetery.
I mean, I don't think they're going to be ultra motivated for any kind of a hunt, but you have a long time to try and survive.
And if anyone even spots you out, if you give away your position once, it's pretty much done.
Now we get to see how much they want to take the AWP away.
It'd be valuable.
Look at the money on the side of foot.
They will be broken after this round.
If he gets to keep the AWP, it'll be the only weapon they have moving forward.
I think Hooksy at least recognizes how valuable it is to make sure that all
is in play moving forward as an IGL just doesn't want to have to mess with it on
the map.
And he'll get away. No one checks towards CT spawn. Oh, Hooksy's coming right at the
end. Here we go, cemetery, nice shot, straight to the dome. Probably surprises Hoaxie with
the explosion. Could be a little happier with that one, Hoaxie.
Try to get a kill, try to get a kill. Yes, yes.
I just careful heaven and upwards I fly it's okay it's okay what is not okay is
that we have to push each other so much to do stuff guys just fucking play the
game we are free be to you cannot just sit and expect to win okay let's do
something let's fucking grab the game all right so he's having the same
conversation that we're having on the outside as well is what is they're
going to have the attitude that they're here to win this grand final trying to
instill that down the line down to his players as an experienced players that
he's mentioned nerves have always been an issue and he can sense it
you caught them here on the ropes you know you don't have they don't have a
whole lot left behind this and again they're not really spotting outside
I think you have the space to play with but if you keep walking down
secret. Cemetery is lying away with the scope. Stralis, no. Okay, a little bit too quiet.
We haven't made contact yet.
Is it going to be a fight secret? Stralis right now might be thinking because of the
financial situation. They don't know the ops in the field to play. I wonder if they expect
the rest of the investment. 50 seconds. Stralis has gained so much ground outside.
haven't done anything with it yet. One smoke remaining in the hands of Fosy.
They're just waiting for a peek from Foote. They want Foote to provide the opening kill
but it's good discipline. Foote aren't doing that. They're waiting.
They're just playing container right now. They just want to see where the scaling is. Now's the time for information. Good kill.
And it's a great timing for the peek as well there from Krebendi. He doesn't put himself at risk,
doesn't expose himself to outside.
And now the patience is paid off for Cemetery as well. Hooksy walks into him.
If I beat three foot with weaker weapon looking so damn strong, they crush the straw list
One kill from the straw list in that round
And there's a massive sigh of relief as well here for foot economically
That was a great opportunity to actually get into the half now hooks you up with a conversation again
I think I think he's having the same kind of talk that we just heard in the listening because once again
It's like you get outside you get two players in secret. They're watching for a push
You get two or three players out in big garage, which control of credit and it just kind of pauses and settles there for like
2025 seconds. So when you eventually make your move, there's no one supporting stare on his first move towards Lockers
He gets killed for free, right?
And then you get picked off in secret
So it just feels like there's that moment where it hooks
He's expecting people to be doing things on the road and finding information making some movement passing information on to him
And it's not happening. We've got into it. Yeah, exactly
He's like we've got into this position in the round now
It's on you guys have some initiative and make a play and not be micromanaged to victory that by the time
They do figure things out. They just don't really have time to recover the scenario
Open the hands of foes you again a k and stare yabby and Ryu
Hooksie back down to the well. He had a mac 10 for a moment
Yeah, I mean you're not gonna get many chances like this in the half if you're a straw
If you lose this one foot can start building money last time he had the mac 10 it was that upper bus
enough very first gun rounds
This time not gonna be the same outside smoke mistu
Must have been Molly under the roof just to make sure it couldn't bounce. It just immediately gets used up leaves gaps outside
Astralis don't have a huge amount of utility to continuously lay it outside with smoke. So
It's already a tough round just from the get-go
Cemetery wedding this whole time stair hasn't given him the look just yet
Flash is out. He wants to come back for the angle who spotted the head
But I think stairs out as well doesn't want to mess with the off off angle from demon
Taken down low drops them all it's off bales out to the lower bomb sites of cemetery steps up even more
Yeah, foes he's trying to find it, but look at this squeaky hut push
It's gonna be a play forward towards hook see that Mac 10 will get the kill foes
He also search him for the kill in cemetery outside. He's collected it
So won't play the Mastralis they've got themselves into a 5v3, but let's see where they go from this point
I think hooks he's gonna be calling out caution over towards squeak door saw the one push, right?
He's gonna be saying we need to clear this as we move in. Let's see how diligent Astralis is
Fosy can come down the vents to help out. Yabbi very well trained in this position
How is Locke's gonna get away with this?
I just don't see how he gets away with it. He gets one on Yabbi. Hooks he had to trade it does so
Now with 30 seconds left you've got Jux now arriving up the ramp
They don't know both players are there but you can have an idea because Demon was the ramp player
Jux is gonna fly his way up. Heaven, Fosy's ready for that
Good punishing kills coming in from foes in this round.
Yeah, demon just gonna bail out with the AK-47.
I've been a very tough battle for foot, actually.
This is the most resistance Astralis has put up this whole time.
Good kill from demon, but not smooth enough to allow you to go for the 1v2.
He just wants his teammates AWP for the next round.
35 HP, third round for Astralis though.
Really important that foes he gets some impact there because
I highlighted the fact you didn't have many smokes left if you're Astralis.
The wall of smokes they did throw out was the double smoke in front of main, so you will be completely exposed if you wanted to go outside.
And so, Fozy is the only player that can do anything once you realize it's the AWP out there.
If you don't have the utility to block him off, then challenge with a sniper.
Fozy has the confidence to do so, and the capability of getting the kill.
I think Cemetery might have met a little bit over-eager on the AWP in this round.
I think he was really frustrated. He never got a clean look at Stair.
He didn't see Fosey drop down off a silo onto the boxes either, so probably catching him off-guard, having to encounter the AWP so soon.
Yeah, could have maintained outside control without putting himself at risk, and then he could have rotated as well.
But, yeah, it's just, there are little mistakes that happen when you're confident, I guess, right now with the way the final's been going.
Able to muster up a pretty decent bi, all things considered, his foot.
Cemetery with the AWP rifles around it, we're gonna go fast-paced, it looks like again, although it's just early pressure for now, no commitment at the moment.
But here comes the drop in mini is Kerbedi gonna be ready
One's already across the secret as well that happened so fast. That's fozy with an AWP who just makes the mad dash
Couple times David a middle find
The outside yard without any real presence on it
The bait and switch with the AWP deep in the M4 close
Semitre hoping he can peel away with one and then set up demon for destruction
and that is exactly what happens gets the dink on Ryu as well spills the bomb to
the floor and now recovery mission for Ryu stairs coming back just as Corbett
he's pushing but that's unfortunate for Stare. You know he's got to be very sharp
to win that fight he actually is so aware of that possibility and handles it.
Yeah but these are the kinds of situations that foot can throw away with
this sort of aggression over extended another good win for Stare cleaned up
by Longs at least holding on to it and Ryu's like I'd love to trade that but I
got no HP but what a shot on the AWP and it's all down to Longs in the 1v2 he's
got good timing but obviously Ryu knows exactly where he is well maybe not oh my
god okay Longs knows now he's gonna start chasing after him but has to do it
so slowly wait I leave but now I can run him down Ryu's committing to the
plant on his own team is not what's happening no Longs is leaving him he
He thinks it's the A-Ball send and realizes it's not, and so back down he goes again.
Yeah, but what's Fuzi doing? Why is he so far away? He's just getting into secret now.
There was such a crazy opportunity for Launc to just steal this round on his own.
Yeah, he had no idea, but...
Still got good timing, and he has a kit.
Oh, my God, Rio just peeks out, so now it's a 1v1, but there's no way Launc thinks Fuzi's not around, right?
Like, he helps these guys to be with him, and so the misplay from Mr. Ross is actually gonna save him.
We've got Launc's moving up to the double doors, but the smoke's down on the defuse, and he's got an AWP!
He's missed the shot!
Now he knows where he is and now the pressure's up.
Fosy has to peek him and oh my God, as Charlest,
that is going to be a tilt to...
Longs, that round just kind of comes to him.
Yeah, that's a crazy one.
I think that's a situation where you have
your more experienced players in a clutch situation
and we've seen Hooks, he kind of talking to the boys.
You imagine, Combs have been a little bit quiet.
It seems like he's intimating
that not as many ideas are flowing.
People aren't talking as much as he'd like.
I think that's another situation
where you get Ryu and Fosy in this clutch.
What is...Fosy doing?
I- I- What really is crazy is there must have been a calm that was just dead long.
Yeah.
Because Rio was going up to heaven to go up the ladder into the upper bombsite, and got called off it to the lower bombsite, but Fosy never moved.
So I wonder, but I'll tell you this, Astralis is finding way too much success outside.
They're getting themselves into women poor situations.
Oh!
That is a great shot from the stair.
Long's gonna be smashed into the ground so the stroll is a two-man advantage to kick off round 10
Yeah, I mean this is this has been a stroll says bread and butter on this t-side is kind of fast aggressive plays outside
They didn't cross without smokes. They've been able to find kills
Footside to play a lot of rounds 3v5 2v5 very very quickly
Cemetery start to pull it back though
Realizing he's a player down not falling away on the first time it needs to fall away now
Now, they're running down, he gets one extra kill.
But it's Demon's rotation onto the B-Bomb site
that is a worrying factor here for Astralis.
It's a strong spot.
What can Demon do?
16 points in the M4, misses out on the first chance,
peeks into the open and Ryu, sharp on the headshot,
needed to grab that,
and a missed opportunity from Demon.
Yeah, there was a real chance there.
Fast move from the map with Yabi with the Mach 10.
Able to just get around the cover
and then Ryu's ready for the follow-up fight.
Triple kill in the round for Ryu.
11 kills leading the way for Astralis, which is really good to see from one of the young
new additions to the team.
Especially with the map he's had, or the series he's had so far, you know.
The ancient was a very slow start.
So good to see him getting some impact in a couple of rounds here.
Four T rounds.
That's not bad at all for Astralis.
Yeah, they're piecing them together.
It'll be interesting to see if Hooksy keeps coming out, coming with these outside plays,
especially very quickly, very aggressively.
Look at this shot.
Just a swing.
Beautiful.
This one is nasty.
And then a great trade.
Cemetery tries to stand and ground.
He does a great job.
It does everything he possibly can to keep them in the round and just the missed opportunity
at that lower bomb site.
So the most frustration that Foote has had to deal with today as well.
First two maps were really pain-free.
to play with the 7-0 leads to start both ancient and mirage.
Yeah, finally some resistance from the opponent.
Not a great buy here, four foot.
Just one rifle, a premium rifle in play.
You got jokes on the M4 and then you got FAMAS,
for Crabbetti, MP9 and Fiegels.
I feel like I said every single map by Casfoot though,
you know, when they have the Fiegels,
there's always a chance that one of these can't around.
So...
Well, they've already won one low buy in this half.
Could be another one.
This one's got the M4, the FAMAS, and the MP9 mixed in.
Astralis is coming at this upper bomb site. Four players in lobby.
Utility from the roof.
Hooksy forcing the defense back just in case they're in hot. Now going to start executing with utility.
Flashes go up. Here comes Hooksy, flying in with a back-touch.
Good clearance, gets to the dink, but not the second kill.
Posey though will. From hot, there's the push out. Can't punish the second player.
player. Rear-round the side of the smokes, low HP finished off, but it's all about the secret play here of Cemetery.
Hiding inside of the smoke as his teammates get ever closer. Can Cemetery really pull this off?
No, he whiffs a couple, then the AK comes out, he does finish off the kill, but demons got one, and now he's down.
But he took it out as low, and another foot-round done on the weaker weapons.
How many back-breaking rounds can Astralis take?
That's brutal.
Hiding inside the smoke, the Baton switch
never cleared out the bomb site,
and the chaos of an upper hit,
foot come out on top yet again.
You cannot buy any kind of momentum
if you're Astralis right now.
The first couple of shots,
Mischie thinks Semitre might just get spot on,
missing the chance with a Semitre's AK
that he picks up off the ground.
Results in the final kill.
Yeah, be upset. Obviously, and as the straw,
it's another missed opportunity.
Another low by way and going against them last year on the half.
The straw has come into it with Galeel's on three.
Tech nine, a single K-47 foot return to a strong purchase
to try and round out eight rounds on the CT side.
This has been crazy.
It's been back and forth since round four.
Neither team has won two in a row.
Absolutely mental the way they've been brawling back and forth.
Good kill from stair.
Five on four provided.
Demon has been good on ramp.
He's starting to back away, just as the utility comes in.
Dodges the flash, gets into the corner, gets back to the kill.
He's blinded.
He's being hunted down, and Demon tries to delay,
but eventually gets threaded out by Fozy.
Delays him long enough to get Longs in position.
He needs to clear out towards secret.
He's gonna check it.
stairs watching, and now that one's easy.
Longs never really convinced that he had to check the corner.
So Longs gets away, or Starr gets away with one.
Jugs arrives.
How quick they are. Just opening up the doors, just fighting.
Straight away, confident to peek. There's a dink on Yabbi as well.
It's getting a little bit messy now, but E2v3, Semi-Tri coming close.
AWP against two close quarters did land that shot.
They're both now really low. This Deagle could take them.
Or the FAMAS! That kills! How are they doing this?
Round after round, footer fighting the way, and it's gone for Stare!
Semi-Tri dropped him as well!
You cannot catch a break if you're a strawless.
And right at the end of the half,
foot get another two rounds in a row
and put an end to the back and forth.
You can't make this up.
How do you win this round?
Astralis is in such good positions.
This is gonna be, this is so crazy.
Astralis, they gotta have someone in the org
just making notes and just saying,
let's just review all these rounds.
We got the major coming up.
We got a few more events coming up.
We need to clean a lot of this stuff up.
But foot has been able to get every single retake
and hooks, he can only smile.
You're going to just kind of laugh at exasperation.
What are you supposed to do?
Gotta say, you know, cemetery is a player
that sometimes gets criticism.
We're highlighting how his performance
can be a little quiet at other events.
He's having a great tournament here.
And then in this final, the amount of impact moments
you've got out of cemetery on the Deagle.
In the previous round, he gets to the Deagle kill
into the AK finish.
This round, he's like, moving in with his teammate.
It's just crazy.
I mean, we've mentioned a couple of times,
we've seen him play like, you know, outside of,
you know, whatever kind of analysis
you want to put on decision-making, he's fast.
He's kind of fast shot.
The idea is hook see there is just is wild and even the patients and this is the thing
you don't normally see this out of the inexperienced players the patients to just wait and say
I'm gonna go up my teammate show up you know there's another world where he just takes the
Deagle goes for a swing tries to get both kills but he's like you guys are expecting
me to turn this corner those doors are about to open up and that FAMAS is about to bail
me out of a tough place miraculous retake in eight to four lead foot just five
rounds away from their first ever trophy at the professional level here at PGL Bucharest
twenty twenty six
yabby
putting it ramp
can get some contact coming as white
cemetery given the responsibility
to be solo outside with a p250 just jewel see how many you can get
to clean water fozy can't do much about that
Now Yabbi is starting to take a few back tracks.
Huxi has been taken out as well.
Seraph is at least getting one, but with Yabbi falling,
it feels like this pistol is already done.
I'm with Huxi, all I can do is laugh at this point.
This is just crazy the way that they're dominating
every single round, every single step.
They are shooting so hard right now.
The Charlottes just can't match the firepower whatsoever.
They're into the side foot, still looking for fights.
That bomb isn't even being planted yet.
Eventually, Lance will take himself out of commission
They put it down, but the round is already won by the time that bomb even gets planted.
So with a pistol round loss, a 9-4 lead, foot are just charging towards the trophy.
That is the fifth of six pistol rounds won by foot.
We've mentioned so frequently how good they have been at getting good starts in these
halves and it's just all starting with these pistols.
The Stralis just have been unable to put up a fight in that regard.
Then huge economic advantage on top of the advantage of the scoreboard.
Mentioned at the start of this map, the HLTV guys striker, I asked him for it.
I think I said I looked it up early.
It was a striker.
I don't want to take credit for it.
Looking up, the lowest number of rounds an opponent has gotten, trying to find the
quickest, best of five we've ever seen played at this level.
Pro League season 21, Mal's putting 18 rounds against Vitality in a best of five loss.
What's Astralis at 14 right now in this best of five?
They've actually gone for the investment, Jason. They've thrown everything into this Astralis.
I think you have to. For no other reason, even if it's not like the best in terms of like mid-maxing your odds, you seem to get some energy.
They're trying to get down the vents and they managed to get that.
They do lose a player though in teaming.
Ooh, interesting.
Yeah, Fosy's already rotated here.
Started the round on the B bomb site in dark.
The plant unfortunately is not going to be in the open.
Lung's though.
Oh, will he be able to recover it?
Yes, he will.
So even though Fosy has a chance at that, Lung has enough time to get the AK out
and drop Fosy.
Stand tucked in the corner.
Jugg's spot has been known as well, but it does not going to matter.
You can't even react in time. Disgusting. Flashbang is gonna come out, give some attention away.
Cemetery spotted it and he just says, you know, you just, yeah, move out of the door.
I don't want to fight this. I want to get the hell out of there. Smoke towards control
side and checkmate. 10th round for foot.
Good penny. I was waiting for the knife to come out of there.
He was waiting for a second kill. Oh man, they're just running over Astralis right
now. Bomb goes off.
Well, that's your four-spot.
Didn't do much.
Foot now with double figures on the T side.
That's even, I mean, you know, the weaker weapons, that was a 5-on-4 at 1.4 stars.
They picked Demon off jumping into the vents.
Kind of negated by the positioning when Foot gets downstairs,
and then obviously Fosy goes down to equalize things,
but always going to be hard retaking against stronger weapons in that lower bomb site.
10-4.
An incredible shelling for foot, one of the most exciting teams we've had in this first season of 2026.
This is a matchup that we would have said coming into this, the most exciting rivalry we've had to start in this first season.
Oh yeah, we've seen this so many times. It's been so back and forth.
You're never fozy as well, right? As soon as they won the semifinals, it was just like, I know who we're going to face in the finals.
It's going to be foot. We're just always fated to play against them.
They played pro league in the third, fourth place to Sider.
Shoss got the win, then now I'm moving into the grand final of PGL Bucharest,
then it's not even really a competition.
13-5, 13-5, currently 10-4 for a foot.
Opening kills, fault in favor of the T's.
Rosie and Hooksy both gone 5v3 with a minute left.
Yeah, Jigs now at this point in the rounds with his one kill looking for a little bit more, but also going to prioritize keeping that AK-47 in his hands.
He's the lone man away from the action, so going to tuck himself safely back towards T-Spawn. I really like that.
Don't give them any toys, any tools necessary to come back in this. Good kill on the stair.
Oh, foot. You don't have to commit to this just yet. That's quick kills coming out for Astralis.
And all of a sudden, they're the ones to reverse the fortunes. Okay, low buy goes the way of the CT side.
side. Don't do it to him, Jugs. 27 seconds. Yeah, you can't let that one go as far as
I'm surprised foot let it go, to be honest. I'm surprised when they encountered resistance
at that door when the MP9 made it in towards the control windows that they still wanted
to try and force their way out. Caught in an unexpected situation. Well done from
as Krebbeni just chucked out the utility, never knew the position of Ryu, and Astralis in the right place at the right time,
but that's just the first step of money they'll have to take. Alps out in the hands of Fozzi.
For a foot, the economy is dwindled and mostly disappeared. Three rifles and two pistols.
They're coming right back to the A-Bombs. They're doing it with pace and aggression.
one player down the vent. Oh my god they pause and they've done this quietly. That's the
bomb though. Yeah that slows things down a little bit. Still spamming and another kill
as well. So Starr really helping out Astralis here. You know you get one player down vent
early unprotected. Start thinking Jokes can make a play if his teammates are still up
he still can. Riu didn't hear that. Oh no Riu. Good night. Oh timing! That's kind of crazy.
He gets away with that. Long's eventually trading him out. Fosy's coming back over to try and deal
with the ramp threat. Can't afford to go down here. And so even though he misses the shot,
he'll stay alive and back away. Yeah, different round if they get Riu for free from the lower
bomb site because then they just drop back in. They've got a good foundation to settle into
the B bomb site. But instead, Yabi's rotated down there and Fosy's off. Oh another missed
shot. Longs is gonna head up the ladder. Economic damage would be great and he's got another kill.
Oh this is winnable. 40 seconds on the clock. Does he try and rush the plant or does he play a little
bit longer? I mean Stare from Heavens. Surely this is the move that wins him it. I don't know dude,
this is nasty. And a good spot from Longs. Stare is gonna be so curious.
How far is Stare? Oh my god, he's right above him. He's right above him. I think Longs will
You'll see this eventually.
It turns towards heaven.
Oh, no, he can't.
Oh, okay.
That could have gone real weird.
Yeah, hard to imagine he's gonna be right above you.
Just the walkout.
Nice idea from Locke's, not able to find the timing.
10 to six.
And Foot's gonna have to sit back on the just pistols.
Lovely work from Stare.
So solid for the Astralis organization
Since he joins, he was a player earlier in the group stage through some of their struggles who was providing them some necessary impact as well to get through some of their games, some of their matches heading into these grand finals across the playoffs.
Boosie, out in the open. Don't go down here. And you will. To Glocks.
Well, then hopefully kill a floor of foot, that's nice, but I'm not going to surely see this
go anywhere else.
It's not going to be an overwhelm, there's no problem.
Holds down mouse, one gets four kills, and all the foot players evaporate in front
of him.
Okay, so a little bit of breathing room here for Astralis. They've given themselves a couple of rounds to work with three in a row for Astralis
You're exactly right money's built up as well. They've got a buffer
This is like the best and most comfortable position they've been in in this series
Yep, where you can finally say all right
We can absorb a loss and still have a buy and still contest and move forward into this and you're on a bit of a streak and
Foot is only at 10 rounds
So you still got a chance to close this gap. You still got a chance to snatch this win away
And conversation, if you can make it difficult, if you can make foot start to sweat, and they're
right on the verge of closing out on a championship win, how do foot handle that?
Well it's the other conversation that we would have, right?
I mean we kind of got some answers at foot back in Stockholm when they handled the pressure
on the playoffs against Malz, but you're still always going to be curious, especially
when it's now a grand final, rather than a quarter final like that game was where
you say is the pressure gonna come back now is are you guys gonna feel it but
Astralis hasn't applied any to them throughout this series so it hasn't
really mattered. We heard of Dust highlighting us while it's the best
environment for them to do it. In the studio, Fozudo has taken himself the
opening frag demon to respond at range against the AWP confident. Doesn't shy
away from the fight even though he knows he's going up against the AWP and
that kill will come through and free up Lounx. Yeah he's sliding into the
They need to stay alive.
Jugs needs this kill on the aggression and he's got it.
Okay, that's going to take more attention
away from Longson's position.
I think he can go up heaven now and the idea
has got to be come back to the upper bomb set
at some point, but there's a lobby crunch.
Yeah, good movement here from Astralis
to experience players and Yabbi and Hoaxi
taking up the next important steps of this round.
How far does Yabbi go if he walks
from this corner of cemetery running for him?
But he just moved in at awkward jokes
to respond immediately, though.
Yeah, look at Demon playing away.
He's looking for the reaction.
Now you don't need to commit to this super hard. Stare playing over and control side.
You still have Demon outside on the mini roof. Molotov into the position. Stare's gonna have
to make a play. Gives up his location.
Yeah, Stare's been the shiny life for Astralis though.
20 kills. Double door swung open. Not giving the fight but denying the bomb plant. Slowing
things down. Allowing time for Hoxie to rotate in but Stare's died. It's a 1v3 for Hoxie.
They know where he is. He's gonna use up the utility.
But it's just no way, surely, Hooksy can pull off this clutch, but he stepped out, he's taking
the first, but Jokes wets on T4, Hooksy has that position, he knows he's down, he knows
he can't go anywhere, but it's the problem of crossing the control room window.
He has to get this kill instantly and he's gone and he tries to get back for that 1v1.
Hooksy gives it a good go, it's a nice try, but it's not enough.
A valiant effort out of Hooksy, that's a lovely first shot, it had to be that
clean and that quick if he was going to have any chance, but what a hard spin
to make.
from foot. Great composure inside the bomb site. Especially when you can see that plant is harassed.
They know a player's control side. The AK gives up the position. They're feeling uncomfortable out in
the open, but Jugs just stands his ground. 21 kills here on this third and deciding map.
Jugs been able to make a quick reaction. Realizing Yabbi's pushed in by getting their
instant trade massive round from jerks at this point in the game and Astralis
taking their final time out here man a foot side in contrast to Astralis
foot side everyone show up on the opening map cemetery demon longs were
just beast-moting with 16 kills apiece mirage it was longs with 20
Kribeni with 16 now you've got jugs giving you 21 kills like absolutely
crazy. This feels like the last legs that Astralis have to stand on. You talked
about having one extra bye you can get out. This is it. This is the bye. This is
you get the off after a foezy. And it's an uppercut. And you're done. Okay they
want to they're gonna stutter stuff and it felt like the idea was there to
hit that upper bomb site very quickly. I think maybe the utility of this I
get an indication that Astralis would be ready for it. Two Mac 10s and
and Fritz gonna readjust outside.
Foze is up to contend with.
Stairplane close towards Mini.
They'll both be blocked off, lines of sight taken away by the smoke wall.
I laugh if they turn into Mini.
They're walking towards Stair.
They're wrapping him as well. Just now it gets traded through that smoke.
Reaction for Astralis, send players towards Lobby. Jokes is really committed to this though. Okay, this is a better angle. Much better.
How many can Jokes get for in the last round? Walking towards him. Really would hope so. Going for the clearance. They nearly lined up.
But it's the one for one. Great duck, but now Kravani is about to clear this upper bomb site.
He's gonna hear some footsteps over towards Ramp Room as well.
Also, he'll snook up in heaven. How do you get back into this site?
You know they're over in lobby.
Cemetery clears it cautiously, makes the run.
You can plant the bomb now.
And Kerbani just has such an advantage.
Oh, he's giving it away.
Okay, everyone calm down.
All right, how many times in Mariah?
Oh, okay, what are you, what are we doing?
Kerbani, you're losing focus.
Giving away a really important position and kill.
Trying to find info for his team, I think.
Just overextending a bit too much.
This is a very tough spot for Demon to be in.
That is, but demons aim can bail them out of situations, especially with Cemetery taking some attention away.
Demon surely gets hard cleared here, looks away for the flashes they move in. Cemetery's got that kill. They get the trade on Demon.
Cemetery alone, Deepfuse being stuck in a straw list, just going and stealing.
The Fusal's stuck in the midst of it all, and Fosy landing the noscope at the end.
Yeah, I don't think he ever actually heard the defuse click in. There was some gunfights going on when it actually started,
so he might have just never realized
that the fuse was happening.
A tough situation to be in once
Kerbeni goes down,
but that that felt like that round was locked up.
So there is that little bit of
inexperience over eager factor,
perhaps foot now that they're
right at the edge of victory.
Two rounds away from lifting the
trophy here in Bucharest.
And they crack in the post plant.
A chance for Astralis slim.
You see smiles on the face.
of the Astralis players too, a sense of nothing to lose at this point. It feels like you're already
as low as you're gonna go in this final and start pulling these rounds back. I mean,
see how much the Astralis can do on Nuke. It doesn't feel like it's over. In fact,
it might just be beginning. Fosy's got to kill our side on lounge. He'll go again. They're
letting him warm up now with his ult down to three players. That's the other thing is like
for most of the series, you've just had Astralis beat just by default. Just by the way,
You're playing in the way that they weren't able to step up now
You start giving them a little bit of belief a little bit of hope you give them some things to latch on to you give
You give hooksy some things to tell his team that we're doing well
Posey starts hitting shots that everyone's gonna start feeling more comfortable when the offer is becoming more and more online stairs
Got 22 kills that he's delivered for you as well. Astralis is starting to wake up into the series
They're just desperately trying to survive long enough to get through this map
Good shot from Krabeni's D. Try and make it as expensive as possible here as well.
Not a lot of money left over for Astralis. Yeah they got four kills in the previous round right
even in the loss so okay there's the opportunity with the Deagle. Top shot to hit and Krabeni
goes down last. Four players survive so that economic damage doesn't come through in any
significant way. Astralis now just two rounds back the closest we've been at this stage.
actually the first time we've been at the stage I should say you mentioned as
well what 12 maps played only three of them went longer than 23 rounds yes
around 21 now getting there Jason almost there I have to add the fourth to the
pile so hoping that's not the case coolio getting on the mic this is the
final timeout from foot is the final timeout in regulation well we've
talked enough about the pressure angle one of the other angles we had
mentioning that this is the first grand final of this stature that foot has been
part of the first time they've played in a best of five the other question was do
you have it in you do you have the energy to last through a best of five do you
have the map pool to last through best five the mental strength to last through
a best of five I mean at least the first two maps are extremely quick it
felt like one map of power straight yeah again not tested and winds like that
are gonna make you just feel more energized you know it's really
deflating taking a loss when you've had all the leads in the world and then
and will you be able to recover?
Look at Spokes.
Look at the way two things will eventually slow down
if the other team starts waking up
when you have to start respecting Fozys off outside
when he gets a triple kill.
Spokes, down to 40 HP.
It's outside from Astralis.
We'll let the Turlongs at all.
Here's the reload, pass the side, goes in inaccurate.
And then the rest of the push is get destroyed and that was after their last time out. Remember they're getting absolutely right now
Astralis up to 10 and is this collapse for a foot on nuke?
It's very very possible. I mean that's that's you're trying to hit you're trying to have a really cheesy round there
Where everyone's kind of coming through the smoke trying to collapse on the point from two different directions
Astralis just holding behind the smokes
Again, they've played this team 12 times 12 maps that 14 maps if you include the two today at the start the grand final
They know intimately the way that foot like to approach situations and what to expect on
the other side.
Haven't been able to contain it for the first two maps and most of this one.
But finally they're able to temper the aggression from foot.
And for the first time, Astralis look a little bit comfortable.
Let's think about the money situation here for foot.
Don't get any kills in this run.
Don't get a bomb plant.
We have a three-round losing bonus at the moment, so they'll get 2900.
Sitting just over right around 3000 on pretty much everyone, a few players just over it.
You have this AK-47 saved on Demon. He'll get no bonus money.
And just the amount of money Astralis have now left over, even if you are to get to 12 rounds here for it at some point,
but you take some damage in those rounds, you get it down to a 1v1.
Astralis might actually even come out with a better purchase still than you.
So, a lot of chances all of a sudden for Astralis to force this one to another map.
Yeah, Foot have really let Astralis back into this third map.
And you hope they aren't dwelling on it.
Especially someone like Kerbetti who had that play up in Heaven.
He's going to know very much as soon as he goes down there, he's just wondering why he was trying to be so active.
Why he was trying to make such a play.
I mean, this has been a team that do dwell on this moment and let those moments really affect him.
We've seen it already this year.
There's been a number of rounds.
We mentioned the one in Cracow, most famously, but it looked like they were about to have a miraculous run into playoffs
I'm a championship level event, lost to full USPs against G2 and never recovered from that moment.
It's getting more difficult now.
I'll be a burn entry.
Running out.
What?
You actually got to kill.
I'm so mad if I'm the Audi.
Yeah, but how did that even happen?
Okay, down the vents, did he make it, Jokes?
Yes, he did.
I like the decision.
They haven't fully thrown all the money into this.
You know, you'd still be...
...gethely in this.
Tom is on the other side of Silo.
He's going to make footsteps. He's got to go back to get it.
Jokes holding down ladder.
So I guess at the moment it's up to Krebhne to figure out what the finishing move is.
At this point too, Astralis has pushed in to take it over Lobby.
There's a lot of time these guys have to hold on to this lower bomb site until Krebhne arrives.
And there's a lot of real estate Krebhne has to cross with no support, no utility.
And we talk about Krebhne being one of the stars of the show.
One of the playmakers having a really tough map here in 16.
Realize they're downstairs. It would be a great time for them to step up, but Astralis, now are they going to realize Jukes is pushed up here with the Tech 9?
He's close. Foes, he's got utility out.
It comes down to which side? Jukes decides to go. Krebbeni stepping out into the open. The bomb has made it into the site.
Not like this, Astralis. Don't concede.
Grand final point to this kind of buy.
They have to retake the lower site.
And they go past the Tech 9.
Krobeni's AK, enters the feed, it's another one for Krobeni, and it's all on Hooksie.
1v2 disastrous moment from Astralis as it looked like they were coming back into the game,
but it might just fall away from them here and now, foot on a low buy again!
It's a third time. The third low buy Astralis have lost, two in the first half, but none more devastating than this.
They had the chance to get back into this game. They finally got a little bit of swagger going their way.
They'd put them on the back foot and actually started clawing themselves into this third map.
And now all of a sudden, the heart ripped out.
They listened. That's a great call. That's the favorite foot strategy right there.
I like that. And they listened. And let's say if it works out for the finish.
It's just that simple sometimes.
That's the fate this team have at each other. They've stuck together. They kept this five.
Lunks has joined the squad and they've taken some unbelievable steps to kick off this year.
Aggression outside, here from stair. Will they check him?
They have a look but not really prioritizing that.
Krobeni gets the trade.
Yeah, really well done. Fosey's already fallen all the way off.
Kerbeni's gonna walk across no impure and over the top of the smokes mini just resmoked right now
Kerbeni's gonna make his way in towards secret that he's the only one demon drops off the roof. Yabbi hears that sound cue
Fosy making a move into what's highs not alone. He's got hook see with him
Yeah, no one's no one's gone downstairs yet
This is a lobby crunch. They're executing Rio's pushing up ramp as well timing
They meet each other at the same time, but hook see wins the engagement second player just runs on in cemetery with confidence
Fosy's hanging around but he hasn't really found a comfortable spot to make it
happen. He's waiting on his teammate to come back, gave a demon's, dealt with him.
Cemetery to force Fosy away and put Yappy in the 1v2 to keep Astralis alive.
He steps forward and takes down Cemetery. That's the bomb and it's
Kruppeni, the leader of foot who has stepped up and delivered them so many
important rounds at this competition. What do you do with only 20 seconds on
the clock. The smoke just went down. You fight him. You get into the smoke and you
fight him. He reacts. He turns and he keeps Astralis alive. Mad, a bold play
from Astralis. Crunching Lobby and not even worrying about that lower bomb
site. Intense trading back and forth. And foot's gonna have a scrappy buy to come
in with. AK-47 Galil. Tech nine on jugs.
One chance foot here in regulation on Nuke to take the trophy. It's right
there for them. Big clutch there from the Abbey. Your experienced player able to step
up and deliver you a moment when you need it. Is it going to be enough to force out over
time? Cemetery Place of the Deague, 3 AK-47s, attack time for jokes. These weaker weapons
have not matter for foot they've been able to win a number of these
fozie's been great at getting this open and kill outside he's gonna get another one here
Trebeni just walks right into his crosshair
another one from Stad, demon from respawn it's gonna be a 3v4 here from foot
they want to close it now in regulation
Fosy's AWP has been so good outside though. He's been able to shave one off. They're having to pay the Fosy tax right now. He's got another one.
That's going to cripple them. They just can't do anything about it.
Fosy's waiting for the push in towards the upper bomb site. It falls to Cemetery. A 1v4. Astralis have stayed in it.
They stayed alive and forced this one in to overtime.
Incredible resilience from Astralis after the way the first two maps played out.
They snapped into shape here on nuke
Finally something positive to discuss within this flawless camp
Forcing overtime a gritty gutsy comeback powered by stare with 26 kills
The fourth time they go past 23 rounds
In a map and we go to OT with the grand finals on the line
The one time they played overtime as straws got the win
I used to pick it up 16 to 12 when it's over T and foot didn't want a single round it was
an overpass.
Let's see if this is a little bit different because I mean it's you can you can feel it's
palpable the way that this has shifted the way that all of a sudden it's foot who are
struggling to find answers struggling to find ways to break in foes he has really started
heating up with the AWP that's been a huge recipe stare already obviously we could talk
about his impact. But Astralis is looking much more comfortable at handling what
foot's bringing to the table. Part of it is they've broken, they broke that
economy and regulation a couple of times so then they built up some utility and
foot had to slow things down which is playing more into Astralis's wheel
house. This team now have a timeout available with Dan as we've gone into overtime. We got
cemetery boosted up in the box looking over the top of the smokes outside. Switch up though
for Astralis's defense. Fozie starts with the AWP over in ramp room. Haven't seen that
yet. I mean it's gotta feel good at least for a foot that you've got the off to
Challenge fozie
But yeah, no outside not here right now
Cemetery spotted the arm of his target and he will get his kill re you stepping a little too far in the open that
It's gonna get punished for that down the fence the rotation are ready for two to be a side of that
I don't think I ever had any idea. He was there so clearly they were there just completely flabbergasted about his position
Posey's rotated down though with the AWP so that lower bombsite isn't wide open in foot
They're just pausing and waiting a minute on the clock for them to work the map. Krobenny's getting tons of intel. He's not his information play
Tell him the team to freeze watch your flanks watch your back make sure they don't push you oh Krobenny
And they'll never expect this is Strahles. This could be crushing. He's taking the right angle
So as you can still save the day go after this kill
It's kind of it's really step up. I mean they're considering his position because utility
Yep, they completely hard clear him with utility and then bullets, demon breaks him, and they're in the lowest site.
The 4v1 hooks, he's obviously walking his way down secret, but it's to his death, so much is now ready to take him away, and he won't do exactly that.
So, smalls back in the faces of the foot players, they finally get a good buyout against, we head into overtime, money no issue, and they really make it work.
Yeah, standing up to the task foot.
They struggled so much to get those rounds.
They only had one chance to close it out once they got to 12,
but struggling towards the end of that T-side to put rounds on the board
and snap back into shape as soon as OT begins.
Lovely round from Kerbetti in the mid-round to flank Ramp Room.
Bypassing Hooksy's presence outside, 13-12.
And the implications of losing this one for the CT side.
Look at the money over for Astralis.
Even an OT with all the cash, this would be devastating.
Well, Hooksy, plant elevated on the site, spraying away, getting to one.
The trait comes in.
Yappy, important to make sure he gets that extra kill.
Wake up Ryu, running in from Heaven.
I kill right back through the smoke.
The lungs doubles up.
Bombs dropped downstairs.
This is a huge fake being made right now.
Let's see though.
Starr is still here.
So we'll take that kill away and put Krobeni into a 1v2.
It's going to be real tough for Krebbeni to win.
He lands towards him and it slows him.
It keeps him focused on the player in the vent
and so frees up the flank from Ramp.
Yeah, that's a nice rotation from Fozzie.
I don't know if he got a glimpse of him
going in towards the door, maybe right at the tail end,
but got a clean look as he tries to cross over for the fight.
Good hold again from Hooksy and Yabbi.
Yeah, I mean, everyone just getting enough, right?
Everyone getting their one.
It's a team ace for Astralis.
All five players get one kill.
Are you even kind of swinging out for one to give them,
put it into the two on two after that trade, but really nicely done on the initial contact
on the initial move forward out of Hutton out of Squeak Door from the Astralis defense.
A grimy battle, I thought the drop down vents might just do it, but Longs had to reload
the weapon, was trying to get away, he couldn't hold back any kind of a push. Final round
of this half of overtime.
Do they come at it again?
Hooksy, they molotov the top up but he's been able to find a spot there.
There's no ratio.
Hooksy getting one on the descent down as well.
Hooksy with a purple kill?
What?
Hooksy's just got a four tank.
Make it off five!
That is an incredible moment from Hooksie. You do not see that every day
But we go into overtime and it's the in-game leader stepping up with a massive hold. Sometimes you just got to do it yourself
He's been asking for that all day long
Individual heroics on top of the hut back-to-back upper bus and Hooksie shuts you down so
emphatically there's this hook mine and sinker coming in towards the side that beautiful work
from the Danish HCL.
And that might just be enough to give Astralis enough energy
to squeeze out an extra map in this grand final.
Yeah, that's a big momentum swing in that direction.
Let's see if Flitz Lockdown Defense can snap into place.
They got to be so devastated.
They've let Astralis back into this map.
They've let them come back and force OT.
Now you're playing at a disadvantage as Krebbeni falls.
Outside smoke's deployed immediately for Astralis, but no one is going to work with him.
It's all going to be at the upper bomb site currently.
Two defenders here and actually Cemetery's going to be here with the AWP pretty quickly
as well.
He's playing up in Heaven at the moment looking outside, but he'll be at the upper
site very, very fast, especially how this utility is coming out.
Flash is completely blind in series, Hooksy's also blind, but it's Hooksy moving out
with Ryu.
They've got the kill.
Flunked up the vent.
and Astralis about to grab a map point on Nuke.
Yeah, for the first time in this series,
Astralis is controlling the tempo.
They're controlling the pace.
They're controlling the map tactically.
You could see a little bit of nerves
when that kill comes out.
They help their ground for a moment,
but just before the hit happens,
the AWPer, cemetery,
he commits himself deeper outside,
allowing straps down the vents
to go try and control secret,
and all of a sudden,
Jugs is left alone in the upper bomb site.
Perfect timing to hit for Astralis.
It's Spood who are struggling
to get a grip on what's happening and we'll see if they can make a comeback of
the row and they're down 13 to 15 two rounds behind
chasing after cemetery as well throwing everything at this we'll hold on to it
but foot they are collapsing here as soon as they see the finish line they're
Right there.
They just couldn't take the next step.
Yeah, they had the opportunities,
they had plenty of opportunities
to get an advantage and take control of this,
but Hooksies part of the reason why
they just got shut down.
I'm fucking spinning around like a baby lead dude.
All right.
That's a description.
If you're, you know, Hooksies got an ace, guys.
Hop him up.
Two rounds left in overtime here. Will it be disaster for Foote and another map in this grand final?
Looking likely.
Remember in regulation Astralis found plenty of room and plenty of success outside in yard.
You saw Foze just tested again there. He's starting to feel confident in his AWP.
18 kills, 18 deaths for Foze on the map. A beautiful amount of opening frags.
And Hooksy's just on fire.
He didn't expect Hooksy to be the impact player here in overtime, but it certainly is.
Opening kill, Stroll is stepping forward, down to four players here for foot.
Hooksy controls Ramp Room, but it doesn't look like he wants to call the team over for
the moment.
He's going to back all the way out, head over towards Lobby.
Jokes again, alone in the upper bomb site, Cemetery just goes up in Heaven.
Last time here was great, but this time they don't chuck it out early enough oh
Jokes and cemetery and pull it right back and look at this push
With the triple towards the lobby it happens in just a blink of an eye
Yeah, the IGL is going blow for blow on some big place here and overtime lovely to see good job from Krabati with the aggression
Yeah, you love that from the crab man brilliant stuff. Oh, are we gonna get another overtime?
Yeah, we might just a straw list called their time out here at OT
talk things over their final chance and Hooksy gets an opportunity to call them
into a potential map 3 victory to bring us on to the next map in these grand finals if they can get there.
That would be Dust 2.
Astralis, their first chance to win any of the maps we've played in the grand finals.
I mean this would be just another feather in the cap though all foot if they were able to somehow
Withstand and get this one into another all the time and then close the championship like that
You'd have very few questions left about their mental fortitude
Let's see if they've got it in them
Step crossing outside without first smoke he's at red already moving forward. He's not alone. The bomb is making its way there too
for Fanny spamming down but reuse the man to find him off the top of main.
And now they've got a guy in vents who can actually cut off the rotation.
Lance wants the equalizer. Oh, can't get it, Ryuu! What a shot!
Yeah, needed that. Surely that's it. Now Astralis gonna be stepping into the
next map of play. Dust2, it did not look like it was gonna be a requirement by any means.
Not whatsoever with how dominant the first two maps were. It looked like
foot have this all but this runs not over just yet not not yet but however with
jugs here as well and very committed nobody's really hustling to get back up
to the other side of the map despite this quiet now thankfully for them
Astralis is being slow because they don't know the position the location of
the second players they got to be careful everywhere they go however if
footstay parked here it's not going to be a victory it's not even going to be
close to a win Astralis stepping in towards main right now and this looks
It looks like Dust 2 on the cards. This bomb gets planted. How are you supposed to retake this as Demon and Jokes? Two versus four.
We've seen some incredible, miraculous, heroic retakes out of them previously, but I think this one's too far out of reach.
Demon and Jokes now arrived at the top of the van. They're up the ladder. They've got a lot of Util.
You're going to have to burn out this position if you're going to win this. You've got to have this killed clean.
You're going to move contact into the side. They do burn it out, but a little bit too late.
It's Jokes on his own. He won't be taken down, and it looked like we didn't have a chance in hell of seeing Dust 2,
but somehow it is Astralis getting it done, finding themselves just in the make of time, and this final is still on.
So, foothub championship point there, but not able to close it out, and this is what we were talking about on the panel before we went there, right?
What happens when you're left stewing in your juices? Yeah, and this is something where this is an allegation
They've been trying to be for quite a while dust, you know closing it out
And when it comes down to the water with the precious early on when you have
Victory right in your grasp. They let them slip right now
Now the games are done quite done yet, but here's the warning thing for foot
This is a starless coming alive. This is stair dropping a 30 bomb in that wind
This is Oxy having a captain's game
We saw that ace as well in overtime with a shutdown too so all of a sudden even though they are a map up
We do have a game in our hands.
Yeah, I mean, the foot has made a lot of progress over, you know,
the season and, of course, telling the last year moving from Tier 2 into Tier 1,
narrowly missing out on playoffs, finally making a playoff, winning
against an elite team in a quarter-final match against a crowd in front of them.
Right. But now this is the next hurdle to face as a squad to see if you
actually get it across finish line for a trophy.
And while they are two maps up in this best of five,
they had their chances to close it here and they couldn't.
And it was really kind of wild from the start.
And you look at the first half of regulation after the 3-0 start
from foot the next eight round stretch was just one for one for one like a tennis match
because no one can really grab control of the game then the second half foot just ran out of fuel
their t-side just really lacked the potency it used to have i feel like they kept feeding foezy free
op kills outside multiple times their upper attacks were a bit disjointed you could tell
they kept missing that molly on top hut so ct's kept being able to use that as sanctuary and
catch them off guard as they spilled upper then you have the big mistakes right obviously
think about kribini that rounded heaven where he steps outside and gives up a free kill
then you have the two versus one where cemetery has the bomb outside lobby but
instead of going outside he just kind of holds his ground and gives my guy to one
view once who ultimately wins that round so there's just those little cracks
performing yeah absolutely and that's the and when it comes down to games like
there's a special against experienced teams like Astralis right now sure
Astralis are also on paper a bit of a new line-up but right you can be real
you're coming in and foes are coming in whatnot but that's the thing you
when you're about to close things out you can't afford to make these tiny
little mistakes because they can, you know, you can, I mean, your opponent can
capitulate on that and that's been the problem here. We've seen
them for many a time in the past as well, right? Yeah. And as you pointed out, dude,
like they seem to run up a lot of ideas and just feeding through the outside was
just, it was painful to watch. Like they have flashes, they have utility, but it's
going for these dry swings, giving me, we're opening kill almost every single
round. And then when they go in for the hits, you can clearly see it's a
map they don't really have the prep on. It's also Stair was able to feast
on them too outside. You know, he was kind of obviously their main yard
player but also he would have times where he's inside many while through these
out in yard and he was just tearing him up as well. It was one of those things
where when we watched foot against Mongols yesterday and they pulled off
that real big Duke when they're it was because Krabini dominated an outside on
both sides of the map. He was an absolute nuisance to deal with. He felt
like Krabini seemed woefully absent throughout the course of this game
and again I think it is a situation where the pressure got the foot in
this one and meanwhile Astralis was finally able to come alive. We've
been talking about how they've been absent from the server this entire
series so first two maps fly by this map they even got behind the 8th ball
again it was you know 10-5 for example but all the sudden foosies started
from a lot of the odd. Astralis just gave up essentially who seems like Joe Coloff.
Yeah. He was done. He walked up to the
nation this game at some point so I mean it's like everybody kind of came up
and started making some things happen to help them get this one into over time
and ultimately get into a fourth map. Yeah absolutely and look credit
words to you right I think Astralis we've seen this happen throughout
the tournament we saw the eyeball this game for example map one getting
completely just wrecked by J. W. Nisman, ancient, you think they grinds on the
wallet, there was 11, 4, 11, 5 or something and they turn it around, right?
Even here in New York, even though it was kind of back and forth in the first
half, Foot won the pistol, then he won the following couple of rounds, all of
a sudden, it's 10-4, 10-4, it's pretty much done, we're all talking about, oh
this might be the fastest, best of five of all time and all of that, but
credit where it's due, despite all the mistakes being made by foot, it was
being punished by Fosy, by Stereo, by Hoaxes, some really good mid-rounding as well.
We're losing a couple of players that are going for these lobby pushers.
Many a time they did catch put off guard, right?
That 1v2 comes to mind with Yaby when they were just pushing towards hard,
because that looked like a round, it was running away from them.
So credit words do you, it looked like it was it for Astralis,
but they clung on to Presbyst.
Like with bloody batted fingernails, fingernails, but it still clung on.
I mean the question is, how much does this disrupt foot's momentum now?
That's really tough to say, I mean I know that we have a little bit of a longer break
usually that takes place in the best of five between you know the first three
maps and when map four starts and so maybe that will give them enough time to
hopefully have some sort of mental reset can go both ways of course yeah again
this is their first map loss since the first map of the tournament right they
went on a 10 map streak first best of five they've been in as well that well
I mean you there's so many factors involved in this right it's also just
the idea of winning a trophy like yeah they won Dracula and but that is a
whole different I think the best you know was what ecstatic this all right
right again you gotta remember like if you look at this particular thing at
best of five, especially it's a marathon, not a sprint. And I felt like at the very
end over there they'll all right we just got to run past the hurdle, just get past
the finishing line, they try to speed things up a little bit,
unforced errors being made as well, and that is what's going to cost them. And
talking about the break right there, right now it is leading the way for
Astralis because they finally get a breathing space, they've won the map,
they've showed that people are starting to come alive, Ryu as well,
ending that game, that map when 20 kills or something. So the individuals have
come alive, they've got a little bit more faith happening, and you can see
It's going to be a big relief for the team now.
We've got time to settle down now.
I know Dusty is coming up.
I know it is a map pick from the side of foot.
But yesterday, Astralis, I liked what they saw from them
in the CD side.
They looked very good.
I'm sure it was 3D Max, but still,
they look pretty solid overall.
So right now, I'm Astralis, I'm super relieved,
super happy.
For foot, as he said, it can go either way.
I mean, just laugh it off and be like, it's all good.
We still have a map lead.
It's our map pick coming up.
We're still going to get the job done here.
Or the tilt sets in.
And considering how new these kids are, apart from longs,
it could affect them.
I do think, though, that the extended break helped set a little bit.
They were immediately jumping in the dust two in the next five minutes
after suffering the loss like that.
That would probably be really tough to try to at least collect yourself
and try to get mentally back checked in.
I think that having this extended period will hopefully give some time
to, you know, Julio, their coach, as well as Cabinny and the leader.
And really even loss is kind of the emotional leader of the team
in many, many ways.
Just kind of trying to get everyone to stay focused.
I mean, they've hit bumps in the road before and still been able
to come out on top.
This is obviously a much different state.
But yeah, I think this break hopefully will help them have that reset moment.
But as you said, now Stralis all of a sudden has her foot in the game.
You know, they looked and totally absent until this point.
Now they actually can see that there is some Lathe in the tunnel that they
still have a way forward.
I did kind of cross check what I said earlier at the beginning of just
before Neat where I'm like, how many times have you had a reverse sweep
in the best of five in a decently big event?
It's happened twice since 2013.
Once was Spirit vs VP in the Bed Boom events.
I think it was Stockholm in 2024.
And one was last year, the Thunder Peak event in Malta,
where Furia pulled off a reverse sweep against Navi,
twice in about what, 14 years, which is ridiculous.
So if Astralis pulled it off,
it's gonna be the third time in modern Counter-Strike history.
Well, just to come out, obviously,
Futs, Matt Peck, it's an AIM Fest,
it suits that game style.
You said you liked what you saw
from Astralis yesterday.
Yes, one thing that Astralis have struggled on
in the city side, I've just been too passive,
and it's mainly been, for me,
The problem is Ryu and Yabi towards the B bomb side.
They're just too static.
They're just too kind of turtled up
and that's something that's been exploited
by many teams time and time again.
What we saw yesterday was Yabi and Ryu
going for a lot of these lower tunnel pushes, right?
They're going for this crunch,
just catching the default on 3D Marks of God.
And then they'll flip it up as well.
They'll have Steyer and Hoaxi playing
towards short aggressively, you know,
trying to go for these fast picks by Fozy.
Fozy's not afraid to take a fight.
He's going to be everywhere towards long doors,
you know, pushing up towards mid, towards short.
were pushing up towards upper tunnels.
The caveat being 3D Max were a shadow of themselves yesterday.
They played super passive, super tepid, super,
just to unsure of themselves,
that's not going to be the case with foot.
So it feels like it's going to get very, very chaotic,
very quickly on Dust2.
Yeah, I mean, both teams have been kind of 50-50
this year on Dust2, if I'm honest,
but Foot does have the edge over,
Shaz haven't beaten them directly.
Very dynamic team, as we know,
very aggressive team, as we know.
I think what they do really well on this map though,
is that they really keep you guessing
on if they're committing for a cat cross
or a mid-B split.
They're so good at kind of conditioning you and kind of towing with the rotations a bit.
They also make really big sweeping moves.
So like, even if they take long a control early off of a spawn,
they will back off of it, run everyone in the B tunnels and just do like a 5-B and B hits.
They make these big sweeping changes that could sometimes be a little bit hard to pick up on.
They have great anchors. I think Demon and Jigs are usually guys who can hold their own.
But a Strauss in their own right, a very explosive Dust 2 team.
They rarely default. They like to hit you hard and fast.
And when you got a guy like Stare, who's playing the way that he's playing,
He's going to be a great point man for them the one thing I will wonder about on this one though
It's Ryu because I feel like I've seen a couple of different versions of Ryu throughout this tournament and really just throughout the series
This is a guy very quiet. Yeah, he has been but he has his moments on new to kind of help you woke up
And I get what's 20 kills at the end of absolutely when they were having success on dust two earlier this year
What really surprised me about it was that even though Ryu was like a beat tunnels defaulted on T side
The guy can just entry the guy can just create plays and make things happen
And Yabbi's also been up to that this year too, you know, as an extremity player, he's been a playmaker at times in his own right.
So, I do kind of wonder if Ryu can add that extra little X factor first, Chalice, on Dust 2, on the perimeter that might give them some other...
I think the most important thing for Ryu is he's 100% going to be targeted quite often on that CD site for sure on Dust 2, right?
And what we didn't see much from him yesterday, because it was a lot of action taking place towards mid, towards lower tunnels.
with tunnels and he did work pretty well in Tannimani with Yabi, but what he needs to do
in B bombs are very simple, Rich. Get it killed, stay alive, delay, stay alive and delay, and
there's going to be a lot of these mid to B crunches taking place, and that instance
what I want to see from Yabi and Ryu is, I mean if they're going to be playing a little
bit more passive, decide where you want to take the fight. Just don't get contained
on the B bomb side, because you're just going to get crunch, you're just going
to get completely wrecked right there. So him and Yabi, the way they talk to each
other, the way they kind of communicate, I feel is going to be so important. Look,
If we're able to replicate what he did here in Nuka, I still feel like Astralis have a chance.
I think the last thing mentioned is just the offers too, right?
I mean, Cemetery is on pace potentially.
If, when this grand final knee keeps up the numbers he's been keeping up, he's an MVP candidate.
I mean, he's been really showing us good things with the sniper.
Fuzzi, again, has been a revelation for Astralis with the AWP.
You know, a guy who's come in and has done really great work.
These are on a map now, like Dust2, where they can both really have an impact,
whether that's defensively, you know, being dynamic, you know, taking picks on Catwalk.
We've seen a lot of people going for like that boost into the lower tunnels peak,
but also, you know, nading open smokes, just finding different timings to have
impact. Both these guys have a lot of initiative in them.
Let's see you can come on on time.
I think I really liked what I saw from Fuzzi yesterday, where, you know,
we'd go for the usual, the short foos trying to find a pick towards
lower tunnels to try to find towards mid. And then you just mix it up.
You know, he'll take a shot towards short. And then next thing,
you know, like 15 seconds later, he's in front of long doors peeking
into its car, trying to find a pick, just being so unpredictable.
And listen man, Fosy, even though the first couple of maps are maybe not ancient, but even though map number two went so easily the way off-foot,
Fosy still delivered. He was hitting a lot of shots as well. He was looking pretty solid overall and clearly on a new slow start on the CT side,
he was just completely shutting down outside the yard. So, Dust2 is where he feels the most comfortable I feel, apart from maybe ancient at times, so to speak.
So I feel like there's a real chance here. Map 5 could be on the cards.
Double final thoughts?
No, I agree. I mean, I think the other big thing on the offing front is Cemetery.
It's unorthodox nature. I mean, again, he's a guy who would just sometimes take
peaks other people won't or he'll take an angle that other people just don't expect.
And that mystery factor has served him well multiple times in different maps
throughout the course of the series. And he'll be once again called upon to do it.
But it's also about the leadership of this foot team.
You know, how do you get, you know, Probeni and Cooley all together and be like,
look, guys, we are so close to this trophy.
And yeah, we botched Nuke. Yeah, there was a bunch of mistakes.
And we can look at that film later.
You know, after the term, it's over and we're preparing for the next one.
We'll take a look to that for right now. Don't worry about that. Let's focus on Dust2R pick.
We have a game plan in mind. They knew that there was a chance that this map would get played.
Yeah, they would have loved a 3-0, but they were prepared for it not to happen, I imagine.
So let's see what they've got cooked up.
It's going to be a bit of a hot day. I feel the winds have shifted a bit, right?
I just feel it happening. I think Astralis is going to take Dust2R.
I know it doesn't make sense overall, because they have lost to them in the past.
It's a map they're usually not comfortable on. It is their opponent's map, but I feel
I feel like that mental switch is what we needed for Astralis to kind of emulate.
The Beyblade.
Yeah, he's spinning around, man.
He's just spinning around.
He's gonna bring all his haste trampled cars.
I think he's just gonna potentially run away with this map.
All right, well, thanks gentlemen.
So, Futs have a one-hand on the trophy.
Astralis will be looking to tie it up on Dust2 after the break.
She said she loves you, but she can't love me, but I love you
I won't play window anymore
The human body was built to move, not trapped at a desk in one singular posture for 12 hours
a day.
It's time your chair evolved, this is Secret Lab Titan Evo.
Phenomically engineered for you.
Gamers.
Hybrid workers.
Artists.
Gaming of every move.
I'm going to kill you.
What is going on everybody and a welcome to Wingmen where we play Wingman with one of
of our wonderful CS pros and also have a little chat
and get to know them a little bit better.
Today we are joined by Launce of Furt.
Great to have you here, bro.
How are you doing?
Thank you for having me good.
Let's start focusing in on what we're here for, the gaming.
This is the most important matchup of PGL boot grip.
Right, you ready?
Yeah, for Windows, we're in the tunnel.
All right, let's do it.
I'm nervous, man.
You're going to have to carry hard, right?
I have a static.
You tell me what to do, you know?
Follow me.
Sorry.
This project man, congrats, it's going super well, including now.
What's that like as an experience?
I mean, it's insane, right?
Because especially I've played for so many years already, right?
I'm playing since I'm 14 and now I'm 21.
So it's seven years already of playing pro, kinda.
So I mean for me it's enough because it was a long road.
I got into a lot of stuff over the time, and yeah.
But I'm happy, turned out good, and I'm happy
that you guys gave me a chance, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, you've been playing, it's funny,
because you've been playing for perhaps a longer time
than maybe some people realize.
In terms of the projects that you've been on before,
what's your confidence in this foot project?
Do you think it's the best...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, by far, yeah.
Player-wise, management-wise, everything, it's much better, and people know how to work.
If I can call it like that, I feel in the other situations and other things we didn't have.
But it was needed, to be honest.
He's a monster. I'm hitting him.
Look, I'll seek flash for you.
Oh, one flash.
Oh, he's behind me. Short.
Yeah.
Not bad, dude.
Nice fight.
Aimed off, you know, on the whole collection.
But I wanted to war something.
So when did you go pro?
Professionally speaking, my first team, because I would call it professional, just because
we were playing tournaments, we were playing for points, cap and stuff, but we had the
schedule and everything right, so I would call it professional team.
And it was when I was 14.
It was like after six months I started playing CS.
I met up with these guys through community servers
as far as I remember.
I'm not mistaken.
And they were like, all these much more older guys than me
and they said, I have good talent and we should make this team.
And what year was that?
2019.
You guys have been playing the game for a much younger age.
The scene has been more fleshed out, et cetera, et cetera.
You add all these things together
and it feels like people like you are creative.
Does that make the same sense?
I mean, yeah, it does make sense.
But I think it's the same in everything.
Like the way I see it is the old players, right?
The 1.6 guys that made the transition into CSGO.
Yeah.
Like for them, it kind of applies.
It's the same.
Like they walked so we could run, right?
OK.
So I feel it's changed a lot from them,
but it's because like people are changing.
It's not only in CS, but it's everyone in real life.
There is new changes everywhere, you know?
And I think CS is just another situation.
Yeah, you have this wiseness beyond your years.
That's what I said before.
Do you see that in yourself?
Yes, but it's because I had...
That's the thing, you know.
I don't...
Some people might call it crazy stuff.
I've done it in my young years,
but I'm calling them teenage years,
so everything is possible, right?
Yeah.
And I feel I grew up a lot from these situations
because honestly, I do feel
and people who know me from my young age
and who kind of kept in touch with me over the years,
even when I fucked up, sorry for the effort, that yeah I mean I grew up a lot
because I when I stopped not stopped playing CS but when I started losing
focus in this CS I went on the real life side right I started doing everything
that's possible out there meeting new people you know chit chatting with
people getting into new places doing sports which I didn't do before and
And that kind of opened eyes a bit for me, right?
And I had this period of time where in CS, I was very bad,
but I got the edge in so many ways, mentality and life experiences in everywhere you can think of.
And I always say I'm blessed for the path I had,
because I feel that what I've done in these 21 years of life,
I think not many people did in 40.
And it's with good sides and bad sides, but that's helped me a lot in my young years,
because now I'm feeling like a 30-year-old man stuck in a 30-year-old body.
Well, to be clear as well, you still have young energy.
Yeah, I mean...
But just the other stuff, the...
I mean, I have young energy in the game, because that's the thing.
Like, I have some very little to no people close to me, right?
I can count them on a finger hand,
how many close people I have to me,
and they're not nearly alive.
I'm not as crazy as I used to be.
I used to be high like when I'm at home, I like to chill.
I like to do only sports, relax, spend time with my dogs,
with my girlfriend and not do anything else.
I like this chill side.
So what are these sports you're getting up to
in your spare time?
You've referenced sports multiple times.
Tell us about the sports you're doing
and what kind of positive impact they have on you
in your life.
I mean, I tried mountain biking, right?
Oh yeah.
But I realized because especially in real life,
I like to do a lot of energetic stuff, crazy stuff,
And, basically, when I went with the bike,
basically when I went with the mountain bike, I kind of, like, I loved it.
I loved the single moment of it, but I realized it's pretty dangerous.
Dude, it's crazy.
Yes, and then I had to stop because I realized with my craziness,
I would for sure break an arm or a leg, and then, again, it would put a stop to my career.
But now, I'm doing as much as I can via ferrata.
You know, you know via ferrata?
I feel like I've heard that.
is the thing with the harness and you have a helmet and you have to climb up the mountains on a fixed line.
Oh, yeah, yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I feel like the mountain made me
well, who I am now, to be honest. Okay. Because the struggles you find in the mountain and I've gone
through hard weather like crazy storms stuck in the middle of the mountain. I had to go back
five hours. Then you're really scared for your life. Then the real stress kicks in.
And I feel after those, as I said, the real-life situations outside the room, outside the tournaments,
I feel they helped me a lot. That's why I have no pressure when we play.
I don't feel any emotions, because I do think that if you have real-life experiences
and you did enough in your life until one point, for me there is no way you can have this pressure on your mental.
I don't see it possible and I think people who do it also these kind of activities or like just
Knowing how to balance sports and career. They know I mean it's very important and once you kind of unlock both sides
It's it's easier to work. It's much easier
Yeah, I mean I completely agree with what you're saying and I would guess that's something you'd recommend then to other young
Up-and-coming pros just people in general
to be doing some sort of physical activity.
It's as much important as they can.
I've not guessed, like, doing sports and having good sleep and eating schedule, I think it's
the most important thing.
The advice you're giving is timeless, it's ageless.
This applies to anybody of any age, any career.
And I do think that a lot of kids are not doing it right now.
And I don't want to see small kids go through what I want.
I know it takes a lot of strength, a lot of resilience, and you have to be crazy in the head.
I do think so that if I was not crazy in the head how I am right now I wouldn't have continued things,
yes, especially on our seven months on the bench. I do think a lot of people just dropped
right there, especially with the situations that have been going into my career. But I just
didn't. It's just a mentality thing. And the good, like I want to say this for everyone
at home because I saw on Twitter also write a lot of comments.
I feel people should be aware of what you sign up into when you start playing professionals
yes because they've got things you make a lot of money and you travel and you don't
do anything you just sit in front of the computer but that's the whole thing.
I think it's problematic, people think this is easy because once they get into a professional
team and they don't do good results is not going to end up at all and I think upcoming kids should
prioritize food, sleep, health and relationships like these four for me these four took me out of
the slump right like when I realized those are the most important things in someone's life actually
everything that thinks by itself and with that said we're done this has been wingmen
with louse and parlor and uh yeah thank you all of you at home for joining us louse anything else
you want to say no just go food must love everybody and peace
...
The battle for the title of PGL Bucharest champions wages on welcome back from the extended break
We're heading into the fourth map of this series if you're just joining us ancient and mirage with the first two maps
Both of them dominant 13-5 victories for foot
Nuke is the third map felt like it was gonna fall in their favor and the finals would be done nice and quick
the game, but the game is
going to be a little bit
different. I mean, it's just
a quick. Astralis said other
ideas powered by 31 kills out
of stair a timely ace out of
Hooksie. They brought it to
overtime and force a fourth
map. And now for the first
time in these grand finals, we
get to ask the question. Does
foot have what it takes to
go this deep into a best of
five and still come out on
top. I mean, fortunately,
it is dust two coming up
next. I mean, two maps
are still going to be very
capable of playing even if it
does go to overpass. So I
going to let that one go.
They get to map point.
They get to tournament point.
They let it slide and Astralis step up at overtime.
They were sleeping for about two and a half maps in this Grand
Final and foot really let them off the hook on Nuke.
A couple of really, really rough mistakes that forced them to
fall flat, forced them to fail to close things out in
regulation and Astralis have the tenacity and the grit
to bring it all the way back into a victory.
So now we've got to play another one.
Pistol round is live.
Two flashes on Hooksie.
Smoke on Ryu.
No kits for the CT side.
Three flashes and a second smoke available to foot
for the rest of this round.
It looks like they want to split the A bomb site.
Cemetery will lurk with this P250.
He'll play very, very late.
And his teammates coming up, Kat,
gotta have success if they commit to this.
Last pistol round on Dust2, these two teams played.
It was a very fast long rush.
So Astralis set up for that,
but it's Kat that is the problem.
Yeah, Cemetery takes a while,
eventually gets the head shot off.
And also, entering that kill feed.
And for foot, at least they had that long break in between, right?
The extended break between the third and fourth map allowed them that reset and recharge after...
Well, it's likely to be incredibly frustrating moments that are over on Nuke.
And just coming to the pisteron and dominating it like this, it's got to feel good if you're foot.
Yeah, I'm actually surprised that Cemetery was the one to kind of swing and make contact out towards long happening at the same exact time.
So maybe flooding the comms of the defense was the idea.
when we heard dust talking about cemetery as well,
you know, making a case for himself to be the MVP of the
competition on this very map.
You know, we'll get his mouse.
He was the essential piece of coming back into that game when
they started so slow on dust to cemetery's impact in the CT side
with the AWP was incredible.
So he started here with a P 250 on that T side.
We'll see if he can keep up this performance he had so far
in this grand final.
Yeah, he's had a good day in the office with the AWP.
Probably a nuke, although I would say he was outmatched by
by Fosey who kind of really came alive in that second half.
The opt for him was it was a huge piece of the puzzle
that Astralis needed that helped them come back on the map.
So pissed around over to foot.
We touched on it as well.
Foot's just been dominant in pistols.
That's six of seven played.
So obviously, you have a great stat line in your favor
when you're winning so many pistol runs.
You're getting these good starts to maps.
So back and forth over the first half of Nuke though.
That was the key on the first two maps, right?
7-0 starts, 8-1 starts that they were having on Ancient and Mirage, and then you get over
towards Nuke and Astralis was able to respond much, much earlier and keep things a little
bit closer.
And it was not to say it was great from Astralis, I mean that first half was not great at all,
I mean we still heard the first stretch from Pogsi, pleading with his team to actually
have some initiative, make some plays, but they did just enough to stay in it and
obviously we see that payoff down the line.
Ongs has got to be careful, he looks like he wants to be a little frisky, he's
got the Mac 10 as well, but he also has the bomb on his back, so you don't want
him to be the leading player and get you kind of stuck into a commitment you don't really
want to play.
Team been watching for this push.
He'll be able to get out fozied.
Now around like this, not a big deal, but just keep your eye on that later on.
Hooksy on the CT side is going to be playing towards that long A. And we've seen recently
like part of his style of play that he's kind of brought in, he's been very, oh my
god.
Okay.
Yabbi double B.
Yeah, forget about Hooksy for the moment.
That's crazy.
freedom though with hooksy dine it opens up the people inside so you can move over with
that ball to the B site finish.
Yeah, he's going to come over towards CT spawn.
He's hoping for another one, but just going to be too tough for the handle that.
So as I was saying, hooksy playing out towards long, he loves to find a good timing to push
out of the cave.
Like he'll do it.
He'll do it at very risky moments as well.
And timing doesn't matter so much as what's happening on the map, but he takes he
takes a good amount of risks and it's paid off from in the past.
It's one of the recipes that helped them upset spirit back in Stockholm during the
playoffs there.
He was able to pull that off.
So just keep your eye on that.
I think we're going to see Hooksie
mix that in like two to three different times
throughout this half.
And Strolls just can't afford to start slow here.
They cannot afford to start slow.
And it's been such a great start for Foot.
Now you can really pile on the pain
if you have that frustrating loss over in Foot Department
in the last map.
And you come out and you're a Strollist.
If you can't start, if you win the pistol
and if you're able to convert that,
you can make them remember that.
But if you come out here, you lose the pistol,
lose the second round, lose the first-gone round,
then Foot just forget about that.
And it's just playing Dust 2 in front of them.
Well, I imagine Astralis would have loved to have signed the waiver and just kind of skipped that long extended break
after you've come back on Nuke and forced overtime to take the win.
You're probably ready to get right back into things, feeling like you finally showed up to play the game.
2-0, and the first buy coming in for Astralis.
M4s across the board, no kits available, plenty of utility.
You're not going to get that all about for Fosy either.
I see some Util dropping to mid from Cemetery.
Xbox smoke thrown out.
Along smoke cover, down towards the doorway.
Yeah, he's gonna be scamming through, trying to connect some shots.
The grenade lands towards his face.
He's moved up short, but there's a fight about to happen here.
Multiple players around that short corner,
allows it to push it towards him, and Stara is going to get both kills.
Well, I don't even know how Long's got one. That's actually kind of crazy.
Jolt's heard one fall back, not able to take advantage of it.
Stara sticks around just way too long, picked off.
Three on three we go, and Astralis' defense is scrambling.
That's the kill you can't take that one hurts because yabby's got to move all the way back
He's got to take a ton of risks spots the bomb jumping across
But there's already a player inside the B bomb site this jugs. So no he scales back lurk smoke thrown out
What's to make yabby nervous of that B site?
I know they've got the player advantage here and they've got time just to remain composed hit that pause button wait for
The next move yabby is the next move though right towards cemetery
He'll take that kill so foot have to go into the B finish jokes is taking a lot of damage in the front
He's 5 HP and Yabbi's about to just walk on in that smoke fades away at just the right time
It was protecting jokes on that push in and then fades away
Oh, he's gonna get that version of Yabbi and now foes
He's blinded demon hunts him down through the window and foot when this closely contested around the mid-round that short fight
Really decides everything the fact that demons able to chase back on stare. I'll tell you what they're really lucky in this round
Jokes misses the Molotov over towards window it actually bounces and starts burning his teammate who's got to get off the bomb
That could have been very easy for Yabbi to stop that and then you leave Jugs with 8 HP and a 1v2
He recovers it though
Recovers the situation, this one from Stair just swings out a little bit too far, couldn't get back into cover
Ryu picked off on the cross and you can see just as the smoke fades, what a timely play to that smoke
Otherwise Demon probably goes down
And Cemetery's got the AWP kill early
Not on the cross, it looks like he was trying to push up
They wanted to get aggressive in towards tunnels
And even Frozen got tagged
A two for one special?
Stern, likely to be caught here.
And then, pulls out his Deagle.
That was just one.
Sandwich, you're getting pushed in the lower tunnels.
Pulls out the Glock.
And slaps Hoxie.
So now we've got Yabi stuck with the Deagle.
He's hit some nice shots, but maybe he can get one.
Yeah, give him a chance.
Yeah, that was the opportunity.
Hasn't been able to connect it.
Dima and Downs him inside of the site.
And it is that ideal start here for foot
For to nothing this next gun round. Yeah, this this this would really escalate things wouldn't it then
It's like Astralis just get knocked into like the worst kind of deja vu where you start thinking back to maps one and two
Starting out in those deep deep holes that you just can't possibly dig out of okay
So shoots one on the cross
It tags that one and then a second player tries to push lovely shooting from cemetery grabs an off-killing a clock one later
Clean round from foot
Round five beginning and the op on foe's he supporting out towards long but that flashbang doesn't work
So cemetery takes an easy kill. Hope see dropped early
Moving in Ryu has just moved forward with a great flashbang
Activated him by yabby and comes away with two kills. You've carved up the attack
Instantly with that kind of play. Yeah, get it right back
That makes hope to see if you're a lot better after taking his death when he's watching things
Nice timing to hit as well. Foot just never expected it whatsoever. Nice deep flashbang.
But they're coming right back to the B bomb site. They're like, okay, you just threw it
up her tunnels. You won't expect us to come right back to this. And they're correct.
Everyone's shifted out of B. Ryu is going to be the rookie man there.
How much can he do here? I mean, two kills already fantastic. But yeah,
I mean, they're falling away from B thinking we've done enough to scare them off.
But you ain't going to scare foot that easily.
Yeah, it says a lot of just clearing out mid to make sure that if the D hit does come in,
you don't have to worry about that prong of the attack. But obviously Ryu is never going to
to be able to get back in so they're gonna have to play the retake but thankfully they have control of tunnels.
You know, cemetery turning around. Oh, we missed the shot. When you commit to that you have to land it
and now he's going down that is really freed up Astralis for this retake. They can come in from
multiple sides no longer. Crap man again. Crap Betty. Oh my god he has destroyed them. Out from
the window pitting Astralis against the wall and Ryu walks into his death as well.
The leader of thought taking them a huge step further.
Man, that one is a really tough blow to take
if you're a strawless.
It's starting to feel so similar.
Look at how fast he reacts to the player up at window,
grabs the AWPer with utility out.
And again, I think we're having that similar conversation
from Hooksy that we heard earlier
and the listeners heard earlier a little bit
just on the random audio.
They're just kind of not expecting these plays
coming at a foot still,
despite the fact that they've been throwing
Look at that Astralis, this whole series long, I mean this double kill, fantastic from Ryu, backs away
Then you get this kill on cemetery in the tunnels, you wonder how are Fuuk gonna win this
They're gonna have to deal with the retake coming from two sides
But then he obviously realized it's that himself, but he knows okay, we can't just sit down here
We're gonna be shooting ducks, I mean, he's able to just head out, get two at the window
It's fantastic here from Fuuk
What?
I'm gonna holy fucking shit, baby bro, y'all.
Bro, you see.
Yep, that's just about how we're all feeling at this point.
Yeah, I'm not.
Absolutely.
Yeah, you are insane.
And now it's put Astralis back in the Doljums again.
They've got no money to get a good buy out here.
He's, Krebbeni's carving himself out like a position in now,
in now like Pantheon of IGLs who are also like the stars of the team as well.
Like he's having so much impact.
frag and IGLs, we always talk about their benefit.
Krobeni's doing just that here for foot.
Good shot, yeah, we can't get another one.
Krobeni to shut him down.
Yeah, it's the impact he gets.
Oh, oh, here we go, MP9 unleashed from a short.
Ryu taking two.
Still not the panic station's full,
because Juk's coming in.
If he can get both kills and stay alive here,
then it's a 2v2, and he can play with Krobeni,
but he's going in confidently fighting.
Hooks, he's gonna get his first kill,
but speaking of, here's Krobeni,
another moment needed from Krobeni.
He's got it down into a 1v1.
Can Fosy take this chance?
No information on where he is though.
Moving cat.
Oh, he's got it.
He's going to win it on the P2000.
That is a steal away right there from Astralis.
It looks silly, but we'll just say,
there's been a lot of moments of knives out
throughout this event of players
just not prepared for the fight.
So, Krebbeni thinks he's got a little bit more time
to operate and Fosy just closes the gap.
Yeah, you say, Hoax, you're trying to capitalize
on this moment.
Okay, right guys, you're just one around,
we shouldn't have.
Let this be the turning point in this half.
Let us build on this.
I mean, they had that over on Nuke, right?
The fact that they were running around sometimes
or just didn't look like they should be picking it up,
they were able to make the most of it in the end.
Gotta take it now.
Fosy's on the off.
Money's not great here because of the amount of damage
gone over the last year round.
So you win this round, you do break them.
You put them down to reach your guns.
Frequently when they start 3B like this,
they end up attacking into the B bomb site,
whether it's a B split they transition into
or just straight up heads up through the tunnel.
Bomb has dropped back here as well.
So for the moment, they're going to wait a little bit longer for a Kerbenny and Demon on the other side of the map to start feeling comfortable to call some plays.
Going to clear out Xbox.
Now utility up towards Short.
Bomb is sticking around in the B tunnels though, so I imagine you force back the Short defense, drop into a mid to B split.
No flashbang, not needed as Fosy misses the shot.
And happy to be patient as foot as another round of smokes and delay utility come in from Astralis
Bomb readjusting towards upper tunnels
Defense sliding over as well
They feel no more pressure on cat as long as that smoke is in place three defenders are going to be here
They have the correct read that as we've seen throughout this series that hasn't always worked out for Astralis
We got Ryu on the barrels. He's been good at B so far. Spraying away misses the first
couple of points. Down the bulls completely, so Ryu goes down. Yeah, B out from side window.
He's got himself a kill, but all the pressure now on-stair. He can only manage one. So
a foot, split that B bomb site, get all the kills at the right time. Now he can
get that plant through with just enough time to feel comfortable. So, Fozian Hooksie,
Really in a spot we can consider this retake so you want to back away and save that all yeah
Hooks you can drop an m4 over to a teammate in the next round foes
He will still have the AWP obviously and then you can scrounge together a buy with the three rifles and some pistols around its
MP9s perhaps but that's a around that you know again
I just mentioned they have three players there
But with the way that foot has been shooting in this game with the way that they attack in the bomb sites and how
Efficient they are trading not always gonna get you the win just by reading the play kills just don't come out
Great utility to isolate that flight where he was forced to swing when his teammate can't help him and that means sterile
He can do is one for one
Gotta feel great that you can lose around them and immediately respond
Get back into things just continue where you left off. It's got to feel great once again
Just digging that hole deeper for Astralis. Mm-hmm
It's more like business as usual for foot who didn't enjoy the resistance Astralis gave them on nuke
especially because the round that they lose is an unexpected round with like you shouldn't be winning that if you're a
Strollers you're coming in with pistols
You can drop the ball every now and then but the fact that
Foot have to deal with a full buy on the other side one that has the off one that has the utility and you win it
Straight away. I mean, it's just a great sign a great feeling for a foot that things are going to continue in this first half
I mean they've shown they've got they've had the stronger mentality as a team as a unit throughout this series
We haven't seen those cracks the way we have from Astralis and granted
Astralis hasn't had the kind of success that foot has had over them as well.
So there's that angle to it also, but foot lost tons of those low by rounds against Mongols yesterday.
It never seemed to break them either. Maybe they're just used to it at this point.
Five round lead heading into round eight.
A long spot on Devin, but he's not going to take the AWP.
Doesn't want to take the shot. We'll see if he heads that way at all.
Cemetery drops down for the cross.
I think I had the long corner smoke and a flash, so imagine he's going to challenge at some point.
He is just going to do it immediately.
So Smoke said, go, stare, actually gets
called on the flash upon the peek up.
Did the demon see him?
Yep, he's going to hunt them down,
but he gets called by a flashback.
Demon still gets that kill.
And Cemetery replies to Hooks.
He threw the smoke.
Yeah, you have to love this if you're
preventing, if you're everyone on foot.
There's no fear.
Whoever's going first is never slowing down.
So much space is created.
Nature is a position of foesie.
It's always trusting your teammate
that they are going to get that kill in return,
but they're going to be able to try it out
if you go down.
X Factor, you can see the push of the Avian Ryu.
They need to burn out. Rosie immediately smoke is going to give away his position,
but jokes is actually pushed out in middle.
So he actually won't spot this flank coming up towards short, but you gotta make a noise.
Oh, here we go.
Corbin, the flight is going to deal with the short player.
Are you gone?
And you know the gaps.
You know, Yavi is right here and then juice is waiting all round off to drop back down into CT.
So jokes on the other side of the door.
Here's the steps of the players running up short calls.
Corbin, he comes back around long and it works out perfectly for foot.
This is over, dude.
Like look how lost Astralis just was in that 2vx, like they just had no idea, like, I mean, you have so much success out towards long
It's a hard position to be in to read what's happening, you have no real information, but I mean, just not even being in those fights
Kerveni finds you on the backstab, drop down from short on towards the ramp, and you've got one player in middle, they're just getting worked
Oop, Fosy goes for a risk and ends up just getting completely caught, there's no falling
back, he didn't have his gun out, bad timing there from Fosy in terms of thinking he was
able to make that play, it's just not going to happen for him so, the AWP's gone, your
best weapon, there's the eagle, the last hope and it's dead as well.
Well, Yabi making a move. Not gonna make it up though. Demon would be prepared for any kind of a push. I think he might have even had the indication. He definitely heard it. And he's got a very precise shot. Ryu pushes upper as well behind Demon.
Thong being planted. No danger of losing this round if you're foot.
I ate one already.
This is, I mean, again, it's like map one and two. It's just their speedrunning it at this point. 12 kills on Demon. 10 on Kerbini.
Incredible. I mean, we look over at Astralis and...
They're gonna get a buyout again, they're gonna have weapons, it hasn't meant anything.
No matter where Foot called to go, they're just breaking in.
Absolutely brutal, the way this half is playing out right now.
Just after Astralis had that one ray of hope that shining glimpse after Nuke, Foot slammed
the door, all up in the hands of Fozy, Astralis need to have that Nuke moment
where they all come online, but beautiful utility.
And of course he's jumping because why the hell not?
Theemen were flying, just heading out unblockable
there by Hooksie.
And then we ended up in a situation
where immediately it's an advantage for Foot.
Dude, this is crazy.
Smoke's broken.
They're making all the right plays.
And now Stare is caught on cat.
He can't push.
And now all of a sudden you have a situation where Yabby,
he can't go anywhere.
He's stopped.
Good kill from Stare.
They come through the smoke and Yabby does find one.
All of a sudden a little success for Astralis.
Yeah, some damage down through the smoke as well.
So, Sematree dropped down to 8 HP from that spam.
You gotta win this one if you're a Stralis.
This has to be around victory.
The only player I feel I can change this is Jux.
Yeah, I'll rise on Jux.
He's the one who's gotta make a move.
Riu isn't getting pulled into the rotation whatsoever.
And Jux isn't gonna be able to sit here
without doing anything for too much longer.
Not fast enough on the AWP.
That's a tough angle to peek into.
So, Demon backs away with the bomb,
but maybe that kill makes a Stralis feel like they've,
they've left long, vacated the premises
someone could start shifting back into jokes as cross air in the timing is just so rough.
Good win from Astralis, they needed it. Four players alive, build up some money.
Yeah, really needed that one, but the issue is, foot have so much cash, so they're going to buy up
and they're going to take their first time out here as well.
Yeah, it makes sense. Astralis had to burn two already just to get some kind of a hold on this map
or some kind of a standing in it. I can't believe that's the way it opened.
And I can't believe that's the only death that Astralis took for the rest of the rounds.
Two rounds, so available in the half.
Yep, Faridah Fuxi.
Thousand men's wards.
It's got like, he's just like bouncing between positive and negative reinforcement today,
isn't he?
Just going back and forth.
Dust2 a map in the five series these teams have played in 2026 excluding this grand
They've only played it once before and Foot took that map 13 to 8.
One of the maps that's in their pool and good shot from Cemetery.
Too quick coming from an angle that Fozier didn't expect.
Well, Fozier's AWP was able to try and made a couple of kills at the end of the last round as well,
where it's gone instantly.
And Foot's the best team at this event at winning five on fours.
Well, that's because they keep just piling on the pressure.
There's another one from Krebbeni.
3v5.
Well, Astralis, a missed shot at least, and Yabbi needed that, shot two, and then Ryu was found two as well.
Okay, this is a massive turnaround from Astralis. Yabbi again, being the man to do it.
Can't believe he cursed him like that. Jugs is just sitting back, he is wondering what the hell happened.
And that's maybe like the biggest weakness of foot we've caught throughout their run, throughout this tournament.
It's been like, sometimes they're just so eager. Hold on. Hold on.
Jokes has got this down to 1v1, and nearly actually winning that still.
They just they get so eager to like solve the problem right there that everyone kind of rushes to it and tries to bash their head through the brick wall
Kind of like nuke when we're trying to win the trophy right there and then couldn't do it
Great pitch
And then after that it all collapses this is a three versus five lovely work from the Abbey who has the ak-47 to get those
Headshots Ryu as well with one
Clean work.
A nice round win from Ryu right at the end of the day to close it out.
Oh, well the money definitely affected now Foot's last buy is not looking...
Oh my...
Great, you got Galeel's Mac 10 and a single AK-47 for Jigs.
This time it's...
Oh my gosh, this time he's lucky to get away with that.
Yeah, he really is.
Here's the push into the tunnels.
Jigs is coming back to check this, Ryu out in the open.
Once that fight...
Nicely done from Demon.
from demon how long has he given that juice it's a win that fight now foesie
is committed up demon does get a kill as well we got foesie go to the pistol
all over well and foot will respond they get a grab a ninth round nine to three
half I mean surely this is enough now for them to go win this trophy stairs so
confused where are they he was the one who encountered
preventing with that crazy timing early on right so I guess you might have
thought that someone had slipped into the smoke who was hiding in it but
But either way, it just goes to build upon that sense that Astralis for most of this half
just felt like they were getting ran ragged with no clue where to move.
I mean, it's hard to see how they won this now.
Especially with their clip of pistol wins, they've won, what, six of seven so far.
Just been dominant in that regard, and that kind of lends itself to all those hot starts
we had.
But look at the faces as well.
Pure focus and seriousness on the foot side.
I think Nuke would have been a nice wake-up call, that even when you feel like you're right there, ready to take the win, it can all slip away from you.
On the pursuit of their first top-level championship.
Left in a trophy.
What is the rookie Tier 1 season, right? This is a team that played a bunch of Tier 2 events, you know, one, a few of them.
But coming into the Tier 1 stage, you're going to the Tier 1 events, actually doing damage at these events, getting into the playoffs now,
about to win a trophy. A lot of it's been eye test, right? A lot of it's been eye
test. You're like, okay, these guys are a lot of fun to watch. These guys are really
sharp. These guys are really aggressive. These guys are a little bit crazy, but
then you start looking back in Stockholm with their top four finished
there. Now you're looking here potentially a grand final trophy in
their future. And then you start having some actual facts on the resume to
secure your kind of feelings of the eye test. Been excited about the
major. Yeah, been a really fun team to watch in this first season and
It's culminating in a very nice showing here in these grand finals
and then we can see what they'll be able to do with the Major.
Certainly going to play spoiler to someone it feels.
Flash going in, going to send cemetery forward into the fight.
They're blinded and yep, they will continue their pistol antics.
So clean, taking away both kills at short, enforcing Astralis
into a last-ditch effort with three men coming out long.
Everybody's going to detect him.
They know exactly where their opponents are coming from
And launch is going to position himself. He's going to jump up and try and help out.
David getting tied to the smoke.
Javi was instrumental in pulling a few rounds back in that first half.
Well, he's going to do it again here in the Pisteron.
He's the only player that can actually do anything about this.
And it's another good headshot.
All right, guys. Calm it down. No need to make these crazy plays.
Not one yet.
Getting the pause button.
Cemetery's got no bullets in his USP. He's ran out entirely.
I'm going to go back and up. Oh my.
Oh, here's just a distraction. What a legend.
He's just jumping around with his chest.
He's like, yo, come shoot me and then the rest of his teammates.
They would make the most of it.
Now he's going to go to a better weapon.
Oh, my god.
That is just ridiculous.
Give him a round of applause.
That is so much style from Cemetery.
You open up with a double as short.
Then you're jumping up acting as a decoy human being.
Like, you're just there.
You just exist.
You have nothing.
You don't even have a weapon.
And you're still fighting the impact, even with no bullets.
Then you run.
You pick up a gun.
And you get the final kill.
That's a kid who's playing for the team, who's playing for the win, that one goal always in mind.
And a timeout.
That's the first notable moment from the reload update that's provided something.
Sure.
And that, I love it.
Yeah, the nonstop drive-by. This made me a little bit nervous.
I was just saying, this is that moment where you see people jumping through smokes,
trying to be aggressive at railing with these USPs,
where I'm like, this is how you can lose this round.
He turns around and shows him his booties, like, yeah.
Runs down the shore and gets the Glock.
Oh, wow.
OK, foot 10 to 3.
I don't know.
You've just been completely wrecked in that last run
of your strollers.
And I think the problem is these are always
the situations where it's like, if you're
going to come back in this if you're a strollers,
you need someone to carry you through a stretch
and make a play that makes you feel
like it's possible to come back.
But there are individuals just haven't been here today.
There's been none of that, except for Stare on Nuke.
Yeah. It's been like isolated rounds.
I think there's not been able to match the firepower of Foote, who as you mentioned at the start of the day, the fact that everybody's shown up for Foote.
Well, you got lungs on the defense and jugs on the defense at this B bomb site.
Astralis is going to be coming right at him and it's going to, this round is one or lost based off how this defense does pair it up.
Because everyone else is so far away on the other side of the map.
And no one's spotting all that deep. I got to be careful because this Molotov is going to go, is not going to be that effective.
MP5, not great, but launch was trying to do his burst.
He actually just has a distraction to set up jokes for two.
Hoaxian Ryu, do get into the bomb site.
They're clearing out mid together for the moment.
Bombing planted. We have a retake on our hands.
Demon does have a kit to work with.
Problem is, one flashbang is kind of an issue.
However, remember that foot has been very rock solid in retakes today.
Well, that re-smoke to the door is just landing.
It's fine. Sematru is going to be the one chucking the flash for his teammates,
so he's going to be coming in late anyways.
That smoke doesn't mean anything to him.
can foot pull off another retake coming through demons bus the head MP5 MP9
rather at that range not perfect but effective and now foes he's only got an
MP5 and flying through the sky demon has just wings man he is a guy he was
literally just flying around and getting headshots it doesn't matter he
has no inaccuracy he did it at long just a few rounds back I think cemetery
even got a jumping kill in this round as well so yeah they're just getting
weird out there. It seems like everything's falling into place for this to be
first ever trophy at the professional level and boy have they owned it today.
Look how high he's in the sky!
Yeah, what are you supposed to do?
What can I do?
You just laugh at it and then I'm paying, feel the pain.
Oh, this is something special from foot, well the way they're playing right now.
It's a brutal stage for this to be happening if you're on the
Astralis side though.
That's a smoke. There we go. The archway. It's kind of awesome in a way though. Isn't it? Yeah.
I like that. If we can replicate that, that would be really cool. Because it blocks long
and you can still check the angle. I mean, it just looks nice. It just looks nice. I'm just
trying to find a way. I know you are. Do you think it just looks nice? I just love this.
Let's stick with that one. The smoke arch. Aesthetically pleasing. All it's all misses,
it's Mark. Back to the B bomb site we go, I straw us up based off that last round, say
okay we got everything we wanted, we broke in, we had the post plant which we lost, but
surely they can't hit two jumping shots again. So let's go right back to it.
Okay, Launce detecting them, calling up Jukes. That rifle starts spraying away, Launce
is going to help him and now they line up. Fosey at least getting a kill to get
them into the site, but a retake again for a foot. This time they have the player
advantage and they're not really wasting time. They're up to the door, they're in already.
Fosy calling that to Ryu, steps into the open. It's got to be Fosy with the clutch.
And it goes off the wall. The damage done by Demon again.
Surely this is it now. Foot are just coming into the bomb site, taking it back at Will.
And it defuses as they reach tournament point.
Just continuing the trend, the dominance and Astralis still have no answer. Time for that final time out.
You might as well burn it, not like it's going to be the magical solution.
But 13-5 on Ancient of the Opening map. 13-5 on Mirage as the second map.
And another dominant victory here on the fourth map.
An absolutely insane run for foot and insane performance in this series.
series they dropped one map on the path to the grand finals. Two maps overall at
PGL Bucharest.
Launch aggressive towards top middle at least for you getting to here but
Cemetery's up next.
Astralis with the man advantage at the moment and Cemetery committed no falling
back he's got his fight his way out of this one miss shot trying to drop utility
he's got demons to protect him fighting there for each other time and time
time again you can always rely upon your teammates inside of this foot squad and that has been the
story of this team sticking together knowing what they're capable of and now getting to see the results
the reward of their commitment to one another two kills away demon has got him locked into his top
middle he's gonna force him into the fight Ryu burns away so can demon do it 24 kills
but he's playing without information in this 1v1 stairs the one who knows exactly where he
progressed. Demon seems to be hot on his heels, almost sensing it. He'll maybe even see the
bomb is disappearing, but gonna slide over to the B-bomb so you'll hear these footsteps
on the cross, and he's been spotted.
Demon with confidence, going in with attack 9 straight away. Stare spamming him down to
5 HP. Demon...
He's got it!
With confidence! Demonic from Demon, and Foot will win the championship here. PGL
And an unbelievable release of emotions.
It's got to be for this team that's been together so long.
Adding Lawson for the absence of Mikaze,
but for someone like Coolio, he mentioned he's been coaching Jukz since he was 15 years old.
Imagine how proud he's got to be of this group,
as they've risen through the ranks in the first season of 2026,
and now taking their first trophy.
And it's going to mean so much to everyone on this squad.
For Astralis, deflation, obviously a team that would have expected themselves to play much better coming into the final.
There were some weaknesses throughout this though, and it just proved to be too much for them to overcome.
Yeah, it's been, I mean, for Astralis, it's a lot of it is the path, right, is the progression that they need to have.
But in a season where we have watched legends of old fall, foot keep taking the next step.
You are watching the rise of the next generation, your PGL Bucharest 2026 champions.
It is foot e-sports.
Guys, congratulations. Kulio, I wanted to start with you, Mr. Coach. You are the champions
of PGL, Bucharest. How's that sound? How's that feel?
I don't know what to say to Benes. I'm super proud of this run. We are just so fucking
good.
You are indeed. This team is very special. What's it like to lift the trophy with
them and especially with Juerks, who you've been coaching since he was 15?
This team is, as I said already, it's more than a family, so it's so good to win.
I'm really happy that we could close this because on Nuke we give them a Christmas gift.
I said it, we just sold so many rounds, but I think we showed today that we are much better team than them.
It just feels so good.
You showed amazing skill. Let me squeeze Puck by and speak to Cemetery.
Cemetery, your AWP has been crucial to this team's success.
What's going through your mind right now after lifting that trophy?
I'm a bit excited. I have a lot of feelings.
I'm very happy for us and it's all kind of...
Well, thank you so much for your thoughts.
Demon, I'm going to swing over to you.
What an incredible last round. Talk us through that final 1v1.
I don't know, I just...
I got lucky a bit, he hit my fashion in the round, so...
I got lucky. What was on our side today?
And the skill was as well. Give yourself some credit.
and Jurgs let me come over to you, sorry for the bump there.
Yeah, so you lift, what did you say?
Don't kill him, please.
I'll try not, he's more likely to get me first.
Jurgs, yeah, you lift the trophy,
what's going through your mind right now,
and yeah, you do it with your coach Kulio,
who you've been working with since you were 15.
I'm just super happy that we lifted the trophy
with this team, I'm super happy.
I'm playing with each one of these guys
and yeah, I hope you keep going.
I hope to see you guys go from strength to strength,
Talking strength, what a strong IGL we have in the form of Krabani.
What's it like for you to know that you have had an impact as an IGL and have brought the guys here to lift the trophy?
It feels good that I can help the team, we're falling, we're shooting and with everything, it feels good.
I'm glad it feels good.
And finally we'll finish things off with Lowx.
You know, first tier one trophy, a massive result.
You get it done in your home country of Romania.
What's this destiny?
I mean, I think it's a destiny from that.
I freaking call it like this, right?
It was, I think it was the perfect timing,
especially with the tournament.
I remember I said like a couple of weeks ago,
I think we'll make it through.
But of course, I didn't expect to pull it
between the grand final because again,
not a lot of high expectations.
But yeah, it's amazing.
I'm feeling blessed.
I got the chance to join this team, to be honest.
They were such a strong squad, and I got the chance to join them.
And now we can all prove the world together how strong we can be.
And I can wait, to be honest, to go in the next tournaments.
When we spoke before the tournament started,
one of the questions on everybody's mind was,
can you guys keep up the consistency,
the performances that you've been putting up?
You've certainly proved you can do that here.
I mean, yes, of course.
But now we just need to keep doing it, right?
Because I think that's the hardest thing.
I mean, I think it's, of course, it's not easy to get to the top,
but it's easy to get to the top, but it's hard to maintain at the top.
So I think we just need to go one by one and, yeah.
And after this performance, do you see that trajectory in the future?
What can we expect next?
Yeah, I'm not going to say anything.
I remember we play Vitality, so I don't want to say anything.
I, we just play tournament by tournament, we enjoy, we do what we like.
It's our dream, so, yeah.
Thank you for the support and keep watching us.
All right everybody, congratulations once again to everybody in here and at home give it up for your PGL Bucharest champions. They are foot
There were a plod in here as well
One of the coolest stories of the year in Counter-Strike a young team that have stuck together despite being tempted
They've had the big offers could have gone anywhere and ultimately now lifted their first major trophy
And that the run throughout this tournament is legit.
They beat all the happy years.
Yeah, I mean, people would have maybe had the caveat for some that, hey,
the big dogs weren't here.
We weren't on the big stage.
But the path that this team took to go and beat Paravision,
a top five team in the world, to go and beat Mongols,
a top 10 team in the world, to beat Astralis,
who have played like a top 10 team in the world throughout the course this year.
That is a legit collection of scouts to get this trophy.
And yeah, what a beautiful moment for an academy team
to stick together, make one swap, which is Laos, who comes in, the Romanian winning on
Bucharest home soil. It is just a fun team to get behind. It's easy to be a fan of this
team.
Easily. Not just, just look at the storyline, right? You start off this year, they come in
as a replacement team, and then the Ascent has been beautiful to watch. You see them
beating some big names, upset team. You're like, oh, they're an upset team. They're
interesting to see. Go to EPL, place four, place right there. They're coming into
here winning the first trophy as well. As you pointed out, Long's on home soil
in Romain and getting the win.
It's just such a great storyline and also just a fact
of how bloody Newton happened,
how bloody dominant they were in the grand finals.
I think the team who for a lot of us were the favorites,
you know, once you start to play off the bracket,
a very deserved win and rich.
We've got two more events this year,
like two more events before the major comes in,
they're gonna be playing the glass rivals,
they're gonna be playing Atlanta,
stage two of the major.
If I have anyone going up against them,
I'm talking about the top five teams,
you're feeling a little worried.
And imagine what this must mean for Longs.
Remember Long Skies was in Cluj-Napoca with Flitton.
They were one game away from the playoffs
where he would have gotten a player
from his home crowd in Cluj.
Wasn't quite able to do it.
But he did tell me he knew that he had one last chance
to make something happen in his home country
of Romania at this event.
They had this one marked on the calendar
as an opportunity to make something happen,
to finally hoist a tier one trophy.
And there he is right there in Bucharest,
his home country, with the trophy in his hands.
And he was one of the leading forces of the squad.
Crazy story, you know.
Remember, he came in for the play
that everyone was saying was the best player on the roster that he was gonna
represent like a master downgrade and he's sort of become like the spiritual
leader of the absolutely same in all the interviews but he's the hype man he's the
guy that's like never letting any situation you know get them down and
you know you talk about dominance apart from that one half on new they did
dominate every other half that they played here against the very good
And also, just like, I feel like his age belies his wisdom, I might even say.
You listen to him all the time.
Oh, yeah, he calls like Dalai Lama.
I know.
It's like, he seems like a 40-year-old grizzled veteran the way he's speaking, but I love
how, yes, this kind of, I would say, Mortley Krueger's four of them work together, but I
don't think anyone in the right mind would have expected them to be at this level
so quickly.
And we're not even at the end of the season yet, right?
We still have a couple more events remaining, so super impressive stuff.
And I'm a foot fan right now.
Yeah, another big thing I kind of want to point out is Cemetery.
You know, he was kind of the one guy that maybe people kind of zoomed in on a
little bit because there was a period of time where he was fragging below the
standards of some of the other players on the team.
This guy is the MVP of the tournament.
In my opinion, I agree with you.
Like coming into this event, coming into this matchup, he's 1.2 rated.
And yes, demon had a hell of a throwing on dust, but cemetery is just
up there throughout this entire tournament.
And I do want to highlight this because this event has not just been
a win for them, but also seen somewhat quite the pieces start to
wake up start to believe in themselves because we're talking about
Krabeni for a long time. We've been talking about how good Longs has been on
this team. We've been talking about how Jigs has been kind of the star player
so to speak, right? And it has been Demon and Symmetry kind of towards the bottom
a little bit but he has both of them have really really stepped up. Obviously
Carrigan shout out you know the one game he played tournament of his life
but there you go. Jigs second highest rate of play with Symmetry considering
again Rich he was the lowest rate of player for them all season having this
level of performance. It's been incredible stuff. You know also
remember like it's it's the hardest position it's the crazy position he was
playing online and playing below the standard that he's delivered at this
competition and people were saying you know maybe you need to look elsewhere but
he's absolutely battered people here at LAN and it's all reminds me of you know
Woxic was a little bit like that back in the day you know he didn't really care
a lot about online plus he had Turkish internet so he had like 70-80 ping and
his performance would be bad but when he got to Lanavans he was switched on
he played, you know, 20, 30% better than he ever did online.
It's actually just crazy how widely there should be the talent is on such a young team.
I mean, you have Krabini, who is a legit fragging IGL.
You have Longs, who's one of the best performing entry fraggers of the year thus far.
You have Jubbs, who is that solid rock, that anchor, extremity player doing his job.
You know, Demon is a guy who was probably the one that had the most hype around him coming into this year.
Some of the other guys overshadowed him a bit, but he has really adjusted nicely these last couple of lengths
the last deliver on that promise that he had kind of set last year.
And then yeah, we already talked about cemetery.
I think it's gonna be determined.
I think Jukes is a close second.
I think you can go either way.
I wouldn't be disappointed.
But yeah, it's just the fire powers Macrae's team and they just play with such
a fearless play style.
I don't care who they're up against, they're your foot, no matter what.
And also for the side of the Cravenigia side, I'd give a shout out to his
calling, right?
He was calling circles around Hooksy.
And Hooksy's a guy who's seen so far in his tournament.
He's a guy keeping the common compose.
He has some really good games as well individually speaking, as well as
from the IGL inside of things.
And Krabeni, you know, calling circles around such a veteran
like that in such a high stakes game.
Like just every tick box you could tick
was ticked there by foot.
Do you want to have a few final thoughts about Astralis
before we get going?
Obviously, a lot of people felt this was their trophy to lift.
They have been beaten by the young upstarts.
And honestly, they looked to capitulate.
Probably got lots to think about right now.
It's a tough one, right?
Because obviously they've built this new international team
and they were on a decent incline,
you know, that third place finish at EPL coming
to this tournament was a really nice look.
They were pegged as one of the teams
next to Mongols and ParaVision
that were a favorite to win the whole tournament.
They were on the easier side,
the bracket that had a labored performance
to get to this grand final,
but credit request, do they do to get the job done?
They made the final, which I felt was probably
the bare minimum for them to meet
somewhat expectations.
But yeah, it's true that they were meant
to win the whole thing.
And it's also true that they just looked
too sloppy too many times.
And it finally caught up to them.
You know, it almost happened against the I-ballers.
They nearly got two-mode and knocked out in the quarter-finals.
They'd had their struggle in the opening map against 3D Max.
They dominated on Overpass.
But that first map was definitely in the win.
And this one, they got bulldoze for two maps.
Yeah, they made the comeback on Nuke,
but they were totally absent on Dust 2 after the break.
And so it's just like, they're
going to have to take a hard look in the mirror,
because we talk about how promising some of these players
are.
But they did underperform in a lot of ways this tournament.
Yeah, absolutely.
Because if you remember, like day one,
we had our two favorites.
There was the Mongols in ParaVision, right?
Then we had Astralis in Soot.
And once Mongols and Farah Vizion got knocked out,
you're like, yeah, this is Astralis to run away with.
They should have the easiest side of the bracket as well.
So disappointing, but I'm not going to necessarily,
you know, just start smashing a long button quite yet.
I still feel like they've had a really, really good season
so far, a lot to look back to.
And you can make up with the comms as well, right?
They need to kind of focus a little bit more,
a little bit of homework to be done,
but not the end of the road at all, first of all.
And foot with that trophy lift there,
now third in VRS.
So, I mean, we got a good glimpse into the future today, guys.
Any final thoughts for our closing show?
No, it's awesome to be able to do another event here in the Bucharest studio
and get to watch a lot of fun stories throughout the event,
working with a great crew. It's always a good time.
All right, anything from you?
Oh, likewise. It was good to be back here in Bucharest
and I'm just happy to see such a great event
and a bit of a surprise win from foot.
I think it was a great storyline overall.
Oh, thank you gentlemen for keeping me up through this flu.
You made it through, Rich. You made it through.
Good job, Carl.
Thanks to all the PGL crew as well.
and of course it's not over for the PGL tour. We're going to be in Astana next up so we're super
psyched about that one. Always great to go back to these places where we've had some great
crowd interactions also as well history in the making in more ways than one. It was HLTV's 24th
birthday so how fitting is it that we see a new young team lift the trophy here in Bucharest.
For all of you at home thanks for watching and we'll see you at the next event.
I