I
The Spirit!
So Spirit here to win, 5 kills for the 33, close on Dust2.
Just the one-man move out through that cat drop
Beautiful sequence from Zelex with that triple kill this round you've got to near two kills in needs another double
And if he goes over top to the ramp, that's his next frag bomb is down here for him
He got a confirmation of the CT walk up and he will just chew through what's left of you
What counter is that to someone like dog? Oh
Oh.
He's walking out the mid doors.
I like that Xershin gets active on the catwalk, so there was something brewing for Maus.
A concern about middle now is Zontik's on the side of the smoke.
Goal!
It's the kill on Spades.
That clear is insane.
And it's going to be another moment for Sellex.
He has a ton of pressure on him.
He goes for the mid.
But Zontik collects another.
He is 12-3.
That's fucking good, boys.
That's fucking good.
We're going on here.
Two more maps.
Yeah?
Let's fucking go. We're going over here. Two more maps, yeah?
Next fight.
Syros Barretta slide off to the hunt and it is a rock solid one again. Four kills.
And Torsi on the brow outer using that AWP. We see the crossover. Zontik's gonna tap away.
The sniper trades back and this one versus three.
Praise to his god that he can pull off this one and give mouths at least the chance to double the rounds on the attack quick scope connects
It's gonna give a space over the magics reconfirms that he's pushing in for kill right here for Torsi
And it's a quad kill needed, but a quad kill delivered
Please make some noise put your hands together
It's
MAGIC!
Team Falkens!
They were taking for a ride against 9z, it was high and low and then a high again to finish off the job on this very map.
And they will beat them in the middle, ace for Tenzy in the second round.
As he goes back to try and sniff out Tenzy, and then they've got him trapped out here on his low silver in middle.
No, no, no, no!
What a see!
And now bracing themselves for this mid to be here, this is it, the beginning of the
end.
I have to go through because his team are grumbling in that B bombsite, Niko double entry and an excellent map from Niko to Max Laudicey as they want to punch all their way to the Grand Finals.
Falcons do it in two, they do it with ease and they take down the Cinderella story of magic.
Good morning Kazakhstan and welcome to the grand finals here at PGL Astana.
What an incredible day and I have to say after being here last year, here today for this
third place curtain raiser, there's already an incredible crowd coming into the arena
getting ready to support Maus up against Magic and I suppose to just wet their palates a
little bit before we get to see spirits take on Falcons.
My name is Sam, I'm gonna be keeping you company
for the start of the show.
Joining me is Prof and Blair,
we're ready to break this all down.
What an amazing crowd we've had.
I know there's been some instances
with very ecstatic kids jumping railings
and things like that, but it is so exciting
just to see how much Kazakhstan loves Counter-Strike.
I mean, you can't make it normal
without breaking a few eggs.
I don't know how that analogy works into this,
but sure, you know, you have crazy enthusiasm,
but then at the same time,
you have people showing up Friday morning in the,
I think it was an early start on 10 a.m. It's a working day and still we had a lot of fans
And it's really cool here as well showing up. Hopefully to support their homeboy moon
Yeah, I mean no longer global offensive
But as global as it's ever been right with a new stop on the world tour this this traveling circus of Counter-Strike
Astana seems to be a place to come back every year for sure now
We're getting ready to watch Mars take on magic two teams who found themselves here
Unfortunately, not making the grand finals, going into the semi-finals, but they've had a good run.
I want to talk about their opposition though, that was able to knock them out.
Spirits, a reigning champs there, my gosh, they speed ran their semi-final yesterday.
Yeah, I think that was the fastest, one of the fastest playoffs, best of three we've ever had the opportunity to witness.
And listen, for Maus, I feel like they'd be, I don't think they were super disappointed.
Obviously, they would still want the win as well.
but going up against the Spirit who were clearly
levels above what this mouse is at right now.
I think mouse is going to be okay with that.
For the Spirit though, I agree with it.
They are on the run, which is,
if I'm Halley, I'm looking at my job
and being like, oh, not looking good right now.
Yeah, I mean, Spirit have just been phenomenal.
My favorite is going into it, but not by a huge margin.
I think would they have proved so far
that they should be the defending champions
with Falcons being a crazy, crazy challenger
after everything we've seen from them in the playoffs so far.
The Falcon story is just amazing.
And I mean, as someone who did hate watch
Falcons for a while and enjoyed it, I've,
Karrigan, Karrigan's done more for sports
washing than anyone else has ever done.
There isn't a single checkbook that can do
what Karrigan did in the last three days.
The thing is like the players on Falcons
are always very likable.
It's just the things around them
and also the results that they're bringing.
That's the thing for me from a sporting side.
It's like, okay, they buy all of these great players
but they don't really do anything with them.
So what's the point of this whole project?
If you buy Niko, you buy Monocene,
you're still not winning titles, right?
Just have to buy Karrigan from them.
Right, that's the thing.
They needed to buy an experienced winning guy GL.
Well, we'll see.
They didn't win any titles yet,
but they have a good chance today later.
He's won the hearts and minds of all of us.
I mean, that's a win.
That absolutely is a win.
And I feel like, for me, I just,
I'm just thinking about an interview
that Banks took with Kyosuke on the stage yesterday.
And I'm like, I've never seen that kid this happy,
this animated. And just his praise is so effusive in the way he was saying it as well. So clearly,
it's not just us looking at it from outside, but even in the team you can see there has been a
change and the Catholicist, his name is Finn Carrigan Anderson. I was having a bit of a romantic
moment last night thinking about this felt, oh, the way I worded that wasn't good. Your boyfriend's
not here. My bad. I was thinking about Falcons and I was romanticizing this whole world of where
where they're sitting because I looked at the lineup.
You had Tessess who played with Kade and in a row,
it got so close but never quite able to lift a trophy.
Obviously, we all know about Niko,
how we've called him the choker,
but that journey that he's been on,
never lifting a trophy,
Manasi, one of the greatest,
possibly at some point the greatest orper we had,
never lifting a trophy.
And then you got Karrigan who,
while he's lifted trophies,
hell, he's missed so many of them,
so many grand finals.
And then Kiyosuke, the player who came in and had to handle all this pressure and has had to live with so much commentary around him.
And I suddenly thought, wow, like when you put them all together and you bring them to the stage,
is carrying in the moment that this all changes for all of these players?
And we're in this world where finally every single one of them not only gets their flowers, but gets their medals around their neck.
And I started to dream. And that's where I am now. I am a dreamer.
I mean, they've won trophies, but not the one that they are dreaming of, right?
The major trophy, that's what's missing for all of these players, except Kerrigan.
You know, there's been Katowice, there's been Cologne,
and there's been spurts of different smaller events that they could win a trophy at,
but never has it become an era, never dominant, never the go-to favorites to win a title.
So, let's see how that can develop.
I mean, it's kind of funny to me that this team had Boros at one point,
that you look at these five guys and get a complete change, but no.
That's more of a knock man than a dream.
Exactly, but look, I agree with you.
I feel like even if I have them as my favorites,
I actually win the whole thing, right?
I feel like this entire honeymoon period is going to give them an extra push
and also historically, Falcons have kind of had spirits number overall.
I wouldn't be surprised to see, I would be a little surprised,
but not too surprised to see them win the thing.
But for me, that Furia game was the turning point.
Even if they wanted to be getting second place over here,
I feel like for Falcons they realize that, okay, we are ramping up, we are looking better and better
for what is going to be the major in Cologne.
I'm going to be watching very closely because when we lose against Spirits, I want to see how they perform.
If it is a complete run over and Spirits takes it in key infection, I'll be worried.
But even if they lose and they put up a fight, the storyline of Falcons possibly winning the Cologne Major
starts becoming a very real narrative that we're all going to be following.
I think that's kind of what we're all concerned when this change happens so close to the Major.
We felt like they're just giving up on the Major coming up, right?
And what Nico said with Kerrigan also said is like,
this team had no chance to win that Major, and they believe that with Kerrigan,
they have bigger chances to win the Cologne Major than with Kicksand.
And if that's the thinking going into it, then I can 100% be behind it,
even though they're obviously not going to be favorites,
as long as Vitality exists and all of these five players can get to the tournament and,
you know safely I don't see why not make this change. And also like if you're talking about you
know a carrigan and a team coming into a major no expectations whatsoever it's always making to
the playoffs always having to bullshitter in the major that he is the guy he is that common factor
right so yeah I can see for Nico time is kind of running out Sam I mean he still has a few years
remaining but he does want to get his hand on a major and you know just kind of kill the curse
so to speak. Okay, so you'll be joined by Maui, Dustin, Richard Lewis, a little later to talk
more about this Falcon Spirit matchup, but right now we're going to be focusing in on that third
place playoff. It is Maus up against Magic, and this is a place that Maus, despite the roster
changes, despite the new IGL, sees themselves in a lot. These third place playoffs, it's kind of
vibrating better at this point. Yeah, but I feel this time around, evidently, it is a different
scenario altogether. I feel like they're going to be pretty happy with what they've done so
yesterday losing to a spirit playing at an extremely high level. I don't think
they can be too mad about that. You got to remember again, exertion. Coming is an
idea of finally taking full reigns off the team. You're JL coming in as a bit of a
stand-in situation. Kind of like a temporary fifth on loan. And he gives
Zelex for him. By the way, first time ever in an arena on a stage like this as
well, right? So for them, I felt like they've over-delivered a little bit. So
they're going to be reasonably happy with the way the run they've had so far, of
course, would still be looking to get the third place. Yeah, I think anything
more than this would have been insane for them to beat Spirit, that would have been
here currently an undertaking right beating Aurora twice first in the group
stage in the playoffs. I think that's like okay we're still in that top ten
category despite making these changes despite bringing complete rookie into
the tier one scene but there's still some things to figure out overall good
showing but I think they need to win here again this third place decider to
say like okay Astana was a successful tournament for us. Do we like the changes so far that we've
seen from Miles? I mean you've had a lot to watch now are we excited about them? Is this is this a
lineup that we can get behind? Yes, yes or no I feel yes because like overall I like what we've
seen is Alex is looking like he's really solid on a T side CD side still a little bit rough but again
it's a work in progress and I'm looking for the major looking to win the next major make a different
in Singapore, right? So, and Jail coming in, I feel it's been just a pleasant surprise.
You can see the mood seems elevated overall. And Jail also for himself, even if he winds
up not being on his mouse lineup post the major post his loan, he is showing that he
still has it. He still has the chops. And more importantly, he still has a charisma
for which everyone loved him for.
For me, it's a passing grade on this like first test so far. Obviously, we'll see how
this series goes, but I still need to see more and I definitely need to see how it goes
at CAC next week, where they'll be having even more competition playing, even more people
being kind of more aware of how they're playing, because that spirit game, yes, it is against
spirit, but that's the worst defeat they ever had. Five rounds in a playoff game, in a group
stage game, Maus never felt that bad.
What do we think of Exition as IGL?
This is the main point for me, because it kind of plays into this spirit game that we had
yesterday, where he wasn't on point individually, and then the whole team around him crumbled.
Yes, it's great when your IGL is dropping 1.5 ratings against everyone in the group stage
and then the first game of the playoffs, but you're putting even more pressure on a piece
that crumbled under the bright lights.
Yeah, I agree, and I feel like that is what the learning experience is, right?
Like, when the existence are really fracking out, how good can his calling be and how much
kind of remaining pieces really step up to the plate?
We saw Zalex have pretty solid tournament overall, but he's someone who's being set up
by his team. Who else is going to shoulder the responsibility of having the fragging output
when someone like him is having a bit of a quiet game? Maybe the birthday boy,
Torgia, this is his birthday today. Can he rise to the occasion? Oh, I mean, his year has not
been that great. He's seen us the smallest up there. Ah, good job, Fuziel. I like that a lot.
You see the audio as well. Okay, yeah, birthday as well, beautifully done. Better than any AI
He's had a little uptick in form this tournament, but a small one because his year has not been great.
And last year he was maybe not always on the server, but vocally on the TeamSpeak.
He's been a key part of their comebacks and like a great performance they had even back to Austin.
And they definitely need more of that, especially if Spinks fall off, needs to be studied for this tournament
and the first tournament, other exertions ideally.
Yeah, I think that's the big question right for someone especially to speak so so experienced having played under
Multiple IGLs multiple iterations of different teams and so to speak when you have a new IGL coming in you're looking at him to adapt
You're looking at him to help your IGL be the second ref was yes
But it really feels like he's kind of lost in the sauce even individually as well
We've seen so much of failure utility not working in tandem with Felix
He's supposed to be kind of a character
Yeah, kind of the car again to Kyosuke relation with him and that let's not quite clicking for a lot of questions
If he's not able to adapt soon, I'm going to have a few questions about that.
You kind of mentioned that being the secondary voice part.
That's where I'm more and more curious if he can be that person,
because he is playing those positions as a CT player, he can frag out.
But can he actually help the other player, his anchor, his partner in crime,
to set up good positions, good crossfires?
It just doesn't seem like that's his forte, because even before you think of Jimmy on the CT side,
CT side since things joined his numbers fell off and I'm not sure I'm not sure
this is going to be a great solution for for miles looking forward I'm gonna put
in all of those boys I know we're talking about Counter Strike but out of the
corner of my eye I've just seen James Banks in his outfit for the stage now
you'll remember if you watch PGL Astana last year he went big ladies and
gentlemen boys and girls he is going large this is like Met Gala ready I
I hope that you're ready for what Banks is about to bring to the stage.
Let's talk about Magic.
So that's not the bear over there.
We'll see him later.
Don't ruin the surprise for everyone.
Just a little tease.
I was under the impression he was coming in on a horse,
but apparently that PGL said no.
They're drawing the line there.
Reasonable and understandable.
It's talk about Magic though.
Obviously they have Moon in this lineup from Kazakhstan
getting a chance to play for the first time.
I think other than AW for all of these players,
first time on the big stage, saw them up against Balkans yesterday. I would say it was the first
time we really saw them struggle, also probably the first time they went up against quite difficult
opposition in this tournament. Look, modern day Counter Strike, you rarely get to see these sort
of fairytale runs anymore, right, from super big underdogs. I mean, Foot comes to mind, but they
were a team, everyone kind of was on everyone's radar, and we knew they could do a lot of damage.
Magic coming in, for me personally, I was like, oh, three, maybe one, three, you know, I had a
Fissure College in the Huns. That's what I had going for them. This has been an incredible
run from them. I think it's been very cool what S-Fade has been able to do, but the pieces
he's got. And even yesterday, you mentioned Moon, Sam, against Falcons. He was still
fragging out. He was still delivering under the bright light. So for Magic, I don't expect
to see them in an arena anytime soon again, but so far, if I see them in somebody's other
events where they're like the 12th ranked team or the 13th ranked team in the invites, I'm
going to be keeping an eye on them.
It just proves how important online qualifiers are, because they came from the European qualifier,
beat a bunch of these tier two teams online to get a chance to get here,
and then obviously here 0-2-3-2, and then beating 9-Z in the quarter-final,
and a quite tough game to then face Falcons, and unfortunately get quite a rough wake-up call in that one.
It may be rough today as well, we'll have to wait and see, but I do think that they have the potential to upset.
What's important for them, regardless of how this plays out, is having such a deep run,
they're not going to the Major, they need VRS points and now they set themselves up really
nicely for the second half of the year.
Yeah, I mean invites are coming out every month for something, right?
There's a bunch of tournaments going on, so just getting a slot at one of the bigger events
or even like a Tier 2 event in the second half of the season so they can start off July,
August with some big tournaments where they can prove themselves is just going to be a huge
to them and that's also being said who knows what's going to happen to these
players this is also opportunity for them to showcase their skills because
every offseason we know there's gonna be some roster changes we kind of got the
indication from the stand that Parisian might be looking for someone why not one
of these guys they've only been together for a short while they really this is
the third land ever you're already like let us take that lineup and pick and
choose and pull it all out of the world's not fair for them you know not fair to
who here's a funny thing they're here playing in a third place playoff on a
in a stage.
I think he would be happy, the rest of the team, who knows.
The funny thing is...
I did this about puts and I got into trouble the last of it, you all called me out, it's
crazy.
But now everyone's stealing that idea.
It's a different team.
Let's say I have some indications, it might be on the table.
Nothing is happening but it's definitely a significant possibility.
It's HLTV, Unconfirmed, there we go, all the rumours, there we go, he's spreading them.
Okay, it's time for us to get serious now, this third place player up here at PGL Astana,
Crystal Mayhem Banks are ready.
Let's welcome the teams to the stage.
Aston!
We've got our third place decider coming your way.
And the teams want to take this one more seriously than you would expect.
Because for magic, every moment like this is incredible.
They do not know when the next one will come.
come for miles they've got a lot of learning to do across the whole way now
I know we are just filling out inside the arena we're just getting started but
you know I got a question for you guys
well let's start with our first team new players new opportunities new leader
but they got absolutely dominated yesterday.
Now, it's about showing up, delivering and learning as a team
to try and just gain some more experience to see what this team can do.
So, let's hear it for Miles!
Now, Maus have all the experience on the stage, but our next team is just learning the ropes.
For this team, going this far from being 0-2 down in the group stage, facing elimination,
and now sitting with a shot of ending in third place for vital VRS points, for vital experience.
They truly are living up to their names and they have a Kazakh player on their team which
I know you guys will love.
So with that being said, raise the roof for MAGIC!
come join us up here moon you as well everyone else can take their seats and
get ready for the third place decider moon yesterday was a tough day for you
guys going up against the team of that level of that skill what did you guys
talk about last night coming into today what did you try to improve and fix
upon to make happen this tournament is just for us it's good experience and we
know just this team like teams they're just better right now but in the future I
know that we show our best and we can beat them
yesterday was a difficult day but we showed that although yesterday we lost
but we will be able to grow in the future and to prevent even such teams as Falcons.
You know, you never know when you will get an opportunity like this to be in an arena full of your people in your country.
Final words.
Selim, Bernikov and Rahmet.
We've got Bernikov and Rahmet.
Georgi, for you guys, how difficult was it to take that kind of a loss to Spirit after playing so well with the new team and the new dynamic?
It's a good question. I think
Going into a game as a spirit. We were not fully expecting a win
But of course you wanted to put up a fight at least and they didn't happen
So it hurt us a little bit, but I think it's also a good
Good learning for us. You know, we have new positions new players and
Yeah, we had really good days before that spirit game
And I think it's just important that we learn from that game and going forward
We can gain more experience as a new team in new positions and yeah, also taking these games serious as we can
Chara was certainly quite painful, although we did not expect that we should win 100% of our opponents, because the spirit is quite strong, but it was a great experience for us to find our problems, find our mistakes and work on them.
And looking at that right both teams here are trying to go and get this experience
But you are more of the veteran style of team right now. He just called you bots. They're coming for you, man
Anything you want to say?
Did you see on the server?
All right, I like that. I like the person
What's more in the serial now?
Are we gonna try yeah, so there's another thing going on right now to see happy birthday brother
So, I need everyone in this arena to try and come together on the same time, maybe just
give him a little bit more understanding from my side, Krystal, we need a happy birthday
in here.
Let's congratulate him on his birthday.
He has a wonderful day today.
Happy birthday!
I'm already feeling for this championship Sunday that this is a crowd with great energy and we do appreciate that
Crystal May I need to any time to understand which way this is going over here. So
Is it in Astana that you guys are cheering for?
Magic!
That is almost like a mother mouse!
I'll say what 50-50 a little bit more to magic let's try again. MAGIC!
MOUTH!
And now for everyone in here, we've got a birthday boy on the stage, we've got a team that are not used to this situation.
I want to hear everyone raise the roof, make some noise.
Let's
Oh
Uh-huh a nearly swole that could have been a bad thing
All I want to say is there is a streamer here with a drum and I do not understand why we've never been given this
Drunk for the day. Well, maybe damn and we'll be front mainly because of people like me and prop
Oh, we're at the first time. The two stupid dogs would thoroughly end up.
That's also by the way the new nickname for these two when they're together.
You'll see that later. Let's talk now about what is about to go down in the server.
Banks is out of it.
How fire was that?
A rage fire.
I saw it coming, but I didn't see it coming.
Like, it still surprised me when I turned around.
Insane.
In a great little moment there at the end.
And happy birthday to Torsi.
Happy birthday, Torsi. Well done, Banks.
You get best dressed for the tournaments.
tournaments, and we would like a drum on the desk every covered everything. Can we focus on the count?
Yes, I want to talk about him calling mouse bots. That's that's straight fire. I love it
I don't think they're bots. I think it's gonna be it's gonna probably fire up mouse a little bit more
And I like to see that that's good shit talking is fun prop. Yeah, one good thing about this
Matchup for magic. I think is that their promo band is nuke and mouse have been picking nuke at this tournament every opportunity
they could. So there's at least one good map for Maus leaving the pool. I simply believe
this is going to be the classic maps of Mirage, Dust2, Inferno, Ancient. These are the four
maps that can be played in any order, I'm not sure which.
Yeah, no big surprise from these picks. Like I said, Mirage is going to go with the try
to test it, to try something a little bit different yesterday against Falcons, undisandably
so throwing in a bit of a curveball over here. And as you said, Prof, I do with...
Oh, we're getting overpassed as the potential third to serve the sider.
is a bit curious, the maps haven't already played this map much.
I don't even think they played this map this tournament.
No, not with this roster, Overpass has barely been played,
actually the only team I think that played was K27 against Magic.
Is it gonna go all the way to Overpass though? I don't think so.
I don't think so either, but you know when we get there we can talk about it.
I think it's nice that at least we got a bit of a variety from Magic,
not going for Dust2, going for Overpass instead as kind of an outside pick,
but the first two maps, Mirage and Furno, pretty expected.
Furno has been the staple for Maus for a year or two, almost feel like now.
And then Mirage, as Magic has been picking it,
sometimes with good success, sometimes not so much.
Do you know what I did like about Magic calling Maus bots in the server?
It's what he seems to have been burned off the PGL fuse,
because he didn't respond. He was like, oh, yeah.
We'll see in the server.
See in the server. I like the fighting talk.
I was like, he's not going to be cheeky anymore.
No, no, he tried that once, he got burned, he doesn't want to do it again.
You don't need to do it when you have JL in a team, right?
There's no need to play to fill it as JL just saw his face on the camera.
Everyone said, oh my God, it's JL.
So yeah, I think just do your job, do it in the server.
Let's see if they can do it in the server.
Miles versus Magic, they're going for that third place.
Harry and Hugo are ready to take us into game.
That's right, Sam, an experienced gap, an aged gap, even a birthday gap here
for Miles on this very stage.
the third place to side a place miles have been many times before up against the squad
who are just taking their first chances in the tier one tournament, let alone in front
of a crowd. But I've got to say magic yesterday, they may have lost the Falcons. They still
played their hearts out. They played the exact counter strike we saw on the group stage,
the exact counter strike that made us enjoy watching this team. So I hope they bring it
to mouse today. Yeah, I think both these teams kind of appreciate in the extra time on the
a chance for us to get to see
them on a stage game when the
pressure is just a little bit
lower and always on the lookout
for VRS points or a team like
this for mouse. I think they'll
appreciate it too, right? Big
changes within the mouse team
exertion taken over as the
captain. You've got two new faces
inside of the squad. This is a
chance to really try and find
some comfort on the stage in a
third place. Decider every game
count. I think that's a good
every game counts even here for miles as they look to find experience with a new squad and new roles
Toshi looks to kick off this third place this either an aggressive push-up mid denied puts a down low
It's an APOP for magic though Jolly's only lost for a second session pressure back behind the triple box
Magic are getting closer
I've been stalled out here by exertion.
That's allowed the rest of Maus to come on over.
Alright, they will get past him.
What else have they got for us?
Slowing this down initially felt like it was to their detriment, but some dinks put down
range.
Spinks the only guy with health.
It has some struggles here, it has spinks.
I have to hit hard in this pistol as it starts to enter a bit of a weird territory here.
Three on three grinding to a complete hole.
Wait, it's so long that Mal's thinking of getting lurked on or someone's gone towards
B, they're looking over their shoulder right now.
All of magic in this site, nice shot from Moon.
With these two low players, you've got to hope you don't get cleared, but missed chance
for JL back at the spawn.
on one, Magic just got a cross with that bomb, and Torsche is put down after one. So well handled
there for Magic, that slow down really made Miles nervous in the mid-round.
A team that doesn't play scared, a team that plays like they definitely have more experience than they do.
A team that's only existed for a matter of months, right? Pieces of these
this squad playing together in previous rosters, but Jam Packs has a core at the end of 2025.
Already a few lands under their belts. Well, this will be one to remember.
Remember last year it was Moggildoy in this very match who also fell in a third place
decider. But it was that one extra game in front of the stage. If you know Moon is soaking
it in today.
I've said it himself, Spinks is down for less to be studied, we gotta keep our eye on him
in this series.
It's kind of a bit of a poor tournament by any standard, let alone his high standards.
The rotation to B4 spinks, but magic are coming in.
This is tentative.
I can't mouse doubt themselves.
Thanks ain't going anywhere.
He'll be the guy that could try and steal this whole thing away and the bomb crossing
in with very little time left gets out with one.
Oh!
getting too weird after a gnarly sequence from Torsche on that scout, exertion.
Teammate off, they're both tagged up, 35 points of health each.
Apart from impossible here, the Maus is new captain, but they're not moving a muscle.
So exertion's going to bring the fight to them out through the window.
Oh, he's the ball of exertion collects!
And that's an early game clutch for Maus's captain.
There's one way to put it on the board.
I like Magic's setup for the moment, right?
Just static, but ready to swing off each other.
They didn't think he'd find that gap.
And so one hell of a way for Maus to get on the board,
but it has been how they found success.
success, this entire tournament on the back of new in-game leadership.
Four sheets and bangers, scout shots, we have both players spotted by
that was captain. Magic, who played a really nice slow round, punished in that post world.
Now we have Maus trying to take a bit more of a risk here, very active out towards middle.
Spring's going to fight first and gets out with an opening.
Takes a lot of damage in that head-to-head, but he'll take the five on four.
He's going to be more aggressive and it works well.
He wants that AK and he even gets out.
Doesn't spot the bomb coming in though.
They spot him retreating back.
Tenty goes through the space.
to stall an AK in the hands of JL, gonna watch out.
The site well defended.
Magic really trying to give Maus no info in this T site.
They have slowed right down yet again.
The only gun they have in this round is in middle.
So Deagle's getting a double entry here, feels unrealistic.
Again, just leaving this one for the final few seconds, footsteps heard now, they've got
to make noise eventually, and again, Spring stealing himself away, Benchside gets to swing
out early, low on HP, it's no problem.
Spade might have made it through the back line, not for long, exertion, quick to turn
around and put him down.
That four-spike goes nowhere for Magic.
And now down to Pistols.
This is the early lead.
More than built up in Maus's favor.
Just stacking this B-side, playing mostly retake on A.
Magic are giving them exactly what they want,
despite these slow rounds.
Just a couple of pistol upgrades here for Magic.
Maus has a chance to feast.
And built them at quite a bit early in the CT side.
As you can see, the magic's not big as well.
I think I'm gonna set a tone early in this game, that they're gonna be very slow in these site takes.
I wonder if you get a pace change out of them when the guns make an early appearance.
I think some of the best rounds yesterday against Falcons in those first 12 rounds where they got six on the ancient T side were the set plays.
They tried to use some meat control, they tried to battle the firepower trio.
Okay, bomb plan's nice.
But at the end of the day, I think their best rounds were set pieces, faster approaches, catching players off guard.
See if that's going to be the case on Mirage though as Val, dead man walking.
So money is made but Maus are all the better off, 3-1 lead, everything they need, and magic coming in with full guns.
I hope we get more Orbs from Moon today, that was something that was lacking in the Valqons game.
I feel like you didn't get a lot of opportunities to have that open play.
Not quite yet though.
They're not gonna get to bring it into his first gun round. Torsche though, his
warp counterpart for Maus will.
Birthday after all. Guess what he wants.
Mid spawn as well.
It makes the jump happen up into the window.
It's Maus once again, looking to try and fight for this mid-control early.
I think it's important for magic, they're able to kind of put the squeeze on Maus in these mid-fights.
You don't want Maus feeling confidence in them.
You don't want it to be a problem area early on.
to go back and elect to hang around out in middle or she repositions on his all
takes the line in through the apartments in theory that frees up JL
this fake get much of a fake going he's gonna have to fresh this all off if he
wants to survive on this one man hit or is it just a lurk later in the round
magic are lining up you till now 50 seconds on the clock as Alex pressure
on him, he's in strong position, hard to molly this one, wide under balcony.
Zershin draws a mint, good damage, and Zellix time to strike.
That guy's low from exertion's damage, and so that kill comes for free to Zellix.
You know he's here, not making dealing with him any easier.
They've got B though, the bomb's out.
It's for you to walk out a bit later after those rotations, it's being held right now.
JL was keeping an eye on it, but doesn't help him in the head-to-head.
Nice shot.
Curious if Maus try and go quickly and beat the timing on this bomb.
They know even if it rotated straight away, it's going to be a little late to arrive,
and with Spade dead, it's now only the bomb crossing in.
Spinks stops that. There isn't time for Masfalt to win this.
And Masfalt left this one a little bit late, hanging around in the palace.
He did get one kill while that bomb was leaving,
would have loved to see him knife out in full W at the start.
Maybe not trying to give Maus that information early,
but yes, they try to peak the AWP.
Understandable, he realizes the AWP has the cross covered
and that bomb making it is not a guarantee.
A nice try here for Magic, a good mid round for Svay,
but calling a little short in the finish.
Maus, 4-1 lead, everybody showing up.
One more to magic have, just a hero AK and pistol, so expect something quicker, moon is
saving for the orb.
That's where my pal is looking to give it another gun.
That window smoke is not nice.
Not even blocked.
They're gonna feel pretty confident that no one's out middle right now with window being
peaked and now Spinks aggressive on catwalk.
It's kind of midfake, it's not going to do too much.
And you saw her as soon as Toshi saw no one crossing, he's insta-rotated out towards CT, so you've just got to deal with that AWP on this A-play.
Zershin's also been a real nuisance over here towards the connector.
That's set to continue, damage put down range as he tries to deal with the lurker, Toshi providing cover out from the spawn side.
Only a matter of time there with Tensy spotted crossing out behind the boxes. It's another clean round for Mao's
I wonder if we have a timeout soon here for magic to try just to
Climatize to this one because Mao's are picking them off one by one they're rotating pretty well
They're realizing when they're getting faked now magic's earliest slow rounds were at least making them uncomfortable, but 5-1 lead
Nothing's come through for magic yet
since that pistol win
Moon's orb might have to be the difference maker here in this gun round.
You can just see him get a boost up.
So if the con pick,
he falls for mid control.
Spinks is often that guy getting aggressive, pushing catwalk, getting involved,
but it's force you hoping this time, so Spinks just hangs around a window.
window. That was a still active towards mid.
Magic still hasn't really given any reason not to be. That's a good Nade combo there.
AWB down low. They've got him trapped out behind the boxes. Love one more Nade.
and
Walking out his AWP
Takes the line in top middle torches not keen on repeating that angle
I was wasting a lot of time already in this round and they know exactly what's going on from magic
So yeah, just gonna concede middle they can re-aggress later in the round and confirm how many players are here if they do
They might find the bomb
They're re-aggress spades miss that
the opportunity for an opener, but Moon goes and collects one with his all.
I know the bomb has to leave.
In towards his A-side of the map with the bomb rotating around very, very late,
you kind of need these openers and you need them cleanly.
Time's going to prove to be a real problem for Magic here.
How much can Zellex buy you?
The palace is going to go unchecked.
No one's looking and so Zellex, free reign.
Maybe he plays it a little early there, lots of kills in front of him, line up for exertion.
He's done, but Moon will have this bomb plant.
Seconds to spare.
So it's Maus on for a retake catching Moon as he tries to cross away from that bomb.
He left hoping for an AW clutch.
and strike as they cross on in, catches, torsion, AWP dropped, JL, how's he going to play this?
Just the commitment, just the stick, AW, never believed it.
Oh dear, not a surprise on that one right, JL sticking the bomb right in the face of
his opponent, maybe realizing AW was low, maybe not, it was the guy who got Nate stacked
top middle so no confirmation there for Maus, but a perfect play for JL wide off that defuse.
Chained to see magic, you know, looking a little shaky in this game, not clearing under
balcony, it's a basic checks, but you know that A anchor is still alive, they just seem
like they believed A was open.
Of course she with a window block, but it's not going to do him any favours.
So, great start to the game for Maus, where everybody has had their moments, in the jail,
bottom of the board, with a 1v1 to keep Maus unstoppable since the guns have come out.
I mean, yesterday in the semi, Maus ended up having one of the roughest scorelines in
these playoff matches in over a year that we've seen.
And so, a chance to try and do it back to Magic today.
Yeah, I think we're still, you know, willing to ride it off for miles and not necessarily look too deep into it.
I think for the remainder of the season, just with what's coming up in the major, the roster change as well, but even here,
I don't think it was reasonable to expect this team to be a frontrunner by any means,
and even just getting back to the semis was an improvement from how these last few events have gone.
on. Stabilized shall we say for miles but still with goals of taking trophies just won't
be now.
And Spade able to regain control over his rifle.
It's part for JL Caesar, second man up here in the apartments but three short AWs closing
in and his lurk from Spade is a big problem, finally flushed out.
Could find Tensy, he'll get away from it.
So a man down here.
Spinks and Zellex's synergy hasn't really been there
and Bombsite's receiving them struggle together,
so let's see how they piece this one.
Gonna get offered to you for free here.
Rounds have been few and far between for Magix.
They're playing super passive.
I mean, nothing open.
How's it just running out of time on this retake?
I'm gonna try and go for it. Real late, good catch for Spinks.
Hold on a second. Oh, no.
Defuse now. How? Hell, the basketball did jump on in!
It's a nail by a... They rubbed that one away!
Two on three. Last second, defuse.
Magic are kicking themselves.
And you feel like that's impossible to lose for Magic, right?
Low player Bench doesn't get spammed out.
That's a great opportunity, but I think it's the same as the Zershin clutch.
They don't face, they try and play the clock, they give it a way to time itself.
That bomb just gets stuck wide.
Great defuse for Zelex, spins with the cover,
and Ryder's are ready to right mouse off.
They sneak in last second with another defuse.
Oh, and it's giving him, yeah, leaving a bit of a bad taste in the mouth here for Magic.
Certainly a chance in a couple of these rounds.
Just maybe play for a team that were like so exciting in the groups, right?
The brand of CS they played with super chaotic, super aggressive with one thing really stood out.
This is a team where everyone was never afraid to back their aim.
And there's really been none of that here.
That's far off a rise.
Absolutely. No, I would want this team to, you know, over peak a little bit.
And yeah, you're going to lose some rounds from it.
You're also going to be punishing.
You're also going to get people off guard.
Feels kind of less bad losing because you're constantly over peaking.
Yeah, that's what I said coming into this game, right? In the Falcons game, they went out their way.
They went out playing the style they did in the group stages.
I don't feel like we're getting that for magic.
Or maybe Maus are just shutting it down.
Xersion double on that double peeking connector, and it all comes crumbling down.
Hello!
Xersion thought about holding the shot.
Realizes he's so low. Why bother risking it?
3K will definitely do it! This round is done as well.
But yeah, give me some repeats and post-bonds, Magics. Give me some energy, some reason to believe in this game, because right now we are getting none of it on this stage.
I'm out called in late, but not too late. I hope it's what's being discussed, right?
Everyone can feel it's a little off right now. Synergies have been there. You're not taking
the usual fights. You don't want to feel like you're playing rounds. Rounds that you're
not used to for the very first time in this type of environment, right? And I don't think,
I look at magic. This isn't the type of team that feels super comfortable
Operating in those final either 20 seconds 15 seconds
Our team that rule about shock and awe
They got pistols now these can sometimes be liberating rounds right you play a little looser
You're not fearing for your life. You're not trying to play to avoid the gunfights here
You're looking for them on the tech nines. You've got util. It's just a set piece to roll out here for magic
This could be the type of round needed to bring them back in to the fold
Wait for the early Utill, and now that it's come out, they feel fine to go.
Locked Ramside's LX with an annoying smoke, you don't have the option of waiting that
one out.
The Peaks are a little mistyped here, but the Tech 9 will run down Torsheed.
Doesn't matter, because in comes exertion.
It feels like, you know, right when you kind of get these opening kills, it takes a lot
to get through.
That exertion just swings you 15 and 6, top of the charts right now for Maus.
And this has often been the case in these Maus games.
And I mean, you know, Maus have had troubles getting past semi-finals, taking trophies.
But third place deciders, it's not their first time, let's say that fifth third place match in the last year or so for Maus,
winning two of them so far.
And so they're here ready to end Cinderella's story, send a significant message at the end
of this series, and now there's still a team to watch out for, and they are doing this
one with ease.
Another fight before Raster Connector Zershin is out and about, he doesn't realize, but
it doesn't matter.
Tensi's position not revealed, he's going to take this gap, it's a nice move from Tensi
with the orb, finding that pick, he wouldn't expect a rifle to be here.
And Tensi take more space though, sees the chance to get behind Malz, nice shot, one
more where that came from.
Zalex is the guy that could ruin everything though with Moon, bomb on his back, moving
in, wrap side, had to keep his wits about him, and alright bit of a fire ignited under
Tenzie here with this double, him and Moon doing everything in this round.
JL moving in.
Oh, given a chance at the opener there, but it just eludes him.
Now they've got the info.
They know he's out here towards the jungle, orbs scoped up, trying to deal with him.
Actually clutching at straws, hoping for a handful of rounds at the end of this first
half.
Like it, little 3v5 out of magic near the end of their T-Sci just to remind themselves that they are still here.
Big double from Moon, big triple from Tenty,
and not falling for the one thing that could have made that round very awkward.
Xalix pushed up on ramp. Magic remained aware of his position this time.
JL's got the Orgale.
Why not?
Called him the most over-qualified B-jumper.
time away from the game he never wants to be augulus again he's bought one into the
fray here
walking on Torsche, holding for this lower fight.
It's maybe able to get ahead of him, he's got exertion nearby to help out, meant to have his back.
Straight up connector, fearless.
That Molly in the way, magic still don't tick.
I was gonna be careful on this faith, there's gonna be multiple players moving through on this consplit.
Torsche just getting into position, but he can get punished at any point by Masvalen Palace.
Torsche has been smoked off.
That's Torsche feeling a lot of pressure right now.
Exertion just barrels on through, and forget about it.
They smoke him off Jungle Side, doesn't matter.
They bring the fight to magic.
Absolutely decimating this rookie squad in the first half.
Yeah, message received from Maus in this third place,
They want to get to the birthday celebrations, they want to get out of this game, and a 10-round CT side of Mirage is one way to do it.
And that's magic with the pistol round. They went for a 9-round straight gap before they found their second.
reassuring game for Malz, I think, right?
We can have maybe some expectation of magic,
but must be remembered that this is still their debut
at a top tier event, let alone a stage.
Although able to grind 90 down Falcons
at a similar match to this,
but this is even more dominant for Malz.
I guess you want to end this event reminding us of what we saw in the group stage.
Don't want that memory to be blown out by spirit in the semi.
This is more like it.
That was a turn of shown resilience.
Even on this stage, think about that Aurora comeback in the quarter-final.
Aurora was feeling like a bit of a hot prospect even at this event with some great tea sides
called by Maga and some pop-off games from Wakadia,
but now's pulled that one all the way back to Oathen.
Okay, we got a bit of a move out of magic.
Fearless push from the captain
is gonna free up everybody to rotate.
AW staying in sight,
but everyone else shuffling towards B
and it is the right call.
Now's are all here.
They have all the info.
Rotates is still pretty labored.
So you need this sight hold to look good.
My God.
Exertion midair, able to get past the short player.
And that'll be a plant.
Dig down range on a 10-Z.
Spinks even finishes the job.
Really, it's fade on this flank with the dual barrettas.
That has to do a lot.
Gets past Torsche.
His job's far from over.
They get the kill to open up a post plant, not even required.
This is on rails for Maus.
And a banger pistol for Spinks.
Every important kill, well, four of them in that round.
Every fast rotate for Magic just cut down out of market by Spiggs.
He is rivaling exertion on the scoreboard right now,
a player who went very quiet across this event.
A player who sometimes are like the only one performing for Malz.
Him and exertion are showing up.
That pistol all but seals it here on this first map.
It's a terrorist.
Commendable resilience for Magic to eco this round.
I don't think many teams would have.
They want to go one time with guns on this CT side.
At least feel like you had the chance to play, I guess.
That's set piece out towards A. When you get past the 10-Z5-7, that was really the only
feeling thing in this round, so about to be a map point for now as a family, even a noise
for magic here on the first map.
For this third place, the sider, with one chance for the rifles.
There were two players hiding hills for a backstab but they didn't have much to work with.
What do you need?
Nothing much, I'd imagine.
Now's our guns in place.
I've spotted those flanks as well, so just getting crushed out here on magic.
12-2 is the score.
I'm destroying everything they've got. No chance today. One gun round here for Matic on this stage.
Now that's both all they've been able to win and all they're going to get to play on this CT side.
Let's see what they've got.
He's playing towards low, afraid he'll use, he drops down and he decides against hanging
around.
And maybe that's for the best exertion closing in.
Triple B.
I think Mao's a lot of room, but the whole map being quiet is going to make you paranoid.
Perhaps a window repeat together here for magic.
Oh, fuck, a timing, J. Out call by that pushing.
Apartments this time it comes up for MazzVal. 5v4 for Magic, but Mazz move in together.
Zershin's selling this, and they go up Kat through the smoke.
Oh no! They spam, they hear that! Full blind flash is fantastic from Xershin.
This is Mazz looking for the killing blow, they know that MazzVal's up here in the apartment, still get past him.
Master catch made on the cross and again more good flash work out of Maus to
turn these fights around. Spinks the only guy with health doesn't want to make a
habit out of going down in a needless fight out towards short.
Notice he's got a player trapped for the time being and trying to remove him at the
dawn of this retake just left on a 10Z down to this 1v1 and shut down by Spinks
who stands and delivers.
Maus decimate magic.
I don't think there's much more that can be said than that.
This was magic's not pig.
Maus tear them limb from limb and now we go to Inferno.
Maus are looking for a swift to an O finish.
He said she loves you, but she can't love me.
But I love you.
oh
I won't play window anymore. What's going on?
Yeah, you're wrong. One expect.
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.
Ergonomically engineered for you. Gamers. Hybrid workers. Artists.
Lacking your every move.
We'll be right back.
What he's seeing on stage is what happens when magic runs out.
Maus was able to dominate magic's map pick, take control, and just show a level of play
that magic couldn't answer.
Yeah, they kind of ran out of mana.
It felt like we're playing that game, and just in the end, Torres is showing who's
the real parts of the server, I guess.
He looked, he didn't, he didn't look pissed off or anything, but the players individually
just showing that there are a couple of classes above the side of magic right now.
Yeah, not enough mana.
I need to tap some lands.
Is that the magic gathering?
That is the key, the reference.
Let's go.
Yeah, I know what to say.
Just absolutely outclassed in every way.
Winning the pistol after that, losing a 2v4, 3v5, 1v2, all of these situations.
Every step of the way, they had advantage in that second round.
This round.
They still managed to lose at this one as well.
Just every situation that was kind of close.
Miles managed to come on top.
And then also half of the rounds weren't even close,
because Xersion was having a field day in Xalex as well with the early tracks.
Yeah, for sure.
And also like just individually we have to point out Spinks has been having a bit of a quite tournament so far
So you know a bit of a nice sign for him to kind of be unleashed and cost
Extra minados kind of ruin their day there. So I think just to give you a little bit of context as to what's going on
It might be confused upon listening other than prop and I pretty much every other member of the broadcast team
Who loves to play magic together and it started with scrawny
I don't know what he did like a little bit of a drag
The disease spread very fast.
Yeah, he kind of invited a few people in and then they all went crazy.
They've all spent way too much money on their decks and they spend all evening playing Magic the Gathering.
So obviously Magic having such a deep run was so exciting for these nerds because now they can drop all their Magic the Gathering jokes on the desk in the cast.
I kind of started it so I think I deserve some props.
The tragedy.
I could have at least one drink at the hotel tonight for this reference.
I'm going to tragedy is the fact that it's a two of you have no idea about my references,
but someone out there is going to get it, but yeah, look, Sphinx is having a great game,
Exhusion having a good game.
There's not much you can break down here, Sam, like, it was just complete outclass.
For me, yeah, still hoping to at least see like some individual moments.
I think Muswell, he has rated player, I think through the tournament, he showed that he
has some sauce, he has some potential, but other than that, in this specific map, we
didn't really see anyone stepping up in a similar situation in previous Marauder games
where, unfortunately, Magic were pretty readable
and a lot of their T-side approaches,
and then the CT side, they practically didn't play.
Kay, let's have a big conversation about mouse,
because I find this change up really interesting.
You bring in a new IGL,
you bench two of your players,
one of them is your IGL.
You've now got JL on trial,
and all alone, or whatever you want to call it,
and then you've got this.
I do believe they have CAC as well.
Yes.
And then you bring Brolin back in,
because JL is the reserve for Na'Vi at the Cologne Major.
And they could only make one change to going into the Major.
So now Brolin will come back.
And it's a curious way of doing it
because there is a lot of upheaval in the team when this happens.
You've got them here playing in a third place, Desada.
They're going to go to CSC, hopefully do a deep run,
and then you change everything up again.
That can't be easy for the players.
It's not easy for the players, but like,
we've touched upon this earlier as well.
I think it was a right time for them to do it right a little bit of excitement coming in and also giving most importantly
Exertion a little bit more, you know run up heading into the major as the ideal eye for if our mouse
I'm make keeping him still as the I chill you're not bringing a brawl and and be like no
I'm you stick with what you've been working on for two events Zalex has a great opportunity
You know to warm up into the major as well
Can have a few reps if they're able to make it the playoffs in TSC as well
Imagine a real experience
He's going to be gaining heading to the major and then finally for Brawl and it's more of a plug-and-play
play, right, just fill in jail spots, he knows his team overall and for the major just try and go
as deep as you can, there's no real crazy expectations but I like the fact that Mausers
pulled the plug in the middle of the season to be like we're playing for the Singapore major,
we're playing for the next season and I'm all for it, I think it's very recent. I mean I don't
like they did it in the middle of the season, I would love, I'd prefer it to happen at the start
of the season right but they wanted to give it a bit more time and it turned out you know
it's not working so better, better now than later but it would have been better even before.
Let's take a quick listen in to Maus, we actually have a chance to hear what they were feeling in that last round.
One more on the left.
I'm looking at one HP.
I have a main.
Out, out kitchen, window.
He's not out. He's back kitchen.
I'm benched.
Nice.
Window one HP.
No!
Okay, Blair, so hear me out.
After we've seen that,
you mentioned there that you think it's a good change in Berlin will just be a plug-and-play.
But there is something we can't measure and that's what happens when a team is traveling
to Kazakhstan, to Asia, they're now bonding, you're building a rapport, certain things are
happening on the stage, certain conversations are happening, you're forming a dynamic. You can't
just bring a new personality in. Sometimes it works, hey Falcons, but a lot of the times
It becomes problematic, especially when everyone in the team knows that that player coming in for the Major is not staying.
I really do worry about...
We've spoken so much about this during the course of the tournament.
The intangibles that happen come Cologne Major for Maus.
When you add this new player after there's been this bonding that's occurred in these last two tournaments.
Look, I agree with you, right? There is going to be a little bit of uncomfortableness, kind of so to speak.
But ended up with your professionals coming in, right?
Even for Brolin, even though he might feel a little hard done by him getting removed from the line-up,
he is going to be playing, and I'd be very surprised if he doesn't, you know, he's been offered a lot of...
Yeah, he just does his job, which is why, though, I'm going to say I don't have crazy high expectations from Mauscombe, the major.
I feel like for them making it to the playoffs itself, they'll be kind of happy with that any deeper run than that, they'll be okay.
Again, I'm going to reiterate, for me, it's the next season coming in, right?
So again, these are all professionals, I'd be really shocked if Brolin coming in suddenly to completely shit the bet.
I don't think that's going to happen.
Yeah, I mean, I think he's a soldier and that's what he's been since he joined this roster
He wasn't originally supposed to be the IGL
He was a stand-in for a bit and the shui kick happened
And if we go back to the to the comment from Sikron being like I wanted exertion to IGL for a couple of years now
He probably wanted him to IGL back when
Brolin came in and took over the reins and he did it because he was a guy with a
Biggest cojones to to step up to the task and because no one else wanted to do it and now he's gonna be like, okay
I'm not I yelling I don't mind I'll just come out and play some good counter strike at the major. Why not?
And then hopefully, you know push himself somewhere out there into a new team because people brought up
Brolin completely not that long ago. He was just a Krieg abuser and everything
But he showed them out that he still has a lot to offer
Do you think that the organization staff is team down and and said this is a change for the Singapore major?
This is a change we're making for the long-term success of the team
And therefore we need you to understand that a deep run in the cologne major is not expected
We understand the situation we're putting you in but this is what we think is best for the team
I'm presuming that conversation happened. I can't imagine they're going hey boys
By the way, we also want you to win the cologne major. I think that is a reasonable expectation like what you said
I'm sure
Cygrian would be the main get pulling all the strings. Yeah, but it comes a majority of strings at the very least end
Listen go back to last year. You know the season started
You know you think miles are going to stick with the lineup and suddenly all of a sudden
Shoeway is not the ideal brolands, you know kind of stepping into the plate
I think that's a similar situation obviously
We don't know what really happened back then and they had a miracle start
They won the first event over inclusion every so as to be right multiple second places
That was something which no one really expected to happen here
I think they're being way more reasonable to changes is quite a big deal as well
So I'm sure like everyone's kind of the same kind of in the same pager and I honestly I'd be surprised if the players were surprised
the changes coming in.
Yeah, I mean, the major, they have the main part of the major
sticker money, stage three invite, which is super important.
And then just giving this new Academy talent some experience.
I liked them that little listening, we didn't hear much,
but Zelex's comp seemed very sharp, very clean.
He's like, this is where I am, this is what I'm doing.
Reacting off of a flash of a teammate going for a pick,
the communicating, he's in a position that was,
it was kind of an awkward position,
but he clearly said, okay, instantly as he died,
you know, someone's coming out window,
Obviously the guy came back and someone else communicated that, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders.
I really like what this guy has to offer. Obviously not like a superstar yet,
but he wasn't in Tier 2 and he did show some promise and roles where he was more comfortable so far in mouse.
And also one thing that mouse is doing right now, which I'm really enjoying watching is the way this setting up is Alex on the T-Sites, right?
You know, he's a really up-and-coming super sharp rifle and just the way the flash is,
is just going in with him, allowing him to be traded,
or him trading or him being the tradee, so to speak.
Just very good work from Maus to kind of set up
his young star, instead of just putting him,
relegating him to kind of like a shit roll,
and just going on by yourself, doing everything by yourself.
It's always either JL or exertion with him on the default.
Yes, and the CD side, still a little bit of work to be done.
But again, like I said, the more reps you have,
the better you're going to get.
Do you think JL will be a permanent addition
to this lineup after the Cologne Major?
And I think it's like 51%.
Wow, that's useful.
I feel slightly unconfirmed for that.
No, no, I don't think they have any...
It's a situation ship, all right?
It's a situation ship right now.
I'm an expert on these, indeed, as they're trying to figure out...
For JL, it's more about, hey, I want to find my old form, right?
And see if I can still be back on the market if other teams are going to be looking for me.
Because obviously, you want a major winner on your team.
For the side of the mouse, it's like, alright, we don't really have a fifth available, no new fresh talent,
but in JL, it's kind of going to be the face of the team, so to speak.
This could really work out.
So I feel like the next event, this and CAC is going to kind of dictate how that's going to play out.
But for the time being, no commitment yet, Prof.
And some people are okay with that.
Just dating.
I mean, are they dating?
Or are they just...
Non-exclusive, it seems like.
Feels like a bit of a booty cool right now.
It does seem exclusive, to be fair.
Is it exclusive?
I think both are still on Tinder, both are swiping.
Brolin's coming back.
That's not exclusive to me.
It's kind of like a one-off thing, you know, X is going to be staying over for like, all right, all right, let's move on, let's move on.
Why? This was so much fun.
AW didn't have a great showing, obviously. I think in the games that they won and the games that have, at least where they were competitive,
he's been kind of shining star. Just these double kill moments, these spray transfers that he can pull off seem like, just based on that,
You would think he's like a much better player than he is you would expect him to like regularly top the scoreboard and be maybe
You're not in a better team, but he has that one thing going for him
Some other things may be not rough around the edges and also relegated to some more supportive positions on certain matters
It's surprising to see how all these individuals on the side of magic they have these moments
I think we saw mass valve with that spray transfer on his small bomb side a w like you said always good for a double kill
Even 10sie as well, right?
Just I don't know where it gets a 2k to open things up the only problem is they just don't seem consistent enough
You can't find one player who's able to continue that form throughout the entire series.
But once again, very young team, you've got to remember,
they played two kind of local LAN and now they're playing an S-tier event.
They haven't had the opportunity to play like a studio event,
like a PGL Book Res, some of the smaller events.
So again, very young team, very undestined,
and this is how they kind of find themselves in arenas like this.
Miles is currently flirting with the opportunity to claim third place.
All they need to do is win their map pick here on Inferno.
Can Magic bring it back? We're about to find out.
Well, Miles may be seeing other people in the future, but for now, they're here to make a statement.
They're here to shut out this third place decider and send Magic home without a second of celebration on this stage.
That was a dominant mirage.
And now we go to Inferno. It's Miles' map pick, and it's Magic with their backs against the wall.
Yeah, now in the groups, to get into these playoffs, Magic played a really, really sick game versus General Mates.
it was super chaotic. It went the distance. I hope that's a bit more of the magic we get to see
in map two. Otherwise, I think Mao's just going to run over them. Inferno's right around the corner.
Third place up for grabs. It's Mao's with a T side start. They'll be the ones setting the pace and
the tone. The opening of this map. My eyes on AW in the CT side here. He was a monster at banana.
back in that game you mentioned. How's it going to void him for now?
Like we promised you an action-packed, chaotic third-place decider.
And I'm sorry, it's not been that, that's far.
Still time, Harry.
Even here on Inferno, that's where things can kick up.
Yeah, the rotates are coming in. We're going to have a 4v4 on this bomb site right now.
Spinks late doing utility, but now they're actually locked out by that smoke.
So, well timed by Magic. There's no kits, they have to lock down this bomb site.
on that smoke fave. I was called for the EXAC, special microing, maybe a bit of a change
of tune they're going out boiler instead to the stack oh there's the opener
it's made their first all the down here into the page are a real surprise
an issue for Zelec's tracking but suddenly it's only one guy left in the
site mass getting pressured gets out with a double why not JL's three kills
He's got Zellex with him. It's the two new boys chasing down Maspal down there in the pit.
Hugh Drown for JL didn't really have to contribute all too much back on Mirage,
but it leaves an impression from the get-go on that.
Yeah, give it to Zershin as well, because that looked like just a straight-up apps pop,
but then they get blocked, they change their mind.
They realize Maspal probably planned to deny this,
and so he calls a new strat on the fly, they hand over the Util, they put everything into place.
bang a 4k out of JL and they hunt down that final player together so Mao's able to change their plan on the fly
to lock in that pistol round and magic will not wait before they put guns in
SMGs towards his B site
and I'm sure Mao's they watch that game if they saw what magic did on that CT side they're gonna be
Very careful towards banana here. Watch out for these setups.
It's quite passive for now, I'm actually just playing the delay.
Just falling short on that HE.
That's how they're just gonna break this open.
It's how I exploit people that may need to do exactly that to the triple stack, good
spray and it all does damage downrange, killing blow in a jail as well, chance to steal away
this force and to do it cleanly, well that would be a great feat for magic.
I thought she wants the AK, but they're in spawn.
the bomb behind, so I'm going to attempt this miraculous 1v5. He might just die here trying
to save that AK. All right, flawless round. And that's what we expected from AW here in
Banana. Sure, it's a triple kill, as Bowls do come through a smoke, but it's more of
what we wanted from Magic. Some firepower, someone standing tall in this series, because
didn't have any heroes back on Mirage in that two-round game.
Hawke would hit the mouse, execute only, go so far, and now they're put to pistols themselves.
one force by we've seen them play in this third place decided now as we're able to win
and then they went on to dominate
W more of what we were used to seeing back in the groups deep banana control
He would rarely commit here though, so you tilt down and he can pull back.
It's your magic, keen to play 4-1 setups, leave him alone.
This round, Maus could appear at a moment's notice with pistols.
Gotta watch that smoke.
KAL insertion. Together.
AW, that's quite a audacious position.
Just what we wanted to see.
Oh, open, but he gets triple swung.
Down there all on his lonesome, that's an opener.
Mao's going to try and follow through with this. They've got 30 seconds left for the B here.
Smoked down out towards CT, cuts off rotations.
For now, only one man in the site.
Masphal needs a multi-kill.
It's done out from the spawn side.
Flash to try and tee up this peek.
Masphal swings, but only finds the one as the JL Deague hits hard.
Two kills secured for him already.
Boost up over the top, and a line up for Tenzi.
JL's D-Dought versus all of Magic and he can't win this. Doesn't have the time to do so.
These are just consolation kills for JL.
Combat saved. Oh, he'll hold on to it.
Decent round, but yeah, loss straight up as Magic with a boost saved themselves.
That was Miles even watching for the boost as well once they got into that 4v3.
It was a very strong position, but Magic with the right idea.
Tenty bells them out, star of magic, shining bright.
So just this hero galil, and they buy around it, now's when I put money in.
Affinity for this B-bomb site now's.
The Grenade just dodged. Now's a closer. The magic are ready for them. They have no idea what they're up against, but this shot spits, bales them out with a double of his own.
And just like that, now should be winning this round.
Let's search and dice for nothing. Nope, not a problem. Holds his own.
And waste your time. You're not getting through this one, that magic. It's pistols busting through that B site for mouths.
It's been off the jail save, the boy was it worth it here for miles, but he used to find
that entry kill in banana and he is off to a rip roaring start, magic.
me back down to two rifles.
A lot of this defensive utility used early to stop the banana climber.
In the mabe at least for now, trapped behind this utility, replenish that smoke.
side to looking for this deep banana control that you have to be very active
with the utile and in a round way you're kind of strapped for cash that's a bit
of a problem. We keep you in this 3-2 setup.
I'm still gonna play with a bit of pace here already taking top mid away.
Get another one set up and Maus just peeked through it. Easy entry for Zelex.
They grab that rifle in time, AW has been flushed out as well. Only one for one and none of this enough.
In the magic, the spade is on his own. Too many targets.
Maus clearing their corners and putting that bomb down to find a third round.
Now they've broken magic fully.
Climbing into a very powerful position early on.
Chance just to keep magic on the back foot, and I think that's the aim of the game for Maus.
You know, never let them feel like they warmed up into this series.
Now even looking for a hunt in at the end.
I'll let Mastfel get out with this gun. It's 1-M4.
Enough to cause you too much concern in this next round.
Yeah, I'd be reassuring to see Maus come through today.
Stop out this map and look really, really good.
We can't look too deep into it at the end of the day.
These are still very experienced and very strong players.
on mouse you would have every expectation of them winning this game against you know an inexperienced team like magic I
Think it would be more worrying if this even got close and if magic took maps away
I was doing their job shall we say doing it well three two and their chance to start steaming ahead
It needs to put the fear in that one gun gimmick here to try and allow mass foul just to slime
some value out of the M4.
Oh, right off the muddy with that one.
Okay, come on, any player.
There's one guy you want to be hit with, but you tell me it's that one.
Bring Mastile down to a shot from certain death.
Magic, we're hoping for chaos at carb, but now with double mollies locked out of this
B bomb site, this is just a setup for a round for mouths.
Will they overcook?
shouldn't look like it smoke is down and even if players come sweet through this smoke they're gonna come for a job waiting for exactly that play
Simply done here for miles no casualties to that safe rifle
They're coming.
I'm not here for JL. Happy with how this is going. 11 and 2 on JL. Like you said, 9 and 1 at the dawn of round 4.
Looking to set the record straight here. Had some up and down maps for Maus. Stepping up in a problem.
We all know that the real uptick for Maus in this tournament has been exertion.
Specialties T-Size finding some crazy entry rounds, calling the shots.
He's been a difference maker. And what a difference he's made.
Question is, is it sustainable, right, to be a captain, to be performing like that day in and day out?
And can he do it against the world's best? Again, something we've not seen. Nobody showed up against spirits.
So a lot of questions still in the air for this new in-game leader for Malz.
Seeing triple B's round off the round for Magic and came to the group stage.
Malz haven't punished that by going A. They're just willing to fight them head on.
So another double kill on this B-fucked site for JL has signalled another round for Malz.
Just keep getting given the openness here. Why bother, you know, looking anywhere else?
Magic are always going to be down to fight you, and you're faring so much better in these engagements than, yeah, hang around and fight and play ahead of that deep banana smoke that they love so much.
Arm has been planted.
Do you once again just relegate it to a save? You can see one guy with...
Really, any of those usual rounds we used to seeing out of Magic back on map 1, showcasing
some good mechanics on the back of the connector push, if you remember.
He's been largely left to the sidelines here, rounds one or lost on the V-Contact.
Magic, it's more off in the latter.
I almost admire the mouse is just willing to go into the stack round after round.
They know it's there.
They have no problem dealing with it.
round that looks silly was them popping through the smoke on the anti-force and
yeah they haven't done anything like that since it's been double mollies it's
been considered util and been taking minimal nape damage as well from
magic's early H.E. so nothing to complain about here for now it's 5-2 lead
starting to get a little bit worrying shade of mirage perhaps
I think to such an inexperienced young team so much of this was just riding the
high momentum. They hit the roadblock, they hit the wall yesterday. Maybe that just means
that they can't recover. This would be a great way to get off. You've done good early damage.
They're suspicious of that. They're getting behind enemy lines. They thought about it,
but he just disappears in the mist. Oh, that's a bang of shock to stop Spinks on a lurk.
suddenly magic a pack on the board.
Right, the birthday boys turn and sing him a song.
Maybe if you win this one before.
All right, loaded up.
Even telling him go for your day.
To be fair to the guy, he's got a bit of a gap here.
They're watching from short.
It's only a five seven.
This is Torsche meant to be a year wiser, year better right now.
This is way out through the apartments, but when he's made and two players on short ready to deal with it,
I'll press for Torsche as they don't bind up. It's a double swing. Stealing is made.
The scary when you're starting to be on this intensity, definitely could have just been a double headshot.
And Torsche would be on a roll there with a bottom shot.
Nice shut down that AW, you still making his typical plays, pushing through smokes in your face.
That was a mouse who I think had a inkling that that flash meant something, that someone could be on the sandbags, but perfectly slips between two smokes.
It moons orb finally coming into play here for magic.
She will meet him in the middle.
They made a literal meeting in middle. Moon has the spawn, decides not to take it.
It's an aggressive peak here to open up this round out of magic, or at least not from this AWP.
Not willing to make the same statement down here on Bernardo. They've shown they want to fight it every single round.
He's had its aggression into the apartments, force-fixed.
He dealt with.
Is he ready for that move?
Actually, Alex to hang around. He said he's largely been left out of the pinchy here.
Trying to make his own luck.
He's out, he's avoiding that flash, hoping to set him up.
Poor she provides cover, a moon only good for the first
as they close in very, very quickly.
Those two entries in the triple B stack for Magic means
this one's going to come down to a retake.
Massive trade for Sellex.
He's only on five kills, but he's had some very impactful entries
that have turned the tide of the round here on this first half.
Careful with the smoke span, poor she's peeking the corner.
Just lifts the tail back into the pits.
Magic, may as well give this a go. They've got a kit, they've got a chance. AW back up middle.
Re-smoke is a problem. They're considering it.
The times ticked off this bomb if they are going to go for it, they've got to go soon and that's the kit dropped.
Round decided, you lose AW on that swing.
And with it, the kit is gone, so are the rest of Magic.
I think 4 blind there on short, just able to pick up that shot with the AWP, bail out
his team from an aggressive 10Z from Boiler.
One player performing as you said, alongside AWP, not having the most fun it looks like
as Magic shrink back in their seats, another round loss, put some closer to the end of
in the story. Moon find impact.
Moon is an individual, I mean, one of the cool things he has left to try and do is to
look to go further on the doid did.
Oh, he went enough forward in this third place this time of last year.
Gonna take one hell of a recovery again. A man down with JL just continuing his
terrifying form. He started the second map in.
Torsi's now the one giving gifts. Hands over that AWP to the very low JL.
HATCH IT! HATCH IT!
HATCH IT!
On the top, the Misfile needed a Molly.
They still have two teammates here, that's what they feel the freedom to have in playing in such a risky position.
It beckons them into the stack, that's really not the end of the world for Magic.
Making the runaway, they still leave Xersion here. They can go back to B if there's a re-aggression and Svades falling for it.
Absolutely falling for it. Perfect play from Malz to punish the repursion with 20 seconds.
The bomb is still in middle. Xersion gonna call them back. Magikarp panicking right now.
That all spotted. An opportunity for Moon, misses the shot, and JL with the repeat, punish and plant.
JL one hell of a map right now and no signs of stopping whatever gun you give him. He'll deliver the round
And that swing on a moon is crazy
That's the furthest thing from an easiest fight peeking into an angle that's owned by another orper
No on HP so everything's a threat as he comes around the corner and a shot
He had to hit if they wanted to have time to get that bomb planted
Fensi's certainly feeling some desperation to be involved,
has tried to be active across the map as time's gone on,
but here, leaves him out of the picture,
leaves him holding onto this AK.
I mean, think about some of the rounds that Maus have done.
They've punished B so much,
so it's actually getting that kill on the re-aggressing stage.
Of course, 10-T top rotation.
I think it's surprising the moon is not.
The right idea just couldn't connect on this AWP.
And Maus is just oozing with confidence right now.
Take every fight!
Fearless T-Side. Two charges left here for magic on their defense.
He's a bit relentless on banana, triple stack or not, JLB lining straight for the Sandbags
player.
If you lose, Sphinx out towards the apartments, this might just trigger you to go, Sphade
goes back and it falls off of him, Sphade out, and the captain puts the squad on his
back.
Magic, there's something down the tail end of this first half, and we look at Exertius
one to the dome as soon as he rounds the corner, shot away from certain death.
I'd just be tempted to save because of Lost Bonus.
I mean, you can't blame them at this point. Magic, get that info again.
Repeat, punish.
Don't get ahead of yourself here, Magic.
You need the money just as much as...
Oh! A Zercher gone for a double.
That got scary.
Magic will still put a pin in it.
We look for this five-round half.
Mals have done their job on this T-side already.
Just trying to sweeten the deal with an eighth.
Let's copy, let's copy, let's copy, let's copy, let's copy, let's copy, let's copy.
East side.
Stoxy, get a smoke cross.
I thought I could get away with the quick B here as we just heard, Svade has other ideas.
Just surprised that Mauser never kind of picked up a pace not for a faster A, like at no point
a magic started 3A in the CC side, in triple B every single round and Mauser just proved
forced towards this B side time after time. A W getting cheeky yet again.
I love that he's just having a big reward doing it round after round even when mouse know
it's coming and yeah why not make a gamble so it's cool for smoke unishable but mouse
want to get their ducks in a row. They've got Utila their own. Spink spotted in middle.
Rotate's coming to B.
It's heard. Because Alex, can you find one of those crucial entries of one round, mouse rounds?
Makes that one feel nice and easy. Swing out into the sport.
Now it's just Masfowl over here at B, teammates starting to rotate. You've got to flank on the
cards for Tenzi. Seconds left as it will be a late bomb plant here.
It's a bit of chip damage. It's the spam connecting. Now it's your Zellex and Toshi.
Side by side, they're gonna look to play around this bomb. And Molly to burn, either
player out of position. It could be nice, but with this shot from that orb, Toshi
giving it a chance, it now falls on his LX, the rookie for Maus, 1v3 against the Knight.
And a little streak accomplished for Magic, like at the end of their CT campaign.
A very nice try here from Maus in some of these rounds, but it's the chaos that AW adds in Banana
is causing a lot of problems in that first half.
Now it's never really moving away from the game plan.
I don't like there was an opportunity to, but they can laugh it off to seven round T side here in this third place decider.
Absolutely no complaints for Maus and Magic have to dig deep.
It's going to be a long walk.
I don't think you're thinking about the walk.
Cause Maus don't look like they're going to lose.
Well, my friends give you a bit of hope, but I think JL is here to suffocate that 16 and five on the half.
Excellent came out of jail right now. Just what the doctor ordered.
And that's right, B05 Grand Final Spirit defending their title and Falcons with
Unshown resilience, popping off in their quarterfinal going all the way.
We have been a couple of hours.
So I think we have one more half.
Here we go.
Spam from Spinks, tips the scales very early in the pistol round and now the remaining
magic players trying to come up through the short side, they get turned to dust.
So quickly, this one looks to get away from you.
And if you blink, you miss it.
This one's already done.
Pistol round secured.
Now it's taking strides towards the finish line.
One thing that's excellent for Maus in this match,
but even across the tournament,
is their flashbangs, right?
Just assisting each other all the time.
T and CT side, right?
Everyone facing there from Magic is blind,
coming out of apps, pitch, short.
They're always full wide.
Magic, Maus keep offering very strong utility to their teammates.
Look out easy, that makes your job.
Magic, force by out of desperation here on this T side.
I like this jump spot, it's getting good info early.
Our magic have crept into this smoke.
Yeah, what turns the favor?
It looks like the commit.
Side spanks.
All right.
Only good to get out with one.
That's opened up a CT wrap here.
A chance to go B.
Hinges on getting this bomb at past JL.
deep down bottom banana, first player to face him all the modes facing very wide there.
It's Valorly still rather providing the way back in.
But spawn cut off. It's a fast flank up through banana for now as you would have loved the exertion
that come through with anything here in defensive B.
Bare minimum just to buy your banana flank a bit more time. Torsche plenty here early.
That smoke used against him, he tries to play ahead of it.
Big damage put down range, still can't finish the job.
It's like he's left in another one of these tricky rounds,
a 1v3 where two of the players are low, short.
Doesn't feel like he can go for it.
So magic breakthrough with their four-spy.
Alright, they give us something massive here to find that force,
with no bomb pod, just tech nines.
And a really nice call.
That was from the get-go, intending to wrap back to B.
It's a great space taken by Maswell, and even if Zershaw went back to concede B and look for Maswell,
he was not giving away that kill in CPS 4, so it's very tricky round.
On my Zershaw probably feels like he wishes he used his Utile, but chose Element of Surprise,
a magic punish all across the way.
It's a single M4 saved.
to keep mouths in with a shot of this round but magic might just close up the
game now all of a sudden with a chance
268 hours
walking the park
I don't trust the Google paste anyway. It's way too slow
And set on a
Toshi's scout here. Boost up for Zellex. You're going into the stack. Oh, and another one rings out from Toshi.
He's painted a lot of damage downrange. They weren't ready for the re-swing. Oh, dear.
They give it right back to a mouse force. They really did not want to go back, did they?
They really didn't like their odds, but straight into the two heavy guns off mouse,
your crossfire shuts it down and any celebration mutates it now for magic.
Ouch. It's not been Moon's game, let's say that much. Shame to see with some of the great
moments we've had from him in this tournament, in this playoff.
And that's one of the tricky things to contend with, right, you play this very, usually kind
of exciting out, looking for gunfights, back in your aim style and counter strike, and
you are winning by some pretty thin margins while doing so.
If everyone gets kind of 10, 20% less in a game like this, you really feel it.
This is Moon and Mazmelle.
No one else found any success here other than a bit of light damage on the exertion.
Now you've got to try and get past JL, the guy that started this with red hot hands for the mouse squad.
Shouldn't be much of a problem containing this on the banana side.
Exertion's low. JL decides he doesn't want to risk throwing this all the way, making it awkward by going down top banana.
He's still has a smoke left, gets that in now.
Magic can't really afford to wait behind it.
Alright, Mazval, got to be the hero here.
Caution, gets blocked.
to be JL masterclass here on
this CT side as well as the
first half mouse building
quickly to that finish line.
It's going to be a case that
there's one gun round left in
this for magic. That's not
coming out in this round. It's
a full eco. It's a full
eco. It's a full eco. It's
a full eco. It's a full
eco. It's a full eco. It's a
unable to capitalize on that force by win in the second round and really it's
left them with no wiggle room no room for error
only caution of the wind it's AW fast up the banana side aim punch drags him
Alright, try and hound down Zalex.
Not able to do so, it's Tensi's turn now.
And they know that Zalex is going to be the object of their desire, right?
They're going to go looking for that dinged player, so Torsi's got his back.
I'm blessed to have her here.
Even now, miles are giving nothing away.
Come on, Moon, give us an eagle on the way out.
E-MAT! E-MAT!
I'M GONNA KILL YOU!
Or she?
If you imagine you want Maus to be like way more overconfident here, you kinda want them fighting, you want them getting stuck here, maybe making some silly mistakes.
The Maus are just sticking to their guns. They're sticking to the protocols, playing together every step of the way.
They are not throwing any of these rounds carelessly the way of magic.
Yeah, it's reassuring to see. It also almost feels unnecessary, but it's Maus getting practice on their protocols,
making sure everything is tight. And right now it is 11-6, three rounds in a row.
So. A magic's final chance on a four by a starter. Do we still believe in magic?
Let's see what they've got.
One more trial this tea side for this Cinderella story.
One of the biggest underdogs we've seen in an arena.
The magic bring a pace, slow up middle, as Mao's look to beat them, flash in the apartments,
they clear it out straight away.
Magic still take it.
Enzi has got to be the hero he has been the most reliable performer in this series.
I want to win this round. They're going to get past Horsie and Spinks in this crossfire.
The util at least locks out Spiggs.
Horsie goes back to a more passive angle.
Maining this top mid control, Magic now walk it back.
This has been a very B focused game of Inferno and so it makes sense that's where this rifle
round looks to end up.
Persian waits for you on the other side and he's found great damage there on the spam.
They're unable to deal with it and pop banana straight away.
Takes one back for AW.
Chance to move in.
JL swing from the spawnside and Magic's starting to feel real nervous as all these rotates
move over.
Going quick. It's done.
Moon tagged up. Bombs planted for him on the banana side.
One more flash to add some chaos here for Maus. Magic try to get their feet in the corners, hiding positions, wait out.
Look, start to fade.
You know the timer.
All this retake now starts ticking.
It's the calm before the storm, Moon with the cover, Masthal dead down in the pit, 2v2,
but it's awkward you're getting pincet here, Spinks can he clutch up, time's very low,
one bullet on this spam will get rid of Moon and he'll find the kill, but no time for this
defuse magic.
Still have a chance to play.
Very impressive resilience here for Magic having to come through that smoke, despite
heavy damage it is moon who gets the most important killer in that round full blind covering the CT swing and that stops
mouse in their tracks
Magic with one more round on this T side before all is said and done
But no chance to break the money just yet they are gonna deal with buy round after buy around for a mouse
They're in a tough spot
Gonna need energy
Got some magic chance going on. The sign of their first gun round on this T side.
Now still get to come through with guns. It's by no means a done deal yet on this comeback.
Aggression down through Banana.
Now she takes a bit of a risk.
Committed.
Lock at any point.
They want this fight. JL ready to play off Zershun's contact. Forget the utility. This is now looking to strike.
Zershun hung around for a second there. Tried to see if he could get any more value out of that, but only good for the one and done.
All over the land, split up here, 2-2.
Or is she kind of floating around out towards the speedway?
Where did Magic want to end this?
It's coming back to link up with your A site players.
It's here looking to be their first point of contact and he's not been as loud here
on Inferno as he was back on Mirage.
Maybe they can try and exploit Sphinx to find their way back into this round.
Can they find Xalex? He's hiding out at the pits.
There is one Molly available and Dali no position.
Tensi with a bang, a headshot.
Sphinx, a lot to do, but maybe the man for the job won is all he gets.
Break on the smoke, Toshi coming in,
and a pistol tap to remove Tensi leaves this in the hometown heroes hands.
Does Moon have it in him? He's dead on the first swing.
Toshi takes it wide. And Maus arrive at match and series point.
Who not able to hack it, locked in that 1v1 versus Maus's orper.
Magic, they've given it a good shake at the stick here, but Maus showing that
caliber that we've seen all throughout the group stage that they showed against Aurora.
up in that quarterfinal and just pistols here to stay on this stage for magic to dream might
almost be over go on
Four nades in response.
No, you're gonna get away with some big damage here.
JL chance to farm.
He'll try to come his way up through,
but none of the JL turns the tide early.
Two quick kills from him.
Magic on the back foot.
Yeah, maybe JL alive,
but are you sure this is the site you want right now?
He has been unstoppable in this map.
That should go back.
A link up with Tenzi on his lurk in the apartments.
What could well be their final round?
They're going to do it together, all three out in the top here.
The Torsche strikes from the back line.
They're going to get here in time to help out Zelex if he even needs it.
The last man shut down its mouse with a clean 2-0 victory.
And never a moment where you were worried about this, getting away from them.
That's third place secured for this new look mouse squad on their first outing.
Yeah, a lot of positives to take away from mouse here in this tournament.
A fantastic tournament, possession, a new captain as an individual.
Some nice mid rounds as well on T sides.
And sure playoffs with a sour note in those semis with that quarter final come back for mouths shows their resilience
They stormed through magic on this stage in the third place
And I still think magic have given us a lot to like this a team that came from the online qualifier
Who went 0-2 on the group stage showed tenacity pulled it all the way back and survived for one more fight in Kazakhstan
Yeah, I think the thing with magic here is like this was not the best game for them
This was not the best they played. You go look at the groups. You go look at their quarter-final
That's the brand to see as they got a so excited for them
They did lose that momentum a little bit down the tail end
But nothing short of impressive regardless even making it this far
Now it's by themselves taking at this third place with a very strong performance
But I want to get too much into the details of this user
So the first thing I want to ask you is just around your thoughts on magic as a team
Obviously, some up-and-comers, some young players trying to make some magic happen.
Yeah, I definitely think they have some magic in their game.
They are playing a bit different than other teams, I would say, which is nice to see.
So yeah, I'm happy we could win today against them and show them that there is a bit of levels, you know?
And looking at that level the level for you and what you've been able to do here across this event the learnings
You've been able to take away from it
How has it been because it's a it's not only a tough task you had of taking over the idea
But also you're playing down where we're doing it
Yeah, I think that it was a successful first event. We definitely reached our goals as a team
So I'm happy about that and yeah, we really enjoyed the crowd. So spasiba stana. Thank you
My first tournament as a captain, I think we've achieved pretty good results in this tournament.
victory in the third place here, so yeah, we're overall pretty happy.
Well, that's it, guys. Give a big round of applause, make some noise.
Possession and mouse!
So we've very often seen mouths in a third fourth playoff. It's a common sight for them
to finish third or fourth in an arena event. It feels a little bit different this time
because usually we'd be here on the desk, Pimp would be defending then, everyone else
would be telling Pimp to shut up. It's not the same this time. Now we're kind of excited
about a third place.
I'll be a Pimp this time around. I'm just going to say that there are completely different
expectations coming in, new IGL, we have JL coming in as a bit of a temporary fifth perhaps,
new player coming in and overall just a very respectable third place for them. Also, this
was a close at all. The fact that they came in, they went to Jekyll from yesterday's
loss and that we are the better team. We even had exercients say there are levels to this
shit and they showed them in the server.
Yeah, I mean, Cycron even said it yesterday after the defeat that they're going to come
here in the third place this Saturday and they're going to, they're here to win. They're
they're not just here to play, they want to take this, they want to take the extra $80,000 on the line,
they want to get the VRS, they don't want to donate it to magic, make their lives an easier,
and they've done that moon with big words before the game, calling them the noobs.
Now it's very polite about it, but you can see in that exertion reply there's a bit of like,
yeah, let's see who the noobs are.
I respect the shit talk, I love it, I love the shit talk when it comes,
but when he talked about the walk-to-walk, they stumbled.
They did stumble, but to be fair, they had already climbed the mountain
because we've spoken about this so much, obviously playing through the online qualifiers.
They worked down two games in the group stages, fought back,
and so you have to be, in a way, I don't want to say they should be celebrated,
but here we are.
There needs to be a little bit of a chip.
A little of a pause.
I think they should be celebrated for what they've done so far right but again you got to, I don't like this entire thing about hyperbole when it comes to discussion about any, every team seemingly right, they lost the first two opening games, the three teams they beat are floundering, heroic, they beat K-27, I forgot what the third team was, I think it was the,
The gentlemates.
The gentlemates right there.
Not great names overall, but they got the job done.
I think they should be commended for that.
Coming into the arena, the fact that they're able to get the win over 90, I think that
was the overperformance.
That was really surprising a lot of people as well.
So yes, in the context of where they are and who they are as a team, I think they've
done a very, very good job.
Our A-Team, we can talk about like the way we spoke, we speak about FUT foot for example,
absolutely not.
I need to see more from them, but they've been a great pleasant surprise.
They will obviously be the topic of many a podcast when they do the recaps of this event
because prof dropped on the desk that they may have a lineup swap very soon.
Possibly after the major and confirmed.
I'm just saying, people are looking out there, people, there are teams that need new players
that will need new players and they have a few prospects on their lineup.
Tenzi had some shine to it but nothing too crazy.
He needs maybe an outing or two more.
This was extremely unprofessional.
We should not have done a roster change conversation straight after they've just come forth at
PGL Astana.
But here we are, Banks does in fact have Moon, the Kazakhstan player with him now.
I'm sure he has a lot to say to the crowd.
Thank you very much, Sam.
I'm just going to give Moon this opportunity to talk to everyone here for this special
moment in your career, even though it's not maybe the result you wanted, but it's your
people, your moment, mate.
I want to say that this is our first T1 tournament and in fact it turned out to be a very good story from 0-2 to the semifinals.
This is the first tournament for us and we hope that we will be able to show even better games in the next tournaments.
Thank you for your support.
teams here other than two. What a moment for him in front of his home crowd.
I mean, at the end, he matched Molladoi's team performance from last year.
Individual, obviously not, but still a good showing.
You're nice to have some local talent in the arena.
I can also see how much you meant to him as well, right?
Choking up a little bit over there with the overwhelming support you received from his countrymen.
So yeah, I said it from the beginning itself.
They should have just soaked in the moment.
They bit so come into performance and they can walk away.
Really say this, Sam, but with their heads held high.
Of course, sure. Now let's focus in a little bit on our third place team, Maus.
We always like to get a little bit of a listen in PGLs, making that possible for us.
So let's hear what was happening in the server.
Yeah, Lothan, I'm ready to flash you immediately.
I can only answer that.
I smoke. I smoke. Wait.
They're chasing me. They're chasing me.
You want to peek it? Lothan, I think he will look long.
Yeah, I smoke. I smoke. They're not committing.
Care to go back here?
I don't see me there. Take it out short now.
Okay
I actually really like the calling they're from as fate right the way they were able to deny information
Yeah, double they went for info play twice over they didn't find anything, but that's when
Just the caliber players comes in my torsion with two blinders with a WP
Yeah, I mean a magic did everything right in that round. They're in the better position and still lost
What can you do that? That's just something that happens and sometimes people are you know
You look at the outcome of a round and you look at the outcome of a game and you think like oh
We got out called and in this round for example wasn't even the case at all
They did everything right even though Miles was going for information
They're going for this place trying to read what was happening. We just saw at the end
They're not in the right positions, but a bit of individual magic from Torgy bigger picture conversation around PGL is starting out
As we get ready for that grand final of course Falcons up against Spurt
We have seen the base teams in the world to send on Kazakhstan
Yes, we were missing Vitality and Navi, but I think what this event has really done for us is give us a litmus test
Where we're sitting as we move into the major with CAC as well
That will be all eyes there
But I am starting to feel quite excited about Cologne because I think that what we've seen at this event is that
The level that the teams are bringing to the table is rising. They are coming in for the fight and no one is safe
I mean finally we're seeing some changes also that were necessary
I think for Falcons we saw them play out almost two seasons with this roster
and never truly being a contender for titles this year even going backwards
right mouse same same story they were contenders never could actually reach
the big titles aside from Cluj and now they're doing the changes before the
major to give a bit of fire to invigorate the teams and also the not on
purpose but the change with Sothwick coming in as the coach temporarily
temporarily from Spirit did give them something new. They're not playing the
same way they were under Halley.
I 100% agree even though you know we've been kind of maiming say this is the
battle for the rest because of the lack of Navi and vitality right now just the
fact that maybe not mouse because I still feel it's too early and it changes
where a little bit more drastic if you ask me but for the side of Falcons and
Spirit the way they're kind of just starting to ramp up it makes Cologne
exceeding exciting. I don't think it's going to be that much of a walk in the
park of vitality as it has been in the past.
I do think it's the vitality effect, right?
Because obviously we saw this team dominate,
arguably one of the greatest of all time.
And in order to beat them,
you have to make drastic changes.
You have to change in the ITL
three, four weeks before the major.
Maas has to look at their lineup and explode it
and go, okay, we've got to change everything,
not necessarily for this major,
but if we want to be in contention
for the rest of the year.
How we've even seen Furious step up.
I know we haven't spoken a lot about them.
They might not be changes,
but definitely a different team on the stage this event than what we've seen in the last few months.
I agree, but also kind of disagree. I think the reason why everyone is changing is because they see that
Na'Vi can be consistently the second fiddle and win tournaments when Vitality is not there,
even now, potentially, when Vitality is there. And everyone else is losing to everyone else.
They're not just losing to Vitality, and that's the story of Maus that kind of continued from last year.
It's like, oh, they only lose to Vitality. It wasn't true. Falcons are losing to Perivision.
is losing to everyone. So they needed to look at themselves and be like okay this is not just about
Vitality being so far ahead and at some point they'll fall off. It's actually Navi's actually
better than us and every other team can beat us at any point. And especially to consider the fact
that for Navi they are always more than some of the parts right. If you look at who the star
player is, sure you have Macaulay but then you look at the res, Ema, wonderful bit, they're like
they're also up and down but still just playing very solid, very fundamentally sound counter strike
which gives them the edge. So for everyone else, they're like, all right, if they can do it,
we can do it, 100% agree with you.
I also do think for some of the other teams, Falcons, Maus, choosing to come now, fighting
against the best of the best, going head to head with Spirit, puts you in a better place
for Cologne, because if you're playing the top opposition, this event, CAC, you're going to be
properly warmed up when the major comes around, versus maybe a somewhat easier run if you're
facing a game of legion in the finals.
Yeah, but it's also nice to lift a trophy here and there, you know, I think that that's something that they're looking for over there.
But for me, I'm just looking forward to to spirit and looking at spirit.
Can they be that title contender? Can they? I mean, they have dawned.
They have dawned. This guy is insane.
And for him to not win an MVP in nine months for them to finally reach a final in Rio after they haven't for over half a year.
This is this is their time to shine.
I do worry a bit about spirits and I have for a couple of months because like you said if you have done
Really have an excuse. There's always a timer on the lineup and on the players and in spirits because with don't not winning
Is not acceptable. Yeah, I was a little worried and we saw the tweet from certain individuals talking about oh to be a good
IGL you'd have a couple years
I'm sorry
No one has a couple of years to win trophies when you have don't on the team and a good thing is though
I won't lie. I would be pleasantly surprised the way they've been really ascending and not just ascending looking really dominant while doing so
Maybe they might be the usurpers to the throne later on you think that I mean for them
Let's let's quickly look at the grand finals
We want you too much because I know that will obviously have Richard yet to break it down
But if I had to look at it, I would say for spirit it is a like there is zero excuses
You need to lift this trophy, right? But I I don't know if they can against Falcons
I do think Kerrigan may be the Achilles heel that they weren't expecting.
The head-to-head is historically pretty bad for a spirit, but obviously the one last time they faced off in Rio,
and that gives them a bit of confidence, I think, in how they can approach this team, how they can play and put pressure on Falcons.
It's a different team though, Prof.
They have shown that they can withstand a lot more pressure with Kerrigan than they could before.
Yeah, this is a different Falcons. I think we've been talking about this a lot, Tom. I'm looking forward to it.
I know who I picked to win this entire thing altogether. I'm just looking forward to the finals.
Let's just quickly go into those predictions. I gotta get Blair his flowers because I don't know if Maui and Dustle let you have them on the desk later because you were in fact the only talents on the analyst desk to claim that you thought that Falcons were gonna win the whole damn thing.
Yeah, I just believe in the caragant bullshit, the caragant magic, whatever you want to say, right? And also, by the way, I'm also wondering if you guys have put 9z in the playoffs, right? So maybe I know something that these are the two fools don't.
Prof, I mean, he's kind of pointing a finger at you as well because you said spirit, just say.
Hey, I still... I see Don clicking that trophy. I have the vision. It's clear.
What made you say Falcons though? Because you hadn't seen what we saw against Furio when you made this prediction.
No, I hadn't seen that. But I feel like they kind of are in this honeymoon stage right now.
And the precious really kind of offered them as well. And remember for Falcons, whenever beginning of the year, when they didn't have kick sand, they had that run.
They looked so very good, right? Later on, even in Rio as well, when they knew it was the last match, you know, last tournament, they were going to have him with kicks.
pressure is off, they seem to really thrive in this environment. In this event coming in, if you don't win it, everyone's going to be like, it's okay guys, it's the first minute caragon. Pressure's really off. And on top of that, you've got the caragon aura around you. I feel that just might be enough to take down Donk, the destroyer.
Well, let's see about that one. Let's see about that one. Alright.
I was hoping for a little bit of an argument, but Prof is playing nice.
We're just two stupid dogs.
Two stupid dogs. And those two stupid dogs are finished barking, because we're done here. This was the current and razor, but now you need to get it.
But now you need to get ready because Spurt will be taking on Falcons here in Astana the crowd is incredible
They are starting to pour in it is going to be an incredible battle of Counter-Strike
And I cannot wait to watch it make sure you go get your snacks get ready for myself and prof
Thank you so much. We're gonna be in the stands watching all of the action
But like I've mentioned Maui dust there and Richard will be here to take you into the game. We'll see you in a bit
She said she loves you, but she can't love me, but I love you
I won't play window anymore
I'm going to the next level.
The human body was built to move, not directed at death in one singular posture for 12 hours
a day.
It's time your chair evolved.
This is Secret Lab Titan Evo.
ergonomically engineered for you, gamers, hybrid workers, artists, and back in your every move.
Let's go!
Make some noise, it's mouse!
Let's hear it for Aurora!
Another really good quarter of the retake.
But Woxic, you're right. All of a sudden under pressure.
Scott, three players coming up from tunnels behind him.
Soul flies down to 14 health.
Madger's gonna be a late arrival out from middle.
Soul fly drop forward.
It's still costly.
Oh, he got a flying knife.
Cash for your efforts.
Scott, two players occupied and Zershin's had enough of Pete got a nowhere for Madger.
Saw that.
Would love to try to test this smoke so he gives himself that underhanded flash.
Get Spinks off the line. All the talk to the back of sight.
Wikadia will take it down, it's got a smoke to cross, and they found their opening.
Magier trying to take his sweet time with this, Wikadia just needs to survive.
And as they sit outside the window, there's the flight for Magier perfectly timed.
And with this amount of time, it's not going to happen.
Orlora, four players with rifles versus Soulfly.
He's got a pistol to try to play with, they give him these duels.
He's still working with good DL. JL's low, multiple body spotted.
He is drawing them into perfection.
Now they're starting to consider it.
Oh, the lineup there!
It's Zershyn's full health dead, still full HPJL!
The game!
Think of the value they got out of this!
It's an unwa!
Saviour looked close.
First blood.
Torsi finds his Alex as well. It's just a seed of kills out of mouse everybody putting in their work
Please give it up for no
See
To give it up for magic
I'm awkward.
Kind of a tier two.
Oh, lets the rush.
He's like that.
DGT tech knight.
Boss ball's dead.
It's going to be on move to stop them.
And despite his best efforts with the double kill, Luchov's tech knight also presses in.
What more can you do?
It's a low health car player.
Whoa!
It's coming!
There's an AK still out here on the field hunting heads, and it's just not gonna happen.
A little lost in the sauce this round, but they're not magic, and they better not die
after...
Wait, they're gone!
No!
Doesn't look like you're going to stop magic from getting inside of this A site.
Bob gets dropped.
Bill tries to press his top, and from the bottom of the health bar, three kill left there!
Backpot for Mayer.
Just all off of the audio.
Batman has no idea what he's done.
He's going to cause AW to scramble.
He will find at least his one.
And then Tensey's catching Luchoff.
Voss Voss all the time.
Voss Voss got himself to double.
He's going to try to press into Voss Voss and obviously loses.
It's on their way over, but the need will dislodge Huxer.
More damage put down range from Huxer.
There's a lot of low players here, Mattis, but if a headhunter looks for his second, learns about the long player in Tineer as well, they can't flush him out!
He's still looking for the ace to be a different smaker on for the ace in this 4-5!
5-7's tricking him well on that swing, lets him down, but it'll come some fires to make sure it's not in vain!
One man made it across pitside, they don't know how heavy God Joker in the pack.
Oh, not evil!
Don't make him pay.
Walk Smoke to slow them down, the rest of the play is coming up short.
Right in to Donk School Barrettas.
two from afar, two to the dome, he's bored down low.
That P250's gonna be a bit more considered now.
You've got Mattis tucked in, taking next contact,
and it's Donk with all the kills in this pistol round.
And there's the fourth.
Is it really gonna be a Donketech?
Oh, Mattis will reply!
To get into me, right now they're up the rap side.
It's tight, but I don't need, she causes them problems.
Come to matter if the next death is Mattis out towards cave looking for this trade to
near will not let him get it.
And spirit two players ready to receive to near is all that's required.
DOOOOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHHHHH
FOOOOOOL GOOOOOOON
Pace up connector, Karagun's selling this, but it is the B hit and you gotta worry about Kiyosuke, clean entry on the pool and...
Oh, there's the double up.
Swing out for me again.
I don't want to be able to punish.
I'm trying to kill the old firing off.
And they know they've got carrying and trapped here.
Oh, wow!
It's a long way to try and make this feel recoverable.
The replay on the cards keeps you safe.
Top performer, right plays, right time.
Oh, he's hitting shots.
There's Oliver!
Pace, disrespect, piss off, your kid has had enough!
Oh, where's this come from?
All game, trying to fight safe by your kid now!
Last time they weren't able to stop it, this time it's a different story,
line up into the tunnels, big damage from the rifle.
He tries to be the guy fighting first, scared back from the window, side by side with Foulin,
as this is for all the marbles, this is for those 70s!
YAY!
So Spirit here to win. Five kills for the 13-3, close on Dust2.
Insertion, just the one man move out through that cat drop.
Beautiful sequence from Zelex with that triple kill this round.
You've got Tenir, two kills in, needs another double.
And as he goes over top to the ramp, that's his next frag.
Bomb is down here for him. He got a confirmation of the CT walk up,
just chew through what's left of you.
What kind of counter is that to someone like Dawn?
Oh...
Walking out the mid-doors, I like that Xershin gets active on the catwalk, so there was something brewing for Maus.
A concern about middle now is Zontik's on the side of the smoke.
It's the kill on Spinks.
That clear is insane.
And it's going to be another moment where Zellix has a ton of pressure on him.
He goes for the mid-fight.
Zontik collects another.
He is 12-3.
Let's fucking go boys, let's fucking go. We're going over here. Two more maps, yeah?
Let's start it off, Shirou's Beretta slide off of the hunt and it is a rock solid hold
and four kills.
And towards you on the Brawl outer, using that AWP, we see the Crossover, Zontik's
gonna tap away the sniper trades back in this one versus three praise to his god
that he can pull off this one and give now is at least a chance to double their
rounds on the attack quick scope connects it's gonna give a space over the
match it's reconfirms that he's pushing in for his kill right here for Torsi
and it's a quad kill eat it but a quad kill deliver please make some noise put
hands together. It's Magic! Team Falcon!
They were taking for a ride against 9Z. It was a high, a low, and then a high again to finish off the job on this very map, and they will meet them in the middle.
Ace for Tenzy in the second round.
he goes back to try and sniff out Hensie and then they put him trapped out here on
his load so now in the middle of the spot.
Obviously this is the timing on that first player getting in but the spot there for Niko at least gets the gun on in the right place.
And now bracing themselves for this mid to be hit, this is it, the beginning of the end.
Spunks down, staying. I have to go through, because there's team of crumbling, innappy,
bombsite, Niko double entry, and an excellent map from Niko to max modesty, as they want to punch
all their way to the grand finals. Falcons do it in two, they do it with ease, and they take down
We found the Cinderella story of Fadging.
I've got Falcons, Monacy with me here today,
Nilo from Havoc, JL from Malz.
We're going to be looking at Ancient.
The three things are not correct on this image.
Free changes.
Mm-hmm.
First of all, the default box is removed.
Can you see that it's different on this?
Yeah.
Okay, there is no box on the side.
Okay, hold up.
Massive map.
First of all, default is gone by the way.
It's not the map, it's not the whole map.
Yeah, but it's a crazy picture.
Yes, default boxes, put them back on.
Yeah.
Thank you.
The Xbox is green, like the carpet on the big box, I don't think it's green, no?
You're correct, you're correct!
What else is missing, ah, the tarp on the box, it's supposed to be blue, not green.
Man even said tarp, like the correct word in.
I said yellow though.
Yeah, you got the colors wrong, it doesn't matter, you still knew something was wrong,
but you said tarp, which I'm impressed with, that's good.
Thank you, that's from...
Easy.
Ah, okay, that makes perfect sense.
One more.
And then there is...
Temple is weird, yes? Temple is kind of...
No, temple is the same.
Ah, the lamp in the temple maybe, I'm not sure.
On, you mean on this?
Yeah, in the left, in the temple there.
Not sure.
No.
Okay.
No.
The candles are there.
They're supposed to be there, you know what I mean?
Yeah, the candles are there.
Yeah.
I mean...
You're gonna concede?
No.
I have no idea.
Can you give me the answer?
No.
I mean, maybe there's a box at the back of like...
No.
Right side of the main, but...
No.
Maybe there's one more box on top of the box.
Is it easy?
I'm just...
I think it's hard, personally.
You think?
I think it's hard.
Because what it looks so good, the edit right now, that you would believe this is real.
I might be a little bit delusional here, but I feel like the temple side is a little bit
like narrower.
No, probably just the angle, I'll say that's not one of it.
Probably just the angle, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Something in main maybe.
The main is weird, but what?
Yeah.
But what?
Maybe this small thing in main now?
It's very big, I'm gonna tell you it's very big.
But the main is very wide, no?
The whole main is just very open.
It looks different, right?
Yes.
That should give you an idea.
It's not what you're saying,
but that should give you an idea.
You are seeing something right now
that you wouldn't normally see
if you looked at this angle.
Oh, they're light.
There is no light at the back tone of me.
There is.
What?
The confidence he said this way.
Same thing I would not see I said you saw you said you saw the box and you
thought I was a new box yeah it's not a new box it's always there but you would
never normally see it from this angle I'm really trying to help oh my god I
see it covers there's like a main cover on top of it let's see it I see right
it's crazy yeah but you do see it though well you see you don't see the whole
box you see the whole box you see a small bit yeah but you see the whole box still
covering something it does camera I gave you help when you got the answer but
this looks weird now yeah that doesn't look normal yeah it doesn't look like
this is the future change you never know huh where do you think there is
something at entrance at the entrance yes boom there you go that's all three
That's it. Boss, boss.
I'm watching it from my side.
Oh, yeah, okay.
Yeah, I don't know.
I should know this.
That's hard to see.
So you got the default box, you got the color.
That was crazy to know the color straight off the beginning.
And then the final one, Alex showed again.
Yeah.
Cash is on its way back to Counter-Strike. I'm talking about it with some of our players
here at PGL Estada. Niko with me from Falcons. I was looking back at the history. You got
a good ratings back in those days. It was the last one you were playing. You were phased
Niko back then. It was 2019. But just give me your initial thoughts when you saw that
it might be coming back.
Yeah, I mean that was a while ago, you know, and I used to be, you know, one of the best on the server, but trying, I'm trying.
No, but I haven't touched the cash, so I have no idea how it's going to work.
I think they should have done some changes. I think the map should have maybe worked a little bit differently,
but I'm still, as you mentioned, I used to be pretty good and I'm looking forward to see if I can kind of
I can kind of, maybe not to replicate it fully, but you know, just find a good confidence
from the get-go, if it comes official of course, but it's exciting, it's exciting to have
such an old map in the map pool and just in general with Valve now, changing the map
pool quite often, it's pretty exciting, so I just hope they're going to find a good
timing to implement it, so yeah.
I was playing a lot of cash on face, I'm enjoying a lot, I think it's a good map with good memory, for example, simple highlight, a lot of these things.
And also we have Dastan and Jem, they were good on cash, like I know. I was small, so they were playing in Alungar, so I think it's a great map and I'm waiting this so hard.
I think it's good. We definitely need some maps changing on the pool and I think Cash was very competitive in the past.
I like the fact that they made the older version better instead of going completely new, because I didn't really like the new one, the greenish one.
Yeah, that was fun.
Yeah, I had a chance to play one time already and it was fun.
Did you experiment when you played on it? Did you test anything out?
Honestly, I was just playing around. I was playing a pug with Molo by I think.
But you remember me a little bit of a couple of strategies you used in the past and pretty much the same gameplay, honestly.
Honestly, I was really liking to play the map as well and also like a facet and stuff like not just
Officials and also the officials you could able to do like many different things because the map was overall was too big and
I think it was like a great place
like you had a more opportunity to move like a
T-Site that you can do boost you can just use a door you can just go
To be that you can break the windows you can throw names the B side fake and door is opening going out like this kind of
like many opportunities gives you like more kind of creative ideas for T-Side
and I think that's why I like more and also you can hold with the outfit to some
angle for the rotations because you can make them move you can make them to
city to move I think that that map is like must to stay all the time like I
wish to come back but now the only one thing that I don't know how it's gonna
work because they removed the sky so but when you were playing that map that
was like you couldn't throw the nades from above too much so now maybe people
even can do like many tricky things you know like we'll see so.
To be honest I didn't play too much on the new cache I only played one facet
game I think it's okay I think the map changed a
lot since 2019 so I'm curious if they
introduce it to the map, how it will look, but I think there is still a time for that.
I think we still need to change a little bit because I feel like the map is really city-sided.
I think you can just double open the sides and I don't know, you can lock down instantly and
it will be a tough map if it comes in for the team, I feel like.
Honestly, I would like to see the map because I don't know, there is too many times that I didn't
than I didn't play it. I was looking at some nades just to do the standard thing, just
to remember a few things. And I think that the map is exactly the same as it was back
then in the days. So I didn't like it that much, even if we were playing good, but of
course that's going to be like...
20-30 years.
Yeah, that's like more than eight years ago, so it's going to be hard. But I think the
The map is good. Let's see how it goes with the time and if they just make any change or whatever.
But I think that the map is, I mean, it was fun to play back in the day.
Awesome, thank you very much for your thoughts man. Let's see what happens.
Maybe we will get cash coming to the map pool, but a lot of positivity around the map coming back to the game.
We are playing Spot the Difference with the Mongols, CobraZera.
I got G2's Maddie's with me here.
I've got Aurora's newest member with me, SoulFly.
We're going to be looking at Anubis.
So three things are not correct on this image.
What could it be?
Is it from the front end, like missing the right side fully or what, is it the... or not really?
No, we just can't see it.
Okay, okay.
But that's fine.
It's not like the pull is more...
Yeah, it's just the still.
I like what you're saying there, it was close, but it's not there.
It's a small thing, do you think?
It's a big position on the map in terms of how much it is used, but it looks so good.
It looks so good on this edit that I can understand why you can't see it.
It's not just move though, it's changed in how you would get somewhere.
Ah, stairs?
The right side, there is no way, I mean no, it's okay.
Even if the drop is a bit weird though, this one on the right.
You mean the way to handle it?
Yeah, it's not full stairs, so for sure 100% or?
Oh, okay, I see now, it's heaven.
You supposed to jump normally and then there is a stage, mini stage there right?
Da da da, let's have a look. Yes. See, so it's a ramp not the stairs. Yeah, yeah.
I think there's supposed to be something under the box, no?
There is something under the box, but what is, you're in the right location. What looks different?
I don't know if the sign on the left is there, to be honest, I can't imagine when I play it on the left side, you know, but...
There's like, kind of, what do you call it? There must be something under that.
Not something under that, it's something we've, it's only to be removed.
Removed, yeah.
So we added something, what should not be there?
They?
It looks so normal right now, I don't know.
They added a new box and under there is an A.
is an A. Yeah, the sign, right? The sign has to be...
Let's have a look. Yeah, it's not there. Okay, one more to find, my man.
One more to find. Okay.
I don't see anything. No? What site are we on?
It's... Ah, I see the B. Okay. I didn't see the letter so far. Okay, A instead of B, of course.
This is the B, it's wrong, because it's an A site.
Chick-a-Boo.
The bee, what?
Yeah.
The bee!
Yeah.
Because we're not in bee bro, we're in A!
The...
The sign says A and...
Yeah!
Bee.
Okay.
We're trying to really confuse you.
Yeah.
You did good.
Yeah, okay.
I think you did good, bro.
It's very noticeable.
Yeah, see? You get it, you get it.
Well, thank you very much for playing Cup of the Year.
Thank you.
Cash has been back added to Counter Shriver. Will he get added to the competitive map pool?
I'll be talking to some of our players here and I've got Torsi with me. What stands out
for you maybe as a moment you remember on the map from other tournaments from other players?
I mean I think obviously simple and I think the other one is the Rain Clutch,
the 105, I think these two definitely also boost from Shoud, you know, I mean there is many
good highlights from this map and yeah but if I have to highlight one probably seem to
on the major. I mean for example it was two that's coming to my mind, the first one is the
typical one that is the simple, the clutch when he just went down heaven and he killed the last one
without scope and for example finally in the Moclan from Red that he was
playing in the forklift every single round he was getting three or four kills
each round probably this map is the map that I have the most highlights on I
believe so but yeah I mean obviously the highlights with Eagle were one of my
favorites of all time and I'll probably choose I think the one versus Titan was
you know maybe more legendary because it was the first thing, it was a very very long time ago
but I think against FaZe was actually in an important tournament on B side so yeah it's
it brings back good memories so hopefully I'll be able to you know do some some deals
again there. I have one favorite one it's I was playing for herazers that day and
And I'm not sure about the opponent, but it must be Fnatic and if he would have won that map, we were going to the last top 8 for the quarter-final of the major.
And we beat 16-2 or 3 or something.
Because you know, I was not an experienced person at that time.
I was kind of like a newbie, but our assistant coach, Amiran, now he's doing managing things for the Navi.
He just said to me, bro, we can do it, you know, I was stepped down from the game because it was 1-1
And I was like, man, we had a chance. We could have been won the second map as well
And now how are we gonna win it? You know, they got the confidence and stuff and he was like saying, bro
I know these things like you really can win, we can win still and now he just
Approached me, talked to me like for a 10 minutes
I didn't part of the team talk and we just just stepped in the server and it was 6-3 that we won the map
And I was like, bro, you were right.
And you taught me a lot of things right now.
And that's why that day and that cash game, I never forget.
It was in London, 2018.
It must be.
There's two things I remember.
I remember at some point, because we're losing some cash
games, people were making fun.
They would call me falling in veto cash,
like something like that.
Yeah, he was actually a liar at some point.
But then also, I remember when Fox from Portugal
was playing with us.
Well, that was a fun clip when he was saying,
give me booze, give me booze in Portuguese,
in Portugal, instead of more of Brazilian Portuguese, and it was very funny.
First of all, I want to say they should keep gravity.
Oh, keep gravity, yeah.
I think it's not right, this moment and this guy hyped this game a lot, so he deserved it for sure.
I agree.
You asked also about more highlights.
Yeah, if you've got something that stands in your mind that you remember.
Yeah, Hiko.
Oh, yeah.
back then. Niko, when he clashed on top of A site, it's like, I think Kenya's also like
these wallbangs from A main for top of heaven, I guess. Also, NBK sprays. That's why NBK sprays.
Every day position.
Yes. So, yeah, it's really a lot of memories and highlights, so.
Awesome.
I love the fact that you know so many of these. That's great. Velsenhoek, thank you very
much and I agree with you. We should get Simples Graffiti back on the map. It's only right.
valve you know what to do
Welcome back. Everything before this moment has been leading us here. It is time for the
grand finals of PGL Astana. We're going to be setting that up over here on the desk. Obviously,
I'm your host Richard Lewis. You should know me by now. Lord knows I've been around long
enough but joining me on the panel we've of course expanded the panel for the
final we've got Maui snake we've got Blair we've got dust lots to talk about
obviously ahead of this one but as I said I think spirit Falcons couldn't
have asked for a better occasion I feel like rich we've been through so many
group stages throughout our careers yes so many studio environments online
tournaments they don't always get the blood boiling but every championship
Sunday without fail. I get chills. My heart flutters every single time. I was
walking up and down just trying to calm my nerves and forget about the teams.
But this, Rich, as that classic movie goes, it is going to be a clash of the
titans. It is indeed it is spirit trying to defend their title with a new look and
phase with a, excuse me, Falcons with a new face, trying to show that they can
actually be more than potential on paper. And also I want to give a shout to
this crowd in the Stana. This is our second year here. You have made this
incredible. Thank you so much Astana. Well the good news is first as well the
PGL Global Tour might just be expanding.
Yes, great news there. We're going to be going to whoops. I'm going to absolutely
make a pronunciation by 2027. But look, what can we say about Poland's contribution counts
right down the years? So happy that PGL is going to be going back.
of a slept-on location in Poland. I've been to Poznań before, actually for a
Juske Juki Montser DJ set, kind of random, but great fun place. Like really fun
college down there actually. A lot of action. Really walkable, really cool.
No, it's awesome right? Because obviously we have Katowice, we got Krakow and now
coming to another city. I think Poland absolutely deserves this. Absolutely. The
site of multiple majors, a huge place in the history of Counter-Strike and of
course PGL has history there. It's time to bring it back. I mean let's be real
as well, you know, right now they might not have a hometown team. No reason that can't change by
the time we turn up. There's a lot going on globally right now, a lot happening with the
rosters, but I'm sure PGL with its sense of history, I'm pretty sure we might get some special guests
showing up for that one. Who knows who that might be. I'm not spoiling anything, we really haven't
decided yet anyway let's get into what we're here to do today which of course is
the grand finals of PGL Astana it's the final I wanted when I was looking at the
bracket I was like Falcons with Karagham with that new IGL buff coming all
the way through for who are essentially the hometown heroes in the form of
spirit the reigning champions the crowd love them adore them but also adore some
of those players over on the fall, contrasted to.
Yeah, it's one of these situations
where both of these teams have something
that they need to prove, a chip on their shoulder.
Spirit used to be an elite team, a team that won titles,
including here in Astana last year,
as well as a prestige trophy in Cologne
in multiple bounties.
But they haven't lifted a big one in quite some time.
They're looking to change that with this new look.
And then for Falcons, look, we've
always talked about how their potential on paper.
Let's put a trophy in the cabinet.
Let's show that one of these two teams
is the true number one contender, the challenge
Vitality at the time. Yeah, if it was a couple of months prior
I mean like a spirit should be coming in has been taking this one away
But one thing we've seen from Falcons does far this year when a pressure is off
They do really thrive and right now your precious kind of off your first event with the new IGL
No one's expecting too much and on top of that that new IGL is
Carriagat the guy who pulled up miracles so for me personally the perfect grand finals
What I find that this matchup does is it establishes and crystallizes the pecking order going into Cologne because these two teams
along with Vitality, along with Navi, are the four contenders to lift the trophy there in Germany.
And so, winning this one here, we always hear from the players how important it is to build confidence,
to have confidence. Will this emboldens you in a way where theory doesn't quite?
I mean, the podcast set we're all talking about this, I'm just throwing this out open to the desk,
that Falcons, they're under no pressure. No pressure is the air quotes.
I don't believe that. I've never felt that about this team.
I think they're under maybe more pressure than any other team in the world. Why because they've spent the money
They've got the stars. They've got the names and now you have nice yell to this lineup
I want instant success if I'm you know big daddy Falcons books
I want this to hit the ground running today Richard. I'm gonna steal a line from you
I'm gonna make this abundantly clear Falcons is not just some team any other team when you bring in a new
IGL you know there's gonna be a ramp up period you got to implement a new system
But this is an exceptional team a team with elite talent across the entire board the
Expectations are higher and now they have an opportunity to hoist a trophy right away in this build up to the major
They need to make it count because said it himself
And I was surprised when he at the end of the group stages
I everyone's expecting us to just hoist a trophy at our first event and he said it's unrealistic
Right now you're in the finals right now you're looking good
So I feel like it's them trying to put the pressure off themselves, but I agree with you
I have to echo your sentiments the pressure is on right now because you have a real opportunity to shake off
What's been a rough season so far? I'm not gonna actually trust the PR train media train
Keregan and Nico to alleviate some of that expectation or pressure
Or am I gonna trust Kiosk a in the post game interview after they win the semi-final that says no
We are at a hundred percent those are his words and that's what I want to entrust Falcons with going in this matchup
Yeah, I mean and being at a hundred percent, you know, you can see what that means
I've said it for a while now, and maybe it's harsh, but I think Qsukei has been the bottleneck in Falcons
I think everybody else doing what they're supposed to do
Monosie top three player in the world really trying to drag his team through you're gonna be dunked 2.0
That was the narrative
That's what we were sold when you came out of that spirit Academy
You haven't been that you weren't even rookie of the year now. You got an IGL that's gonna nourish you as
As a prelude to the quarterfinals we touched upon, Prof and I touched upon how he's had his playoff woes.
It's been a drastic fall off when it comes to all the playoff events. Under the bright lights he crumbles, he withers away.
What happened here is sitting next to Carrigan. We're seeing him, sure he makes mistakes, but he's still playing to the level we can expect from him.
And that is what we've been waiting for, the catalyst. That is Carrigan. We've started to interview as well. Have you ever seen that kid ever so animated talking about anything?
Not when it's not talking about anime, no.
Look, here's the thing, this guy has been a group stage star, but he's had a sub one
rating in playoffs for a long time, but things have a little bit changed here, right?
We know that this guy is one of the best entry fraggers in the world.
When you look at his entry stats, they leap off the page to you.
They look like a true elite entry level fragger, like some of the other big names that are
out there, but it's about reining him in.
I think before he was trying to do a little bit too much, trying to push the issue, I
think he's getting kind of corralled back into the place he needs to be.
And I think he gets him such a huge threat because not only is he a fantastic entry
He's a star CT player and it's
allowed Nico to not have to be
the guy always opening things up.
He can be an extremity playmaker.
So I think it balances everything out
properly and this is his moment to shine.
Yeah I mean for context on the whole
group stage warrior but playoff
choker if you look at all of the
group stages that Kyosuke's played
with Falcons all but one
as he had above a 1.0 KD
but in playoffs it's under
50% that he maintains that.
That is a drastic falloff that
Karrigan is looking to remedy and remember whose roles did he take right Nico said I see the future in this guy
I'm gonna give up the roles
I like I have this has been talked about a lot in all the interviews they've done and it's like okay
Well, if you're the future you you've got to play to at least the level Nico used to if not more
Hey, absolutely, and I feel like for this particular falcons. It is a team in flux
We saw Karagans when multiple interviews saying how we want Niko to be the guy, to be the closer, you know
relegate your role, the role which made you one of the one of the greatest rifles we've ever had to be the closer god
experience and I always think he was to be take those roles as well. Even Tess is too. He is a tapping. So this is a team who in the
process of being in the flux moving pieces around are still kicking ass and that for me
I think it bodes well in the future for them. It's a couple of factors here that you have to consider
I mean for one Niko is a Swiss Army knife rifle. He's been that way his whole career
He is juggled between being a lurker and an entry for the entirety of his time and counter-strike and I think that
Therefore you're not really harming him by putting him in the new roles that he's in
I think he can still help you find openings on the edge of the map
He still plays a lot of star CT roles. He can still trade for you in certain executes
And yeah, he's got the intelligence to handle the clutch moments
So I think it balances things out and also like that you have Kerrigan who's won the sack himself first to better set up
Kyosuke in some key moments
So I think I think the why they should be the town here is vast
What what it means for Nico is that it's ushering in a new era to his career
He's been the number one option on teams for about five years of his prime
He recognizes his prime is behind him and now he needs to make way for a guy who is just ramping up into his
So all of thing all this is coming together where Nico is showing a new side of himself a slightly more supportive element to make
Way for the rising star in kiosk. Yeah, and obviously doing it without having to resort to being an IGL
Which we all thought was coming now. Let's talk about their opponents today team spirit
Obviously a very different looking team spirit to the one that raised the trophy
But not that different when you think about it obviously what they did was they put people on the bench
Essentially said maybe we'll sell you maybe we won't don't said you know what I like the vibes on that other team
I like playing with those guys. Let's see what we can do without chopper. And by the way, I saw chopper. He's here
He's watching his team. It's always difficult when you've been cut from a roster, but they brought in tenir
And now they've said okay, let's give magics a shot. Let's see what he can do as an IGL
Some things may have changed rich
But one thing remains constant for spirit all the damn time and that is dog
Yeah, dog is the best rifler period to ever play the game period and that's it
He is such a specialist in the entry role the numbers always are astronomical
No matter what event you put him in the opening attempts on the T side are so high and his ability
To just win so many of them is absolutely absurd as he leads the MVP race
Look at the rankings one one one with rankings like that. He could be number two on HLT
Well, it's still early this season here, Rich. You know what's out of my talent.
It doesn't lose a tournament right now. But here's the thing.
One more start, which caught me by surprise this morning.
I was going through. I'm like 1.6 through.
Rating over across an entire tournament. Yes, the finals get to be played.
That's the second highest rating since his debut in Katowice.
Yeah. Two and a half years ago.
This kid just not stopping any time soon. There we go.
1.75 in Katowice. Everyone remembers that debut.
The greatest debut of all time.
And ever since then, P.J. LaSana right now,
If it continues this form right here, it could be the second highest ever, which is incredible considering how we're so consistent.
Rating is a metric that is being tinkered with, toiled with, but KPR is the always constant stat that just shows how dominant some of these players are through history.
You can see what Donk's KPR at this event is. It's a 1.00, but you take some of the all-time greats, some of the guys in the server against them.
You you actually face those guys off against each other
There's only been three other guys in history at these kinds of big events that have put up 1.0
One of those three is himself so he's basically chasing his own ghosts and he's chasing based by 10
I mean he's chasing ziwoo. He's chasing simple
But this guy's writing history every single time we see him load up in a tournament because he's breaking records like it's nothing
Yeah, and we saw him in the interview as well
You know when they took our mouse yesterday. He said like you just don't have a chance
No, it has a chance like the way we're playing right now. We're better
We've actually arrived at what we think is the end point for team spirit
This is as good as it's gonna get and the numbers don't lie about that
improved utility people that were
Bit-part players suddenly coming alive and having a series where yes statistically maybe they even outperform the Fino
Call it the soft pick effect for me. That's what I've been saying. I don't want to call it that
Well, some of them do, some of them do, yes.
Some of them did, Shiro kind of led us to it.
But look at this, okay, so at the very top here,
all of the numbers you see, these are utility stats
for all of these guys, courtesy of HLTV.
With Holly, all of the numbers are a bit lower.
What that stat means is just how many flashes is per round,
how much utility damage they're getting per round.
An algorithm combines them
and you get this nice sexy number
and everybody across the board is leaps and bounds better.
The utility that Spirit is throwing at this event
would put Vitality's 20-25 to Shane.
And even Dunk almost doubled.
This is the thing, it's not just a supporting cast.
Everybody is learning and getting better.
Indeed they are.
And what this has provided is that we all knew that Spirit
already played this really aggressive deathball style
of Counter-Strike that overwhelms opposition
with the pure entry power of Dog
and the follow-up that they have in some other other players.
But what they have done is they've taken that tip of the Spirit
that is Dog, the one that's so sharp
and they've honed it even more with this utility
that you're talking about.
They're making it easier for him to pass his way in the sights
They're making it easier for Taneer to be able to trade off of that
It is making them so proficient in their attacking size
It's gonna be very hard for Falcons to deal with today
And I think he'd hit a hit on the players name who I want to touch one a little bit to near right?
He's been even having a rough season so far. Everyone's like what's it to me?
Where's the Taneer we saw before he joined spirit comes in soft pick and somehow it's clicking in place for him
in Rio, that was his best event on land with the top thus far and he's once again continuing his form.
He's even said in a couple of interviews, Sofix really working with me and it's really clicking.
So it's not just about utility.
He's looking at all the weak points that they've had throughout this entire season and he's fixing them and he's just a
standing coach guy.
Yeah, the big thing I want to point out about Tanir's activation is just the fact that you're seeing him be able to trade frag a bit more.
He kind of got relegated to some anchor roles you probably didn't want to play.
He's had to play some extremity positions on the T side that probably aren't necessarily the best for him to make room for
on to return to the squad but what I love that they've done on some matches
he's the third guy in an entry and his trade-fragging is very very powerful it
gives you that extra opening bit next to dog I mean it's just like a crazy one to
punch with those guys I mean that's that's what happens when you have the
lowest sensitivity in tier one counter all you are is a trade-frager don't make
this guy entry for him to move his hand across this entire mouse pad I mean
that's what it takes to do a quarter turn for him okay but 180 just forget he's
going to rip his arm off. They can't afford that right now.
I mean, I'll say this as well. Like, all he has to do is be where he is now.
Yeah. That's the reality about this spirit team.
Donk will do all the heavy lifting. He only needs the slightest little bit of help from everybody.
And I feel like just the way they're kind of clicking together right now,
it's also elevated everyone. They like to say, you know, the rising waters lifts all boats,
and that's what's happening, which Shiro as well. He hasn't had to be the superstar,
But he's so consistent, you know, sure, Monancey is kind of seeing the show,
Molleroi had a crazy game, but Shiro quietly has been so very good solid,
Xontix as well, finding so much of impact overall.
This is going to be the head to it, obviously one put Donk over there, but
just looking at the numbers, obviously overshadowed by Monancey's
superlative performance so far. I'm surprised how close Shiro actually
is though. Well, here's the thing, they're both really star-oppers, but they do so
in different ways, and you see it on your screen. Ratings, you know,
comparable to each other, success rates on their CT side opening duels,
also comparable, but Munoz seems just more aggressive, bro.
Like he is a battle offer.
He can entry for you on the T side way more often
than almost any other offer will.
He is hitting shots at no one else.
Can he's called the damn flash for a reason
because he is so flashy with this op
and how quickly he can dispatch of the enemy.
Once that we didn't have on there is also
that Shiro is leading the way with clutches at this event.
Oh yeah.
And also 2024, he was the best clutcher in the world.
So him to regain that sort of late round prowess
is just the perfect second punch
after the initial blow dealt by Don.
So here's the question, guys.
Obviously, we've talked about these two teams, the good,
the bad, the new, the old, the past, the future.
But man for man, pound for pound.
Who's got the best roster?
Because I legit think it is Vulcans.
Well, it's wildly distributed talent, yes.
But I kind of want to key on a one matchup
that everyone's going to enjoy today, Richard.
I fully get into this.
And that is that you're going to see something absolutely
special today on the server.
Because we get two of the best to ever play their role,
going head-to-head on the server right now.
This is the MVP race, the destroyer versus the flash,
the offer versus the entry.
And they are leading in so many metrics.
They're on top form right now
and they're two of the most exciting players ever.
Watch Counter-Strike and now we get to view it on the stage.
I mean, when I was watching that game on Nuke,
when Monosy did defeat her with the AWP on the T side,
it's something I don't think I've ever seen.
No one's ever seen some of the shit
he was pulling out of his hat.
So, I'm definitely agree.
I think we're all in for a treat.
Hey, don't these guys speak the same language?
Oh, they were on a team together someday. All right, I'll save that for another podcast
Put it this way if the whole just one more superstar
Go that way like if I'm tensors right now, I'm
Think one guy we I do want to touch upon as a well has been tests is right coming into this
They had a lot of role switches for him playing the B bomb sudden dust to playing aion mirage
Positions is not super comfortable with any said it as well
But despite that he's been so pivotal in them closing out a lot of his close rounds
Look at you the final couple rounds in the city side. How is getting his multi kills staying alive?
So when you're talking about Falcons the obvious conversation is Terrigan, Miko, Kyosuke and Manasi
But I think Tessa has been slept on. He's been so solid this event
He's been one of their top performers in a couple of the games they've played look when Paragon came to the team
His checklist was this let me reign in few suit a and hone him
Let me let monster do over the hell he wants because he's already where he needs to be and let me get test
This in a better position to impact things and you heard it in an interview that caring and gave right away
I want this guy to be a little bit more selfish
Everything you could ever want I feel like I'm in his head. That's why he's not just an IGL
He's a freaking leader and what he wants to do is make sure all of this parts work
And he has made a concerted effort to get tests for involved in some training as well for his squad
just like 10 year has been done on spirit. So I do like this look I'm seeing.
Yep. I feel like the thing with test is first of all my favorite Falcon just
always got to put that out there. Always going to remind people also that save
their asses in many of the games at Melbourne and another big grand final
that was first vitality. Also the quarter final versus Fira highest round
swing so not always the sexiest in terms of output but a guy that always gets the
job done especially when the odds are stacked against him late round situations.
All of that is where test is just really shines because you're not looking
for Tessus to be a round-in, round-out, super consistent fragger.
You just want him to be explosive in the right parts,
and that's what he did versus Viria.
I will say this, the only worry I have about this,
Vulcan's lineup, I think they've got the roster now.
I think they've got the leader now.
I think they've got the support set up now.
I think they've got everything they need.
But if Carrigan does bring that predilection of his
to choke finals, if somehow they get that contact nervousness,
I am worried about today.
None of Kerrigan stats are going to stimulate the stats obsessed fan.
No.
Well, what he does bring is a change of atmosphere.
The way that Kyosuke looks, the way that Niko's brought in,
the way that it feels like Niko's almost matured as an individual
now that he's back with Kerrigan, kind of reckoning with the fact
that he could have had this pairing for his entire career.
And now it's really when he's on his last legs with this Falcons
that he has to say, OK, maybe this was the greatest in-game leader
that I've ever had.
And I want to try for a second time.
Look at the scenic route they had to take. It wasn't always clean.
It wasn't always clean, and they had to go up against them all goals, you know, super close affair right there.
But that's the thing. So many of the games you've seen from them thus far, obviously, the fewer games comes to mind as well.
You see that old Falcons, not a bit kicks in, they're not winning that. They're not closing it out.
You're a map down high for the situation, you're going to choke. That didn't happen.
Terrigan is the high.
Yeah, absolutely. I'm a licensed EMT, but you could do it better than I am.
Bro, again, Potential One paper has been the story for Falcon so long, they've been a top
team for so long, they need a trophy, it could happen today.
It could happen today, we're going to go to the stage, get that temperature check for
the grand finals.
Well I can tell you about the temperature check, Richard, it is feeling hot in here,
packed out and I can feel the energy already in the room. Astoner! It is time
for the grand finals, two of the best teams in the world, two leveling up and
trying to bring their form back to the top and it is certainly not easy.
everything they have worked for, everything they have fought for in the
group stage here in the arena is all for this but only one team will walk away
with it. For our first team their last trophy was lifted 273 days ago but they
have started to get back to winning ways. You heard from the players you saw
their dominance they are ready for another trophy so bring it on make some
noise it's team spirit!
the stage and ready to go for it once again one year later but on the other
side of things a team that has choked their way across many grand finals they
looked at superstars and star power but this time around they changed it up they
bought in the ambulance and they did it for their opponents not for themselves
with Karagan at the helm this is where things are supposed to be different but
But it has still been 399 days since they last lifted a trophy.
And that was also not on the stage.
So Astana, all the noise, everything you can bring.
It's Team Falcon!
The stage is set and the best of five is ahead of us.
Carrigan, come join us. Magics, come up here. Everyone else, get ready for the grand final.
You didn't even say anything yet or do anything yet.
And here they are. The ambulance siren is going off like crazy.
But also for you, the grand final, the first since Budapest.
Yes, the first time in a falcon's jersey. Just give me the temper to check.
Oh, it's gonna be a fun game. The guys are hyped, I'm hyped.
I'm just going forward to a nice grand final and just have fun in the end.
It's very early on in the process, so a very nice team to play in the final in spirit.
It will be a great final, it will be very fun. All my guys are on a wild hype and want to blow up this grand final.
It's a balance constantly. We are playing free and mid-round a lot.
Let's see how much we can do in the best of five finals. Not gonna be easy, but let's look forward to it.
No, I also have to ask, Kjorski stood on this stage yesterday, he was beaming, he was so happy.
What have you done to him? I've never seen him like that before.
To be honest, Maxim is my new bratan. He's my last nephew. I'm the uncle, he's the nephew.
I'm just having a lot of fun with him and he's working really hard.
He's carrying me when we were all in 20 sides, so he's a nice bratan.
Bratan, right?
Karegan said that Max is his new brother and he's starting to get aggressive.
Wow.
Karikzin says that you can play here.
Okay.
So...
In this match, it's even more important not to prepare,
but to make the decisions right after this game, which will be great.
which will be great.
We just press our buttons and there will be a challenge.
You played against Falcons twice, but you lost one game against Rio.
They're cheering for you!
How much more deadly is Falcons with Karrigan compared to when you last faced them? Does it change anything for you?
Something has changed with the arrival of Karrigan of Falcons.
From the point of view of how much they have become scarier.
Well, yes.
The respect is had. Shake hands. Go and take your seats.
Good luck.
Well, this is great. We understand which way the crowd is going.
There's the ambulance sirens. There's the chance for spirit.
But this is your moment Astana.
This is where you get to thrive in the grand final and show us everything you've got.
So, I want everyone, take your mobile phones out, put them in your hands, turn the light on.
We need to light this arena up.
Guys, let's make this holiday even brighter.
We'll get our phones, we'll put them on the flashlight.
I see more and more of us.
Up, up, everyone up, we'll put down the lights in the arena.
If you have a phone, put that light up there.
This is the Kazakhstan power. This is the community showing their best.
And what we need for you is you had your first ST event with the elite teams last year.
You wanted it so much and PGL came back. Now you need to give us your energy, your voices.
Every bit you have left in you. When you leave this arena, I want you to have zero voices left.
This is the final game. This is the last game for us here at this tournament.
PGL brought us here for you, for our community, for all of us who love Counter-Strike.
One of the best tournaments of the year.
This is our last opportunity to show the whole world that we love KS here.
That's what we want, that's what we want to feel, to the start of it.
I have one more thing to ask you, and you know what's coming.
Are you ready?
We are ready as well James and as I said remember best of five where you're gonna hide turns out
there's nowhere it's folk and spirit and they're gonna have to go the distance I don't care where
we're playing Richard I'm just ready to get this thing going give me whatever map you need let's get
some counter strike flowing I think everyone's just going to be going whatever the comfortable
at this point, the map don't really matter.
Maybe Anubis is a question which we can touch upon,
but that's gonna be later in the series.
That is really my one curiosity,
if one team is gonna bring out Anubis a little bit earlier
than the fifth map decider here.
See, that would be the curve ball in this kind of veto,
but of course, we'll probably get the permavitos out of the way.
It'll be inferno gone for spirit,
and like every Niko team in history, seemingly,
overpass is gone for the Falcon, can't it?
Did they start their best foot forward, Blaz?
How much do you think?
100%, you go best, too.
You'll be the best team, I trust you, but that's still the problem on that map.
And if I'm fast, I've got a couple of options to go with here.
Do you go with an agent, you go with a mirage?
I think they go with a mirage.
I think they're like, they've been playing a long-
Let those stars loose on Mirage.
Absolutely freaking Lutely.
When you don't have a whole lot planned and you wanted to see some mid-round bullshit
for your boy Karrigan, let him go.
We do indeed get it.
And for the next pick there of Spirit, I mean, what do we got here?
I still am curious if we're going to get the Anubis.
I feel like it's a bit tall of a task to ask for them, but okay, yeah.
We're going to go with Ancient to become a little bit more comfortable.
I'd say there was a bit of a downturn.
But don't be too comfortable on Falcons against them on Ancient
because they were the best team in the world in 25 on that map.
You want once upon a time for sure a new coming in and there we got neither two.
Neither of these two teams really wanted to do counter map.
They really haven't played much.
But I'll tell you this, if it does go to Anubis, it's going to be absolute chaos.
I mean, what can we say about this?
You've got the three maps you would want up front.
You have front loaded this series with all of the quality.
Spirit of the Unbeatable on this too.
Looked so, so good on it, but it's a brawly map.
It's an angestar map.
It's the classic place of the pugilists.
It is.
One thing that I'm looking here beyond just the map stats
is Ken Niko break his own streak against Spirit.
He used to be one of the best in the world.
We used to talk every death segment about him
and monasy used to just always put spirit in their place but that's not been the
same in the Falcons Jersey. The last two times in arenas it has been spirit
getting the better of Nico and so Kerrigan he has to imbue this team with
the resilience that mirrors his own career. Yes indeed it does. Spirit have been
so dominant in us too. 15 and 2 record one of the losses by Tally the second
best D2 team in the world is because of that death ball led by Dolph into
near being activated as a trade frag. It's what Molly was talking about now it's
It's not just thought though kills, thought though kill with better flashes and better support from his team.
They're going to provide such a big mid-B threat as well.
Let's see if Kiyosuke and company can handle it.
Alright guys, we're about to get into dust too.
We've got two of the best teams in the world.
One of the best crowds in the world.
We need two of the best captains in the world to call this one.
It's London and Sproney.
Astana, thank you for being here today.
We have a very special grand final.
Spirit and Falcons the fact that Kerrigan could take this team with essentially four stand-ins to a grand final
And now we get to see if he can complete the somersault
You know all you need sometimes is the shepherd and so that is what he looks to beat tonight to guide them forward
When it matters most to give themselves a new found sense of self
believe. Everything leads to this grand finals and a chance for Karrigan to
shock the world in his first outing in that white and green jersey. This is what
it all comes down to. Team Spirit on the other side of course, looking to just
weaponize Donk as they always do, but weaponize him, fine tune, sharper than
maybe we may ever see him as Spirit want all the same things that Falcons are
are fighting for. Team Spirit, Team Falcons, The Clash,
for Kazekstan!
Is it this one going to be special?
We've already seen the power of both of these teams
on all these maps.
We saw the confidence from Team Spirit in Donk's interview
before this final started.
We know that the atmosphere is that both these teams
believe they can win.
Kerrigan's trying to hide his power level
and wants us to think that this is going above expectations.
But he knows how to make it here,
and he knows how to make it past here too.
Sick flick, and I'm honestly, he's starting.
Just shuts down Donk immediately.
Wouldn't you love that to be the tail of the tape all night
Two pistols, two opening kills.
Honestly able to still play ahead of the smoke as well.
It looks like Spirit remain adamant about taking over middle,
but they do just stutter step for a second.
Honestly doesn't want to be the reason that numbers go back.
He spams through to offer a distraction,
and Killskay takes that look down through those B doors.
But now they're back and Spirit think different directions.
Still time to do this.
This is going to be hard no matter where they want to go.
This site has the players ready for it. Clean it. Clean it again.
That's the laundry done.
Wow. Didn't get out the front door of men. Didn't get out the front door of bees.
No chance at a ball plant. No trades in site.
And it's a shutdown in round one for Falcons.
This is what I think you're going to love to watch is some kind of a duality between Josuke and Tessus over towards that B site.
You know, it's the Beretta kills that get a little scrappy there for Monosy, but I think he's happy to kind of thrive within that chaos,
or at least to survive it the first time.
Let's Spirit know this isn't going to go down as smooth as they'd look for, and now, well, we get Glocks out of it.
Spirit sat back.
We've heard both of these squads from either Sotvic over on Spirit or it was
Kerrigan in an interview with HLTV talking about the atmosphere in the
mood when they go down and rounds early. They played against Spuria, Kerrigan
said that it was frustrating in the first half of that game. Spirit however for
Sotvic said we're getting better at losing a pistol and still believing that
we can win. Now so far this one hasn't been that difficult for Spirit. They've
handled the situation, they've been pushed a little bit, but they've never looked
totally out of control. This could be an early scare for a team who knows that
they should be a bit better.
Everybody's lined up with money to be made off of Monacy, he'll draw him in.
They actually don't jump even though they lost that bomb off that flashback trying to get back.
He's doing as Monacy says enough waiting, let's get this on.
And so he'll switch right back to the Barrettas, he kicked off this map, finds himself another kill
and Killskay pulls onto the midfors, he'll get nothing here with the blocks for Spearing.
Yeah, they didn't want to kick him off with an ace here.
here working for monasy on the anti-eco hold denying any money from being
wasted
we talking about there on it yeah I mean don't 666 after all surely he's
talking about carrying her yeah maybe I've seen it an eco tier once in a while
Yeah, we need one kind of each.
But yeah, that's a Shanghai reference for sure.
First guns for Spirit.
Flash over long and they'll find no contest.
I'm curious to see like what sort of timidness might come out of Team Spirit
if Alken start winning these early rounds.
Because with this evolution of Donk being set up properly with more utility, right?
It's the kind of talk of the town that he's got more support around him.
Well, all of a sudden, that could change up your timings, making sure those pieces are
in place, making sure that he's not just throwing his life away, although it never
does feel like that, even when he is working with Lidl.
No cat-minus.
But he's asymmetry in the setup.
This is getting interesting, and Rihanna in a good way for Falcons.
Blindside.
Oh, oh, oh!
Lots of birds!
Niko activates, and he gets it!
It winds up working, even though they catch the bomb guard, Joe's gate's got it doubled.
That's exactly what you look for.
A monosy fast reaction, a nico activation, a Joe's gate cleanup, that is the win condition of Falcons in one round.
That was still Kerrigan getting the flash off.
Three on Cat and they have a full split with the long walk up.
Kerrigan has no idea this is coming.
Monosy gets the first kill somehow after a couple of missed bullets.
We thought that might not be a problem.
Well, it was. In three rounds, Spirit have made one kill.
All the setup in the world, and that round for Spirit, it just got suddenly popped on.
The two players catwalk it just as surprised as the Falcons players due to the long walk.
That off turns over and Kerrigan's dead. They're not anticipating Niko going forward like that.
And not a shot in this.
Oh, it's all perfect.
Absolutely idyllic here for Falcons.
Couldn't ask for more.
Oh, and you could ask for more kind of spirit.
You cannot be missing a mid-B smoke on a half-bi,
where you don't have a surplus of utility.
We'll have to go back and get another one.
That might be a set of smoke missing outside of B.
Made for your efforts. Could have been worse.
They don't bother breaking this open yet. Niko's got a cache of utility.
This next one could hit hard. Josuke's just gonna commit to the fight now.
It's Niko blind momentarily. Here's that Hail Mary push up through the tunnels.
Tess has a little wild, at least Shiro finds one, trying to move it forward,
doubles down inside of the site.
The mid-hold can just give him enough time, then there's a bomb plant to come through from Shiro,
and hands on that M4.
I do even want Magic to leave, that's the question.
Shiro's gonna upgrade to this M4.
But as he departs, the CTs get going, and they're not gonna waste time.
Kerrigan wins the duel with that AWG.
Magic's tagged down to half, tech nine bested, it's dead.
A couple of kills to clean up.
He senses that timing, the tempo, you know,
When that 8th Magic departure from mid happens, just go ahead and prioritize the retakes.
So, in what was one kill going into that round, it's nice to see Shiro get a couple plus a bomb on the line.
This is a shocking start here for Falcons.
Very quick to all the rotations, everything in place.
No one over 38 are so far here for Team Spirit.
A little bit of utility missed.
Shiro's kills allow for a bomb plant finally here for Spirit.
That's the best we can say about this half so far.
There is no scenario where you go to sleep last night thinking this is how the game will begin.
Considering your confidence versus this team.
And 8-0, Montesey wants blood in the fifth round of play.
Zontex is untradable at the moment. Tess S goes in.
Guys out!
It's off to sense. Disappearing something else. Just pauses for a second.
Yeah, knows a double push is gonna be taking place.
That's just his sprays looking a little bit funky right now.
Two rounds. He gets one bullet damage there.
USP was clean, but you're right ever since.
Now it's a risk right now. All Falcons want to do is just to sway them from coming here.
He sees nobody close. Would love to get one off before the pack fully convinced but he's got no other way to reopen that so he'll put a smoke in front of it instead.
And, honestly, holding this would just be beyond.
Ooh, God's dead!
No second kill!
Sonic straights through!
Magic's gotten him in fight!
Kerrigan's gonna use that advantage of the AWP,
but it's a man advantage, 14 Spirit,
and you can already see the hesitation there.
Four Falcons to think about this retake.
Spirit get through!
Spirit are on the board now, with a round.
There will be Kyosuke coming in on a flank
to look to try to deny exits, if possible,
The player that they sold to Falcons, the one that could come back to haunt them. At least that's his goal, obviously.
So a slight misread on what would take place here for the Falcons. Of course, when the push first push goes down that way,
no kill, only a touch of damage. They lose map control.
But what they try to do is pretend that nothing's changed. They don't overreact and rotate and instead
hope that either honestly gets two kills and his form is incredible right now.
Now, his form is actually always very good versus Spirit.
Spirit have to really clutch their money.
They cannot let anything more go.
It's two survivors as they close this round out.
One of those survivors though, Shiro with his awp.
Shiro as he tends to be the second highest rated player behind Dong coming into the Grand Finals.
We have a full house tonight.
Upper Rafters stacked with fans.
And this final one, you could, you know, some combination of these two teams in Fiora and maybe some other underdog, you think about it.
Whoa, it's early!
Can we stay right there to handle that?
A walkout, there's no flash in play.
wanted to try to steal some space but Donk is 0 and 6 and stood no chance of
clearing that.
He's leaving him to steal it.
A horrible start by Donk's standards.
This is a setup we've already seen but it's not the A-split this time.
Niko still flashed in. He's gonna hard command.
Magic's out of the corner. No X-bots pop up to deal with him.
Just another free kill for the Falcons.
I'm loving the use of cat. It's really well supported and it's very floaty
It relies on a flasher in the back you got to have someone playing ante up on the bricks
You have to have a right flier like Nico who's confident on those timing swings and sometimes you'll flash and someone will be playing
Antion someone else will swing it seems risky, but for now versus spirits T side so far. It's the antidote
Zero is really talking, did you see that?
I mean, they have to be angry.
Donk is zero and six, they have barely any kills, they've got one ball plant so far this
half.
Last round they win off of essentially one kill and then a good read on the V-take.
This round they lose because they took an abnormal risk of having Donk walk out unsupported.
Some kind of early round hard read.
And they kind of don't even get a chance to play.
What is it that you think Donk expected?
CT to be something?
Something, Spawn?
If you don't go and molly out those doors, you don't alert anybody.
There was a chance that if Donk walked out and they had some kind of interesting, unique
A setup where they're leaving a huge gap in middle, he could literally go for a pick-off.
He could start poking towards the window.
He could catch somebody, turned around for a tossing a flag to someone who could get
for Nades in CT spawn.
Question is why that rounds at that point.
You won't get the answer to that.
And Spirit won't be thinking about it either.
They're going to have to continue forward.
They have another buy.
And with the introduction of Softfix Valley brought up
so many more times, the utility stats have been amazing.
This is not a team that is based only around one guy right now.
They're trying their best to make it a team effort.
But that's a moment where they don't utilize all the new things that they brought in.
It's almost a tapping back into bad habits.
There could have been some kind of bait.
You know, there could have been something.
Long for Shiro when the mid-doors doesn't fire.
This is around where Sofic has had a word with the team.
And some of the best coaches are those that can kind of rain things in
when the pressure starts to mount, when the rounds against you rack up.
We really don't really know if he's proven in that regard yet
Whether he'll be a help
Regained as he goes for the mid-peak and sir rather long hold I
Love every time we take a look at the map
There's already so much variety here for Falcons the number of different setups and uses for monosy
The reason why he's generating so many up kills this tournament
is because he's not starting in the same place every round.
They'll have a huge advantage on this one shot.
They're gonna walk into you.
And he's gone.
And Donk won't be able to chase this down.
Ooh, off the flash.
Crouch is underneath that.
Donk decides to go for it while Modesty decides to double back.
Got an interesting protocol and adjustment.
Everybody starts to crunch towards middle.
We go. Both teams trying to remain fluid this round.
This has to... they're gonna try to punish Cat here from the CT side.
Will they take this peek and run right into the AWP? Yes, yes they do.
Counterpicked, man, advantage spirit. It's a slow burn that got them here.
That bomb's about to cross over. They maintain the cat control.
It's gonna be the AWP death for Derrigan, not this time.
Eco in the backdrop. It's not utility flying beyond him.
If he can hold cat lock, then the retake can still be underway.
But both of them in test is dangerously low.
And Shiro, to potentially be pinched, is still just sitting on this corner.
Now that he's missed the shot, they're gonna try to practice.
And he gives Hess something to think about, and Niko does he want to try this.
37 health versus 2.
Who's going to make a mistake?
Bomb at 25 seconds, dunk down beneath that lip of the ledge, and Magix is just going to pop up eventually.
He wants to play active for this, Niko could be a reaction, no, don't, we'll take him out.
Second kill for him, takes out Shiro and Niko on the A site, it's a miss shot.
A rare miss shot for Monosy.
The crouch peek out of long doors is not what he expected.
No coincidence, Donk's first two kills, Spirit's second round.
Oh, tricky. The way he flashes back into that position.
Now overall, they get this A-Rap going. They'd like to go for these splits.
Even General, knowing when they get it taken, long control.
Spirit Falcons are not giving them much of a fight over here, if they want it.
Oh, Donk's gonna play with timing, charge through. Niko with the blue ball.
Two balls to the left and a good one.
Doc's wide, sees a second.
Now the game begins.
Yeah, he's back. Back to it.
We had a lot of posturing last round out of Team Spirit.
You think Magic's sitting on the corner, just setting up U-Til after U-Til.
They were even having a bit of a pow wow, talking things out before going into this round's stark contrast.
You brought up already the modesty moments on the different parts of the map.
Well, now we're getting different flavors of Doc back to back.
And I was thinking that this is, you know, I just said, Falcons are not really fighting them in the early round over towards Longley.
They don't want to make it that scrappy. They've approached A a little bit differently.
Well, here's the change up, and maybe that's why they haven't tried that so often.
Spirit handled that extremely well.
Niko was blind and hard cleared.
Bomb will get spotted, but there are just so many numbers.
Spirit don't even know they're rallying them at the moment.
So it's just the price tag that keeps racking up in this one.
GSS is certainly going to feel doomed at this point, so you'll see him try to fight his way out.
Just bring somebody with you, because the odds are you don't get out of here.
I don't know what that ought to be. Love to.
Shiro holding this cross. Tough one for Tess S, but he will get through, unscathed.
Knows that the chase could still be on, but now they've actually got a little space to hang on maybe.
They've got a stronghold here in the B side. It's not going to be easy to try to fight them, especially knowing an AWP is up.
And nobody wants Falcons to save.
They look like they're about to literally exec B.
Once that smoke fades, they're coming. See what Tess Esken hit. First one's good.
They pause for a second, they don't double down so force survive on spirit, third round
collected, Falcons still lead this 5-3 and we got a timeout from the other side.
I do love it though, it's more of a real game, Donk started 0-6, we'll remember that because
it already looks like he's gonna have a good map to look at it, Donk stats, again the 1.0
KPR, him having that 1.0 bat kick kind of beats that, he's literally again trying to break
his own record. What he did back at Cato was something that we thought would never be done
ever and now we have to content with the thought that it might be done again.
Oh it might be wide open. But for now Falcons are still in the lead and playing very good CS
which is all we could hope for for them in this grand finals.
We know the capability, but you know, we remember even Garrygan going up against Spirit, some
of the finals that he's gotten himself into recently has drawn up his first playoffs of
the year.
Team Spirit looking to simplify things once again.
Tontik sprints, there's Josuke looking better up here than Tess has did.
Little change up in the positioning, little change up in the start of the round.
Spirit may have just won a few in a row, but it doesn't look like this one will be added.
It's not meant to be.
They don't kill him.
Magics has other ideas.
They don't care it doesn't take that swing and now there's actually still only two players here. Is this a live wire for Falcons?
They're gonna be nervous about everything
It's actually insane to me that Falcons have not moved from the A site the bomb is lodged back here
But because it was Duncan's on ticks to go for the entries. They don't know that that was the plan from the beginning
It's going to be a pause and re-execute.
Magics has put himself in a very interesting spot.
And I say interesting politely.
It'll be, you know, hard for him to have impact on the right timing.
But as it stands, he gets cleared.
He doesn't pull any CTs.
Plays the long con.
Still falls back on Tess S and Kyosuke.
25 seconds, they're wondering or spirit walking away, but they still seem to be on high alert.
And that's going to confirm it.
Two Nades fly out.
They're both right there for the taking and we go four up for Falcons at the end of this one with a rock-solid triple from Kyosuke
It's amazing on the hold man
You know him in this position to him when he's playing be on mirage
He's a real threat
Nobody's played with more great players than Kerrigan in his career
and you could argue no one deserves to have besides him.
He does so well, instantly coming in with the biggest egos and talents,
players who are in their prime or even just barely past it to try to revive their individual ability
and has already done that on Falcons in a short period of time.
Falcons for about a year have just been potential men.
They can do it.
They're good enough.
The joke has always been one more superstar, but the thought in everyone's minds, they're
really close.
This roster moves all about harnessing those superstars, getting the most out of them, and
realizing potential.
The thought of doing it immediately here in Astana seemed daunting, and yet here we
are, leading spirit in the grand final 6-3.
We do get this walkout for Teneir.
He's the first piece of a mid-play that Kyosuke shuts down.
Now a slight reaction towards the Catwalk, missed opportunity for Monosy.
Now the other offer could post up.
And Shiro's also gonna have to push that bomb forward.
These two rifles in front of Shiro don't have bombs.
Honestly, bad sequence.
It's all the distraction to get Zontics into CT spawn,
and now Shiro's opting to get the better of his counterpart.
That is a beautiful reaction.
Yeah, they make that work.
Three on one now, Nico.
He's playing it back.
They can go ahead and plant this bomb surely.
He dished it out here on the A site, Donk.
Double off.
And Shiro gonna have it up, yeah.
Donk switches right back, just in case Niko wants to take this.
Oh, crazy path it is.
Yeah, that was incomplete.
And he keeps it going because if he just goes for the wide peek,
no Shiro's got that line, so he fails it.
And he's going to forfeit.
And now this is a round where Spirit had options.
You know, that bomb's still lingering in the back.
The rifles got out, ate that flashbang.
But, honestly, his worst sequence of this series.
Yeah, you see him, he's generating all of these chances.
But there's slight moments. There's one overtop at default, the left side of it versus Kat.
Nearly gets off in the first place by Shiro.
So on the one hand, you can give him credit for showing the Matthew on his volley out.
The flash was good. He gave himself a chance at two flicks.
They weren't the easiest shots in the world, but he needed them, obviously,
for Falcons to grab that round.
It did look like for Spirit that was about to be a mess.
But now we see four of the last six here for Spirit, completely back online.
Well, Donk has had an uptick in performance.
This most recent round makes it feel like Bonnecy is coming off of the loop.
They'll be on the M4 this time, and there's a whole Cole Hort coming his way, early attention.
Eco 1 in the dot doubles down!
Oh, the 2-4!
Rips, heads off!
And if it's not carrying it, coming back to the CT cross to stop this cap play...
Ooh, he does get 1 at least!
There's still a bit of life left in Valkyries if they want to try to take this chance.
Dump your utility, get that bomb planted. You know the CTs are slightly out of position.
Planting off front site, Tess S and Jose on the approach.
Here come the flashbangs
Trying to interrupt things
Miss shots test that's dead to ears got it. It's an ear now also executed as Josuke goes on to the chase
He's got that off up close supports a little slow here
Shot with a fresh man 20 seconds on that bomb and Josuke doesn't have a kid
He doesn't have a lot of time not a lot of wiggle room and with that bomb planted front site
He'll be exposed and that smoke now faded as Josuke feeling desperate to get into this has to put fire in front of this last piece
It's too far gone, no diffuser allowed, Joe Skate's efforts all in vain, and Spirit blows in on Falcon.
Yeah, perfect plant with how quickly they fit the site, they added open, they knew they came up cat as well, so just very good forward thinking.
There's always been a really late lurker in every one of these situations out of Spirit, sometimes out of position, this time perfect position.
And once again they can thank Dawn for this.
Oh my god, no way you did that!
Spray transfer!
The slightest angle off to the right as well.
Barely a head showing.
If it was anyone else, I'd call it lucky.
Shows monosy there's levels to this.
First round, monosy has to play with an M4 versus Donk and he dies to a bullet bent around
the corner. So Falcon's momentum at the start of this first map fizzles out. They'll leave
them here on our 12th round with the scouting pistols. We haven't had any of these kind
of hiccups, right? These breakdowns of real rightful rounds. Pistols have not prevailed.
This would have to be the first time in this map for these upgrades to work out.
What it feels like to me is that Spirit eververted to a B game of calling over simplifying, going
Back to honestly how they used to play this map like a year ago to just focus on get one guy out in front of
Donk go for a 2k trade. It's actually work to get him back in this half
The way they played Dust2 recently though they played it on a completely different level
I agree entirely think about it
We had Donk walk out on that weird timing middle die
Sheerow and Thaddeck talking like mad then the timeout and that simplification ever since
But now to get through a 5-7 and a scout's the final hurdle here for Spira and it's not going well!
Oh no! Not at all!
Three kills towards tunnels, upgrades, grab it!
Pressure out of the CT spawn and Team Spira go back to play with the clock.
It could wind up being their demise into 12.
It's the two-headed Hydra. They have a couple fights.
Oh, honestly, we'll take that out.
Go ahead, hunt down Kerrigan. All you want, you've got 15 seconds with a smoke in front of you
only one point of entry into this bomb site.
Shiro tries to get lucky.
Kyosuke puts an end to it.
And Falcons will pull off a bit of X-Backers,
something we hadn't seen all half long,
sprinkled in as they end the CT side.
I mean, they've been so good on the B-Holz normally.
Here they do it.
They have an extra guy to scour it off.
And again, I think it tabs back into,
we're seeing Spirit go right for tunnels.
They're going for the mid-walkout.
They're going just doing that snake up cat
with everybody trailing behind,
saying, let's just make sure Don can have a good chance to get two entries.
But again, really reverting back and also, I mean, showing their range.
You can't always play well to kick off a huge series.
You can't always show up on the day and have everything go smoothly.
So the fact that they could go back to that and make it work at the same time is impressive.
But it also makes sense that Falcons when seven rounds this half started out looking so strong
and overall showed us plenty of good things to give them credit for.
Setups, the variety, the AWP kills in for Monosy, the flashes, the amount of time that they took advantage of Dawn,
and also the B-holds.
He has five fifteen frags, the monocies twelve, both very handsome square lines to be rounding
out the first half of a final.
The value that winning the last round of a half can have.
Give yourself that smidge of confidence coming into a valuable second pistol.
Here again knows how much this pistol can mean.
Saw him already play into the late hours versus Buria.
Every round matters.
Long sends the flash in for himself to go back in it.
We'll see whether Falcons fall for this trap.
And whether Teneir can hit shots to the back of the head because we know how difficult
that can be.
He's got the chance.
Don't get nervous.
Execute still.
Just be careful.
Beautiful.
Back.
Can get away from you.
It does it.
Tenir will still have a shooting out.
Make a triple kill from inside of the pit.
He does take a push back.
Killsgate tries to just keep him peppered,
keep him pinned.
Their support.
Killsgate dead.
It evolves in here.
Talk about tenacity.
Tenir on four.
The guy who amped up his gameplay back at Rio.
The player who came in to try to support Spirit's core,
not just come in as some kind of support,
but who started off slow,
has really started to find his groove now,
and chose the ability that he showed us
when he was dialing on tier two and 1.5 teams
back on heroic.
I'm gonna say two valuable rounds out of Tenir.
He finds that sequence for four.
He's also the guy that when those flashbangs landed
on Catwalk and Donk died after the double entry
Keep going, Monosy.
He brought that back.
He opened the A site.
He put Monosy down.
And we know that was a driving force in that streak of victory
Spirit were able to find.
This totally changes the complexion of the game.
CT side up for Team Spirit.
They're within one.
Nice.
He played on triple, super.
Good job.
Beautiful indeed.
Just perfectly placed. Think about it. This guy is seven and ten, has two multi-kills, one of them, four frags.
This though kills are almost worth two apiece. Quality not quantity.
Full pack of players on the other side of that, they figure out what's going on.
Just let's loose on the lead.
Ooh, ooh, so a fair way USP for the style points. Off for the 8.
Yeah, make it happen, Nash.
He made it easy by the lack of buy out of mountains.
And a little crowd fan.
Yeah, smiling from ear to ear.
2-IGL for Team Spirit.
Round 15, and this one's for the lead.
It was once a 5-1 Falcon start to this game.
Long gone.
That's without Donk having a takeover game just yet.
That's without anybody over on the side of Team Spirit being untouchable.
In contrast to monocene Kyo's cake, it's quite shocking to find this game tied-on.
They all have unenviable score lines at the moment.
The only thing they're happy about is being tied-on rounds.
They know that'll have to change because this isn't a game where one team has superstars.
One more ball to do.
They'll offer Shiro for the time being, same can be said on Monacy's case.
Get this grouping of players over towards long, just as Shiro decides to depart.
So Taneer in the pistol, worth his weight in gold, how about soon versus this commitment
out of two rifles on the Tech 9, trying to set up utility, Taneer goes wide, dead, empty
handed.
It is Tess as to topple the first piece, Kjopski emerges, catching Shiro just trying to tuck
into that car and denied the X-Tars climb up, no footing here inside the A site for Spirit
vs. Falcons first guidance.
Ready for it the entire time, knew someone was down there, it's a very clean split.
Rarely even saw a round, disconvincing on a rifle out of Spirit in that first half, so
they'll feel very good.
They didn't do the economic damage they were looking for last round, they may go for it
now.
And they deny spirit from taking a lead in this game.
And they'll send them back to the conversations.
You identified it, that change up in strategy going to plan B from the first half to try
to adapt. It's credit there to spirit where it's due.
They didn't have to split atoms to figure out how to win this round. I think they come in a little bit more simply.
We know Kerrigan's gonna play a little loose, defaulty.
And all it really took was one well-timed flash to make the difference.
I'm down with the realistic year.
Well-informed men, yeah
So who's gonna step up for spirit
It's not off at a shiro didn't have it last round will look to weaponize it instantly here in round 16
He is not alone in that tunnel push and ten year looks to go for the mid-play
This is the team spirit looking to take the gloves off. This is a high-risk high reward situation
If you can stop Falcons after their first terrorist round win, then good on you.
Teneir is going to completely blindside Karrigan, which means Falcons probably aren't ready for the rest of this.
His stop shot.
Doc dead.
Tess S on the rebuttal, but Teneir sticks around and as he does so, Tera's in the park.
Oh yeah, it's well going for Teneir.
Triple kill off that cat push as the lower tunnel play didn't pan out.
He makes up for it in spades.
Suddenly a hero here on CT's side.
I thought with a missed off shot there for Shiro that this was going to untangle in the wrong way
The call for spirit is perfect. They sneak one up cat. Terrigan thinks he has information from suicide
He's watching but doesn't see that push they taking over lower tunnels at the same time
There are spirit chance in the crowd
And competing, Falcons can't.
Now this is around, you just don't want to let get close essentially, you know the job
is basically done.
Teneir's going to spot another.
Is he going to ace?
Yes!
Oh!
Yeah, yeah, high fall.
Niko, Spinal, Hurdle, and Teneir just can't get it over, but ton of damage done, four kills.
5 health, MDAK. In other circumstances, maybe you could believe in that Kovac magic, but not with Tenir going forward off of the push.
And making up for the fact that Shiro's missed offshot lower was going to leave a lot of space for Falcons to maybe work with, right?
They take over the base. Mid, you fall back off. Catwalk, but Tenir's got other ideas.
Gets his kill, inside of suicide, falls back and just draws the line in the sand. Bottom mid entry, denied.
You love to see a setup that makes the team look like it just stalled.
And if they can afford to miss the opt-shot and still have two players in chances to trade,
lots of map control the other team didn't think about,
that's kind of what was missing at the beginning of this game,
that I feel like now that Spirit have warmed up into it,
they're willing to take more complicated risks.
Because again, this is a massive comfort zone.
This map per Spirit.
Even though he doesn't bring home the ace
Would have loved it goes the rounds over, but that's moved Kosuke off the off with the spawn he goes for long
And let's live here
Right now the counterpart in shiro is again trying to apply pressure to tunnels we saw him in lower not even get a chance last round
So he tries to take over tunnels from the other side
Falcons waiting for that mid smoke to come up hoping maybe they could find shiro in a fair head-to-head octool
The magic's looking like he wants nothing to do with that door line. So shiro stays here stolen
They will fight a five versus four on a Falcons player unprepared. It's also massive that he sees exactly where he's gonna be setting up utility from
This is going to let Spirit really cement themselves on this AD fence.
If Falcons decide that they just want to try to slam themselves up this cat plate into the hit.
You see they're unbothered. Beautiful.
They know exactly what's coming now.
Donk is ready. Taps away. Doesn't kill Kerrigan instantly.
Now you've got multiple bodies out.
Tanir and Stad will take the next engagement. Donk going back.
Doesn't even get his chance. Doesn't even get to the ear with the top.
And honestly just picking up a couple kills for the road.
No bomb possession, no teammates to work off of, and no longer a lead for Falcons, spirit in the lead.
That's something I didn't expect to hear in this game after the start.
Again, dog-starting 0 and 6, somehow still on a negative KD.
Trying to hang onto this off, dearly.
Not bad, USB headshot. Off goes down. A wildly successful position and again it's actually
quietly quite a cerebral round. The way that Shiro is holding that angle, it's not that
he just moved into that position. He had a sliver on someone who was walking up the
setup utility, punished that and none of the A players moved. None of the B players overreacted.
They didn't expect an exact to come in, so it was a great read of the situation for Spirit.
And Runway with it as Spirit on the Brink of Double Digits have just pistols up against them.
There are a few Desert Eagles sprinkled in.
But there's also a newfound confidence from some of these Spirit pieces, notably Tenir.
Comes out of that first half with barely any frags.
Now finds himself with the most kills on Team Spirit.
And a quad kill in that pistol sure as hell helps.
Quad kill on a rifle as well.
Shiro about to be faced by pistols trying to go through.
You'll give him a little room, but the one that does slip the net is easily killed by magics.
And it is not looking like a real chance at this plant.
The bomb trying to get by this AWPers managed to get within the zone.
Utility to be thrown forward, but that's at least a bit of money here for the Valken.
Unfortunately for the Desert Eagles, never connected.
Shiro's here with the cleanup, says you want to fight with Pistols, sounds good to me, and he gets his quad killed.
And so multi-kill potential from top to bottom, coming out of Spirit as they extend to 10-8.
Also seeing them win the right rounds, and Falcons having to save up a lot.
As Leed kind of becomes firm now here for Spirit, we saw an excellent first rifle out of Falcons to go for their cap play.
Again, it was one simple flash.
But now we've got Kerrigan in the kitchen, he's going to come up with something that's going to be a little bit more complicated.
It's very good at covering his tracks, building off of previous rounds,
evolving the T side game plan to get a slightly bit more complicated as the rounds progress.
I guarantee you there will be no more simple contact explodes just every single round.
He comes out by flames and smoke in front of that.
That's midway.
This is exactly what they needed.
Don could be caught off.
No, here's Kerrigan coming.
Still Kerrigan gets the head shot.
Jess has to clear out the corner.
He's that B site's pride for the taking.
But you've already got Timmy around a fast response again, but they don't know about
his monosy.
Yeah, upon Catwalk, there's still someone waiting.
The thing is, he's got damaged.
Sure, oh, that's him.
Backs up into it.
That's for free.
Monosy finds the freebie.
And this is just going to prioritize him.
Sure, oh, that's it backs up into it
That's for free honesty fights the freebie and this is just gonna prioritize spirit trying to push out through that tunnel exit
The flash Nico momentarily he regains vision Tess as now wounded ten years about to go
Why are you guys through the doorway takes a peek the cost of ten year wants more two players left and it's an ego
different
Respond, they do big time fast-knit P play no one holding on to it from the B doors. It's early
No time for rotations here for Spirit.
Correct read for Falcons.
And Kerrigan barely got away with it, but slams that headshot on Donk.
Yeah, that's true. Magic stopped the trade right after,
but that was really on Donk to nail that trade.
Double Ops.
Honestly, better remain cautious,
because he's got Donk with an Op on the field.
Listen, Donk rarely Ops,
but he also rarely misses with his Op.
It's still actually a real weapon for him.
You know, there's been a lot of 10-year playoff this Catwalk.
He's the guy who got an op-ace at Budapest.
Kiyosuke just utilizes the right amount of caution.
And that AWP boost disassembled at a minute 20.
As in fired, it's not like they're gonna think about it.
So the secondary off, both now on middle.
Let's see if they can trade out Monacy.
Whether a trade is even needed, Shiro's right here with Donk, double up, set up on mid.
A second cut, oh man, the fact that they're following each other is so different.
Donk first, Shiro second, that's what it was looking to be, but as Donk gets over unspotted, they are going to leave a vacancy towards middle and just try to throw Donk's off over on B.
Now on the one side, you get a little bit less support, Shiro can't be breaking open smokes and fighting as actively.
Unless he takes a first kill early, it's going to get a little scary for the B players.
That's a cut his way he's playing active
Shot through the door
Well done to at least wound Kyo skate
Middle will not be as free as Falcons found it last round
But Kerrigan does still leave this charge with bomb he wants to call this bluff Kerrigan's not worried about that ball
He don't want you to help out tunnels Kerrigan does get clipped now
They know about donk on and off, but we'll see what kind of pressure they apply last time we had zonzik's died
He's nothing this time. He hangs on test S and monosy respond donk is still excited
No!
That AWP looks good!
He's got more!
That's the real guy!
We never have to talk about Donkis versus Al, but he has that off in the bank.
That's quite a sequence from a guy who does this part-time.
Ahabi!
Falcons will trail by two again, and that round leaves Falcons strapped for cash.
An awkward one here.
Sonic takes this time out, he wants in.
Still yet to string together.
Any consecutive rounds on this T side are Falcons.
So you've got to figure it out, and you've got to figure it out now.
The problem is, with that round, the next one that you're going to give up, that's a question.
A half-buy earlier here for Falcons, they're going to try it again.
I mean, Spirit are obviously liable to lose a round like this, and the two Ops, well, they can be a liability.
Again, can't be nice versus walkout, but not always versus a half-buy team.
Already denying all the information that Falcons want to save for themselves.
That Molly will help hero.
Kerrigan walks wide.
Eco sails beyond that frag grenade.
Donk's going to rattle off and off the shots. I hear it.
It's about Falcons again. As much base as you can without getting spotted.
Donk's leaning all the way back on platform. Has Donk to also play off to him.
No pounce while they play around with utility.
They're paranoid to write the right thing. Magic's starting to make him lean.
Donk's still smoke in hand.
Numbers look appropriate for the situation. We get that lurk, smoke at the end of the tunnels.
But what will be behind it?
Sontics has this made.
He could place it for damage.
How's that arm?
He could expose them, stand in the pipe, perfect shape
with that double low down.
Attu and the Karrigan dies towards middle with nothing.
And Doc is here to support you.
It is confident inside this B site.
And a staved off pistol by from Falcons.
You will find nothing.
And it seems like a small win to win that half-buy.
Trust me, that could have been converted.
Falcons did about 70% of what they were trying to look for
was really get past a lot of the info that Spirit were trying to gather and they were doing so very proactively
To give themselves a chance at a B split
That Spirit don't know about but Magix he made the rotation correctly to support the off and the rifle
And the second off persists
two separate halves now we've seen an evolution from spirit not the first
team to wield two ops but putting it to perfection losing the dual go versus
honesty he said look who's faster I like the magic instantly picks that bad boy
right back up so still a double off for spirit
Honestly, with the quickness, wins one straight up to defend their hopes of winning this game.
Mid-Bees have been the apple of Carragans' eye so far.
It's also something that Spirit know that they always try to get, so again, in an act of covering his tracks, there's a lurk in place, but it's not necessarily the full take.
Niko will walk through this.
TnR on the other side, TnR head tucked on A.
That's not to me a phase. He will walk through.
Ooh, but it's all about the timing.
They'll take a bit of damage. TnR comes out with the kill. It's gonna be TnR. Yet again, rock solid throughout the CT side.
Doc's looking for an off-kill, Modesty's got the better of him and it's Tess has to open that bomb site for the plant.
That advantage momentarily. Zontics quick to the scene.
With a kill to his name already over Niko, he may have just gone unnoticed.
What sort of timing can he pull off here?
Oh, they gotta make sure the communication's good. Keep an eye on this.
Tess has low HP. Easy picket.
Exposed kill, Skate. Holds on for that one.
You've got the two best performing players for Valken still alive and Magix wants none of this.
They have a decent amount of money, but he's gonna keep the off in play
It's monesty to actually take out both of the double-op set up here from spirit out dueling shiro
Taking out John cuz they go towards the A site that puts him on 20 gives Falcons 10
Again the idea is very simple, but it builds off of what we've seen out of Falcons so far
their affinity for the B splits.
The double smokes out middle just to make sure
that nobody moves or best case somebody comes from CT
over towards B.
Pushka Kerrigan.
That's if Falcons didn't give him a call.
Luckily, there's nowhere he'd rather be,
and I don't think anywhere anybody would rather have him.
and they played against Furia as a, you know, name another IGL that could have got one kill
every four rounds. That was about his KD and still win. And he said in the interview recently
there's a lot of microing that he has to do. In playoffs, it's still working, but he's
sacrificing a lot to make sure that all of his other pieces are being successful. And
that might just sound like chatter if you didn't actually turn it into results. And
They won the hardest game of the event so far.
So many moments where Feria could have closed it,
but Falcons came up clutch, which is a story we didn't know
would take place.
There were no guarantees.
Falcons have 6-1 off round wins since the 4-0 start.
This would be the first time they win two in a row
since they started this game on the right foot.
And the team spirit can stave that off and end it now.
13-10.
It'll be a real testament to Falcons, and the difficulty they'll have
is stringing moments together as this grand finals goes on.
How confident does Karriggan keep feel about this round?
That's what I want to know, because even though they got the 5v4 in that previous round,
they almost got shut down on Cat.
It almost was a two-gable retake.
Good flash. That's perfect.
Great entry.
Kioskia gets one as well.
All shero now.
It's all up to him.
Looking for separate duels, but the flashback connects.
Perfect utility there out of the Falcons.
As you blind tinier behind the door, let Kioskia off the chain.
And on top of that, just end the AWPer of Team Spirit
right there in the mud.
This is Kerrigan to Platt and Falcons to push us to 24.
Spirit had no idea exactly what Falcons were going to try to do,
But the positions they add, as we can see, the X is on the mini-map.
I think they were quite content in the case that it became an A-play.
But they don't go for the flash for the corner peek, they go for the flash to make sure...
...anybody holding on that so that the doors was dead. It's, again, a good read.
They really didn't sacrifice anything to make this round possible.
And Donk's impact this game is pedubious.
Obviously he started 0-6, he's 13-14 now,
but we have seen so many 2K entries and holds out of him.
I think his impact goes beyond those two numbers for the moment.
But now that we're in round 24, it's all up for Grafs.
I can't help but wonder what version of Donk we get in this final round of regulation.
We've seen him unleashed, we've seen him off, we've seen him look reserved.
No real shortcomings for Spirit Barring Magics MP9, feeling like a fair fight to finish off
round 24.
And we get early attention for Falcons.
What's this so active for a walkout?
So active for a walkout.
Exactly what they're looking for.
Just two rifles lined up.
They see that utility coming.
They give up the line and Dawkins is going to go down with nothing.
Sautex makes up for that.
Somehow it too, but now it must be a retake.
And it's going to be Kerrigan.
Kerrigan himself to try to escape off the rotate.
Instant headshot.
Tanir and Shiro looking for the trade.
Kerrigan's got himself two.
Believe it, the Shiro, of course, in a clutch
to put things back in question as the bomb remained outside of tunnels the entire time.
There's a little bit too much time to think,
why isn't the bomb getting planted?
Are they late with it?
Do I have a chance to interrupt this?
Shiro, whose clutch stats were at a low last year.
Who's brought them up for this event?
We'll go for this.
Waiting and waiting for somebody to misstep.
Tess has starts to stop.
That's the distraction.
Window swing, shoot up, but he doesn't go.
They pitch!
And we need OT!
This was the round that we're looking for at Shanghai to make the comeback as a day like it's phase plan
But again care again bullshit here
That's pause going into overtime
anyone's game and I think a lot left on the table probably some nerves on the table not everybody having the stellar performance you could expect on
The one-hand spirit give up this win right away in regulation of Falcons
but on the other they started the first four rounds with one kill
So they might still feel comfortable
The two guys who have that consistent impact in every map of this event
How blessed are all of me to watch these two players touch counter? Oh, yeah
Yeah, I mean...
Somehow you want to say generational talent.
And it feels like they both are and exist in the same generation.
NOOOOOO! WHAT HAPPENED?!
Fucking nice counter man. That's good for us.
I told you, smile! It's a similar.
Smile is a smile.
Someone yells at you to smile.
They're happy.
It really is something Kerrigan brings to his team as a leader, just to join the moment
because he's been very, very clear that he has no idea how long these moments will last
and there's nothing he loves more than playing this game on these sorts of stages in front
of these sorts of crowds.
Pastana!
Make some noise!
Overtime in our first map of the best of five.
blessed
But steps over top of cat trying to elicit some utility here
Get not willing to take a kind of further risk
But even just drawing out a little utility especially versus a cap play sometimes in a default
While you're trying to cover your tracks you're trying to do a first tier exact to see what the other team have
What a setup is
Versus cat they've got to make sure the mollies can't come down this the nades can't punch them as they're trying to cross
Close play from Donk though, right?
He got excited to smoke.
Big setup position to get that kill.
He knows with certainty there's players on the other side of this, and then to near again!
A spray-transfer!
So much value out of this hit place!
Pinyr has been able to expose!
Kerrigan's gonna find an open route!
Monty's in the middle of all these smokes!
It's a crazy move, they don't know where he's gone!
What's going on?
Bomb is outside!
Bomb is here, underneath the feet of Donk!
And at the same time, Kerrigan gets that kill from inside CT spawn!
But Donk is gone!
What Valken's wants!
They're sharing a wall, don't know their neighbors!
know their neighbors and keep going. Three kills from Finn himself, but
Donk atop your bomb, 20 on the clock. You can't run from him now. You've got to
try to hunt him down and he'll kill the first one with ease. It's Montesey's
off posture trying to sit on top of that Xbox. They know they fucked this fight
locked in. He can't escape, but it runs from who? Donk escapes, he's got it now.
He's going to run for the hills. The first time he met his team, Donk went away.
Just leave the seat!
The chase is on final second!
Ahhhh!
Oh, hey!
What have you ever seen?
Go, run away!
And how often do you ever see him in a clutch?
A one on three.
The amount of individual moments in this round.
It was a puzzle for him to figure out how we could even get across this door,
filling monies on the other side waiting for him.
Taneer Flakhtok need Kerrigan Cat Drop into the CT play.
The dog push through smoke, having right under monies nose,
and a 1v3 clutch to close that.
I thought that there was no chance that that happened, but the flash on his waistband and
perfect awareness of the time on the clock and the space he could get away with.
that he's not just all brawn.
Oh now he's anchoring.
You don't have him running for the hills, you have him sinking his feet into the sand
and locking down the middle portion of the map.
All's on to Tash the News. Cut down this ball. He'll do exactly that and echo his second victim in this one.
A chance for Modesty to clutch with the pressures on and that consistency in the top hit flank spells disaster.
Spirit cut for a flawless CT side in overtime.
They don't look to waste that round. They turn it into back-to-back situations.
The full split gets completely countered. They have the long push as the checkmate move out of Taneer.
He's still top-fragging here for Spirit.
And Spirit have a chance to sweep this first OT half.
The money is a problem for Falcons.
No off-permonacy.
Two pistols between Tess S and Kerrigan.
Layers coming out for spirit now, Util already facing it, Stalkin's approach.
Time these well.
That needs perfection, goes to be slugged to the up.
Yeah, like a slug moving through that.
That was a Hail Mary attempt.
It looks like a force by the way that they just tried.
A Caterpillar upcat together.
And they eat the Util damage together.
get spotted together.
We're going to be desperate to get something here in overtime.
They're hand forced to keep up this presence towards the catwalk, and you can see what
Niko's queuing up.
He wants to join forces as Doc looks to the dodge you till turn back in.
Doc is dead this time.
Magic's in Sonic's still with the pinch.
It is all monosy once more, but Panera's got his number again and again and again with
these mid flags.
time to perfection, played to perfection, was this overtime from Spirit so far.
It almost feels like the amount of map control that Falcons had throughout this overtime was given to them by Spirit.
They pulled off that long flank, which is the ultimate sign of confidence that they know what's going on.
You don't take that risk unless you're confident that the cat split, or that the cat play is coming,
or the mid B, or the tunnels walk out.
They made sure that they used Xenir to his fullest extent, because if you leave that long guy there too long and he doesn't flank, he can sometimes just be too long of a rotation to stop this.
Falcons have to win three rounds in a row for another overtime.
Just gonna charge down through long doors and he goes, got only the one.
Get the spinner out!
What a turn!
Dunk just whips it, and Falcons with heads left spinning still don't have anything to clamp down on here towards Long.
long. A potential fight between Shiro and Monosy, but Monosy's gonna miss a shot.
And right now you shouldn't be missing versus this version of Don. You've got
that AWP trained on you if you're Monosy, and still more support with that
bomb on the edge of long. Crazy move going back to Karr. Could have escaped.
Know that he had Shiro pinned to that location. They might forget about him,
but Monosy, you can't miss again. During all that action, we also lost the CT
over towards middle. Monosy will not have many chances once the smoke fades.
gets Shirou, does it know?
Magix cleans up that bomb site
and he will be looking to put that bomb
down in front of Zonfix.
The guy we haven't talked about
has to come in to defend their hopes of Dust 2.
They work so hard in regulation
to get this chance to fight against Spirit
and close out on their favorite map.
Wasting no time, he sprints the entire distance
and dead!
In a moment's notice,
in a mere four rounds,
Taneir smears Falcons in overtime
And dog levels up as that game goes on, we were worried out the gate, but Evolution is the name of the game when we discuss this version of Team Spirit and we saw it within the very first map of this Grand Finals.
She said she loves you.
But she can't love me.
But I love you!
I won't play Windu anymore.
The human body was built to move.
Tractor to death in one singular posture for 12 hours a day.
It's time your chair evolved.
This is Secret Lab Titan Evo.
Ergonomically engineered for you, gamers, hybrid workers, artists.
Lending your every move.
Let's go!
I'm far away, I'm stuck and I can't see a way but you can't cross the road
Well, it turns out everyone here in the Barus Arena today is gonna get their money's worth.
What an opening map that was for this best of five grand final.
Plenty more to come, but man alive.
The margins, Razor Thin and OT Spirit didn't even need to deploy too much of the dunk effect,
but what a great opener.
We have a lot of ball knowers up here, but we could have never expected that.
What a great way to open the Grand Final with an overtime.
That's the type of stuff that you dream for in a matchup like this.
Teneir's, that was Teneir's graduation right there.
The trips were done, we saw a dog struggling to get off, you could see the frustration
seeping in, you're like, if dog gets tilted and you see Falcons in the lead running away
with it, things might kind of crumble for the spirit of a man.
Teneir delivered, he delivered with composure with the aim, and more importantly, he didn't
play scared now.
Yes.
those little opportunities he struck hard.
That was so impressive from him.
First round of overtime for him to find the flank there.
And I'm getting a little bit worried, Rich,
because when we saw Falcons pressed against Furia,
Kerrigan, he blew up the playbook.
He had so many different ideas.
You know what happened in this overtime?
You saw it contract.
First round of overtime, spread out default.
Second one mid to B, third one.
Guys, let's just all fight mancat, OK?
It's getting worse and worse by the round
when Spirit are fighting back in the way that they have shown to be capable of.
And that's such a horrible thing to see because they started this game so good.
Like, we kind of worried that maybe the mid-B defense of Kiyosuke and Tessus might get tested
because they have struggled in playoffs, they have struggled against the lead-off position,
but you saw them come out the gate swinging, and really, Kiyosuke kept up the pace really the entire game.
He definitely has had one of his best playoff performances individually that we've seen so far in this game.
You want to see obviously having loads of impact, but Spirit Stars eventually did shine and they had a load of impact.
The one worry I had, I think all of us had was to be defense, right?
But you look at the way Q's get tested, spate up each other, the B bomb side, you're like, that's perfect.
That's all you needed.
But the T side rules, we saw this early in the tournament for the side effect, especially in Dust 2 as well.
And you could see, I agree with you man, we felt like they were getting this round.
That's the round, that's the round.
That was the dunk effect, that's a dunk aura.
1 vs 3, 30 seconds on the clock, the bomb is down, you know where he is, and the amount of respect you give him, you give him that, he's gonna take the round away.
Too much respect, and listen, shout out to Mohan as well, that is gonna go down, it's an iconic call, when do you see Donk run away?
Sometimes, smarter is better, you don't need to take the fights.
It is crazy, because look, look, people will look at this score, but they're like, oh, Donk, classic game, huge raiding, huge kills, no, he started slow folks, like he did not come out the gate at all,
But eventually his impasse of felt didn't even like screw it out. I actually did really well
Did but I want to get back to near really quickly because this is the thing we've been talking about all tournament long about getting him activated
Making him a third star. He was so good at opening up rounds on the T side coming cat
And he had so many flanks so many impact moments where he just was able to push middle and cause a havoc
Seven of donks 20 in overtime. That's a big-stage player. That's the guy that gets better when the lights are brightest
He was going through the motions through a lot of these rounds trying to just play within the system that has been well devised
This is the last time you have seen a frag and you should like that
I'll also think of this for the one multi kill AWP in hand for Donk wasn't even his rifling and showed everything on display in this
Yeah, absolutely. I hit Donk with the AWP out all the monies while peeking into his op on the B bombs
That's something don't really expect to see but that's what Spirit had to do
That's what Tenir had to do, just try and elongate the game as long as possible until Donk woke up.
And finally, when he did, it looked like the writing was on the wall.
I mean, look, we've talked about these two.
I've got no notes.
I think, actually, this is one of those rare moments where I looked and I think everybody did pretty much everything I would expect them to do and want them to do.
I think this was two great teams swinging for the fences.
Star players showing up in a grand final.
But I'll say this, you're talking about graduations.
Let's talk about Q2K then. Remember this is the guy chokes and playoff supposedly goes missing in big games
What did he just do there? Like he played lights out
Let's just thought what it is he started very strong defensively being that mid B defender fighting in the double doors helping lock down the
B bomb site
You can just look you only had two rounds in the first half where he didn't get a kill
He was everything you wanted and more and then when the go on got tough to get them into overtime
The dude was banging out some entries like he that I remember that one round and beat tunnels where he just peeks out and kills two
people on the site like he had the impact you would want it kind of cooled off and over time and for honest
It wasn't always consistent, but I see that though dust it's like look, you know
That's what you need your IGL to come alive and call those rounds throw in the curve balls
And that's where the polish was so much more on display for spirit again
Residious going back to the flash assist in this one if you took the amount of flashes this per round
Spirit had in this they have 50% more than vitalities last year in that map that map was crazy
in terms of the amount of times they're just setting their players up. That's what Falcons don't have right now.
It is up to Kyosuke and Niko and Monosig to try to just deliver them frags because the system is just
unfortunately not there. There's still a little rough around the edges on Falcons.
I mean if you look at just the opening deals being won by Monosig and Kyosuke,
that was a 9-0 for just the two stars right there for Falcons team.
That's right, yeah for the Falcons team. And you're wondering with stats like that, you should be winning the game.
But 100% agree with you.
I think this is where you can see how much time has been put up with this particular spirit team and of course under soft fix
Coaching as well. So so to speak 36. That's unreal
That's like record setting pace right there look we've always
Yeah, you did have an ace as well
This is the biggest thing that we've been talking about time and time and time again
I hate beating a dead horse, but it's just true spirit has always been sensational on their death ball approach to counter strike because they just
have so many weapons, particularly Donk being the tip of that spear, but the way that they
have honed it with the support utility, the fact that Tenir is coming online to trade
back.
Hell, there was rounds where Tenir was running up Kat first on CT side and T side finding
openings.
It allows Donk to have a little bit more support and not have to always be the guy because
he had a cold start.
He did some other guys to rally.
And when they did, he eventually stepped up too.
And I just want to touch upon one thing which I saw yesterday as well against Maus.
On the T side, what spirit we're doing with a simple counter strike, right?
They have a spawn for Long, just rushing out Long, deathballing into the mouse.
We saw the same with the B spawns as well.
What is started on this particular map against Falcons?
They were a little bit more defaulty.
They're giving a little bit more respect.
But once they're like 0 and 5 down, they're going to screw it.
Just going to rush out Long.
That's the first time they won by the way.
Just rushing out Long, deathballing out, getting the kills.
But I love what I saw from Magix.
I love how he was able to try different approaches no matter how much pressure was on.
And I feel for Magix that's also really maturing as an IGL.
When you go up against someone like Karrigan, you need to mature up real fast.
It is excellent to see Magic's display, a wealth of options there on their T side.
I mean, we know Karrigan to be the legendary IGL, and yeah, maybe in three months' time,
he's going to catch up.
But in some ways, actually, it did seem like Magic's the way he called and brought him back into the half,
looked more experienced, or at least he knew what tools he had to work with.
Let's be clear, Spirit's bulldozed their way to this point so far.
They only dropped one map throughout the group stage.
That was an overtime loss on Overpass to a solid team.
Now they finally got tested to have to be resilient,
to have to keep their composure after a cold start.
When you've got Kiyosuke and Monosuke flying out the gates,
some of the hottest stars in the game,
running you down on your own map pick,
the map that you've defeated,
so many great teams on with this lineup,
to see them be able to sit back and let the game come to them
and eventually figure it out, that's nice trait to have.
Definitely, and the good news is we've got Mirage to come.
I mean, it's one of those maps where I've seen spirits
down the years, you know, just running around,
making headshots and such, Carrigan teams, of course,
they love a bit of Mirage, Nico in connector,
it's all iconic, it's all coming together.
It is all coming together, but for me,
when it comes to Falcons, I mean,
we're kind of expecting them to go for this map,
again, all honesty, right?
But here's the worrying thing,
of course, they're going to be starting the T side,
of course, they're going to be comfortable.
Switching on to the CT side later on,
Tessus has had a bit of a nightmare on A.
Remember, he's not had too many reps,
maybe three or four reps thus far,
against lower tier opposition, is what the CT said.
And that, for me, is the reason why Spirit could get that too.
I also am really worried about the fact that for Falcons,
so many of their plays with Kerrigan have been just set pieces.
I think that he hasn't quite developed the whole mid-round bag,
explored all of the default options that he has with the team,
pretty sure through the group stage thus far.
About 30-plus percent of his plays are just set calls out of spawn.
And to me, that's a weakness.
Spirit are going to eat that up if you're just going to be going for just calls out of spawn,
not working through the whole map and letting the mid-round god operate.
I agree with you, Mali.
I do think they have been a little bit relying on just
like the quick 4-1, 3-2 splits or set pieces.
Obviously, you have a lot of stars that pack a punch
in those entry positions.
The fact that Manna sees an entry offer is just an X factor
other teams don't have.
And so you can play to that speed.
But I saw inklings, Mali.
I did see them try some different mid variations.
They're using Nico to solo pressure and extremity
or even double up with Tessus and do some cool things.
So I saw some signs, but they need to develop that.
And they need to do it quickly because they're already
a mat back, and this is their most confident pit.
The one silver lining here for Falcons is Kiyosuke.
He's had his playoff woes against Furia, he delivered.
But there was always a question mark,
and he still continued that from against Magic yesterday,
easy opposition, that's totally fair.
Dust two, he did his job, right?
He looked good.
And one thing we're going to be seeing on his T side,
keep an eye on this.
Karrigan's going to be the one running on into his connector.
He's going to be running it with his back turn,
and it's going to be Kiyosuke is looking to go for the trade.
He is being a sacrificial lamb just to make the star shine.
So he's got to put in the work here.
What I've also loved though about spirit is the contingency options that even if the mid control from Falcons proves a little too fierce if Kereganin Kiyosuke proved too powerful of a duo they've shown that they can come up with answers.
The way that Tenir has played towards his own a bombsite lately has been a standout improvement, a market one in showing the development of their defense.
He'll push into ramp by himself. And if it's just Tessus, I like Tessus. He's my favorite falcon. But Tessus, but Tenir has been on a run lately.
So they have to be both ready for those 1v1 duels if the time comes.
Yeah, but he's not going to be alone.
Doc's going to be there with him as an A connector player.
And it's going to be such a pivotal piece in this game yet again as a destroyer.
And I think for me, if I'm Falcons, I want to target that B bomb side.
That's where Magic Anzontics are playing together.
That I think is going to be the weaker point.
And you know, throw some set pieces at B.
At least put some pressure there early.
That way you can temper them.
And then you can kind of, you know, open up the playbook once you oppose B as a threat.
But you're right.
I mean, Spirit is just so explosive on this map.
so sharp with these new utilities and really for me it is just Taneer coming into his own as a guy who can play that A side both ways by the way
Also, just be a great trade factor executes
Both of these teams have so much opening power laid out across their entire roster and this is a map that just
Promotes a slugfest and let's talk about this
You've got the most go-id coach on the one side and a new guy with fresh ideas coming in on the other
Sophic right now sitting behind spirit
I think that there are a handful of people out here that might be rooting for Falcons
I have a wild card one that might be coming to table
It might be Holly because he's looking at his potential replacement right there the market improvement in the way spirit is carrying out
Some of their offenses when soft pick is behind him the way he's helping out people like Xontics
It has shown that it is paying off and it's making spirit into a world-class contender
I also want to add those on it get a different kind of hot seat right Holly might be in that chair in the corner of the hotel room
watching from a distance, but Zonic is right there on the stage and he knows
Karagin, he can get the keys to the city, he can take over this whole team now if
they start winning Zonic's success and Karagin's success together might just
keep him in a jump. Yeah I mean I think I've liked what Falcons have done so far
with Karagin at the helm, I think we've seen some positive signs and it's about
pulling them out at just the right time considering the fact that as we noted on
Dust2 we didn't see the same you know variety of openers that we had seen
from them in the group stage. Mirage they did show the capacity to do it but we need to see it now
when you're a map down this is supposed to be your most confident pick and you're up against a
spirit team who plays Mirage to a high level as well so this is going to be another battle of the
stars in my opinion. Again I think Munna see if he can stay on the form that we saw on Dust2 that's
going to be pivotal because he's such a dynamic defensive offer but he's also a can opener on
sites that just other teams don't have in the opera world. I'm just saying for Falcons right now get
Just win the pistol round, right? Convert the following rounds, put the AWP in the hands of Elia, and watch him just blow up on the bomb site.
Yeah, I mean, look, you can keep it simple here, but I am intrigued to see what happens, you saw. Big huddle there from Falkens, right?
Karagin, Zonic, all in there, all these ideas, they've come out all smiles. What are they going to do differently? Are they going to make adjustments?
Remember, we don't know what the Karagin system on Falkens even looks like here.
No, it's one that is constantly in development, one that you would hope he would actually figure out what's been working, what hasn't been.
But just the way that Spirit has been tackling their games, it feels like they're coming in with a little bit more preparation.
They're not a team to me now that's just saying we're going to run our own game into the ground.
They're a team that is flashing all of the opponents off of all their common angles.
I feel like they're actually getting into the demos in a way that I haven't seen in the past.
And so if this is a fledgling state Falcon that's trying to finally take flight,
I feel like this is a spirit team that's just trying to crush him in the nest
And also you gotta remember like Mirage if you look at it
They've only played it once so far at this event right against Furia. It was a close affair
Yeah, if you look back at Rio initially they were getting completely curbs stormed by multi-team teams of losing to red canids
Even Falcons earlier, but then it's turned it around G2 mouth Falcons single digit rounds with them
So even though this is the pick coming in for Falcons
I think spirit would be the favorite to still take the map here
And the worry is, if Spirit get out ahead with that 2-0 and you've got to do that run back, that thing we see so rarely in Counter Strike history just, you have to wonder, do Falcons have the chops?
Yeah, I mean, that's the biggest thing, right? Because when Kerrigan got interviewed on the stage by Bangs, he was very, you know, honest about things that, you know, the system isn't totally fleshed out yet.
We don't have too many design things. Yes, there are some set strats in the plate, but when it comes to the actual mid-rounding, some of this stuff's going to come on the fly.
Some of this stuff is gonna have to just be pure intuition in the heat of the moment when you have milliseconds to figure out
What is the right move to make in how should I make it?
And I do think that Karrigan is the perfect guy to wrangle stars
He is known for his mid-round calling chops. We've seen it throughout this tournament
Maybe not on Dust 2 as much as we wanted to on T side
But there were indeed signs of it and now he's going up against an inexperienced Indian leader in Magix on a big stage for a trophy
Those are hard to come by they're showing vitality is out there make the most of it here
I'm also curious because obviously we're talking with a T side that good
That was a struggle there on Dust2. They're going to be starting the T side here as well again.
But once you go and get stuff on the CT side, Nico, the main voice on that CT side,
we haven't really spoken about it much, right? He's been having a bit of a quiet tournament thus far.
Yeah, I'm trying not to recycle the same old narrative. But yeah, it's a final. It's Nico.
Exactly. So for him, he has always been that voice even with Kixson was calling.
And right now it does seem like an acargon is still giving him a lot of, especially with the position he's playing right there.
So the questions will be asked when you go and get stuff.
Is it going to be kind of taking the reins away from Niko?
Or is Niko still going to be continuing what he's been doing so far?
What I am more curious about is actually just to see if Kyosuke can continue to perform as he did on map 1.
Because I think that the story almost parallels what Kerrigan did when he joined that mouse lineup.
Because he got to work with a young Robs player that was just off of his first top 19 performance back in 2018.
And he molded him. He made him so much better, reduced the amount of errors,
made him a more impactful player,
and that's what I'm starting to see already
in one tournament with Kiyosuke as his right-hand man.
This is the best playoff performance
we've seen at Kiyosuke so far,
and he's going to be in such a critical role with Nikko
playing that E-rotator position
to kind of crossfire with Nikko and the A connector.
That's the big thing that I feel like
confidence has to do here defensively
is they have to disrupt spirit.
Don't let them implement their game plan.
Don't let them run through their playbook.
Don't let them set up that utility,
get in their face.
And I think that they have the appropriate roster
to do it when you think of guys like Nikko and Kiyosuke
who want to go forward.
What do you think of the fact that Munisee is the most aggressive peer-opper in the game?
That he's so dynamic, he's so fluid, or how he moves around the map.
Where he picks his starting locations, where he moves to after he gets that opening pick.
You never know where the flash is going to be, and he is definitely on form right now.
I'm looking at the Fury I lost, they had on Mirage 13-9, pretty convincing overall.
And if you're looking at Tessus, he's going to be looking at Niko.
He's going to look left, Niko's going to look behind him, and Munisee playing towards Ticket or something.
He's like, guys, help me out here, you know?
So I hopefully didn't manage to fix one of the issues they had lost on your plate because there were some issues on an A site
That's actually just been a perennial problem with Nico as a con player
It feels like as so many new players will join up with their a anchor and push towards ramp push towards Palace
Nico just makes his bed at con at jungle
He doesn't always support his guy as much as you would want him to and that leaves tests on so much of an island
And if your test is the last thing you want to do in this kind of game
It's just jump spot ticket booth for the entire round you want to get into the fray
Have it feel like it's viable to play under palace so that you can form a crossfire with Nico
So if Nico just lets him out on an island lets him out to dry then unfortunately
I think it's just gonna be a completely porous site on a look
I know he doesn't have the reps yet, but I actually like that care again made this move
He was a b anchor obviously on phase as well
He took the crappy CT position that you don't want he put tests on a the more favorable anchor role and throughout this tournament
I have seen tests is make some good moves make some a ramp pushes getting inside pass being described up
He is a more aggressive nature guy, so while I think you're correct about maybe the support system still needs to be there between him and Niko,
I do think I've seen some good things. We'll see if it can happen here.
And we're about to find out because now we can start this map. It's Mirage, and it is time for Scrony and Laundice.
Fingers crossed. You've had time to catch your breath, Estana. Dust2 had all the makings of an electric grand finals.
And now we head on over to Mirage Moe, where, lo and behold, fingers crossed, we get more and more headshots.
Yeah, I mean, if we put it bluntly.
Last map, Falcons, it was a weird game
because we had a slow OT of calling out of care again.
We had a good start from honesty, but a bad finish.
We had a Niko that wasn't in the full form,
and they had a 6-0 start.
So there are things that are left on the table.
Spirit could punish here and make it a 2-0.
If they do, we might not have a series.
Falcons must respond.
Spirit looking to trade in Falcon's series for another bit of silverware.
The all-elusive trophies, an organization that has tasted victory, trying to get back to the
top of that mountain.
And right now, it's Falcons setting their eyes on this A site, map two underway.
And as they cross over towards this bench, oh, it's a little labored.
Donk actually not able to catch his head shot.
Teneir tries to go in for a little more, and that is what opens the door for Falcons to answer back.
3v3, you know you've got these Ghouls queued up, and so Niko's got one as well.
These three players alive for Falcons have each established a kill themselves.
These are floating. They want to fight, and Niko will find it.
And that should be the one that seals it up.
Ajax doesn't have a way in and a way to reclaim CT as well.
So he'll walk away from this another pistol round start for Falcons.
Talked about the strong start on Dust2, the 4-0 kickoff, the 5-1 score that was.
And listen, even if you don't close the game, at least you have the strong start.
You'll always take that.
So it's kind of about continuing with those wins they had early on.
And, you know, the weird part was the fact that calling for Falcons, we talked about with Spirit,
They oversimplified to just get back in the groove in the beginning.
A falcon oversimplified as the game got deeper,
and that's not something you normally see with Kerrigan's calling.
So there might have been a little bit of a fake loss in what was happening,
and I think things were getting too difficult,
even though they staged the full comeback.
It's a critical moment, honestly.
So World were maybe even Kerrigan kind of had too much self-doubt,
thought maybe he didn't have his finger on the pulse of the game.
You don't want to put too much into it because it's overtime versus the team,
who is more ready, has more... Falcons come in with eight days of preparation.
So the team that goes into overtime, who's been together practicing playing tournaments,
obviously you've stacked them to shine there.
Go MP9s at the top of the middle, four SMGs in this round for Spirit.
Trying to get this force by underway, they'll take that fast clash to top mid, looking to usurp Falcons' start.
Yeah, Kerrigan, I don't think he believes it.
He knows somebody's in there, dog dimes for those efforts.
At that same time, Zondix robs one away with his MP9. Still there's movement here for Spirit. Take that look towards Ramp.
He just goes to the other side of it.
Yeah, some blood has been spilled on this round, so Falcons will have to reassess the situation.
Chirro's got an open line, so it'd be one elephant.
No smoke either here for Falcons. That scout's gonna be a looming threat. Excuse me. There it goes.
Just the right piece of Util to now push the pressure onto Magix in contrast.
No splash.
separates the first one from the rest of the pack, but Niko's trade's good.
Remember, Zontics was low from this earlier engagement over on that eight-side,
and he is nowhere to be found, and Shirou has had a couple of chances
to hit some scout shots.
And that's a tag.
Charmed.
A little bit of damage, just a bit of damage,
could really now just let him back on Zontics,
being able to come through with impact, so he'll give a little space back over.
Niko's trying to keep an eye up on this flank,
but it doesn't necessarily mean he can watch it the whole time.
Honestly, he's far back.
It's playing an interesting spot where, you know, Van might get cleared and no one's there.
Dauntix is looking for Nico, but he's just hoping to go unnoticed.
It's going to take a hard clear from above and Nico actually pushing off from beyond that wall.
He actually didn't say that.
That is just beautiful timing, isn't it?
It falls on the scout to pull this off.
And remember, no kit at 10 seconds.
This round's a foregone conclusion. It's just about the cost.
And that part is effective.
Shiro going to topple Nico, but it was Nico to reopen this round with a kill on Catwalk
to push B to the B site, and honestly make sure that he just gets something to think about.
Make sure that the next one is not being put pistols for spirit.
Yeah, it's a lovely start for sure for Niko.
Good trades and a 3B3 with mid control, and you've got all the great guns.
Sounds like a decent situation to be in, except there was still a clamp down on mid.
There was still magics on cat.
They decide also not to go in with a flash to try to take over B site control.
So there was a risk of him getting a multi-frag from that up close position.
Falcon survived it. Got a little bit of utility coming into this round. A couple of upgraded pistols, but not much else.
Makes sense knowing how low falcons were when they closed out last round.
Trying to keep this game cost-effective. Not wasting a moment now. Kiyosuke smoked off from the connector play, just making sure that what he can see is clear for the taking.
for the taking. Sometimes a dangerous game to go up into window with a better weapon than
a pistol that could be pressed into you. Maybe they really think there's no threat in this.
But a 5-7, a Desert Eagle shot, all of a sudden, Spirit could find themselves with hands on
this AK. Josuke, at least dropping one, but yes, gets overwhelmed. Look how perfect this
is and look who you give it to! It's kinda scary, you give Donk his weapon.
He's playing with Keplar. Oh, that's the bomb gets dropped!
Oh god, this round is starting to fall apart.
Donk is just throbbing at the thought to swing out wide with this rifle.
But it does get put back down.
They still have to go get it from Kat.
The bomb is not in a great spot.
It was spotted as well.
They could go ahead and take over a side control,
but there are bigger fish to fry at the moment here for Falcons.
I don't even care that Spirit have pistols.
Falcons who are the ones that are scared.
They don't know where these players are flanking, and they don't know if it's better to go B where the bomb is leaning to or to jump off
Cat and make it towards a where there's still one more guy potentially
We'll find out what they think step one grab that bomb step two make your decision and make it now
5-7 flank activates that's gonna confirm shiro's gonna have his hands full
Falls on
18 help
the plant, six seconds, another peek, just the minimal bit of cover, and he could never ask for that to go well.
This is asking him to get to this plant.
Teneir trying to intercept that with the HE was insane.
He was right that the clear had to happen with the amount of time left on the clock,
but that was almost certainly getting plant to default that Niko would have 100% died.
Either way, he juggled his presence well and made it possible to sort of, you know,
have to worry about a post plant situation.
Well they give a dog an AK, it only ends up being one kill. This is more of a team effort and just working stuff out of spirit.
Last round was also very competitive, so a minimal investment.
And a round win because of it.
One delil for Kiyosuke.
It's meant to be the star, shut down with nothing. Thanks to Zontis.
Well, and a team kill.
Yeah, that helped a little bit.
You get this ramp walk out, nice and easy,
goes the rest of Falcons into the night.
Damage racked up, but Team Spirit looking very tenacious.
In terms of taking this top middle flight,
we saw it with the MP9, MP7 forced by round two,
they tried to get going.
Just looking to press into Falcons this time,
the distance with that M4,
and we get a tied game, only four rounds into this.
Last time they played up against Falcons on this map, they crushed them.
They may have a very strong barrage, but that goes both ways,
and that's why this veto is actually really interesting.
And fun, we've got the brawling maps up front.
And we have no overpass, and we have no inferno.
Let's do this every day.
He's going to try to flush this bomb into the B-Cypher, so honey, you're going to know
that need hit hard.
You see the scramble already coming through.
Falcons know that they've got to just go with the tempo, and that's going to get denied.
It's money, not made for Falcons, and extra cash is stuffed in Magic's pockets.
Block of Niko dead, you'll find nothing.
Block solid out of magics, that's right.
Garnay gives Moggings throwing heat.
Falcons losing a lead, 3-2 spirit early on the CT side.
A total bounce back and a little bit of frustration
here for Falcons.
Now I have no doubt, just because they
lost one map in a Best of Five Grand Final,
that there's lots of energy left over.
This T side is not even close to finish.
There won't be an op in play here on round six.
And honestly, utility is not that heavy.
Here we go. All in.
Falcons trying to play with electricity and donks regained vision.
He's gonna blindside Eco, collect test essence head, and this one is getting shredded!
Total stoppage on that A ramp, a 1P5 attempt for Monosy.
Two kills in at least.
But that is not what Falcons have visualized when they came running up that ramp.
Damn, that is an insanely scrimmy call to make.
Snow Molly under BALC, obviously this entire thing's running.
They're just lamp flashing out of ramp and because dog is sitting there. He's happy
He's got a perfect line to get his two kills
Every round played like that and spirit they're gonna be smiling from ear to ear
Made so much more comfortable for doc in the fact that he wasn't blind once he got his duals right there was a moment there where he ate one
for a second maybe you could have closed that gap but you don't get the dual on
Don while he's blind and I mean the millisecond this guy's got his vision
back the chances of that a commitment actually sticking disappear and you see
it they came into that round with no ballies to work with expecting the A site
to be understaffed.
Wrong.
Desert Eagles across the field for Falcons.
Kyosuke is gonna collect Donk's head.
That's a great first kill to find.
As far as Falcons are concerned.
It's unlike back on Dust2.
You don't get the, what, 0-6 Donk's start?
Sure, six deaths again, but he is being a part of these moments.
And you can see his confidence brimming over and around like this,
around like this where he just goes for the underpass plays.
So they'll have a single scariest thing on Mirage.
The scariest thing about Mirage is the thought of them taking it out of the map pool.
I'll never do that.
The ears are collect here as these Desert Eagles leave a lot to be desired.
Spirit looking comfortable for a four rifle save.
They would love to get their hands on this, right?
Again, odds of just bragging up costs versus Spirit increase significantly now that Kyosuke
was meant to have grabbed that AK. He just walks right over it.
Okay, and nobody wants it. That's totally fine.
Sure. That's interesting.
He'll leave it down there at the bottom of middle.
And the Desert Eagle of Kyosuke gets nothing for his efforts.
That walk around flew to Junko.
It's all shut down yet again. Four players up through Spirit.
Looking real comfortable here on Mirage.
That is strange because they know exactly where Donk died.
And I don't think that they would have expected that gun to be thrown away.
So we go into another bite.
Now the last round, it's not like they threw monosy with an AWP.
Everybody with full utility and said, let's go up a ramp.
They came in with AKs.
They had a smoke, a couple of flashes,
and they said, we need to try to do something like this.
If we do a default, we'll get out done by the utility.
You see all the Molotovs for the team that has so much money.
But now on a round like this, we're seeing Devonisi opt-up into play.
I'm not saying it needs to be more complicated,
but I'm expecting it to be more drawn out.
You're a real shocker to see Falcons not try to get away from that last round.
Derrigan's known for his defaults.
And on very little days, at least, they've got Mirage.
Like you mentioned, the 13-4 beating that went down the last time these teams faced...
They're gonna see it though.
True.
They didn't see it.
What about everybody else?
They didn't tell them about it.
Keep the old man's blinders on.
He's not thinking about that at all, he'd be way farther back.
Let's see what Niko can do about it.
Catching Shiro by surprise.
Oh, and a backdoor!
Oh, and a nose go!
It's a great little Hail Mary moment for Shiro,
under pressure to at least reclaim something.
He does so, but Bomb is also a spot,
and his Chosgate collects that trait frag.
And they're not worried about the Bomb site yet.
They're more concerned about somebody climbing up from middle,
and that is not the case.
Valkyries have monosy over there,
but not close enough to help these players on the site.
They need to stay fully focused in this spot,
because CTs are going to just look for any little advantage they can get.
It's late in the round, someone could peek from any of these three choke points.
Ohton comes through!
And they do.
Yeah, Magic takes the first one off of Ticket.
Odyssey to be preoccupied with Catwalk.
And on top of that, well, it's going to be difficult for him to ever emerge out through Connector,
especially as the bomb's two seconds from being diffused already.
Down goes the off, down goes Valkyrie, a spirit roar to a 6-2 lead.
Yeah, this is looking a little too easy for Spirit.
After what we saw on Dust2, we were left impressed by what Falcons could do because we had no idea if they'd be able to stand up to the challenge.
And it looked like they passed the test, even if they lose in overtime.
The fact that it was a comeback.
After dropping a lead.
But we're not seeing a convincing T side.
We're watching as Falcons try to scramble back into this first half.
The guns are at least flowing for them and they will try to send them back towards middle
once more.
Zontics wasn't even in the space to go into that mid-peak where he has net and multi-frags
before.
But Don't be burned by that molly.
It's going to take attention.
You see that?
Spray through from Karrick.
Oh my goodness.
Exactly.
Don't think there's an invitation.
He said you want to fight.
Come and get it.
Damn, that's a crossfire for the ages.
Zontik's tagged down to 50 health, but it is all of the Falcons on the ground again.
The bomb thrown out into the cat once more.
This is a Falcons that can do nothing in the face of Team Spirit.
Yeah, they're left gobsmacked here.
They just wanted to go for some fights here inside a middle.
Maybe separate a 1v1.
No, Donk was ready to fight behind a Molotov.
They were hoping to isolate Zontik's on cat.
Instead, they got it from both ends.
And they weren't into it.
He'll have a lot of time to think you're up in Palace because there's no chance that he can win this round.
And we continue with more simple ideas. Now we don't really see what that round could have flourished into if some trades went down and it became a 3v3.
And maybe that's what Kerrigan's looking for, a chance to get creative with a team,
because in the mid-round it really comes down to how smart your individuals are.
But from a setup perspective, Spirit dropped the Nade on Kerrigan as that default took place.
They had the crossfire, they knew when to disrespect utility that Falcons were going for.
And while Falcons are still porphyse of the same team,
They come in with a guy who's taking over all the ideas. There will be growing pains.
You saw growing pains out of the gate for Falcons here in Astana.
I thought maybe they had had a chance to shake them off, but maybe it's not just that linear improvement
that Falcons were hoping to tap into come this Grand Finals.
Five maps of action in this best of five.
Right now this second one feeling much more flat than Dust2Gate.
Spirit showing that their evolutions are not to be toyed with.
And this map picked for Taha.
What is that?
It's still be taken over at a moment's notice when Donk decides to do what he wants, it will
Falcons players every step of the way. They go down into the 4v5. They are at least able to reclaim that AK.
Miko never really had a chance.
This Donk, unorthodox, peek into underpass, catches it entirely off guard.
So now it's Kioski's turn with the rifle to try to make something happen.
Tess S over towards this B site. It's got the door frame to keep him protected.
He doesn't want a piece of magic. He's got a look to it. We go to 50 seconds.
And that bomb, looking to join forces, looking to group back up alongside the rifle, there is a singular flashbang.
For Falcons to try to catch Spirit off guard, we saw them win rounds with less on Dust2.
Here it comes, a Hail Mary moment as they try to fly down through this B site.
And it is magic to rock it into the first two, but there is also an answer.
Falcons put their hands on another gun, Kerrigan separated from the bomb.
They've at least got that map money made.
Why don't we call this a Buster and Wound for Falcons?
Not a lot of health here for Montesey, but great position. It's a near instant execution.
This guy is tapping into some real potential tonight.
Montesey's 29 health, what's the time?
Shirou's head popped to gear on the chase.
A 1v1 now as Montesey brings him back to that side.
There is no hesitation, no missed opportunity at the hands of Tenir.
They're ice cold in all these moments. They've got perfect confidence.
They've already achieved their quarter. They got eight on the CT side.
We know how Falcons are going to be happy to switch over, but not with a maximum of
four rounds.
Those, not even guaranteed.
It's so impressive watching Tineer find his groove back on Dust2, right?
Those constant long flanks, his timings.
I haven't seen Tineer make a move that makes it feel like he's second guessing himself.
No, we thought the major coming up is going to be interesting if this Falcons project
is successful with Kerrigan.
Well, for Spirit in terms of being a contender, it's interesting if Tuneer can be the final piece of the puzzle.
And if his maturation is complete...
...because we've also seen his potential, we understand why Spirit took a chance on him.
We've seen that with multiple new pieces added to this team's Spirit roster.
Swade didn't work. He gets replaced. It's in here looking shaky as well for as long as it did.
And we wondered whether it would be a player that gets the boot or whether we get a change-up in, say, the coaches.
This noon in Brew, Team Spira is starting to feel like too much for Falcons to keep up with, at least on 8 days notice.
He's been watching this. Yeah, it's an early window timing. There's nothing to cover it up. There's no pressure anywhere else on the map.
Just hoping he's not looking.
Karrigan tries to draw everybody back to join forces. They're going to go number strong.
The last time they hit the structure, it looked good.
That's true and that might be what they're thinking. You see the truck structure completely
vanish in favor of one simple idea? You start to think. Do they have outs? They do have
this work at the top of middle. Yeah, and Karrigan looks to make this a little bit more
interesting.
players added to it but it feels like Spirit's still getting wind of what's
going on we see that lean from Donk through the marketplace they would hope
that Falcons they won't pull a single rotation
Donk does second guessing just as the cross comes through but Magic's been
rock solid and he's got that support from Zontics
Vaunicie tagged down to 7 now he just wants to leave but it's already Tess S
competing to this and Vaunicie's departure will be chased down and if he dies after
time this will be an extra bit of disaster oh they're running for them
Running for the hills from everywhere.
Seconds to survive, Magics will try to sprint him down.
It's gonna be close, two left, he's the piece.
And he'll fight for most shots, for honesty, for the Hail Mary hold.
Will at least get his off, but that is the slimmest of silver linings.
We can look to give Falcons as they move into this last round of their attack.
Yeah, that's literally it.
He'll keep it for one more chance, but we need to see the impact.
Van Vonici, at the beginning of Dust 2, he was really at the front of the pack,
getting lots of kills.
CT side was going his way, and his score line stayed good the whole time, but the impact started to miss a little bit.
Shots were less consistent.
Kerrigan was doing a great job on the CT side of putting him in a new spot every single CT route.
We credit it did.
Forget those kills. There is that impact. That's what happens
with the op-knot denied 5v4 to Falcons
Every time you think you see a warning for donk like that spam kerrigan tried to get him by the window
Just kind of opens him up to go for a fight and this time kerrigan just sprints runs for the hills
looks to get away from this. It is drawing this lean from spirit into the connector slash window hold and within that
movement as we see Shiro double back towards ticket, it's going to be your top stairs.
The up-close.
Light sides, one. Magic's on that secondary off, has picked the player off with a B site.
So you've got an up-on retake. Two of the three remaining playing with snipers. And Monacee's going to know this.
Now they're going to give him the middle of the site.
Gioske's got connector control, which is something very nice for this post plant,
but Monosie will have to be the star of the show.
He goes over top from Ticket, we've got Smoke Grenade to cover that bomb.
And Magics hangs on to the angle, and now pushes Josuke into a 1 vs 3 clutch.
We'll see if they can figure this out, whether he can catch them off guard,
maybe light up some bodies, but on top of the utility,
it's made all the more difficult, and it seems to know
that they have him pinned in with him revealing himself to the Magics' frag.
Soon there's going to be Magics on 5.
That bomb's got 10 seconds left and no debuts just yet.
Shiro trying to fight and it's got to go for the peak six on the clock
Shiro gets the nine
It is a pistol and one for the road is the third for Falcons
Josuke draws the game to him and will give Falcons at least the slightest hope
That was not an easy situation to distill a heroic effort there and actually won that results in the round winning
That's huge and four Falcons and a chance for them actually on CT side
That's no amount of leverage found with this
We try to underscore Kiyosuke's talents, but as he's joined the team, the results, they've been consistent, but they haven't been resulting in actual tournament wins at stages in front of crowds like this.
But so far, this playoffs, he's definitely become the player that people expected him to be in his debut.
Obviously the compare coming from Spirit Academy getting compared to Donk right away like you can't have a bigger shadow cast over you
Like there is generational and then there's dog, you know, it's another level
You do love to hear that I can't keeping hope alive
And suddenly the crowd wants to stop him.
He wants to make it.
Spirit is going to get a plan.
Feeling like a retake needed.
Kerrigan does have a diffuse kit for him.
Here comes that big utile over the top.
Two players committed to it, still from Spirit.
We're going to get Shiro taking a look at the site.
Scythe is all a hoax and on top of it 5v4 for Kerrigan. I said they'd get the plan, but Kerrigan could have stopped this.
He's got the kill to dock, that's big. They're gonna press into him, clear that up and guarantee this bomb goes down.
Sontik's already taking a look into the marketplace with a smoke on the window. That kid is dangerously close for the diffuse.
Now they wish he could pick that up and throw it away, but Niko gets a kill.
That's big. Another one picked up, that's inside of the apartments.
So suddenly Tamir is eventually gonna have to deal with that wrap through apps.
Niko soon to be on the scene, Zontics pushes into the back of E3, all of a sudden Falco is starting to feel scrambled, but he goes down to the top, and it's his opportunity at a second pistol to come up Falco.
Yeah, we had to double check that because they only got three rounds with the pistol, but now that they get both, they put themselves in an actual interesting spot.
Lobster King.
Care against the answer to Donk by the way, some of these situations.
He can actually just straight up outdual him.
There's no distractions.
Used to be a world where we talked about Niko as Donk's final boss.
Yeah, his history with Donk is
excellent too in their head to head.
Things haven't really changed on that front.
The only question is he goes for him overall.
But there is no question about Kyosuke's form overall.
He was a heavy impact player back on Dust2.
You guys are right now, it's maybe in business.
There's a will, there is a way.
And we all know Karen refuses to concede.
It's about the rifles around him to prop up the chances and if Kerrigan walks this, it
actually happened while he's going to have his hands busy in a moment as well.
That Galilin Magics' hands leads this walk up towards the arms.
Kerrigan beats it on purpose.
Oh!
He's set it!
your mp7 rebuttal jumps down into the site that's a second modesty off the
back plate and not only it's short majority alive all with rifles and falcons make this a
nine or five game falcons didn't have enough to make that first half
interesting they just didn't have the depth they didn't have the trading all
of spirits H.E. is kind of told the whole story if you just watch those you saw
that spirit were in the right place for every situation now that spirit over to
the T side obviously Kerrigan could look like he didn't have enough for the
team on the attack. But now it's Magix, another test for him, another T side, tap the close
out on. This game is not over.
The kind of dammit first half that will have you pounding your desk if you get a misstep
versus a buy like this from Spearing.
The Donk's not gonna play in secrecy.
He lets you know what he's up to.
Desert Eagle on the other side of that B apartment smoke.
Knowing the value, though, of even one or two kills
and a round like this, Team Spirit will take their time.
Also trial utility, get Falcons to play their game.
Maybe just kinda tabulating what Falcons are up to.
Eco gonna breathe up versus Pistols.
He'll die to the Teneer, tech nine.
Kyosuke on for revenge, lights up B in the second victim.
Tanira has 4 HP, 2 kills already, and Monosin digs to 44 health.
How's he hunting him down?
He's got a...
See him up nice and slow.
He's a get out of my window.
Make sure money made.
That'll make up for Kyosuke and Niko's deaths.
There are rifles out here on the field for Shiro to try to grab it.
He wants a headshot more than anything, and he will be denied by that one.
Tess S making sure that Jordan survives again.
Three-round game, Q on map two.
See the small breath there from Honesty as he looks over towards Niko.
With the score line, getting a touch closer.
It sort of feels like it's about surviving right now.
You don't really need to call impressive things.
They know they don't have spirit.
Scarif just get it, but this would be the round.
You get offs on both ends.
That little bit of extra money may buy the knife as well.
Move forward.
Inmonisces coffers.
We had that early look on a dock towards the B side.
The last round, right now it's Shiro posting his off
over towards the B apps, hoping maybe Kerrigan jumps up
into the scope.
That's not going to happen.
And he peels away from it early.
This round is going to tell us a lot about what's to come
And what can be done by Falcons on Mirage if there's anything at all to keep Spirit off double digits.
That's incredibly important for their money and their mental.
I don't see a lot of players ending up saving it around like this.
Full press on the A-Ramp. It's a little different here from Falcons.
Honestly, on the plate.
Versus Donk. Here it comes.
He sees the shadow, this is his chance, Stalks to the next J-Suit down.
Sure, Zontics dies as he tries to get up through that palace.
How is Stalks head taken off?
Josuke's got the answer.
Solo Shirou.
Numbers even.
Support piece in place.
There's also a battle of the Flanks going down over towards Beastill.
It's patience from Tenir, but he hits the ground.
And Tessus right now has no helping hands.
30 seconds on this clock.
The bomb gets out.
Magic's gonna make this marathon of a run all the way over to B.
Hope that no one can cut him off in this situation.
Hope that no one's taken over mid and pushed under pass and Tenir has a chance to get a kill to lock this up
But if he doesn't clear this
There's a chance that care against wings default next near season. No, it's done
Timing miss there for the Falcons. Oh, although Shiro will reopen the round the possibility so long as Nico can do something
And what is right now? Just 1v2 on B site. Magic's better stay in cover
Moving around is giving Nico a chance to get out
Oh, the white side! Magic's like that perfect timing, just as Tess S looks to come through.
Oh, and it is Magic! But not only the perfect call to peel away from that A site,
but also a couple of slick headshots to secure those double digits.
In fact, they kept the options open with a lurk towards B. Sometimes that guy can come in,
get off of cat, and either reason you win a post-plan on the A site if it's on the back of triple.
But in this situation where there were three stacked up towards the A ramp,
And that sandwich under Val Crossfire, Spirit knew they made the wrong decision by going A and had a chance to change their mind.
That's all the depth that we're looking for, to turn losing positions into winning ones.
Val can set a big chance to take all the money away for Spirit and give themselves another anti-ego.
And that's another magic flash.
Just keeps sprinkling in the perfect decision, the perfect play, and the head shot to that last round.
Donk and Chiro making the most of the moment to secure this 11th for Spirit.
You know where Chepzess has gone off to.
He flashed to CT and blinded default while Donk avoided it, covering everything.
That one rests on such a fast timing.
it needed to be perfect and it was you already got credit on the desk it might
give him a little bit more feels well-deserved
sure you thought maybe that fight left in the spirit thanks to magics now lead
by five you can hold a mouse to terrible for monestee this ends up being an
early death for him right here jumping looking down right past default knowing
the flesh they're going overhead and ego eats it it feels like he had a chance
but in reality he never did what a ball of energy donk can be
and how desperate falcons must feel five usb's in this one
12th round for spirit guaranteed a 2-0 right there for the taking and we all
know how unlikely best of five comebacks are. This will be Falcons hoping to get back into
guns after this round. Hanging on for dear life.
And the crowd, they're lovin' the carnage.
They just want more of it.
The Spirit won't have to split atoms to pilot this round to a win, even with the V-Stack
coming out.
No pistol upgrades whatsoever, good luck when your opponents have cat control.
He's knocked on the hunt in the MAC-10 First Blood.
Still the advantage.
Two kills to the one nag in the MAC-10.
Kerrigan's USP.
Something.
But we're gonna get that bomb moving back as the vacancy on A site's found.
And Monacy lingers just a bit longer.
That's a USP dink.
Look at these health bars and tell me.
Do you believe it?
Are you a madman?
I do have to believe he's gonna... Oh well, he's got an AK now.
And they're all looking for him, which is kind of funny.
Magix ends up getting the kill with just a Maktan in his hand.
The confidence out of Magix.
They managed to keep the man in the team and get a new IGL at the same time.
It didn't seem like Genius at first, but look how well that's aging.
A six-round game, and Spirit haven't even touched their timeouts.
Zonik's got a lot to say in this one.
While Suffolk's thinking, hey, this job's not so hard.
They had to take a knee in that last round.
They had to forfeit a 12th to Team Spirit scoreboard.
But if Kerrigan hasn't made a career on these kinds of comebacks,
comebacks in these kinds of high pressure situations,
then he would have never been destined for Team Falcons.
Let's see what they've got to offer.
Out the gate, they're not worried about A.
It's already really interesting.
We see Spirit instantly go into a ramp play.
Out of room, contention if this becomes a later round.
Spirit's default is ambiguous.
They're looking for info. Been very good at finding this opening kill.
Donkits are clasping their hands and praying that they find the right timing.
And Tanir looks to threaten this. If he pops up at all...
Right there.
Gets daked.
Tanir lucky to be alive as Niko's M4 just can't find a second bullet to connect.
And if he tries to walk out to the window, you just sign up for a duel versus Donk!
He just doesn't believe anyone's back there.
There's there's no support for him inside the window to take that peak feeling the need like he's got to get it going
The desk had a lot to say about eco versus doc in middle
And we may have just gotten one of those head-to-heads for the road
They won't even need this deep Molly on cat
Honestly scrambled over towards this a site a lot of responsibility right now on his own his connector player
Just talked into the corner
SS toying with the thought of something coming out through middle, but now we get this announcement from Team Spirit utility, flies out the ramp, Magics has been cleared. That's step one for Falcons to rebuttal in round 19.
How has Teneir done this again? He's already on this full flank. They were waiting for him to get in this spot. Don't get one, but everybody on the A site goes down. Teneir through the flank. Must be him now.
Now Teneir activating alongside Shiro from the other side of this, they pull apart that setup.
SS knows that Teneir's got to be low HP from that Miko headshot early.
Second player spotted, turns in between. SS makes sure Barrage keeps rolling.
The unlikely hero here for Falcons, he pulls the clutch out and they'll chug along.
A seventh round here for Falcons, a close call.
They hadn't gotten those kills as quickly as they did.
they did to Nier Splank only would have become more potent.
You would have loved to walk the hallway with the ball
planned down inside control to guarantee that round.
And it becomes a five-round game.
They lean away from playing in the site.
They post monosy right there towards stairs.
So it begins.
Not a worry in the world here for a spirit, just one more chance with right balls and a little bit of extra money left over.
And really a round that could have actually just been a more comfortable moment for Falcons.
Niko dying to tongs like that on his attempt to take down Tanir in middle after he had already departed.
God, that could have been gut-wrenching for Falcons to die on Niko's sword.
And it really did come down to Eco just writing off the thought that there were players over
towards top mid.
And maybe, now him dropping, ooh, okay, that's dangerous man, he has to try to evacuate immediately
and they're going to fight him the whole way through but he might be able to make it, no,
it's a punish.
And it might be a game ending punish.
It's another fight before a moment.
survived the last one, one round to go, Miko Dex, it's in here, taps over the top of the
cat bricks. The world lies on Modesty's shoulders. And with that smoke soon to fade inside Connector,
he's got plenty of bodies on the left side, but Modesty knows, and to near so close,
nothing you can do about this. Kerrigan's late arrival out through Jumble, fights back,
And at the same time Kyosuke's already gone to frag, we go 1v1.
Shiro, he'll pick the alpha for the 1v1, Bob gets planted.
Kyosuke, he has to squeeze this.
Ops on the line!
And dead in the water!
Falcons pluck from the sky!
And suddenly this shutdown on Mirage becomes a damnation for the Falcons in a best of five.
a massive comeback ass of a team with eight days of practice.
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 the desk in one singular posture for 12
12 hours a day.
It's time your chair evolved.
This is Secret Lab Titan Eva.
Ergonomically engineered for you.
Gamers, hybrid workers, artists.
You're back in your every move.
Welcome back to that win on Mirage put spirit at championship point and we're gonna find
out just how powerful vibes can be as Karagin tries to corral the troops over at Falcons.
I'm just gonna start you here gentlemen on the panel. It's a final. It's Magix. It's Karagin
and Magix is having a life game again. I don't know dude. You have to have like some sort of statue.
He's a news guy somewhere. Yeah. Stop this. It's a nightmare. It's a recurring nightmare here for
for Karrigan as he enters the server once again against the Magix that is also performing
as an individual, but just setting his team up too. That's what's so crazy about the win
here. It's just that the polish is evidence between these two teams. I'm looking right
now at Falcons, and I'm seeing relics. I'm seeing antiques. I'm seeing guys that are
just so dusty with cobwebs that Magix just goes over, he blows on them, and they fall
apart.
I said it earlier as well. I'm going to say once again, yet Tenir is having his best performance,
events so far in the spirit jersey. This is perhaps his best playoffs appearance,
playoffs performance so far. I know it's the best of five. I know we still have at
least one more map left for this match to be closed out but he's been lights out man.
And this is by the way in a map in a game where Magix is popping off. We're looking at Don,
looking like Don. We're looking at Shiro being lethal as well. So flowers to the guy is truly
blossom. Indeed he has. I mean we talked about how maybe they should target that B defense and
Magix. Well they tried that didn't work. We also just saw Don wreaking absolute havoc on middle
any opportunity that he got, as well as helping out
with the assistance at the A bomb site.
Yeah, you know, Bless talking about it perfectly.
Tamir, that A anchor, playing it to such a high level.
I mean, the defense was just totally impenetrable
throughout that first half with such a big score.
Then when you flip sides to the T side,
Spirit wasted no time closing this in.
It comes back to a lot of things that Maui brought out
and that we've discussed on this desk.
The flashes are just so good.
People are so blind all the time.
And Falcons tried their damnedest.
They tried to get aggressive at A ramp with Tessus
or tried to move Montesy's off-round.
It didn't matter, bro. Spirit had answers, and yet again, T'Nier was massive with those flanks.
I never have seen Spirit.
3.0 KD dust.
3.0 KD on the CT side, A anchoring for T'Nier.
That is not, that's an impenetrable defense.
Kerrigan tried to break through it, but it was just so flat.
You're just gonna throw A execs at this guy?
This guy's in career best form right now, so good luck.
But I also want to tie him to this T side.
Dude, the flanks he was making through the B bomb site were absurd.
He won them a couple of rounds by those moves he was making.
I never saw Spirit do the type of stuff before.
And I think it all comes down to the confidence that I feel like
Softfigus is in jeopardy straight into Tenu's veins.
Where he's like, listen, you don't always have to play with the system.
Don't be scared to make a play.
Don't be scared to get to take Onus and himself to try and close the round out.
And it's working wonderfully.
I just want to also harken back to the second half as well.
1.8 rating, it's just ludicrous.
By the way, this is a map where even Donk was popping off.
Everyone's having a great time.
So now two maps back to back with ludicrous rating and impact from Tenu.
Look at that heat map, it's not just in the A bomb site, this dude's pushing down middle and being aggressive.
They're not making him just be an anchor.
They're allowing him to be a little bit more selfish and make some plays in the middle.
And then again, look at the entries he's getting on the B bomb site.
Look at the habit he is wreaking in the underpass and bottom middle.
This is a tier we've been waiting to see for a long time.
This is the third star spirit need to be a real contender.
I remember when we were walking through the green room back over here,
we saw the big screen, there's one particular round.
CD side, you maybe see Falcons mounting a bit of a comeback over there.
Tessus dies towards round, Niko's on the bomb side.
He's up in corner, he's ready.
Don jumps around the corner flash pop in his face can't shoot a single bullet
He's dead you can see the frustration and Nico and now we think every time you look at these fights
They're flashes everywhere, and it's perfect. Okay, the Don caters last year
They're made the crux of their argument was that Donk is the most set-up player. They were wrong last year. They're right this year
This year, they're totally right. He's getting set up like crazy
The flashes again were paramount to the success on the offense for fear. I know I said I wasn't gonna recycle narratives
But I'm a hack. I've been doing this for so long. You got to recycle some of the classics. Remember Nico is meant to be donks kryptonite
Yes, that's what everybody says that when Nico and Munna see take on this guy. They take him down
They are a mile away from doing that right now. The difference is to support
I mean it really is that these flashes I know we keep harping on but they're so important
The way that my tally start to separate themselves besides playing perfect kind of strike and have loads of talent
is that they started taking utility to a new level.
The way they would flush people out of position with Molotovs and Nades,
the way that they would flash for each other,
the way they would support Flamesy as their entry or Zewoo.
They're doing this now on Spirit,
and they're also giving their players more freedom to make plays.
Taneer is no longer in the shadows.
He's allowed to be a little bit more on the forefront.
And it's giving Doc so much more freedom,
I feel like, to not have to be the guy,
and he can be a little bit more patient and call his own number.
And even Shiro as well, man.
Just the amount of impact everyone's finding.
Barrett, my 21...
That amount of people getting blinded,
They had Magix on Dust2, 30 flash assist, and now we have Shiro with the ult, also by the way, getting 18 kills while being a support utility guy.
It's just a huge difference. The way that Spirit has shown up to this tournament, and even how they looked back at Rio, it's just so obvious that right now.
I have a question that I have to ask the audience here. Do we have any Falcons fans left in the arena?
I feel like I heard Holly, because he's watching this and he is dreading the moment that he
has to come back and try to one up what's off of it.
I couldn't agree with you more and what's hilarious is the way Team Spirit have tried
to pass this off as it's, oh it's just something we're doing, we're just trying out what perfect
flash executions on every single goddamn play you make.
No, you haven't just pulled that out.
work on this quite clearly and it is something new and it makes spirit a
terrifying prospect find vitality you know just going out a bit for a second
let's give it a little host in here for a second I'm gonna ask you all three of
you a question this time last year if I told you hey matches is gonna end game
lead spirit and they're gonna have the best flash since of any team in the
world what do you think I mean well I'll take it just lost in the sauce
Are you insane?
Because we're all podcasters, right? Yeah, I said this was a bad idea
I said welcome to the big leagues. I'd be in an IGL for all the nonsense that was thrown choppers way chopper was a 10 year
IGL he'd want trophies
He'd been around the block now a spirit might not have looked so good under chopper
They might have under performed they still lifted trophies and so when they started magic sin
I was like good luck. Enjoy that and then when overdrive was saying it'll only take you two years
Maybe it was a typo right maybe it was type of all along maybe overdrive is that I meant the same months actually
But listen credit where it's do right now. We don't know obviously the games done done or not here
I'm still never gonna count out a car again team in the finals
But so what we've seen so far the eye test it's there
It's no longer just a dog show and that for me is what spirit have been waiting for for so very long
Yeah, and not just like it's not just a dog show. It's like some ticks. This is probably been the best
I've seen in place since he got dropped sure
You know and it took that time out and brought back in
Shiro's been steady always been that wingman to talk but at the end of the day that they haven't looked this cohesive
For a long long time. I mean Zontics talked about everything that's off. It is done
And I feel like the one thing that Soppix said to Zontics is aim for the head.
That's like, that's just the one piece of advice he gave him.
Stop walking around like this.
Just move that crosshair a little bit up.
Just move your mouth up a little bit.
Stop listening to Reddy, right?
As well as the win page is aiming at the body.
No, but jokes aside, dude, I feel like, so I was going to go back to the conversation
of Teneir because we saw in Rio 1.11 rating the best event he's had so far in the spirit
jersey and that was somewhat elevated himself, but it's just the comfort, the pep in the
step in which he's taking this place and also just winning these duels as well.
Look, we all know Spirit wins this event, who the MVP is going to be. It's going to be pretty easy,
but Taneer has had the glow-up of all time. Again, this is Taneer we've been waiting to see
ever since he made the transition from Parola because he was a star on that squad. He had his own
little hat in the arena, in my opinion, for rookie of the year for a little bit of time there.
Absolutely. And so to see him struggle at first on Spirit, have to go through a couple different
roster transitions where he was playing alongside his way for a bit and now Zox is coming back.
So you had to give up all the roles he had back to Zontics and kind of readjust how he's doing things
But the guy is now locking down as an anchor the guy is trade-fragging very very well and creating openings and lurks
And he's having his best performance ever in a playoff. This is the third start that you've been wanting spirit
So ancient we've got to talk about it
I think it will be a disaster no matter what they want to say after the fact you get to this final
You don't take a single map of your falcons. I think that's like an inauspicious start to the Karagin era
They have absolutely got to step up here.
Even if you just get one map on the board,
I think you go home, you feel pretty good.
You get 3-0ed in a grand final in front of a crowd.
That is a very, very bad thing.
History is against Falcons here, right?
We've seen two times in the modern-day era,
since CSGO's advent, where we've seen in the Vestify finals
a team pulling off the reverse sweep.
But that being said,
that being said, Ancient Received Spirit played three times so far,
they've won it three times,
but that was predicated off an incredible CT side.
The T side have still looked pretty rough so far.
So there's a chance for Androfacus to bring this one back.
It is going to be on a CD start.
Spirit got back in the lab after they lost this one at ESL Pro League to Astralis.
That was a huge wake-up call for them.
They recognized that they needed to be much better at setting Donk up with utility.
You couldn't just send him out every single round
and feed him to all of the wealth of nades and combinations that teams are going to throw at him.
So now they have different looks.
They have different tempo changes.
and I feel like that has led to Donk being a huge beneficiary where he's not just dying
or even getting a kill in the first 15 seconds, they play the round out a little bit longer.
Yeah, I mean, I think for me, this has been a recovery situation for Spirit because Ancient
used to be their next best map after Dust2 last year and they kind of cooled off at the beginning
of this year in my opinion, but now they're heating back up. And it's because of this
Donkton-Near combo, we keep talking about it, but when they're on the T side, the fact that
Donkton's on Tics can come out elbow and pressure middle and then you have Taneer swinging off the
the shelf side, it just gives them so much flexibility as well as near being a BK threat.
So they're able to really spread out the pressure as well as having those powerful executes
with very, very good utility.
They've even been adding some fakes that are played lately to watch out for in this game.
For Falcons, what we need to see is them start exploring that diversity we've seen in other
games.
Look, they had a lot of different openers throughout this tournament on the T side of
ancient.
I've been impressed by it.
And a lot of it goes around, how do they move Kyosuke around the map?
Because sometimes he's your mid guy, but sometimes you just stack him B with Niko and
you entry.
They need to make the right decisions here.
I'm still not impressed with Spirit T side here in Ancient.
I know we've been praising them, heaps,
and Dust2 and Emeraldus and all the other maps as well.
T side always seems like,
listen, Dong, we're going to set you up towards mid.
You'll buy yourself, you die up.
Well, what's the game plan?
What are we going to do right now, right?
It seems always like they're so reliant
on him winning those mid deals.
But guess what?
Guess who's going to be towards mid?
You can him out. It's going to be Kiyosuke.
He's going to be being set up.
The protocols from Falcons on the CT side, especially,
have looked phenomenal,
and you cannot forget that guy.
That's signed right there monosy CT off on ancient has been phenomenal so far despite them having a bit of a quite series so far
I'm not gonna count them out yet here rich
I just need to see some better decision-making from Nico towards the tail end of that mirage
He was making some very awkward moves falling down from ladder room into window given up a free kill there
The way he was peeking around a just felt like he was inviting tools that he probably shouldn't have I want to see him lock
I don't want to see a Niko who has been such a perennial superstar for the last eight years fall off now
I don't want to see the twilight years of Niko in
2026 I want to see him push the longevity of what you can do as a star rifler
I think it's a great thing that you brought up Niko because he's so important for this squad while QSUK is the tip of the
Spear at middle and allow it to execute the guy as a playmaker
Niko's supposed to be that guy at B that gives you that split pressure thread on the T ramp to really allow the team to have a
a lot of flexibility in the mid-round.
He also will be required to pair up a Kiyosuke in the middle
and find a way to slow down Dawkins and you who are looking
for that mid-control time and time again.
This is going to be fireworks and this is a chance for Falcons
to do something that no one expects to push this series
further, but it's also a chance for Spirit to have one
of the most dominant tournament runs that you could ever ask
for in a field with no vitality and nobby.
They need this trophy to prove that they are one of the best.
And you saw it there, the ambulance, calling ambulance,
but not for me.
I mean, I don't know what's going to happen here.
What kind of adjustments they can make, but they're going to have to do it right now.
And with that said, we go to ancient, and of course, we go over to scrawny and launderers.
Things suddenly feel real bleak for the Falcons team.
It is a stark contrast to the high hopes they had when Dust2 was rolling
and they could sprinkle in a bit of magic and pull off those unorthodox wins.
Mirage was an eye-opening experience for a Falcons that now have to battle back from the doltrums.
And as much as we're scared that we've seen it all before,
we know that Kerrigan's been in this many finals,
and they potentially have to make a historic comeback into it.
Why not believe?
Ancient is a map that they can play.
They come in with a 4 map win streak.
They have an outstanding T side,
and it's actually where Spirit will start.
This pick could be interesting.
Ooh, careful. Tess S. Awkward.
Ah, pulls his smoke. Guns back out.
Kyo's here to try to recover.
Burned out of there by Magix.
Now it falls on Kerrigan.
He's got smoke to try to work within.
Donk just wants blood.
And he's not able to find it immediately.
Kerrigan able to heal back, keeps himself alive,
which means we'll go 3v4 retake here for Falcons.
Already kicking off from the back foot.
Falcons will lodge themselves into positions
to try to go for peeks.
Everyone's spread out. The most fundamentally sound position is possible. How will they figure this out?
Could be numbers to push inside of a cave.
Laudice tries to take the peak. Magix takes his head.
Over towards the ramp, things go better. Only momentarily.
We're there again, the only one of those three to get a kill. And Spirit take the first.
We get a first glimpse into this round and immediately we have a Magix, Flash, and a 3K.
His performance as an individual and as an IGL has been outstanding. He continues to shine.
It's funny, isn't it? How Apex kind of propped up Magix and said,
like, he could become something if he just has time.
Look how they doubted me.
Yes, sir. And look how Apex has become the king of utility in Counter Strike 2.
And watch tonight as Magix evolves in the same regard.
That flash that Niko had to stomach back on the 8th side of Mirage had him pissed.
Now, speaking of IGL's reading and flash impact,
There's no better way to try to stop this with USBs than this one piece of utility.
Easy does it. Josuke done it for.
USP teams suddenly start connecting way more than they should.
Zontics is going to be worried. I mean, he's down to 13 health.
And they fall back to the back of default and one volley could get him out, but they're going to use them.
Yeah, they'll throw a player over, call for three, make it all the more comfortable.
SS actually killing magics in the process and look at the health here for Spirit.
Spirit if there's anybody who believes it comes from Kerrigan first and foremost look at him smiling
So I'm starting to crowd that we want to care again clutch
Well, this would be the ultimate one
But it alludes him. He lets shiro take the dual
He was the one of the three with the most HP and so while spirit do kind of get taken aback by the sudden damage out of those pistols
Falcons are not able to upset in the second
You can see as Kerrigan shakes in his chair just to get ready for this next round, where the buy is coming forward.
He knows where this is, this is where this match begins.
It's on ticks on a Mach 10.
And Mach X only has a tech 9.
Why is that?
Actually...
They're buying like they just lost the last round.
Chiro's got something left over.
A scary amount of confidence to have with Falcons as you can see.
M4 is across the board.
Chiro could have dropped him.
Obviously, he's thinking about his op too.
Adax just kind of twisted like that.
We'll see if it's a decision that comes back to Haunt Spirit,
whether Falcons can get a foot in the door early.
We'll put a pin in it.
taking over mid early, not seeing anyone push back into it.
It does make the CTs insecure.
We can see how they flow and so I do gravitate towards mid
because they definitely need to see something.
They're gonna go for a beatling and watch their backs.
We've got Kyosuke kind of tied up, but ready to fight feet.
Tess S is more utility trickles in, decides to double up inside of Cade, that'll leave
Kyozge with the responsibility of long, and Tess S is absence.
Little wallbang attempt as we go down to a single flash here for Spirit, there it goes,
last piece of Util, now it's just guns up, and that gets Teneer into the headshot, and
all of a sudden carrying it pressure from both sides I mean could that have gone any better?
Come on, T'Nyr can do what Dog does sometimes this is actually crazy these few maps from him.
That flashbang to perfection.
Yeah, serious. How many times are we gonna say that?
Starting to feel like all night long or at least whatever is left of this evening.
You just don't love this setup inside of Cave.
They have a feeling that it's gonna be a B-Play.
But if you get set in cave and a Molly comes down as it does on a lot of these beat plays your key players can't really fight back
They can wait for you to swing across default like we just saw from Taneer
But that's bonus money if Taneer gets the first kill and he feels like okay
We're low numbers or something that they doesn't have to fight more you can let them stay there
You get that boss planet you've got back lanes control as well
But instead that comes down to Kyosuke with no flash support himself having to fight in an open mind
and yeah, he's a confident, great multi-frag rifleler in a solid position to do that.
But again, versus a little bit of utility, and players that are almost as good as him,
there's absolutely no chance.
Would have loved to see that set-up be a bit more audacious to use one of those players
to get in front, to draw attention away from Kiyosuke, so he could get two kills instead.
It's not time to turn it up.
That's more utility coming your way, Falcons.
He comes to try to spam for its elbow, but nobody's on the other side of this.
Magics who came into that last round with a tech knife, no need to upgrade.
We'll go ahead and grab an M4 to use against Falcons.
I mean, really a sign of bad things for Falcons.
There's three M4s in the hands of Spirit right now.
Prop him up, why don't ya?
Jess has to try to get the 5-7 into the action.
Did hit that headshot.
That's gonna be Tanier Low and four of Josuke looking for more than just that first.
But Magic 5 is the perfect wallbang.
Takes that pressure off of the spirit members that are looking to just roll forward off ramp.
But a missed smoke.
Does it come back?
Does it feel like it will?
Shirou instant headshot there on monisy.
And so it will just remain two pistols.
Another bout of wall-back damage, taking care of him down to five.
Pelted by utility, made after Nade.
And he would love to try to stop this bomb plant, but doesn't have the vision to do it.
Doesn't have the teammates and, well, neither have the health
to really throw a spanner in the works for Spirit.
Yeah, no chance to get one. Over on Spirit and Nega will just back up into his depth.
And that's another round one for Team Spirit.
Starting on T side looking excellent themselves
The startling staffer Falcons
Again, they're the ones also on a map win streak on ancient this one wasn't going to be free
But they have a 67% win rate on T side
Right now Falcons fans holding their breath and hoping their team can even get there
It's something to show their efforts on the defense, honestly trying to make the
Disney jump into the corner, but again there's not that much pressure coming
out through the elbow. I mean he's gonna eat this entire thing, the lolly, the smoke
is too high. How does it even land there? Kerrigan comes wide, a one-and-done off of
the cave, trying to be the hero of round five, instead feeds another frag over to
spirit and we get this cross perfectly timed by Zonsik, Kioski will be none the
I don't know. I think he'll still clear it. You know, he doesn't see anything in here. Yeah
Good presence of mind
gives tests as a chance to drop smoke but blind sights on multiple portions of the map short Josuke
Keeps his eye on it. Unfortunately inside the B site. There's nothing here to be had
I mean there their awareness about where the gaps are is insane. I mean, they're so ready to take all these fights
Two deaths on the map for Spirit inside of middle, but it is a free B site hit and 5-0 start.
This would be a curtain call for Falcons if they don't wake up.
Oh, what's he's laughing it off, but this is no joking matter. You're down to a five zero start versus team spirit who already believe based on the result of garage that they are simply better.
He goes M4 held on to no sir tonight. The final mark is done to get the kill and be the sole survivor spirit instinct timeout call.
Yeah, damn. I mean, that shot also gets him killed, and they know exactly where he's standing.
What kind of investment can you really come up with here if you're Falcons?
It's such a wiry buy.
You're on a precipice of getting everything you want, look.
Yeah, instead, just invest slightly.
They won't have an easy time contesting mid obviously. They come in with so much utility
to use. They really have to guide their intentions.
Six again, which gets caught with a eight.
His timing is just that half-second dog.
No surprise, the C tier dog just pounce on it through the smoke.
Goes, kills gate, up in smoke, go, team fountains.
They're just not overthinking. Since Team Spirit started it off to us two, zero and six, they haven't looked back.
We saw the interview from Donk where he said about Maus absolutely no chance.
He said it was so much conviction to the voice and then he delivered on that promise.
The way he was speaking about Maus was like a bug on the windshield.
He sat there and listened to the assertion, have his little moment.
Two words, no chance.
I don't think he would have expected to say the same thing coming into this Grand Finals.
But as his confidence grows throughout this series, as he is now 9-1 gear on ancient team spirit flawless
in the third half of this Best of 5 Grand Finals.
Incredible credit to Spirit for everything that they've done that has come to it,
accumulated in them, getting into this Grand Finals, having a player like Taneer develop so well,
new coach, Donk's still playing well and actually on pace to break a record.
Somehow everybody else is playing well and Donk is still getting his.
And the beauty of the formula was coming into this third map.
It was, you know, this breakout performance from Tenir,
propping up the other pieces of Team Spirit.
And now one for the road, if that's all Ancient's gonna be,
is Donk's reminder to the rest of the world that he is still king.
Miko, the head of the smoke grenade will catch Donk off at least.
But we have just sat here singing the praise of all the other Spirit members,
so let's see what this 4v5 recovery really looks like.
First time they successfully won their bouts inside of middle, taking control of it.
And they're up to a 5v4.
But Teneir's lurks have been so effective, and Tessus will get spotted.
He won't be able to let go of this.
Yes, dual and he'll win it, but this also draws everyone over to the wrong side of the map
All a matter of spirit pouncing in this moment here and now honestly with the deep line
As he sits here we start to get second guessing Falcons taking a look over towards middle
Which means it will be a fast rotation and you think a comfortable retake in a 5-0 CG smoke off shot
This is that's gonna open the door for the bomb plant magic's able to get that device on the front side of donut
Little jump spot over the big box and Shirou knows there's movement inside of Temple.
He sees that as an invitation to take the CT line.
And ChessS, trying to fight back from the bottom of the scoreboard,
has now got himself a multi-kill in this one.
It's gonna fall on Magix and Zontix, 2v5 in this A-Sites.
Don't give up this position.
Here comes the Reject, 3-Number Strong.
Yeah, they'll clear it out.
ChessS able to hold back finally.
We've seen him kind of over-encumbered with utility usage inside B.
He keeps it simple, gets the first kill, and in the 7th round of play,
Falcons will win their firsts.
This great counter flashes, little elbow grease there from Nico as he takes that first dual.
And still, an interesting game plan to keep the round interesting out of spirit,
but it's, yeah, Tess has to find the lurt.
Tess has to get the final word.
We'll see if this means anything.
The Alkons have opened the door to this half or not, because they don't even need, I think, six rounds to be competitive.
They're looking forward to next half. They just don't want to think too far ahead.
Everybody wants a show.
Jared loves giving them to us.
That spirit also loves to stop.
Let's see if Tess S can handle another challenge.
No presence from Falcons out middle, just let Spirit climb up into this duel on game.
Let's call it Mott. He's first kill!
There's shots!
Oh, a chance to nail it.
Oh, Karrick, you needed that from your modesty.
You gotta know better, the dog will absolutely...
Oh!
Break it!
There's another dead!
Oh, and two shots left!
You decide to swap out AKs and go on the hunt.
Let Freiburg off the leash.
Donk looking to turn this entry into an ace.
Donk gets her towering.
That's the worst thing you can do versus a guy like Donk.
Man, the monasy.
Like, Kerrigan is a bait for him. He has a chance to hit that offshot.
It totally changes the makeup
Jacob helps this round and dog another head shot.
He's an absolute machine, 13-2.
Run back to highlight reel.
Trounces, falcons on that run-through cave.
And you know, that's the kind of split-second decision that you get punished for when you're playing versus a guy like Don.
One smoke, all Kerrigan wants to drop.
One missed off shot out of honesty. Now that's actually problematic.
That's the biggest flaw in this situation so far.
He doesn't see us, he's running, he's running, he's a good kid.
Derrigan says it, he's just running, running, yeah, because he's running through you with no regard for whoever the hell you think you are, you are not Donk.
A rifler with his longevity and his peak longevity.
Something we'll never see again, maybe never, obviously.
We never thought we'd see Dong in the first place.
But it is a sight to behold.
And whenever the player is this good, you almost see a dysfunctional system behind it
consistently.
B hit coming in quickly. Another entry for Teneir.
Nothing they can do.
Joe Skate at least able to recover the one.
Tess has a line of back.
Three kills again.
Donk just does not stop.
He will not let off.
Relentless.
In overtaking team Falcons, that B bomb site is his playground.
When there are that many people dying at one time,
You have the right amount of people to stop the sight exec, but no one is ever denying that opening kill, whether it's Tenir or Donk.
Feels like the only time they even killed Tenir was when he was lurking.
Spirit have not broken a sweat.
Zero kill monosie is not something I thought I'd be looking at, that's the five grand
amount.
Not after the start.
That first half of dust too.
This has nothing to do with capability, it has everything to do with circumstance.
He's early to that. Very nice movement. A second frag in.
Cannot remain a shell of himself, so to get a multi-kill.
In the dying moments of this CT side.
You know, it's that good movement that generates the opportunity for that next kill.
And generating chances is something you see no matter how off his form looks.
Obviously, the only question is, why are there any misses at all?
When he's setting himself up and getting set up so well.
But for now, that's not something they have to think about.
That off-intact, they translate directly into a round one.
8-4, best-case scenario for Falcons on this CT side.
And in both maps, we've seen them rack up a couple rounds
towards the ends of halves.
It's not too much of an ask to totally stop this team's spirit.
Sure, that seems unthinkable.
But at least give yourself the best chance once you swap over that C-side that we have respect for.
The stats don't lie, Falcons attack should be a way back into this game, but they need a C-T side to stand on,
and this second round could be the start of that foundation at the tail end of these first 12 rounds of play.
We've seen close chances pass the fight, but again, it doesn't really matter as long as they track on and keep believing in themselves.
The round where Thonk entries his way through B, Modest even gets one kill. That's really the difference, Maker.
Can we see an example of that now?
We used to see a spirit that could start slow, blow leads, get frustrated, and unfortunately for Falcon, so far none of those things...
...seem like they're still apparent.
And again, something new.
Kronk doesn't believe that that fire spread far enough.
He's being held.
He's got support right behind him and the off chance that Kronk doesn't get this kill
himself.
He waits for that smoke to block off.
They hit him with it.
The assert confirming that he's in there so that Kronk knows damn well what's up.
Fire bomb misses.
Extinguished.
Modesty wants his line, but as the smoke goes back up, it's going to be the CT side taking open, Spawn belongs to Spirit.
Yeah, they can run at this A site, splash not dodge, Shirro could die.
Just recover his vision, Kerrigan able to stuff him up close, man advantage for the retakes, Valken's in every round left in the CT side.
They want to run at this early, what trade comes back to Nier in the clutch?
Tontik's taking that frag, pushes to Nier into the clutch, and we saw his entries over on B site.
What about a close?
Missed opportunity, there for monisy.
And as Falcons play his lineup, Teneir just stays tucked in.
Goes for the wide swing.
Almost, almost.
But instead, Falcons fight three.
In fact, they can even make that competitive.
He's unreal.
But they close it.
Falcons pick up a third.
Not an easy situation.
We're seeing more of those line-ups.
Where the flash actually hits the target.
actually hits the target into lower on dust to right in this corner. No way to counter that.
Just when you think you'd seen it all. Counter strike never stops evolving.
Another exit at through middle here for Donk 16 and 4 flash he saw that flash might get
him killed yeah that flash will get him killed it goes too high don't get already scaled
he saw that flash for so long how many kills can this one monster find the never ending
question. In 12 rounds of counter strike, you got Falcons shaking in their boots
because they know that this B site has crumbled for the majority of this CT
side. This cave has been monesties at grave more often than not and looking to
make up for that. It's been horrible attempts to defend me just in general.
Everybody involved, honestly.
They'll overtake the cave. No resistance offered.
Four team spirit, two pieces on the brink of this B bomb site.
Looking to join forces with the bomb itself up ramp.
It's just number strong for spirit.
And while Falcons do have a eco, eco nowhere to be found.
Monacy's gotta collect something and he's gotta do it now!
No utility left. Monacy will have open lines.
They stall, they stutter, they hold for a second.
And this actually pulls Kerrigan off of the bomb site.
Out goes that one last flash and still spirits nowhere to be found
And so monosy starts the second guess himself is there really anything here
They'll stay locked in doubling up here on short instead the bomb over towards wrap. They have waited to the final 15 seconds
Oh, that would slip shiro gets the recovery. So it is only monosy here
Oh, we'll get himself a third kill on this round
No force this magics forces through and
And Niko from the other side of the map will have to come running over
Low HP Taneer confirms the avenue of attack. Oh, Nate bounces off nothing goes too far
Fire to magics his feet will burn him out from behind that column
But he's got a little bit of refuge still left and as Niko tries to figure out where the hell Taneer got off to
He knows he's got to be up close. They made the cure move. He's gonna clear this out 15 seconds
He'd go trying to press in, he'd done such a good job of just dodging him, elucid!
And unstoppable, our spirit by the end of this first half!
Just when Falcons start to piece together a couple of rounds and attempt to build back
their self-belief, spirit, crush them!
9-3 to round out the half.
That's exactly what Spirit were looking for coming into ancient.
They know that Falcons are formidable on this map and as happy as they will be to switch
over to T side themselves.
From what we've seen so far, Spirit aren't simply going to crack.
What a totally different round as well. Just, you know, within the bigger picture, the gearing
up and the evolution of team spirit. We're watching this moment from Monizzi. It feels
like hours late at this point. And a round like that and consistent output like that,
and he does have a team that will pick up some key trades around him. But to be honest, that
whole B site was just an eyesore. Every attempt at the hold, playing rotate, retake on every
single situation letting the flashes hit them fully full efficacy pop flashes
landing right in front of the default pillar and then dying with no chance to
shoot back
that B site hold needs a renovation and it's too late to do anything about that
now they must figure out how to figure out how to win this on the attack
super simplified charge up into that B site carrying into how this hands full tries
He tries to catch them off, Teneir with a jump in USP headshot, as if Team Spirit needed anything else.
Now Lady Luck blesses them in this retake. Magic starts to offer up a distraction.
That's going to call a lot of bodies for Falcons towards this corner, and still he just stays locked in.
Tess has dead, all on Kioske. Dumped on the other end of this, and that's going to force Kioske back into the cave with 30 health.
They are going to stick this bomb.
Yeah, protect the VIP. That's the round over if Kioske doesn't run at this.
He tries to charge it down and as he closes it on the distance, his chance right down!
And he headshot!
He had chances, he had died, he had bullets, but he didn't have the aim.
He knocks him off the defuse even if he dies, that round is won.
Oh, that's how you die.
Don cleans up.
Oh, it's near Kedah. Hit him and still Donk stayed alive.
Good job body blocking.
How can an active desperation
force by into this round? They're trying to put
investments into Kyosuke's hand. He will be holding on to that AK-47.
Just when you thought that maybe Monosy could bring back this game, we start to see a little
shakiness creeping to Kyosuke's hands.
Just get him off the defuse, all that's asked, and under pressure, due to the defuse itself,
he cannot get it.
Falcons will have no pistol win in this uphill battle.
Only gets deeper.
Deeper and deeper.
Falcons, no strangers to heartbreak, no strangers to missteps,
no strangers to radar screenshots.
But it's doom and gloom for what's left of this half and they can't win this round
So Karrigan fighting a tech 9 kill in mid helps, but Zoxxitz was ready to respond and that smoke spanked
Oh, they deny it. Perfect. Oh, are you even gonna get the bomb planted now?
Now Josuke's AK's revealed itself and Tess S uses that tech 9 to press in. Josuke delivers a second.
Hands busy with the bomb plant! The coverage is fantastic!
A couple kills to Josuke, a double down by Tess S and Falcons fight, fight!
We all have been in that situation on the A site bomb gets denied
You don't necessarily get another opportunity to put it down, but they had more to give
More fraggers to trade so they do go up against a little bit of resistance and they succeed
It's a good call to get into the A site very simple for them
They haven't seen the full breadth of the game plan here on T side ancient
Here's where they'll have to show us what to believe in
Immediately missing a ballie Spirit don't have much
You better be worried about that ramp push
You can see his caution all dockless to no no deagle headshots for one round like let's
just see what happens if you know Spirit don't convert this round honestly take so
Okay, here we go. Shiro. It's not a headshot. Oh, there it is.
A main will get shut down, and you've had this moment for Tenir to push a 5-7 into this corner.
We know what 5-7's doing this kind of distance.
And so Niko dead all of a sudden. You don't want to push out of that door.
He's got a smoke to block this in a minute.
No greed for Tenir. Doesn't go for the gun. Gets away. Smoke to block this off.
It becomes a nightmare now for Falcons. 2B3.
And they split up.
Just a win versus an anti-Eco.
Tenir decides to give them space, but every step of the way, Falcons are going to remain
cautious, concerned that any of these corners could be occupied by that same lethal 5-7
that just took Niko's head off.
It's still the right call.
It still made the inroads to get this bomb planted.
That smoke is an open invitation to Tenir.
It's just all based on timing.
Wait, no.
Fights you with half busy!
And Kyosuke doesn't get that instant trade!
doesn't get that second chance either. Oh here he comes again Tenir! Just a bane of
Killskay's existence! Team Spirit will not only dismantle Falcons but embarrass them
on the way out. I thought it was gonna be the Dawn Deagle headshot instead it was
Shiro. The Allen Iverson as he fades back into donut. 3v5 with pistol. Oh a parting
gift and to near a one-man army he had no help over here two teammates still alive
that smoke gave him the best gap he could ask for a standout performance now
for tenure in this grand finals trying to tap back into what he showed us in the
first two maps of play monest is gonna take over middle listen to falcons
Miss utility and we're worried if the spirit do we'll see if it matters
12th round is looming if they don't get this together, honestly
Look at the punish this piece. I don't think doesn't even have an angle here
Oh, he peeks out a little late and now two kills come on the entry. There's the answer
Shiro mows down a couple of bodies, will put Tineer into the clutch, and I think with a game like what he's having, he'd love to step up to this back.
Tineer, no, that someone else has fallen back a little bit. Kiyosuke's coming in slow.
This looks like the perfect move for him.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like Tineer considers this, but if he goes around the brick, at this moment, Kiyosuke, good patience, leans back, gets a triple kill in this one, and Falcons find a little more fight left in them.
Sometimes you gotta stare at death in the face.
to remember to live. That's what Falcons have to show us because again the pressure and the
circumstance of this grand finals is obviously affecting them and individual performances.
And Falcons just missing more utility. Just so much utility honestly.
down by round Falcons build. We're still at that point of the comeback though where Team
Spirit no concern. Magic has a Zeus. He's chilling. Of course he does. If they go through
their protocols, at least get him to step back a bit.
They bump into one another, so be it.
Teneir's blasted out of this one.
Zeus ready to go.
It's only that US P-Kill 14 spirit.
Numbers strong by Falcons.
They play that high trait potential,
find themselves comfortably inside of this bomb site.
And it's exactly what you'd expect
when Spirit had so little.
Nothing left to do here.
I'll have to submit.
Falcons will pick up a 6th round.
Kioské's got himself back into this big game in a big way.
There's a slow start for everyone here on ancients.
But it's not about how you start, it's about how you finish.
And every round is an opportunity.
A five round gap. The full buy comes out.
And the investment here for Spirit, they have heroes off.
Two kids coming in. They missed this one only twice.
I gotta pay these guys more.
Was that what caused the spirit to smoke up at their last round?
Oh, is that... oh, they're trying to block.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, they did block it last time.
There's lighters.
It's also limitations.
Yeah, it's that Spirit on two.
Spirit are already really low on utility.
We've got one flash left over for Donk.
It's a really great angle to hold, 2k spraydowns happen from this position.
Being in front of it, ready for the commitment, but that flash bites him, all of a sudden
Doc decides that he's just gonna take this by storm.
No way!
What?
In the middle of it all!
He tore through them.
Everyone to support that.
They had no idea he'd wrap around default.
Tess S was pressed up against him and Doc has decided that enough is enough.
Coming through! No concern for his own well-being, because he has believed in the rest of his team.
He tore through this side like a piece of paper. Everyone peaking, it felt like seamlessly, but just a second too late.
A devilish decision to push through the flames.
Here we go back to mid, Doc wants more blood and Jess S will give him something to think
about.
Now Falcons face reality.
The still elusive trophy lift for this team.
They tried to build up the belief thanks to Kerrigan, but we are witnessing an evolution
in team spirits. A lot of bodies for Falcons that just try to take down this B site and
if they run up that ramp by God there is nothing meant to stop them. Spirit will opt to try
and maintain control of cave and if a retakes needed so be it. Tess S with low HP, a little
too concerned but he's not writing off that corner from Teneir. They're freeing up magics
to go a little bit aggro here.
Jack Dynes got the answer, but it is Teneir to hold back.
Tess S. This comes down to these two.
There's the push again, because time and time again,
it is disrespect.
Team Spirit have fueled themselves in this grand finals
run on the shortcoming of Falcons.
Monacy in the middle.
The route remains.
The routing off a short.
It's perfect.
Oh, the shot leaves a lot to be desired.
Still, 3-4 help for Monacy.
Swaps back over to the AWP.
It's not necessary.
He's only got 4 health. Now he has to hit the shot or it's over!
Stick it! Down to the last second!
Did I?
Because Monacy calculates it to perfection.
Pushes off that bomb site and gives Falcons just a little more to believe.
Oh, wanted to believe that it was going to be a fake.
The game could have ended right there.
Unnervingly close.
But Monacy secures it. A clutch.
But these team spirit buys keep coming.
And spirit actually come in with no kids this time around.
Donk will once more throw himself towards early duels.
Josuke's responsibility.
Seize the shadow on that jump back.
He is being left to his own devices out your middle.
Donk's thinking about it.
Velkins just try and sink their teeth into this B site.
But Taneer puts that smoke down in the middle of it all.
Eco, nice!
Transfers the Khalil into the back-to-back,
headshots its man advantage momentarily for the Falcon.
Yeah, it's a successful contact.
Explode, Tess S is low, but won't go down.
Falcon's planted safely.
Again, no retake utility here for Spirit.
They maybe are going to hang out,
but what are the odds of actually trying this?
It's their money that's in jeopardy.
It was a bad frag grenade that bounced off
the front of the column that could have been a way
for Tess S to wind up dead.
Man, he did give it up an extra kill here.
Spirit want to make this game interesting.
So don't get to 5v4, but immediately they don't see Donk, they run up into B, they have this death vault they've always had.
Between Monosy and Niko, their power when it comes to entering into sites.
Second to none.
I can understand why they want to send out Killsgate as a mercenary to get info on mid
to maybe take a duel, but they do have to be a little bit more careful about how they're
using him because Spirit have been really doing a great job of countering him.
Donk is kind of doing it alone sometimes.
But now every situation on the knife stands.
It has to be the full comeback here for Falcons.
And because they lose that third gun, it does leave this buy in a weird spot.
I feel like three guns and a couple of pistols,
and they've already shown they can win a round like that.
Soak it up.
Salkin support is getting loud.
Two rifles for Skirret, they have thrown spanners in the works when it comes to these kinds
of buys.
And this M-Force position, posture to kill Tessas, sure enough.
First victim, a missed off opportunity for monosy.
They're going to try to just flood into the site.
But remember, Don's also got a gun.
There it is.
Lying up with a headshot.
That's a skewer.
USP's melted.
They said we can get 3K's on P as well.
It's only one full gun to get through.
Fallen gets planted.
Next two can get recycled.
Elkins making an argument for themselves.
But just a more simple test.
And again, we know that's beer coming rounds like this.
So, they get into dignified territory now with nine rounds.
They have to stare at tournament point in the face every single time they get into freeze time.
And Kerrigan's job is to keep them in belief that all you have to do now is rack up three more rounds.
This is where he makes his money. Simply what he does.
They made the full comeback back on Dust2.
Overtime's not what they want to think about, but...
Still better than crushing defeat.
And again, they have these T-Side statistics on their side.
They just gotta make sure that Donk doesn't have another lights out round.
You can see him trying to hunt them, can't you?
Donk continues to sign up for these moments and, ah, missed run boost.
That could have been the moment Kyosuke actually is out here along the wall!
Oh, it's on six.
Well, one trade back for JSS.
Good on him to get that numbers back.
It's Donk dead early, and Kerrigan losing out to the MP9 push off of the ramp.
In-game leaders clash, and it is Spirit to come out on top.
And it's a bit of a utility to soften him up early, and now it's another man advantage
for Spirit.
Ekko tries to hunt one down, looks for contact versus Tenir.
That low health of Magix could wind up being a liability, but the numbers are over towards
this B site.
radar and ask what is pss up to are they really gonna swing him is there a
chance to generate a chance there is the nails it falls away loses health and
response for that but all you needed was to equalize the numbers first and
foremost I don't know that the CTs were worried about me so they could try to cut
off their rotation as they fight towards a sonics making a move look who
waits for them it's a bomb that's right behind him but it just doesn't know he
isn't spotted and so as he strives to get away from this utility will trickle
down from above. Oh, he's floating. He's going to turn. He's going to start
considering a main and as he does, no, never mind. He wants the dual towards
donut. It goes even worse. It's a quick headshot for Zontics. Back at it.
Denied by Tessus, who has found himself two critical traits in this round.
They won't rush this. Back of default is clean. Nico holding strong. No kit.
But close on the proximity for the retake. Oh, they could taste it. It's a
risk, but they want to go for it. Hunting down their fourth consecutive on
this T side Falcons looking to just survive.
Wait, Niko's going to get blindsided out by Magics.
Now it's Tess S, who is calling for the quad.
A grenade in his name and Shiro with a health advantage
closes it on the distance, bombs at 15 seconds.
This is a no-kit situation.
Oh, yes.
Tess S plays that clock down to perfection
and Falcons find their chance.
That's ice cold on it, Tess S.
Here's the run to the right, doesn't fall forward,
calls the block to Shiro.
Full tournament on the line, clutch delivered, pillar of team Falcons.
Chess S stands tall.
And finally you see some frustration on the side of spirit.
And finally a timeout called.
Now this moment right here, Magic swinging out in front and he's low HP, gives Chess us a chance.
They didn't know exactly where he'd be playing from it.
It felt like Sontics did enough. Just by taking out the off.
There is a reality at Falcons. Bring this all the way back. Even though it's on a nice
edge, every single step of the way. If they survive this round, Spirit are going to have
bare bones. Shiro's not seeing this off again unless he saves it. Dalkins are
living up to the T sides they've delivered so far in their last matches.
And will they send Josuke out mid? Yes. Again. It's the right counter utility for
the Jaffa. They're also met by Blames out of the other end.
Early no spirit. No kit once more. Oh excuse me. Shiro did get one at the end.
This is different because they know that the rifles have been swinging. That's all they want. Yeah
Well, they want to battle between the offers, but shiro throwing utility
Is blinded
Strikes from the red room. Kyosuke's got the trade back. Yeah, it's the one-two punch
It is felt like nearly no kill goes untreated as these rounds have racked up
But all shiro wants is that challenge to walk into him, but he sends a shot down range and that's information for Kerrigan
Yeah, he said reveal yourself and he did
Wanted desperately for that shot to land and that's all Falcons need to hear. They have made a decision fast move
Look at the conviction of the movements. You know exactly what they want
And you know exactly who is meant to hold this Taneer will be a part of this pack
This two-man situation inside of the caves that remains
Unsmoked yeah, they said you can have caves. We might not even fight you there
Whether they plant on the other side of column yet to be Joe's case gonna have a challenge come his way
No way that happens they expose him
Magic's throwing caution to the wind.
This is insane from Tessus. Ready to swing out. No one behind him.
Fast climb on the flank already. We've got two fights unfolding at the same time.
Can he really take out Dong?
Magic's in Taneer. Push off the bong site. Tessus dead.
And it's all on Ego. And his legs may just crumble out beneath him as he tries to chase Taneer over towards the ramp.
That's all it takes. Team Spirit 13-10 at 3.
They make it a 3-0.
They fight. It goes all the way to the end.
And Falcons, the dream has finally died.
They made it all this way.
They impressed so much.
But never once did we see Team Spirit crack.
Their IGL showing us levels we didn't think possible this quickly.
To near, reaching new heights, tournaments in a row.
The dog still setting up breaking records, and yet his team is also eating.
Nothing could stop dog when he took this scene by storm, but shortcoming stacked up, and
Team Spirit needed more.
Tonight we get our first glimpse of what this roster could become, because for the first
time it feels like Team Spirit are more than one monster.
This band of demons feels unchained.
Back-to-back champions of PGL Astana, crushing in Kazakhstan, Team Spirit!
in the Grand Finals.
Matrix, I'm going to start with you.
Looking at this win, your first is an IGL.
273 days since Spirit last lifted a trophy.
Back then, you were still not on the roster at that time.
What did it take from this team, the support staff,
the hard work, everything that went in,
explain it to us how you've shown these improvements
and managed to make this happen today?
CHEERING
It was a hard game of the year, because some of us were worse and that was only the starting, and it was kind of difficult, but you know, the way that we are playing last two tournaments is kind of impressive, and we are playing like insane, and the game speaks for itself.
It was hard at the beginning of the year, especially considering the new changes, but with every next tournament we made it stronger and more powerful and showed great results.
Mean to you and feel to you because it sounds to me if you write that it's different than what you normally say
It's great. It's a good part. I mean I agree a great sign in front of major and
It's great to win this way in this arena
This is a very important victory for us, especially for the Major.
Thank you very much.
Allga, Kazakhstan.
right now has been improving, showing a lot of that improvement.
But what does it mean to you for your first STS Open with these players watching them develop
and you being the coach of all of this?
I think it's a lot for me, because I never had the pleasure of doing so.
I had the pleasure of being the chairman of the team.
Now we achieve a championship, and I'm the chairman of the guys, and I'm the chairman.
I'm incredibly happy that we were able to take this trophy. We were close to Rio.
And I didn't have the opportunity to be with the team that won and stand on the arena together.
each other, how to dominate in these tournaments and dominate these games to have trophies once again?
I think everyone in the team is confident that we are able to win anyone right now, but honestly
it's more of a shape of I think it's not like it doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to play
the same way in the next tournament, but we have to keep this mentality the same individual performance
and believe in the teammates.
Here we go.
We are very confident in ourselves, but this doesn't mean that we will continue to perform in the same way.
It is very important to keep the individual level and the mental health level in order to continue to win.
when we were on this stage, that it is disgusting the way Team Spirit is playing.
Do you feel like right now this could be the best spirit ever, or you guys are on your way to becoming the best spirit ever?
Help him out! Help him out!
This is the best roster, Spirit, and the best form.
I think we are not in the best form, but in the best shape, but in the optimal one.
Let me reference this. This was dominant. This was disgusting, like he said. How far does he think they are away from being able to challenge the likes of Vitality, especially with the Major so close?
He said that it is very difficult to play against you.
How much more do you need to move on to the next skill to play against Vitality?
Well, playing as Vitality is ideal.
Spirit Jersey you look like you're having fun while this is happening more than before your face has changed the way you're expressing yourself and to me
It seems to be translating onto the server
What has changed because this is a new you how have you managed to do this and how can you keep this going because?
Spirit needs this from you, man. Your grandfather was insane. I
Don't know but I want to say just saying to my team because we did a lot work for this a few months
And I really enjoy right now when we are playing this game.
Also I want to say thank you for all our fans.
Thank you for support.
Also it's my second Grand Final in this team.
And I'm very happy.
And also we are one tournament, first tournament for a lot of months in this region.
Maybe I have a lot of fans and also I have family at this tournament, I love my families.
So Chiro has got something to say, so let's all listen.
I repeat, it's something new for us in this roster.
We've changed the captain.
I want you to cheer for Boris and for a good ring.
I'm just glad that everything worked out for him.
I also want to say thank you to everyone who came again.
The team, the staff, the streamers who supported us.
I also want to say thank you very much to my girlfriend, thank you very much.
She came to support me on this tournament, I think she did very well.
I felt great on this tournament, because I was near a close person.
So thank you all, have a good day and see you on the Major.
And we have one more very special thing to do on stage the HLTV one-expect MVP
will be produced on this stage, Proud Head of Operations at HLTV is joining us
up here and I don't think there's any surprises but the winner is
Come on Astana!
Donk, another trophy, another MVP.
I know for you it's more about the team and the performance
and everything that happens in that scenario.
But just tell me about the changes you are seeing in the team that has enabled you to get another MVP and get an award
and what that feeling is like for you because it does seem like we are in a new way of seeing spirit play and develop.
I think we play more as a team and we all trust each other.
But in terms of myself, I didn't change anything, to be honest.
I'm just playing my game and that's it.
All guys are trusting me, so I'm just playing.
I'm chilling.
You're chilling?
Chilling to an MVP.
And just obviously, I'll let you do the translation first, before I forget.
And lastly, just anything you want to say again to all the fans, everyone here and just your
hopes for spirit in the future.
I hope you all show a good game, I am made here and see you next year guys, I'll go
Go with the trophy, go and enjoy the celebration with your team and with that your PGL Astana
2026 champions, it's Tim Spinn!
And there it is guys, we thought we'd even get into breaking down what we saw, I do want to say
what an amazing atmosphere we had inside the stadium blown away. Well me, Ken, the Wastana,
Last year, I thought the warmth, the generosity, the kindness of all of the fans, it was really overwhelming.
And man, you guys, everyone in the crowd, you knocked it out the park today.
Absolutely one of the best atmospheres I have ever been in, in all of my 20 years of Counter-Strike.
It's up there with Boston for me, the miracle in Massachusetts.
Spasiba!
Exceptional stuff here from the fans, even from before the arena component of this event.
They were flooding the areas that the players were at.
They're asking me for autographs, Rich.
That's how I know they know some ball.
I loved it.
It's like a major over here.
That's how crazed the Kazakhstan fans get for Counter-Strike.
And they deserve it.
Yeah, I'm just I'm just waiting for next year again already.
Right.
Just the vibes overall.
And you know, like I don't think I had a single player,
a single team so far who've flown in yet last year.
This year is when we've had a single negative thing to say about
the country, the city, and of course the fans.
You know, in a lot of arena environments, it takes a little bit of time to warm it up and to grow it.
But from Friday morning, these people were here cheering on every team that stepped up to that stage.
And obviously, this group is full of spirit fans and fans of other squads alike, I am sure.
But what they are also fans of, and what matters most is that they are fans of this beautiful game we call Counter-Strike.
And Astana, thank you so much for coming out.
Yep, absolutely. And now, we have to sort of put a weird punctuation on it
Situation on it because I'm kind of sad a little bit disappointed. I wanted the extra maps
I would have loved it to go the distance
But in the end we're talking about a very different beast with this team spirit that spirit that is galvanized a spirit
That is learning how to do all the bits and pieces
They need to be the best version of themselves and I have to say it Blair
I think they put vitality on notice here today. Oh, absolutely listen rich
I was the only one who put Falcons potentially maybe win this entire event
That was a little delusional, but I am always a bit delusional.
That's why I'm in love with you.
Yeah, I was going to say we love you for that.
Spirit were inevitable.
Donk was inevitable.
That was a top three event performance from him in his entire young career.
And just the way to play CS, just everything was so good.
Sure, map one got a little close.
Map two and map three, there was not a single chance
in hell for the side of Falcons there.
Listen, Donk was the rookie of the year in 2024
had his best ever tournament at I.M.
Cattabizza in that year.
And as Bleh has just told you, we are now in Astana,
midway through 2026, two and a half years later,
and this guy is still besting himself,
still putting up monstrous numbers
in one of the most difficult roles
to be consistent and in the game.
He is the best rifler period ever period
in the conversation period.
And to be able to do it in the entry role
makes it that much more amazing.
He deserves every bit of praise he gets.
273 days since Donk last lifted an HLTV MVP.
He's got EVP awards, but when it gets down to business,
when we're talking about the greats of all time,
those MVP medals, they matter.
We see Zywu's running away with it right now.
He was furthering the distance between himself
and the newcomer in Donk, so it's nice to see Donk
get one of its own.
While in Atlanta, Zywu is not getting one over there,
so at least he can close the gap ever more.
Yeah, and I've got to say as well, I was not a believer in what magics could do with this team.
It's like I said, look, being an IGL sounds great on paper.
It's your ideas. It's your structure.
People have to dance to your tune, do what you say.
Who wouldn't want that, right? It's like me running a desk.
But this is the reality. It's hard.
You have to come up with the ideas.
When the chips are down, you've got to lead the troops.
You've got to make sure everybody believes in you.
And if you have no confidence in your IGL, that, my friends, is a dysfunctional team.
And everybody has confidence in magic, it seems, on this two-spirit lineup.
Indeed, they do.
Spirits always had the puncher's chance because of the powerful right hand that is thought,
but now they have that jab to lead things.
It's that extra utility, that extra support.
It's the, you know, coming up of a guy like Tenir to be another true rifling star on this squad.
Shiro staying stable as ever.
Sontek's working the rust off to do his role.
Everything is coming together to make this spirit look like the most efficient version of the team we've seen.
Whenever Spirit of One a big event, whenever the Win the Major, the conversation always says,
Oh wow, Donk, what a performance. It's always Magix, oh my god, you had a life game in the Major last time.
It's always a Donk conversation of someone just popping off and having a big game, a big event, so to speak.
This event was more a testament to the work that's been put in.
It's a testament to Sophie coming in, sure it might be a temporary measure,
But how much things have changed now you hopped on time and time again the utility is looking so good to near has found himself
We've been looking for this to near for almost more than half a year right now
Yeah, he's finding his stride. She was looking comfortable
And of course donks continue to do donks things now now we have a team who could contend with vitality
Now we have a team who could be vitality when they are prepared as well
And you know who I want to thank now II I want to thank vitality actually because listen when you have a team that is so
Irrid defining so perfect across the board that are just so miles ahead of the opposition
You know the fans they've been talking to week here and no one's close
Well, I'll tell you if spirit can do that over and over and over again at a tournament after tournament
Finally vitality gonna have a challenge vitality has sharpened every other team in the scene
They all are chasing their greatness and spirit. They needed to go back to the drawing board
They did just that they looked back at how they're setting Donk up how it wasn't good enough
And now if you took what spirit did in terms of the utility usage
It's about 20% better than what Vitality did all of last year now teams are gonna pick the part spirit
How do they have such a ridiculous run here in Astana and they're gonna see some of those tendencies
So it's up to spirit now to stay ahead of the curve
They're gonna have to keep innovating because once people see all of the footage all of the data
They're gonna get anti-strated a little bit and so they are putting spirit a huge target on their back
Because now everybody has to not only look at vitality demos
They definitely have to look at spirits and they can add as much as you want
But at the end of the day you've got to shoot heads as well the problem is don't and everyone else to coffee coffee at the same time
Yeah, they said that iron sharpens iron right and it happens within this team
Someone like to near coming in newer to this level being next to legends like dog and shiro who have been doing it
in and out on a tier one basis for a long time as dump is indeed your front runner. But
it also sharpens the entire scene. It raises the bar and what type of counter
should be playing to win trophies. And it's going to be hard as hell to contain the guy
who's putting up numbers like that. Ninety-nine ADR across the entire event.
My way you said very rare if I place where you have one KPR. He almost got that here.
It's been, yeah, I think it's three times. This would have been the fourth time ever
at a big event for someone to hit the 1.00 KPR. Trust me, I was keeping count. I was
like you got to get plus 12 here on ancient but it didn't quite happen still
regardless a generational performance like if this is if this was this is
Don second best MVP practically speaking and it's still better than Nikos or
monocies or so many other people throughout history well I'm sad to say
we've come to the end of the show guys it's been a blast let's do it let's get
the final thoughts what are you gonna take away from this one what's your
treasured Maui's night memory. I'm so glad that Spirit came and did what they
were supposed to do. I was looking at a Furia team that was weak in coming into
this, looking at a Falcon team that was trying to find some way to reinvigorate
themselves. It was actually Spirit who did that with Sothpik behind them and I'm
not giving up this idea. If Spirit decides to move on from Holly onto Sothpik, I
said let it happen because I love this version of Spirit. 100% agree with you
And I think I'm gonna move on a little bit beyond Spirk is obviously we do have a touch up on this entire story with Falcons and mouse
Right, we had a lot of question marks coming in for some of these big names and how they can really deliver and for me right now
The way things are shaping up sure mouse felt by the way side sure Falcons didn't deliver in the finals
But heading into the major things look way more interesting
But also my final takeaway is thank you Astana
This has just been a beautiful city a beautiful place and beautiful people absolutely
Absolutely, and you know, my final take away will be this,
as we already know that Vitality was great.
The greatest of all time.
We've all seen Navi prove that they are a true contender,
but now you have more to look forward to going to the major
Spirit has found new form.
Falcons look pretty sharp considering the limited time
together.
Furious seems to be having a resurgence.
There are new contenders in the field
that make this seem more interesting.
And as Blast said, I'll echo it again.
Thank you so much, Estana, for making
this such a wonderful event.
Yeah, it's been amazing.
Guys, it's been great working this final with you.
And now it is time to close out of the show.
I wanna say that obviously Team Spirit were killing it.
In Kazakhstan's, but Vulcans will be back,
will be back when the PGL Global Tour continues.
We'll be back in Bucharest and we'll see you then.