you
Thank you for joining us.
Thank you.
I
Hello everybody and welcome back to S.A.L.
We're so happy to have you with us to start off our final weekend and not only are we going to be
qualifying four teams over the next two days, but we're also ending all of kickoffs, I guess,
international, national plays here for SAL and awaiting our final regions to lock in CNL
and NAL to have all of our teams ready to go. And my, I guess, but my co-host today
is the one and only AlphamaR6 who somehow has teleported himself across Europe from the EML studio
just like that and he's joining us all nice and fresh how you doing? Good, good. I remember
something Jack told me when we were going to the studio yesterday and he was like,
you know what Leo? I feel like I live in Siege. I just go to the studio, I watch EML, I do my prep,
after EML, I do my prep for the day after, I go to sleep, I dream about Siege, I wake up,
I create content about Siege and somehow I feel I can relate to that today.
It's part of it. You know, we're people and you've done from the competitive point of view as well.
So that's on a different scale compared to me, but you've lived Siege in more ways than one and
for a game that has been able to, I guess, change our lives in the way that it has and
give us 10 plus years of excitement, it is a privilege to continue being part of it
after so many years and today to spend the day with you. I said that I am to not have laxing
by my side. I'm always happy to be here with Al Fama. But we have a busy day today because
there's three matches as you can see and the focus will be on the winners of our
two first matches because those are the teams that will qualify to be Salt Lake City Major.
So those will be the first two out of four that will represent the region on site.
Now lastly, it'll be the upper bracket final.
The winners of the two matches that comes down to the seeding one or two.
It's going to impact how their phase two might look.
Which opponents are going to be facing?
Something to look forward to in the future.
But team Liquid Alienware NIP is where we're going to kick things off
and go to Furia versus Fluxo W7M.
And this is the bracket.
This is how we got here.
And I don't know if you got to watch anything from our last playday on Tuesday, Leo
I know you had a very very busy week with EML
But those two matches went by really fast and low bracket. Yeah
Yeah, I'm not surprised because you know when I was looking at the matchup from today
You usually it's supposed to be the matchups of the biggest teams in the league, you know
And and there was one big missing component in there where was phase in that top four and I think well
I think I understand why we had such a one-sided quarter-final in the other bracket when you know that phase is there and
That they play against the team that they 7-0ed at the end of the kickoff group stage
I just did not expect it to be anywhere closer
So a 7-1-7-1 for phase not a big surprise loss
I think it was a team that had the most potential after the roster mania that didn't belong in the top five
So I'm not surprised to see them advance all the way only one B or three away from
So like city but the main thing remains a middle. What is there to gain for the twins in the upper semi-final here on your screen?
Which will be in the good anywhere an IP theory a fox or w7n
Basically if you win that be a three you guarantee yourself a spot at a subject city major in phase two directly
$8,000 and a hundred seventy five a site points. So that is a lot. So you you want to get that way
It'll be something that will propel you forward and in the lower bracket that's where things
kind of flip. If you lose in the upper semi-final, so let's say TL Alienware and NIP, the loser
of that match is going to drop down to the lower bracket, then we're playing against FaZe
Clan, where as the loser of FURIO Fox 2 W7M plays a loss. And at the end, in the final
of the lower bracket, that'll be tomorrow, you will have two teams that are both qualified
to the Salt Lake City Major. However, only the winner of that match will advance directly
into phase two, whereas the loser of the game will have to play from phase one, which means
adding more, I guess, potential for things to go wrong. You've got upper-low bracket
in it and seeing which will be the four teams from the eight that actually qualify into
phase two. They'll have the lowest seed really compared to everybody else, qualifying
into that second phase. And in Swiss, in this Buchholz system also, it's going
get very complicated really really fast about winning those three matches but
that's in the future not long from now around three weeks or so but it is in
the future regardless but there's teams that have already made it Leo to the
Salt Lake City Major for EML teams going there and G2 VP Falcons and my boys
most importantly you just mentioned it if you're the fourth seed in your region
which means that you make it to the select city major through the lower
bracket final but you lose that very bad record final right you are sent to the
phase one of the major where only four teams out of the eighth qualified to
face two Falcons Falcons is the worst seed of eml so they will have to
star the major through phase one. So all the teams that barely get their tickets
scrapped their way to the Seoul Lake City Major, they're gonna find themselves
facing Falcons on day one of the major. Isn't that insane? That's incredible. I
mean, it's to say that the one player change is something big obviously for
Falcons slash G2 in their own right, but still Virtus Pro had a very, very
big change, a very core change I would say, going into the stage. I don't
many were expecting them to come out as number two in the entire region. That's something
pretty exciting in its own. Twisted Minds brand new, we finally have an actual MENA team
in the EML, the Europe MENA League, and they are third place in the region. Of course,
Twisted Minds being the old Falcons, well the Falcons of old a couple of years ago
or a year and a half ago, their team and players that are incredibly talented. It's
probably the best of the best from the entire region. And so seeing them performing despite
like ping differences all that it's clear that they have a lot more to show and the back-to-back
best of threes that they had especially that game versus shifter just the comeback story from
to submits is beautiful everything from to turn like the victory the victory over static even that
loss against g2 they are the team that puts them the most pressure on g2 by the way they are the
only ones that made it close in one map that border game i thought that g2 was going to go into
over time. And then after that, to take down shifters, yes, it's a fit in itself, but take
down Falcons, what a way to do it. Honestly, completely reworked over EML, but I like it.
G2, super team makes it with the first seed, VP, great roster overall, a team that plays the mix
of the firepower of the Russians, of Dan, of Pasha, of Florik, and then all of the
IGL-ing and vision from the Frenchies and from the coach Dark, and then twisted minds who
to come in swinging with a super entertaining playside,
super aggressive.
And then Falcons, despite starting the major in phase one,
I'm not too worried about them.
As I said on the desk yesterday, I will say this again,
I think that we're sending four of the best possible teams
we could have sent from EML.
It might be the best EML has looked
at an international event, I think,
at least in terms of potential that we're sending.
Thank God, because I think a couple of events ago,
the things were quite different.
We're really unsure of how EML would be,
But I don't want us to dig into EML because that's the second best region in the world,
not the best one.
The best one is right here in SAO and we're locking things in.
I know we can talk about EML all day every day, but that's not what we're doing here.
Let's talk about our first matchup team liquid Alienware going up against Ninjas in pajamas.
We'll focus in on team liquid Alienware in this matchup because they have had a
huge change.
Obviously, this is a huge name in the region and globally as well.
You bring in the four of the ex-ferial players, you put them in with Maya, and according at
least to their steam, to Felly Pox and to Igor their coach, things have completely shifted.
Everybody's in different roles pretty much.
Things have completely been flipped on their heads, and Maya is leading the team in
stats everywhere.
He's the only one left where we're from the old team, you're Quiddilling or
roster really really spearheading the team pushing them across every one that they had
but this is their first challenge in a BO3 league. Yeah it is a tricky one because they started with
pressure I feel like joining a new organization making such a huge roster overhaul, four new
players integrating Maya, changing all of the roles and so it started off the wrong way they lost
to Black Dragons as a reminder the same teams that lost 7-0, 7-1 and 7-1 to Faze.
And despite all of this, after this, they recovered, I think, beating most convincingly, beating phase to me.
In group stage was a big one, 7-4. And after that, a statement 7-0 victory over Imperial eSports.
That's a team that has looked very confident. As you can still do on the far right of your screen right now,
JV was one of the best rated player on the roster at SI, and then he was changed to a more flexible role,
role, a bit more of a support role, and so far he's still adjusting to that.
However, on the left side, the two guys to highlight, Maya and KZ, still there, still performing very well.
What a replacement for Herds for Maya, who seems to slot right in with the new lineup.
But like you said, it can be tricky for them because it will be the first BO3 as a team ever.
They've not played one yet as a team. So an IP on the other hand, they've already had to warm up.
they had to go through quarterfinals, they had that experience and that confidence of their
weighing against their loss on Tuesday. So it's a different setup here. They need to be one that
already going into this matchup. And looking at the last game that Ninjas Bajamas had against loss
and I feel super comfortable in that game. I think they should have won it even better than
they did. I believe it was 7473 in the two match that they played and they put in a lot of
effort in there. The entire team was working together and this is what we want to see.
the central putting in numbers, Pino always doing the impact that he's supposed to and then of course
Fancy trying to keep up with him is kind of a tough job for any player out there
but this man in front of you is definitely a dream come true. It's not gonna be easy I think for
Team Liquid Alienware to deal with NIP maybe for those that haven't been watching SAL regularly
enough. Let me tell you this is a squad that you should definitely never underestimate.
No, definitely not. I think it's a well-built roster, by the way. Many teams were, I think, not really writing them off, but at least saying that they were weakened, because they had lost Colm's to Flux at W7M, they had lost their IGL, and that they recruited Bassetto, who's supposed to be a bit more passive, who came from loud, a team that was known to be very passive, and so most people were doubting them.
but I think that Vasectov is a great fit. Yes, he brings another vision, but that vision is not
necessarily worse than this one. And I think that for the rest, Pinot, Wizard, Hite is still
performing really well. The most important thing with fantasy that does not appear on his stats
right now is the opening engagements for me. He's been involved in 17 opening kills and 10
opening deaths. That's 27 opening engagements, three times more than any office teammates,
by the way. So he's been really the big spearhead of that team. It does not look like he's
succeeded in that much in the statistics, but I think he's been the key player for their entry
line. And I think that Pino without haters, they all benefit from it. Absolutely. Now,
we're looking at these two teams in their own little bubble, but we can talk about individual
players. And I want to take our head-to-head of Maya versus Fantasy, two players that if
If anything, you want them to play at their tapety top today.
It's a big challenge.
They both need to show up at their best in order
to push their specific teams across the line layoff.
Yeah, they do.
I think I want to see the consistency of Maya so far.
After what we've seen from him during the groups
and being like, I think he dropped double digits
on almost every single match.
If you look at 44 kills, he paid four matches.
So that's more than double digits every game.
The cost is very important.
EPS also leading the charts for the one player that was brought on from the previous liquid
roster. I think it's very important for him to keep that star role. It's a very difficult
thing to come in and replace herds who was by many, you know, seen as the face of the
former Fiora roster. And I think he's done so in such a way that I just love he, you
know, listening to Igor and interviews or Feli Pocs telling us like, you know,
Maya is not only there in the game, he's also there like in terms of energy in
in terms of shot goals, in terms of carrying the team again,
and that's what we needed.
And like to do that, to be that guy,
the hype man of your team.
And on top of that, also be the best rated.
I mean, what could you ask more?
So if there's one player I want to look at today
in that victory, a single BF3 to make it to the select city
is Maya.
But this is the front line of these two teams.
What if we looked deeper back from an IGL
or support standpoint, who are we really pushing
to see today to get that victory?
So that fight will be different, right?
It will be Bassetto versus FeliPox, two very different styles.
However, with the recent world changes on the side of Team Liquid Alienware, FeliPox
has said himself he's been put back on a hard bridge, on shields.
So it basically Bassetto's role.
So there will be the two calling the shots from the back line.
Let's be real in terms of achievements and pay-gree.
FeliPox is supposed to win that head-to-head.
But again, Siege is never made on paper, NIP, they showed great consistency throughout
all of the kickoffs so far. I mean, they only dropped to 3R. Let's remind everyone,
this team beat Fluxo WCNN in the B01. So they had that confidence for them. And like I said,
they are warmed up. They played a B0 3R AD. They work on the league against us.
And to me, that is an advantage that Tim Liquid and Lignin where it doesn't have.
Well, my friends, let's move on to our map veto and see where this will take us.
Team Liquid Alienware versus Ninjas in pajamas. Winner makes it to Salt Lake City,
Loser drops a lower bracket to play phase and that is going to be a tough match no matter how you
Cut this be a three first up night even lab and that is the liquid
Pick layer for NIP and we'll move on to bank should this go the distance the night even laughs thought on that
We're bringing our casters leave
Weird one to me because an IP's family that's come up because they don't like them and laps
At least I haven't played it since Copa's with America last year which was against the former Freya roster by the way
Which they did but since then it's been a perm a band 19 times. They banned it by the last six months
So I'm assuming if they let it through you're cooking something and if there is one match where you want to cook something
It's the one qualified Newton major
It's been a while since you've seen this team liquid the Alienware roster
Being online. I wonder if that's gonna be an extra bit of pressure on them to get across the line
I mean, yeah, maybe that has to do with the organization itself.
I think, I think, yeah, I think looking at that roster, you know, I'm not too worried
of one of the most experienced roster in the world.
Even when it comes to my ass, so like, I wouldn't be too afraid of that.
Just looking at Lair for the set of an IP, it was such a crutch map for these guys.
I don't know if you remember, but like, we saw them crushing on it during a meeting
major that played so much.
I remember them 7-0ed space station on the map and this crazy 15 round game against shifters, which was absolutely insane.
And then bank to finish it, I'm excited. We've seen Timbukulaniya were played recently in kickoff, he had a really good result on it.
So a balanced map pool, but not having laps is where my question mark is.
The Parabana-Fanatici.
Then let's call in our casters demo and extra trucker joining us today. Our first couple matches here demo Oli. How you doing? We got a big game on our hands today. Oli, it's team liquid alien. We're playing NIP and winner goes to Salt Lake City. Simple as we certainly do. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into it. It's it's a play day that obviously as we're getting closer to kickoff and I'm sat there the other night watching
I'm thinking toward next week about NaL concluding with SAO concluding over the next couple of
days as well.
We're really starting to get close now to find out who is going to be making it to the
major.
And I think that SAO in itself is one of the maybe more exciting ones for me.
You know, former world champions in the lower bracket, like there's a bit of a gap
potentially for a team to sneak in and for FaZe to miss out.
Obviously, we've already had the almost upset inside of Europe.
So I guess it's just about, you know, seeing if these upsets are going to come
I'm sure you're on it.
So I'm surprised he hasn't said anything that he's casting me today.
I thought that would have been straight in his mind.
We're bringing it back.
We're bringing it back to you know, while since I've had this guy,
especially back to Brazil, which is really where we started.
There's still companionship only, so it could be back.
Just want to also bring up about Leo's point, he's talking about labs.
I mean, this is also deep and liquid alienware.
I'm not really very curious. I never played this map either.
So for both sides, it's a map that they don't play. So I really don't have a clue what we're expecting here.
I looked at the maps and I honestly think that NIP have really tried in this map ban.
Because if you look at what they've taken away, okay, so Consulate is just Team Liquid Alienware's permanent ban, that's fine.
Shall I come in as the next one? It's not a map that NIP like.
Border is where it gets interesting for me because I think there's a world where Team Liquid Alienware were expecting NIP to pick border
border and to ban the labs potentially and then bang coming in as the decider is it's
like an IP's favorite map so I feel like they've really tried quite a lot of these and a solid
snake been on top of it to kick things off that's exactly what I wanted to see my friends
all yours demo extra drinker enjoy oh it's been a while since we've heard that hasn't it demo
back on the cast again back in Brazil I'm not in place for the reunion to take place
Yeah, it's, you know, it's the three best of three days. So we have a team of cast, one game, one game only. Yeah, we've literally back for one, back for one last show, like a band getting back together.
That's it. This is, oh well, well, you never know, it might turn out like the like kiss where it's just constant reunions until, you know, it keep going for it. But who knows, ever say never.
I think coming into this series, obviously I think that the favorites you have to look
at team Liquid Alienware.
I think just with the prestige that this team has, it's still that core of the fury team
we know are just so darn good.
They should be the expected winners here.
But I think aside from NIP, it's certainly been my most improved team from last year.
I thought they did really well to get themselves back
connected to the outside inside of SAL.
And again, I think so far this stage
they've done a really good job.
I would agree with you.
And NIP is a team that I want to do well as well.
You know, it's, I feel like because we only cover
a little bit of SAL, you can almost be a little bit more
biased than we are in our airport.
And I feel like this NIP side is a side
that I want to see succeed.
I like what we're trying to do here
with the team, with the players that they've got.
And I think that they play a really exciting brand of Siege.
Obviously Team Liquid Alienware kind of speaks to themselves.
And yeah, this is a team that's star studded SI winners.
You've got a very serious core of players.
And then with now the introduction of Maya over the last,
you know, whatever it is, kick off however many weeks
that's been going on, we're slowly
starting to see this build.
But again, it's quite a seismic shift
that they've gone through in that roster.
speaking in the pre-show about JV's roles and I mean look at what he's playing in the
thermite now it's not unusual to see JV on a hard breach but it is stats
certainly have suffered as to where we're used to seeing on other roles so
this more flex role it's it's something that's you know it's brand new for
Team Liquid Alienware. Yeah I think for the side it's just adjusting to their
new home in the new colors and certainly I think for the side the fact
that they're playing one of their perma bands that they've had over the past year is very
surprising. They don't know if that's because Maya's here and Maya's going to try and teach
them a few things, but I think for anyone in the world, I mean, if Team Liquid Alienware
have added another map into their arsenal, it just makes it a much more scary to go
up against. At the moment, it is just this pressure in towards Rafters. Very standard
take here from Team Liquid Alienware. They put the hard breaches in and opened
up, and now they're starting the assault. And Rafters, down goes with their first
player dead.
Yeah, there's army is always gonna be a high target there on rafters a very tricky position to play and something that team liquid alien
We've dealt with quite nicely there
He's still gonna be up on the clash though, and that's gonna be a little bit of a problem
We all know clash can just be an immovable object at times with the pressure that team liquid alien where I've got right now
But not looking in too bad a shape because I will find one back onto JV
But they are really knocking on the side door case. He's gonna go down as well
And what about that for a flank coming in from fancy eventually taken down
But damage already done for leaps now left in the one versus one low health diffuser in hand nose
C4 for seto needs to play this carefully, but he's giving him the space demo. He's letting this diffuser down
That's not the play inside of the 1v1 but seto now has to act
He's the two hard supports going up against each other this was the head-to-head that Leo and Millish are talking about
And there's only gonna be one winner for Epox there a plant and a kill to seal the deal
Oh, he's robbed that rounds. I really should not have been allowed to get that plant in
but somehow
He's made it work and that's because the cell just just stood off. He was in connector
He didn't want to move he didn't want to go for it
It's probably down to a lack of information. Obviously from the settle. He just want to try and run the clock down
He wasn't expecting fully box to go for the plant, but he did I mean for team liquid earlier where a very slow
Kind of start wasn't it the first few minutes
It was just kind of doing your general basis of getting those walls open setting up
They don't a really good job good entry in towards rafters
They were also able to pick off the clash, but then they let a retake happen in towards rafters
That was one of the main issues for them
and they lost a lot of bodies from it. And yeah, for Leapox being able to clutch up. I mean, that is around to kick things off. And it's got to get team liquid alien. We're out for it now. Absolutely. The top floor is where you go as a defending team on night Haven labs to pick up an early round.
It's the reason that a lot of the rotations will start up there. And I'm going to go straight down to the basement, not fancy in another attempt, even though it only came down to a one V one, obviously feeling like the flank from fancy maybe isn't too much.
maybe isn't something that's necessarily repeatable and it might be something that Team Liquid Alienware are going to get a little bit wise to as the game develops.
Still, no cause for panic just yet, but definitely the start that Team Liquid Alienware would have wanted here.
Hates, he's going to be way out of town at the moment, all the way upstairs inside of meeting for this basement defense.
I'm not really liking what I'm seeing here, a glass is always a big nightmare especially
when these walls get opened. Nothing's trying to deny this breach. Obviously the bandit is
banned but Cade and Tuber are both available. And then I appear just sort of giving this
away for free. You must have some sort of a strategy but I'm not really seeing a warden
or anything there Demo. And the plan's going down already. Oh they are here for
one thing and one thing only. Burn off the Leapox Astor reposition on very low HP on the edge of
the smoke and Hates for Love can take him down. Yeah not checking the Goyo canister and that was
enough to stop that push from happening and it should just be a lockout from NIP. Obviously for
Team Liquid Alienware on this strategy you basically go all in and if you well if you don't
get the hand you're not gonna not gonna win the pot. That is certainly the case here for Team
Team Liquid Alienware. You know, if they're gonna be trying to resmoke and...
...for the Glaz, that's really their only wing con, as if Maya can maybe try and get some kills here through the smoke, but...
...for NIP, they'll be fully aware of what they're up against, they'll be aware of the Glaz.
So as long as they don't peek the smoke, it should be fine.
Oh, you've got a tech issue, alright. I'll keep it rolling then, but...
And the point still stands, I think, for Team Liquid Alienware, if they are able to win this round, it will be down to NIP, giving away bullish kills.
If he's upstairs, actually going to say he's going to try and ping off. I believe that's going to be one of the echo cameras.
I'm going to try a replant now. He's going to go and pick up the diffuser. Is he going to go for it? Yes he is.
Again, the echo camera has been disabled. And surely not. Surely there's no way they're going to get away with this.
And yes they are. Somehow the plant goes in. It was beautifully played by Team Liquid Alienware.
Look at the two people on the breach. There's solo HP and one of them goes down Nate
I am self in his JV to rotate down with him to
This planted in a really good position to try and hold the cross Nate able to find one here comes JV
But it's gonna be the full retake here from that IP
But the need to start working on that diffuser in goes the oryx able to find one the diffuser
Should get stuck get it will do Pino is there on IP just had more bodies and team liquid a England where they just threw it
right at them and yeah for liquids just couldn't get through it.
Granted there's fairly low HP on the attacker but still outside already
detected very narrow angle always the danger there when you get in the plan
down in a I was a three versus five planter than dies two versus five you
should have the bodies to throw at the problem. NIP did just exactly that
something I've noticed in demo and obviously I didn't see a good portion of that last round but in the in the early portion of the
Round the intention is so crystal clear at the moment from Team Liquid Alien where they just want to get in and they want to get that
Diffuser down which whilst that's not unusual isn't necessarily something that we've seen them do tons of throughout the course of the
If not being there, you know, no diffuser planted at all, but we're looking at three diffusers
planted throughout the course of kickoff so far, and already in the first two rounds of
labs we've seen two.
So you can very safely assume that over the course of the day, we're going to get them
planting more times today than we have done throughout the entirety of kickoff.
So definitely a different strategy coming out here, Team Liquid.
We'll tell if it is a winning one or not round number three back upstairs. We go
Happy you're gonna be giving it another attempt up on that top floor
Yeah, we'll see what the change up is gonna be for NIP I mean immediately
I'm seeing that the the clash is no longer with us. They've switched off that operator
I'm to say though. He has went down the first pick does go in favor here if team look at Alienware
I mean, that's a really good start considering you've been able to pick off a player and you
haven't lost anyone as of yet. I always think for the top floor, you need your hard preachers
to stay alive. As if you are kind of situation where you don't have the heart breach. I mean,
this bomb site is really difficult.
Henry have fallen. Cade now being employed this time. Breaches have typically been
something that haven't been so hardly fought over, hates, brilliant murder hole there through
the floor and IT. That's a really big problem now for Team Liquid. They need to deal with
this Cade. They do have some EMPs on KZ, but they're going to need to get a little bit of
a visual as to where that is as we all know the range and the radius on those secondary
EMPs. It ain't that much. You need to be in the vicinity to disable that K-Club.
Of course you've got the shock drone as well, but it looks as though Nade has
spent both of his. Unless one is watching a flank, that would maybe be a little bit unusual.
Another kill coming in for Hayes. He's feeling it this round and the last.
I mentioned there that he'd hit a worthy in the last round and he started this round off
with two for himself as well. Ooh, nice angle. Found by Meyer. Hayes eventually just overreaching
a little bit. T4 sends out close range with the shotgun, Bissetto. Tryna make something
happen here on the IT breach, but he's going to get stunned again.
Well, this is the danger player though. If your team look at Alienware, that's the player
that you need to try and kill. But every has a shotgun closest. Very difficult to deal with
and that time is slowly ticking away. Pino has used another smoke, he still has one left.
In goes the final flashbang here from IA. Is he going to make the push off of it? No,
he's going to get caught out. Wizard goes aggressive to settle with that shotgun. Able
find full Epox and this should be a lockout here for NIP. Unless Nade can do something
Unholy but no not going to be the case wizard shots him down and I pee that's two in a row
Talk about how impactful opening picks can be and the pick inside of that round on to fancy
It didn't really mean too much because the impactful kill came when JV died on the Deimos
That was the win come that was the way that team liquid
We're going to get that wall open
They were gonna shoot open the floor destroy the cave claw and then move on from there get the wall open and start to work
with the round instead they're not able to do that they have to pivot they have to go through
connector they managed to open up that side obviously half of it's usually already left open
anyway looking in arms pillar into the site but it just wasn't enough it wasn't enough space to work
with an nip feeling no pressure from the vertical nobody in through fish no one really in through
rafters either very easily able to just hold on that and the fact that hate's picked up a couple
really nice kills for himself and IP fight back and respond with a round of their own on that top floor
As such can take us into their third choice site
We go to the mid floor and we've also had our final round of bands for this half a clash and a
Deimos both taken out nothing too surprising there, but the clash. I mean it's been played in one round demo
Yeah
If your team look at any where maybe it's just the wall out what if they do bring it again, so it is you're trying to cover themselves as best as they can
In terms of that demos I mean yeah, thanks all second demos that has been that the name of the stage hasn't it those two operators
Also for a doko be my nose free in terms of the information you can gather on attacks is it's a lot to deal with and
Yeah, it's what I like to call. It's the Shinko show isn't it those operators?
Yeah, I mean, you're obviously not the biggest Shaco fan in the world, but it's your favorite
player and now on your favorite team.
I mean, Benches, I don't forget.
Yeah, but I'm in.
What are you?
Come on.
We all know you're a Shaco fan.
It's okay.
Sorry, Pengu.
Well, I mean, that would have been a throwback, wouldn't it?
They're like, hold the timer, back in the day.
Look at this from Hates, very aggressive standpoint, inside a garage, I mean this is where NIP, they're
looking to take risk and try and catch this team liquid alienware side by surprise, which
I mean, I'm kind of a fan of, I think against this side, you need to try and hit them
where it hurts.
I mean, I think for team liquid alienware, they're always going to have clutch potential
with the players that are on this team.
But at least make it so they have to try and clutch and go for these aggressive
place don't allow them to have this set up. So, okay, tricking. That's your though is up so it will
cause a bit of an issue for him. And yet easy enough for the factor to remove both the cave
walls and allows the firm might be a very easy breach. Again, pretend we're here, Ollie.
It's just running for the motions again. It is. I do just worry a little bit about the
time. We're at the halfway point. Two kills for Maya though is going to speed things up
beautifully but it's responded JV and KZ both down for the count but Maya isn't
finished yet very well net himself another two here I see for is gonna
bring things level for a time being Pino shot the C4 quite early there in the
context of the round there's still a minute and nothing else to try and hold
on to space with got fully pox on the bees Pino is gonna be able to give
great information, but Hates is less than half HP. He's asking a lot of his teammate
here to try and hold on to the whole site, fortunately. Allway camera's still up so doesn't
need to swing and give his location away at the moment and just waste the time here.
Team Liquid Alienware, they've got 40 seconds of it to play with and I feel like that's
probably going to be enough.
You know, we've just formed an OC4, and I'm going to go for 4 vines.
We're good.
Just also, I think, if you look by himself, if you look at Alienware,
maybe try to isolate that 1v2 engagement.
That'd be pretty good.
EMP.
Just stop that razor bloom from Activate and get rid of the Banshee too.
And you need to try and go for the plant here,
but surely this is where Pina's going to come in big with the shotgun from below.
Yeah, the leapbox has to scour now but elsewhere and I just have to try to hold on. He's gonna go for the button the death
That's perfect right right into his line of sight
NIP had it covered team liquid alien where none the wiser of that pulse I
Can't help but feel the team liquid alien where I've just bottled that and there it is the timeout
They had so much time all they had to do was take two separate two versus one
It's beyond belief. Okay, you've got the pulse. I get that. So there is a good chance the NIP are
going to know where you're coming from. There's a good chance the HACES has got that information.
But you've still just got to roll the dice. We didn't see the bees used. Not that they would
have done too much, but it might have given you a little bit of an inkling. It could have
at least zoned off a few areas that you then know that you necessarily don't have to watch.
Poor old Maya, three kills in the round for pretty much nothing.
Alarm bell's starting to ring there, if those sort of attacks are going awry, where you've
got one player getting three massive kills to open it up and sure you ended in 2v2, that's
fine.
But it's a fairly straightforward sight to get a plant down on.
Pick your poison, go and flush out the pulse from below, or deal with the thorn
in the site.
It really is just that simple. It's one or the other and you have to take one engagement.
You can't afford to just do nothing and just hope to get the plant down instead.
This is about worrying for Team Liquid Alienware as this is not the half that they would have
wanted. I mean this is always going to be the worry though from a side going to a map which
which was one of their permabands, you know, this in Consulate, this is the maps that the
Furia Core never played. I mean, same as I suppose could be said with
NIP, because they don't play this map either. Certainly for Team Liquid Alienware, they're
the ones who have went for the choice of playing their permaband, you know, they've
went for it. I mean, you mentioned, I mean, Border, maybe could have been what they
are at, but I think for NIP, you're not going to take this side to Border. I
I mean, it was like one of the best maps that they have, um, in Furious.
So I think it was always going to be difficult if you did go there.
But I mean, I think just Leo kind of summed up.
He just wasn't expecting this.
I don't think any of us was.
And that's a weird game at the moment, but maybe it kind of shows why
Team Liquid Alienware just don't play this map.
Maybe there's not that good on it.
Happy to bring it out.
You know, you can have bands, you can have maps that you don't prefer
and you can have maps that you, I quote, it's permanently banned.
But it doesn't mean that you're not putting the work in, it doesn't mean that you've not
got a good handle of it.
Now granted, it's the defence.
I don't think the bands are necessarily leaning one way or another.
We've got Snake in there for goodness sake, he's brand new.
There's plenty more siege without Snake from where they're at this point, so that's
not really tipping the scale in either direction.
There's a fair shot at the moment for an IP to get round, it doesn't seem like
we're dealing with it to get rounds on the board and they're kind of just letting
it slip through the fingers.
We're back to a little bit of Blitz action here as Fully Pox is going to be picking up that shield.
And a lot more destruction along with the couple of globals in there as well. You've got the dokebeat and the lion.
The good ol' Factory Firmite combo to try and get open. Those walls.
For NIP I feel that they can afford to be very loose at the moment.
And even Francis positioning right now is all the way over inside the kitchen.
I think he knows that the drones have worked ahead of him. He knows that there's people going to be pushing in that corridor.
or he also knows obviously that he's getting pushed from kitchen window and be rapid engagement
so that's for sure. Picks the first onto JV that's the fact you're down.
That's trying to get out of there and he has the impact to make it happen.
Aitz is also trying to get out of there so the roamers are in full retreat.
In looking earlier though, so they've got great control of that mid floor and they've only
got themselves into the kitchen that's really it. Storage is what you want to try and eye up.
Or it's upstairs inside of storage and if they want to try and go for
your plants in this site you will have to take this room at some point and maybe that's where
Nades is going to try and see if he can clear it up. No, hey, it's a cracking shot onto the head
of the Fermite and another one for Hates! They're defeating him! Let's try to come in.
Finally he goes down but for Hates he's done the job he's got too.
Absolutely!
Flee Pucks and Maya now have got to make it work
and they've got less than ideal kit for taking
multiple engagements here.
Ooh, the fire.
That's gonna keep him out of the sight for a time being forced
and just to push back all of a
Oh, the teacher's here! Close range!
Bissetto! Finish him with the revolver!
Come on, get your kill!
Eventually taking down Maya!
Credits him with another two there as he grabs Wizard!
Oh no!
Four seconds!
If you use that Myers got it, needs to get himself into a position fancy, has to play this perfectly, dodges out of the way, but turns his back to the Blitz.
Doesn't matter how much HP the Blitz has, if you turn your back, that is the opportunity.
Rebooks very well versed on those shields.
Team Liquid Alienware snatching around there out of absolutely nowhere. I wouldn't know how Wizard died.
It's another steal, isn't it? It's the same as the first round.
would you dare say that the two rounds of team liquid Alienware of one it's not
from great sage it's from getting the punch factor but what did I say about this
side they're always gonna have the players who can clutch I agree and I
don't think you're wrong there have been a couple of rounds for NIP now that
you think back on anything actually their rounds the NIP have you know had
the risk of being clutched on they're not not in clear court have they it feels
like one of those games then we could be sat here at like a we honestly could be
sat at the end of this round with like a 5-1 in a slightly different world where
just a couple of different shots go a different direction it really is a very
tight game and often the scoreline is is giving it entire justice at the
moment it could be so one-sided
I think whatever you look at the labs and the kind of win rates that we've had, it does lean a little bit defender sided. It's not a master. I think it's maybe 6% in it.
But that is kind of what we're looking at based on the stats at the moment inside the current meta. Labs is leaning to more of the defenders having more kind of run of the green.
But I still think it even has been pretty common too. I think for Team Liquid Alienware, if you get that even half, it's not a bad showing all in all.
I don't know how some of the rounds have went, but I have been pretty decisive in NIP's favor.
We go back to this top floor again.
This has certainly been the bomb site that we've seen the most so far in this map.
We have seen it one once by Team Liquid Alienware and also one once by NIP, so...
And that has been a mixed bike for both sides.
But again, for Team Liquid Alienware, pretty much the exact same setup again here, Ollie.
Just getting the walls open.
I'll be honest, I'm really surprised that they're not playing the Maverick.
Because the Maverick's something that you kind of need in this sort of lineup.
NIP have kind of held the ace up their sleeve for this final round and they're now bringing
out the K-2 Brow combination, which is just a nightmare for getting the wall open.
Obviously, you've got the Thatcher, but that 2 Brow is just going to slow things
down.
It expedites it, it speeds things right back up again.
Still the minigame going on here, next to thermic, frozen once again.
One shot left for the Thatcher here.
If you're interested to see if this wall does end up getting open, you can hear it sent
out there now and I believe that was the wall getting opened.
A minute and ten?
You typically want that open in the first fifty seconds.
I know, I know, but I was anxious for the ban jab, the kick in the top like you mentioned.
Idjuz is gonna kind of take your time, but still for Team Liquid Alienware, they've got the breach of them,
that's the main thing, and they've also got the opening pick as Hates.
Hates a bit of a peek, he gets punished, KZ goes big alongside. Maya, Team Liquid Alienware, flooding in with kills.
Fancy, we'll find one back in response, Bissetto, and him after putting a big old shift now.
Filippox has the kit in hand and they know that they've got players pinned down.
down. Where is it? Where is it? It's going to be fancy moving up through there, trying
his trademark flying, but it isn't going to work this time. Bissetto taking down inside
a connector. Team Liquid Alienware there proving they didn't need a lot of that clock because
once that wall was opened, they would just go, go, go. Might only be a minute and 10
seconds on the clock, but they didn't even need all of it. Even half after the siege
that we've seen. Very surprising. I'm interested to hear what our wonderful desk has to hear
about these first couple of rounds.
Thank you, Ollie. Thank you, Demo. And if I'm not mistaken here, Leo, it seems like Team
Liquid Alienware are able to get entries, but not always really convert them into a
round win. What's been going on here? And how did we end up getting, I guess, a different
result at the end of the sixth one?
Yeah, I think the word that was used by Demo, which I agree with, is just stealing the way around.
Look at this, look at this situation.
20 seconds left, Philippox has a sliver of HP, he's a 1v2, somehow he grabs the kill on Pino,
and then grabs the kill on Bassett, like that one already should have been for free around 4 and IP.
That was another 3v1, by the way. Maya gets a double kill here, raises his teammate with 6 seconds left,
One goes for the plant, the Blitz is then sent to chase fantasy away and look at this, once again, because he's playing for the time of year, another still, and only round six really is an actual one where they win the advantage and really convert it.
But you know, it should be a 5-1 for an AP right now.
So, Team Liquid, they can be really happy about how they got away with this, and I think it goes back to what we said in the pre-game match.
If there is one guy that steps up on the side of Tim Liquid,
one guy that we want to see play in a B3.
It has to be Maya.
Well, Maya is here because Maya is the one that saves the round
here with the DKB that gets the triple kill on that wall,
the triple kill on the fence.
And then he's the one that gets three opening engagements
as well.
My memory was, if you get that opening engagement,
somehow you need to find a way to snowball on it.
And I think that's not something
that we've seen in Tim Liquid.
I didn't work with it so far in attack.
So there needs to be a reaction to play better
as a team when they're in defense.
Keep that composure, keep that advantage,
because so far in IP they're not giving it back.
The question is, will Team Liquid Alienware
get more aggressive on the second half on the defense
and really push NIP to the edge?
Will it be a different result?
We'll see NIP on their attacking side.
Now, is there half time, is it kicking off
in our first bans, in our ace,
and do you want to have a chat about this, Leo?
Get out of the casters right for a second.
I think that they want to, you know, the NIP, they don't want to be bothered.
They've just abused a hell of Kaid and Woldenayle, the entirety of their defense.
And they even paired it with Tubero on the last round, didn't look so good for them.
So they want to take it the safe way, remove the two Woldenayle parters.
In my opinion, I think that's a waste, because when you do that,
you look for the lineup that you see on the screen,
the stronger parters like Mirar, like Azami, they're all available for the opponents.
And that makes it so much harder after you bridge the wolf to actually bridge the bomb site.
Thank you very much Japs. Enjoying the little insight on the bands there as well. You can
almost think of it as just sort of delaying making something. You know you delay in the
hard work really. Yeah okay you can ban the wall now, you can get the wall open easily
but end of the day you've still got barriers to go up against, you've still got as armies
to go up against, we've still got all of those toys at the defender's disposal. Of course
with the advantage of having a slightly longer angle onto that from outside to in. I don't
think the LAPP are going to be too concerned though given that line up demo. It looks fairly
aggressive.
I think what Leah was saying, you know, where yes you're going to speed things up certainly
with you know with the electrifications, but again as you mentioned too, you have
the mirror you have the exam and when it gets those two operators you almost need to bring in the
specialized counters like you're going to start bringing an ash into the lineup you may need to
bring a floras into the lineup whereas if you're just dealing with the electrifications that you
will be able to kill both of them you know so i think that's a little bit of an issue for it
also what if we think of it in a different way then oh sorry i need to cut you off in the
flow what are we thinking in a different way we ban the electrification but we still bring
the facture. Are we thinking about that decision? I mean Leo may have an issue with it but facture
is still going to get a lot of value. Whenever there's still a lot of traps in the matter,
you're still going to get some good stuff out of that. However, not going to get the most
out of this lineup. You know, we're not seeing the kind of classic form, which is being
everywhere, even Ella to an extent too. Henry. Yeah, I mean you search now like
like, banshees and new jammers at this point. Maybe a BP if you're going that specific,
but we don't need to be bringing a whole operator just for that.
Hey, let's try and get a little bit of value out of those shock drones. The wall has been
opened and in fairly tidy time.
You should be able to destroy a good portion of these Vulcan packs. It's got at least
two so far. They're going to be key for players like Bissetto. Notice his lineup
when he gets out of his drone he's actually rocking the 6-12 shotgun so he's looking for close-range engagements there with that
He's gonna be trying to take full advantage
What the facture is nice you can destroy inside of electrical disable that vanishing that is gonna speed up a little bit
The ability for your Ying to move through fancy
Making sure that that floor is indeed lava and
distracting those defenders eyes
It's the time where they've got to be careful. Can hear the Candela's going out now. That should be the cue to call for Bissetto
Be looking to try and move through. He's got himself into electrical now for Leapox first to fall. Fancy making good on that vert
Feeling the pressure on the catwalk as well Bissetto
She's bad in this time. I just send the candela get yourself around the corner KZ falls as well
Oh look at the shot when at close range and I beat her in a party demo
Oh, Nate in the 1v5, thought about the clutch gene to look at Alienware do possess, but I
don't think this is going to happen for him. Just too many players to deal with, and you
have flawless for NIP. I just want to highlight that Deimos in that round has essentially
got two kills and also an assist because he went below and just played the very
simple role of track somebody downstairs and light them up through the floorboards.
he was able to get one kill. And then whenever the Ying swung electrical into sight, did you
notice that the player that they killed was looking down the verges trying to fight that
demo? Was he even aware that somebody was inside electrical? That's the power that
Daimler's brings to that site.
It just distracts the attention. As a defender, you cannot look everywhere. You're getting
shot through the floor. The breach is open. There's drones running around your feet.
You're hearing candelas go off. You've got teammates asking for a bit of assistance
here or there or can you watch this? There's just so much to do in that moment that yeah you are
just gonna get swung by somebody with a 6-12 shoving it into your face and it is in inevitability.
Fancy. A great player at finding that space. That surely got to be the band.
Team Liquid Alienware and muster. And we get to that next portion. Until then the two rounds
yet to play this being one of them we're going to be headed downstairs to the basement for it
it's like a slightly different lineup on both sides really we've got
Valkyrie being brought by Team Liquid Alienware here KZ looking for information that is going to be
the aim of their game in addition of the book for Pino so far less direct than the
attempts that we saw Team Liquid Alienware have downstairs and they were very focused on getting
in that wall open, we can try and leverage the glass and utilize those smokes and really
quickly get a plan down. This to me speaks much more of a, well it's going to be a format
clear at this rate, isn't it?
Yeah, you got the top down. You have the Monty. You've also got the Buck. So you've got that
little bit of soft destruction, which certainly not what we've really seen from Team Liquid
Alienware. Whenever they were attacking into this basement, they didn't bring
any soft breachers whatsoever. So they just really couldn't play that kind of traditional
playstyle I suppose you could say. Already with a minute gone. Not a lot has happened
here for NIP. I think it's just they kind of drone phase for them to get themselves
into the building. Well there is quite a few roamers. We've got KZ in towards the top
floor here now. Quickly drops down to the safety of his teammates as that Monty
did. Straight in towards them. Yeah it's just slow and steady here for NIP. This
This is where the Romers' Routine Liquid Alienware just need to be very careful because, I mean,
it's also the Monty is going to be there, is the potential threat that's going to kill
you.
He's going to feed the information to everyone else who will kill you.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's fancy and, and Pino on the book behind the Monty, it's going to be the real deadly
force in this lineup.
Vassetto.
He managed to take quite a lot of ground quite quickly and shoved these defenders
around knowingly or not.
Gathering some key information right here, it's gonna assume that somebody's on
those cargo stairs and I'm sure the drone will confirm it if he doesn't. With that
hatch being open, maybe look even to try and beta out a little bit of utility at
this early stage in the round. The team are pretty much free to go now and start
opening up this floor. We've got Animus hatch open and rotate round over
toward Exo as well. So it's a good place to send them on to you down
later on into the round. The key for this now is information and I think that what we've just seen
there happens Pino, drone going into the Mute Jammer. You just feel like they're a little bit starved of
it. Those Mute Jammer's going to be very well placed down there and Maya, still unaccounted for upstairs,
is going to pick up the opener for round number eight. And he's got a low and he's got a friend
with him for Epox also looking to try and go for a flank. You can see that if you look at
Alienware are all trying to hit these angles at the same time even made on that smoke walking up in towards cargo
And they're just wasting time here being 15 seconds that I think need to get a move on
They need to try and get themselves into the bomb site by Sophie that's gonna happen
They are now gonna go for the plant there should be the response to 15 looking alien
Whereas they will try and retake a pop peanut holds his ground upstairs into the fusion when down the smoke was too late
However, the Monty does go down. It's gonna be a slaughterhouse in towards Adam. It's another player above Maya
takes down Pino and our wizards and the one V for the fuser is gonna try and get
stuck made those go down is it how it's towards the player upstairs in the
fuser gonna be stuck again have to go bodies in front oh JP goes down if the
stick it to the Alienware just about get it over the line
whoa almost a catastrophe there for team like an Alienware what a game what
What a game this is turning out to be. I knew it was going to be a good one, I just didn't
realise it was going to be like this from map number one. I can't breathe. What a clutch
there. Fantastic positioning from KZ. Had no choice. Had to go for the opposite angle.
Had to tuck himself into the corner, hide away from the window and just hope that
his team through bodies at the problem. The problem of course being wizard. Incredible
stuff 4-4 as well by the way. I can't believe that the plant even went down that round demo.
I feel like I just want to watch that round over and over. Probably need to watch it
six times. I think the issue was is that they obviously called the snook to go aggressive
to get in. But the time he
got back, yes, he was able to
nail the smoke onto the monkey,
but the fuser already went down.
So it was just the case of they
maybe overextended their site
player who maybe should have
been. And I think it okay. There's
15 seconds left. They're going
to have to try and flood free
animals. That's all they have.
Maybe I should say I'm saying
go for the smoke spot. Suppose
where the call gets made, you
just have to trust, you know,
your team and say, okay, I'm
going to go for it. You know,
if you're dating that scenario.
area. I mean, NIP were dreadfully slow. Like, I don't think that that's an unfair
assessment. There's 15 seconds left and they didn't really have much to go on.
That multi-plant is a Hail Mary. And the amount of bodies that were laid on that
plant spot just went to show that it wasn't, you know, plant A, B, C, D, or
E. It was way down the alphabet in terms of plans for that round and how
it could go. But I don't think that we can criticize Team Liquid Alienware
too much for the way that they dealt with it, but again another round that's far closer than it really needed to be.
Round number nine, the Seto is going to be on a different shield this time, going to be on the black bit.
Going to use some nades now to...
...and destroy...
...some of these uh, new jammers and other gadgets that are going to be on that breach wall.
Was it?
Now use one of Monty's three exteriors to get that open.
We've got sight wall, oh sorry we've got upstairs open, nice and quickly sight of course being mid-floor
But IT is usually a pretty good place to start fancy
This time on Snake
The surprise is taking us this long to round the nine to see, obviously it was banned for the first six rounds
There's been on the Deimos up until this point
Maybe this is one of those classic round nine bates where you play a little bit of Snake and hope that they ban that instead of your beloved Deimos
But for me snakes just as good if not better in some situations
Yeah, it could be the case off. They've kind of noticed okay. We've been too slow
Let's get this all snake to kind of amp up things and try and get the speed and speak the speed off
Let's see tries to go for a quick little slip into sight
But Nate is ready for it. You know gone the hard preacher, but one of the hard preachers is dead
I think the main worries would be best out of it
Probably kind of isolate it away from his team, but has our rotators
Hates is inside of IT right now, but has to kind of pull himself out, I mean it's not
affordable starting from that idea, they still be able to get killed back, but the Blackbeard
now just got to go for it, I mean 40 seconds, surely there's got to be a response here
from people looking at Alienware, but no, they're getting slaughtered, Casey, they're
able to find Wizard, Defuser gets planted and no one's above, one's going to be inside
the site, oh no the Blackbeard, they've still lost the engagement, Hates, does
Does he have the angle?
Well, if he does, the retake's gonna happen from upstairs.
They're trying to hold it with the flashbang, but he doesn't know who does he go for, does he go for the guy defusing?
Does he challenge him for the guy in the afters?
He comes up from a gaze-y!
Oh, or Rufflin' for Hates, caught between a rock and a hard place.
Hates was on that BP for the entirety of the round.
Everything that was going on, all the kills that he got, the lot.
There was just nothing that he could do about it.
He just had too much distance between him and the BP.
as the ram what have you got you've got nothing to deal with it at range you need to get that side on angle to shoot it
Or you need to get up close and personal and hit the melee
Tim look really and we're gonna take their first lead of this matchup. It is a very narrow lead indeed
thermite to round out our
Round 10 bands
along with a mirror
Nip I'm gonna choose now to take their tactical time out
Now, feel the last couple of rounds, whilst they've made a really good showing of it,
and it's exciting siege to watch.
I don't think that they're going to be happy with the way that they've transpired, are they?
They're quite scrappy.
Yeah, I guess one of those games for NIP were, obviously, they looked really good in that
defensive half, but you have to, again, go and do it on the attacks, you know,
and this was maybe the worry whatever you're dealing with NIP who equally same as Team
liquid Alienware. It's also a map which has been a perma ban. And you know, typically it's
the attacking side, which we see teams struggle with a lot more, uh, on, on labs, cause it
is, uh, defender sided. And this is maybe just the consequence of that. But I will
say though, for NIP, that's twice now where the diffuser has been able to go down and
they've not been able to hold it. That's two retakes coming in from team liquid Alienware.
So obviously they're doing the right thing all the, to get these plants down, but
They just cannot hold the way that Team Liquid Alienware are playing for the retakes.
I think that's one way of looking at it, isn't it?
But then the other side is, do you look at Team Liquid Alienware and think this is such an
experienced team, they may be playing for a bit of a retake and they're going, yeah,
you know what?
Let them get the plant down.
They've wasted the entire...
I mean, we've seen every second of these rounds at the moment.
The last two rounds have really come down to the wire.
And I don't think that NIP are getting the plant down through anything other than
just a bit of determination at that point and Team Liquid either way just like yeah cool like we're
not going to overreact we're gonna we're gonna just gently play this retake because we we know how
to play them we've been in that position so many times now so I think it's maybe a bit you know
six and two threes almost certainly a good portion for Team Liquid to take the lead in this
matchup and IP's timeout will be coming under question over the next couple of minutes as to
whether it's had sufficient effect or not. Mirror was removed by them at the start of round number 10.
Something that we've seen played a little bit is mainly going to be used as a wall denial tool,
strange as that sounds. Get the mirror on the wall and open it up and you're able to impact C4,
whatever you like really, through that opening. It does make breaching the wall a little bit
of a pain. So that isn't going to be a factor now. There's pretty much nothing standing in
in the way of these walls now being opened. I guess the only thing standing in the way
is maybe the small matter of an ace in a third might bomb, but we know that there are ways
and means around that now as well. Although no secondary hard breach has been brought and
Pino is going to be doing all of the hard breaching duties with Hibana.
Yes, a little bit of risk here having the one hard breach, I'm always worried just
in case that Hibana gets picked off. But nobody from Team Liquid Alienware looking
the play aggressive, happy enough to let them use the Habana. The Habana is all out of the
palace now too. So what's open is open, that's the way it's going to be. NIP, last time they
were up here they played with that Daemons downstairs. That worked really well for them,
so a little bit shocked that they don't have it here again. It has still got that ying
shotgun though, which was pretty strong swinging in towards electrical. NIP again
this is slow and steady approach, picking off little bits of util here and there. I wonder
maybe if team look at Alienware, if they got the spare reinforcement, looks as though they
do. I mean, a little bit risky to go for it, but if they are able to maybe block up that
site wall, that could be pretty big. You can see two players around that position now,
one to hold, one to maybe reinforce JV with the first kill onto Pino. Maybe they
want to keep it open, maybe they're going to win the round through. It puts the
damage in onto Pezzetto as well. You can hear those candelas going off, but
Nothing really coming of it at the moment.
Fasetto crying out for help at the moment.
So much so that JV's even looking for where
this next man's coming from, but he's got no option
but just to swing it blind himself.
Pates is gonna make good with the shotgun,
but it's likely not gonna be enough here.
Rizzard chunked down, taken out,
three kills for JV, one for Maya.
Team Liquid Alienware, map point.
You picked up all I you look at the blackbeard by himself is nobody gonna help the guy. It
just felt so disjointed from NIP. Whenever they're already gonna be limited in terms
of what they can do, based on the fact that they don't have an ace and they don't have
a firm, I don't think you have the options to try and open up everything. You almost
just have to try and commit to one side, which I know it's gonna be really difficult.
But I think there's ways around it
Whenever you've kind of got players jumping in rafters window whenever it's blatantly all of your pressures coming in from connector
It's a little bit strange. You know that blackbeard sat there by himself as soon as he lost that Habana
Somebody should rotate around said okay. We need to help the shield here in the current meta
We know that shields are a win condition and they're a big win condition if that shield can get himself into position
the cross a bomb site safely and go for a diffuser plant. That's all it takes to win around these days, but you need to try and support back shield. And to be fair, credit to JV, he assessed that situation like, okay, this will black be by himself. I'm not going to let him get anywhere near me.
He played it perfectly. He played it absolutely perfectly. He's so worried about there being
somebody behind it and I think as soon as he realized hang on, this planet's on their own.
Right now we can focus on this engagement and it kept kept great distance like you say and
just made it awkward. Something for me as well like obviously you've got the BB being out there
on the on their own but Deimos was such a big factor. Last time that we saw NIP attack that
top floor and the combination of Deimos and the Ying working together it was devastating
And we didn't see that either so NIP just and it's frustrating because we've seen it before
It's not like we're asking him to do something that we haven't seen we're just asking him to do something again
Unfortunately that is the way it goes sometimes
Team Liquid Alienware now in with a shot of taking map number one
Again a bit of a strange map to be
first choice in this best of three is
Not necessarily a top favourite for either team, but given the job dough when it matters.
Ooh, Windi potentially upstairs, KZ.
Just going to get himself out of the breeze.
Got a bit of information, only a few shots going awry.
A couple of nades spent so far as well by NIP.
They need to be a little bit cautious because there are going to be some goreos to get through.
You can see he'd be banking on himself getting a couple of kills and being able to collect
a couple of those needs for use at a later point in the round.
Another switch up though from NIP, they're not bringing in the soft breach, which I mean
the really good work at just limiting what kind of team liquid anywhere can do in this
site and I mean, JV's went to the swing, but that F2 is very powerful of that grip
being attached to it now.
Quite the favourite, not only just on Soul State, but even the Ryzen Twitch players using it, even the Wizard will tell us otherwise, but it's a lot damaged on the fantasy so he has to be very, very careful.
But this loose Romer, AZ, going to go all the way upstairs now. Don't forget about KZ, he has got two impacts so he can make himself rotate if needed.
He's the loose player at the moment isn't he, he's the player that really NIP needs
to be conscious of but you don't really know that he exists at the moment and especially
being on the solace and destroy those flank cams as he goes.
Time again really starting to creep by, 40 seconds or so left in this round and another
switch over onto the drones for a little bit more information.
Very different approach here and maybe a lack of soft breach starting to rear its
ugly head because there's just not very many angles that Pino can start to work with here
as opposed to when we've seen play this angle on the book.
Pissetto will get himself into sight though, but KZ that danger man will be found out here.
I'm sure the impact was attempting there maybe destroying an air jab but he's got to
try and make this challenge and Pissetto continuing to get this plant down will
be successful.
Two kills for Nade though in the response.
Full HP for both Pino and Wizard.
vertical angle sufficient it isn't even going to matter the kit never got put on the floor
team liquid alien where they're going to be successful on map one here fantastic from made
knowing that his teammates upstairs are going to try and attempt the retake it's going to
drag those players who were playing on the verge he should be there covering the blitz covering
the solid snake and what happens nobody's to cover they can just walk across the bomb site
and kills both of them. Unbelievable for me to make that happen and from there round stun and
dust it but Team Liquid Alienware just thriving on the defenses. I think there was some really big
individual performances as well from Team Liquid Alienware. We had it on the side of NIP. I think
Hates has to get a bit of a mention there of how we played inside of map number one but as you say
Maya made some of those really big late round plays. It really came out from Team Liquid Alienware.
We're going to have a very short break after these messages. We'll be back with our desk
to break down map number one and set us up for map number two.
No, wait a minute.
I think we got 64 of them.
I think it was a good presentation.
I think he was pretty wrong.
Because he cut some of them.
He cut some of them.
But it was 64 of them in 3 years.
I think it's okay.
It's okay.
It will appear in the VLOG of Liquid in 1964.
We are Nemmar from N6.
Nemmar from N6.
I think Neymar is the best.
What's the best?
Ordina is the best.
Virula is the best.
A lot of media.
And now a little soccer?
Ordina?
I don't know.
All the developments, the controversy, the things.
I think it's the best.
He's always hurt.
There's always a lot of things there.
Ordina.
Balladero plays a lot, but he's not in the world cup.
And what about these yellowbacks?
He's the best.
Bicha Firulento kills Paparambu and does the best.
I think Messi is very good,
But he has a lot of titles.
He was the 4th, because he started very well.
He had a big house, but he fell into the fire.
Guardialder 6-0.
He's a striker.
He's a striker, right?
My partner is the 4th.
His nickname is a striker.
His nickname is Guardialder.
He already got it.
Because it's a chicken.
It's a chicken.
He's Guardialder.
It's his nickname.
I think it's Igor Skidja, Guardialder.
Igor Skidja.
The father.
Me.
A lot, a lot.
A lot of land.
You can play against him.
I'm not going to play against him.
Ah, the guy who plays with his title in the ring, because Rafael is coming next to me, but I think by the number there will be the ring
Look, I'm going up to the base, the little hole
Alright, Bas, alright
2, alright, alright
Get up to the base
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
Stop it, man
Take it, my God, calm down guys, this is a good one
What the hell is this, Viado?
It's ridiculous, the other guy doesn't know
what he's waiting for.
He's trying to get up.
It's ridiculous.
166?
166.
What's your name?
The man, the only one with 107.
KGS.
You got me, man.
He doesn't perform in all the important games.
He says he has 107, 106, 106 for his ego.
I'm going to put the lights.
It's always present in the titles too,
because he can be Cristiano Ronaldo,
the guy very dedicated there when he wants.
I don't think it's the same, I think it's KZ.
KZ is Cristiano Ronaldo, 106.
Flamengo, 106.
Flamengo, 106, no?
I don't know, I don't know.
I think it's not a good time to talk about Esfúria,
but now it's in the nether.
Because before it wasn't very relevant,
Flamie had her situation not so relevant.
There was no time to talk about it,
everything started to get better and that gave me a lot of trouble.
I think it's W7.
I think it's W7,
because we broke the BR there and that's it.
With the national competition it's a big deal.
I think he had a very good chance too.
It's a great thing to get a title, that's it.
Change of technique all the time.
The beautiful one comes the other.
Go live, go change technique.
It's not the same.
Liquid!
I'm talking about D6.
Only BR, only Brazilians.
I'm talking about G.
Go there.
and think whoa liquid really ran away with this once the half swapped it's not
really the case and we're able to dive into it before we set you up for map
number two I'm not Leo watching all of this falling apart for NIP it looked
like liquid was finally fixing their entry game and then NIP would just
struggle to close it at the end. Yeah I mean the entry game was always there
right there were always dominating opening engagements I feel like they
just managed to keep on that man advantage most of the time. Obviously looking at the few rounds
and the highlights here we'll see the first side which was honestly still from Team Liquid like
they win the first round when they shouldn't. They will win eventually around five when they
shouldn't as well. You know overall I thought that NIP's game plan in defense at least was solid
but I think the main thing to me is that whenever they switched to the defense side where
where they could really abuse this time the opening engagements they were getting by just
falling back and abusing the real weakness of the way an IP had been playing, which in
my opinion is, I don't know if it's due to Bassetto or I don't know if it's due to
the playstyle he used to have on loud, but it was very slow, very step by step,
and which means very predictable. So, they were not afraid of actually letting
an IP take control, they were not afraid of fighting a little bit and peeling off
and play of time and in fact if you look at the opening kills, whenever the switch happens,
whenever Tim Liquid switches to defense, the opening kills happen with less than one minute
left in a timer in most of the rounds. It's actually insane for a region that is supposed
to be super aggressive. We ended up with opening kills super super light into the round and
And a very slow-paced labs still, even though it's a small map.
And yeah, just looking at this, it's
a mix of Maya performing well, of the opening engagements
going in their way seven times out of 12.
And then the last thing is NIP.
They could just not pull it off.
Whenever they had the plan down, they would still lose
around.
So the biggest strength, I think, really
showing for Team Liquid here is their ability
to consistently find the opening engagements,
but this time really convert on it.
That's where I guess the question of,
is the pressure of this being a qualification match
getting to either one of the two teams,
just why things are slowing down,
but especially for NIP is a lot for them
because they have been looking at
trying to get back into the swing of things,
an actual event for a bit now,
having ended 2025,
the way that they did in Munich, you want to see them back and I know they want that
for themselves.
That'd be something extra to think about here for them.
But Team Liquid Alienware, at the end of the day, great performance, managing to slow
things down, managing to play around things themselves.
There was the question at some point that we raised, and Leo where in the second
half NIP banned both the Clyde and the bandit really to get them out of the way.
And yet the Thatcher was still in play just to try to deal I guess with the mirror
window with any nitros like that? Yeah, I think the plan was simple for them was just like, okay,
let's get the bridges going as quickly as we can. And then let's just try and really work
on to the bomb site. The problem was, and it's exactly what we anticipated when you do that,
then you're facing Azami, you're facing Fenrir, you're facing Taun, you're facing Mira. And so
cracking the bomb site is not as easy as it seems. They did try to do it by bringing
message on the shelf as much as possible. And actually, you know, if we take a look
at round 8 and round 9. They eventually managed to do that, you know? They managed to get in,
they managed to push, and yet they're still missing something. So like looking back at those rounds,
I'm like, you know, you can clearly see that Team Liquid are trying to give as much space as possible,
but even though the diffuser is planted and everything is there, the map control is always
nowhere to be seen, like Team Liquid are just surrounding the bomb site, and they can go and
going to retake it easily and just win the right gunfight.
Eventually, we got almost one man round, by the way.
But I think the game plan, as such a Simliquid Allerware,
switch to defense was so obvious.
We're just let them burn time.
Let's just burn their burn time.
Let's build up as much as possible,
especially because most of the time,
they had the advantage.
Here, once again, plan goes down.
Good retake from Simliquid Allerware.
They know the players upstairs.
And they're just playing it together.
One is coordinated.
One stays on the diffuser here.
The other one is retaking garage.
They are fooling fool because of the VP, the VP of the all the time, and then all he has to do here is just cut the swing, make sure this guy doesn't cross back, and look at this, beautiful play.
It's a bit of panic on the side of an IP like you said, maybe because of the stakes I don't know, but at least the experienced team is working right now, they are the one winning.
and a lot's coming down to Maya. There's the round 8 replay that I just saw once more, but
we'll take you into that Maya profile to really focus up on the spire once he's
been ringing. This is something that in the beginning we thought, well, you're bringing
the Xferia roster in here. He's just gonna be a slot in that roster where KZ was in the past.
That's not at all what's happened. The entire team has been reformed around him
and he's putting in the numbers when they need it. And this is definitely a game that is
Important to show up in Leo. Yeah, absolutely
Honestly looking at this player we just saw him in the pregame 44 kills in four games, right?
So double digits every time. We were saying he's the one that we're gonna be looking at in terms of consistency
consistency in terms of driving the team, not only does he get another double digits,
he goes 12 and 7 on the first map, but he has 4 opening kills and 0 opening deaths.
It's like the guy cannot be less consistent and he's got KZ on his team.
The one player that I would call the most consistent in the world, and despite that,
Maya is still the best one.
Honestly, if it wasn't for him, I think the game would have been so much closer.
actually very impressive to see him perform that well for so long. Every single matchup is there.
We consistently glaze this man because every time he's bringing in the numbers that are needed,
no matter who's on here, no matter who's discussing him, we always get a Maia glaze at the end of
it. We'll see if Team Liquid Alienware can bring it across the line and qualify for Salt Lake City
by winning two maps in a row. Let's bring up the map veto one more time. Maybe we'll get
get to a third map? Maybe not. Because if things don't improve real quick, we might have
a problem here for NIP because their next game in the lower bracket will be against
face clan. That's not a game anybody wants to play in either Team Liquid nor NIP nor
anybody else. And that's going to go now to a layer. The NIP pick, they're starting
on the attacking side with TLNWR and defense Leo. How are things looking? What's the
pronostic?
It's tricky for many reasons, right? There was a huge difference in level and an overall team
play and cohesion when they switched to attack. They will have to start attack on Lair. The second
thing is, yes, it is a map that they like. Yes, it is the map that they've played a lot
in international events before, last year. But despite all of that, the last time they played
it against Furia was during SL finals, former Furia roster obviously, and they lost it
7-2. And then before that, you know, Furia, the ex Furia roster, they loved the map.
They played it three times at SI, one every single time, be Daystar, Weboo, and Falcons on the map,
so it is a really big gamble for NIP to go on it.
Layer then is the one we'll go for, that would be the question, can NIP take it to a map 3,
or a Stimulco to Alien, we're going to close it out right here, and just go, get set and ready
for the final on the upper bracket, we'll leave it to Demo and I start Troika to take you
through the action, enjoy it.
Milosh Leal, thank you very much. Indeed, a wise person once said that whoever wins
map two in the best of three usually takes the whole series. And is that going to be
the case here today?
Brilliant.
I mean, the start of a game will always lean into the data, because the data is the only
thing that we have going into the start of a game.
We are not privy to every single stream that goes on between all the different teams across
all the different regions.
So with that caveat, we only have the data ready to go off.
And the data for NIP and LAIR doesn't look great.
And I'm starting to scratch my head as to how and why we have ended up here because they have an abysmal 30% win rate on the attack.
Now, as I'm sure you're going to tell me in a minute, the players on Team Liquid Alienware, even though Team Liquid Alienware themselves haven't got the most amount of data on there, the players themselves love it demo.
Yeah, whenever we kind of look at teams like with Alienware, there's still that Fury Accord.
So obviously this is the first time, this is their first time as this organization.
So all the data, again, you're still kind of basing it off how they were, whenever they
were Fury.
But for the additional money, you kind of treat it like a new pickup, isn't it?
It's still the majority of that team has made that move.
And yeah, if we look at the Fury Accord, how they performed over the past year
on a map like layer. The stats are absolutely terrifying if you're NIP. They have got a record
of 13 to 2. That's the record. They've put it 15 times over the past year. They've lost
it twice and they want it 13. That's insane. And the attack stats is 61% and the defense
stats is 67. They can do it all. It's a map that they were early adopters
to and obviously Larry's still relatively early if we're talking about all the maps in our competitive
pool inside a siege they were an early adopter to the map and I think they had a very good understanding
of it early on and that continued so it makes sense for from a team liquid team liquid alien
where perspectives to why we're here but we do sort of scratch our heads or at least for the
first few rounds we will because there is a lot for nip to prove on this map we're gonna be
kicking things off attacking into that top floor again going with that trademark
band that was it did a little bit of work for them over on labs but it didn't do
the most amount of work. They've banned the cave, they've banned the bandit, so they're
looking to get in these walls open nice and easy. However you think about what
that leaves open on a map like there things like the tachanka, things like
the goyo, massive time denial and that's where attacks seem to live or
Die if time is a factor well, we can we can already tell you we already know from what's happened in the last half an hour
NIP have struggled with the time on their attacks often coming down into those final 20 seconds
And it looks like this is gonna be no different hates bottom of rocket stairs pretty low shotguns out now
Bissetto finds one where's it backs it up
Sled shotgun putting in a little bit of work there and a bit of teamwork as well
Well, Mr. Chanke is the ace up Team Liquid Alienware's sleeve.
I think we'll lose in two players if you're NIP.
You could also just avoid the Chanke and try and find your picks towards the other side in towards server.
And I think that's where the Blitz is maybe eyeing up.
I think for eights, maybe the HP is kind of putting them off going for these aggressive plays.
I mean, there is still a lot of clashing.
He needs to be very careful off, but also for NIP, this, I mean, it could still go either which way.
Which way and it's a big engagement the cover is going to be there is fancy able to pick off Philippe box and JV all by himself
Now is a clean sweep for NIP after that disaster
Over-toward bathroom NIP just grab that round by the cover this neck and say you're coming with me
Really well played there from NIP obviously though they've got to the wall now
So that really isn't a conversation point in any of these rounds. We know these walls are going to be getting opened
But the way that they navigated around the clash and around the Chanker in particular,
because you look at the lineup, the team that Kudaili Mera are bringing, they're not done.
They know exactly how to beat NIP.
They just need to burn the clock, and they are bringing the best operators in the game
to do that.
And NIP didn't get dragged into the trap.
They were able to reset.
When they got the advantage, they didn't try and press it too soon.
worked the clock really well and they were able to execute without any casualty at that point.
Brilliant first round, great gap finding and it's so different to the previous attempts demo
you know and our reference labs because it's it's most recent it's what we've just seen.
On labs we had shields playing out on their own, we had you know very disjointed sort of setup
going on. That just looked like the whole team pulling together. I mean I also find that
just very puzzling from Team Liquid Alienware. If you looked at the lineup that they had,
they had about four win conditions. And for some reason, they've decided to go aggressive. Whenever
they could easily have just played very passive, whenever you know he gets NIP, who are already
like fairly slow, give them a two man lead in the kill department. That's just not going to
help you. What's up? And there's just too many things you have to try and watch. So I think
from a Team Liquid Alienware perspective, it's going to be a lot better if you bring them
that line up. You have to play that certain way of wanting to stall the round out instead
of finding the kills. And if you look at Alienware, same again. You've got win conditions. You've
got a clash. You've got a Goyo. You've got ways of slowing down this NIP slot side.
But I do think this is an element where maybe they're respecting that shield a heck
of a lot more because you've got the foreign and the Ella to great answers to a blitz.
But you've got the blitz you've got the clash as well which is a brilliant counter to the blitz
You just saw the engagement there not wanting to walk down the stairs because you've got nade at the bottom of it
Just toggling electrification
It's gonna take fancy pushing down and chucking a nade out there to really displace him
And they will perform two duties
We'll destroy the barbed wire as well just freeing that open for a little bit later in the round
Ram can now come in start throwing in those boogie drones
Hades is starting to see a little bit of value out of their utility as well.
Classic from NIP in terms of time, half way through the round and they're fairly well situated.
They don't really rush to get to this point, but you can't really blame them because it's not really cost them anything.
They haven't paid with it with their life just yet, just a bit of HP that Fancy's had taken away from him.
The Leapox attempted for a bit of a walk up here on these blue stairs.
He knows that he's got a very good chance of picking up a kill, especially with the shotgun at the sort of range.
Well kills, as of yet, that is good news.
If your team looked at Alienware, oh, missed air jab from Wizards.
That's not going to help him out.
Now for NIP, have to try and go pretty fast using that blitz and we'll see if the traps are going to be in place.
looks like it is, I mean KZ's work for the retake, the fuse are gonna go down, anyone
from Team Liquid A we're gonna respond.
There's nobody home, Paseo gets it down for free, they've still got a vert control as well.
Pase might be low but he should be able to watch this from above, Fancy finds one onto
Maya.
Nade, you can walk up and get on to that diffuser but I don't think he's gonna be
able to disable it from there, for Leapox, he's taken out as well, ESC4 in his hand
was trying to pull a fast one.
JV eventually finds one, Pissetto takes down the clash and the final.
Blitz drawing for the pistol to bring us to a conclusion for round number two.
Oh, how wrong we were.
We were dangling a 30% statistic in front of you all at the start of this match.
And NIP have come out of the gate and won the first two attacking rounds on layer.
It's very sloppy from Team Liquid Alienware on both of those rounds.
I just don't think that Naid was expecting the Blitz just to plant right in front of him.
No.
That was a just... well there's no way they're gonna go for that are they?
They just smoked the door.
They're probably gonna try and see if they can sprint in and take the bomb site but
no.
I think he was expecting him to sprint him wasn't he and I think that there was maybe an expectation that the clashes
Electrification would would be enough. Well as we could see on the on the overview the range. It was just a little bit too far away
Planting them in the small like that always a mega risky move because where do you see for the cloud of smoke?
Where do you throw smoke canister the cloud of smoke? Where do you prefer the cloud of smoke?
They're in the cloud of smoke. It's not that big right? It's always a mega risky move to make a play inside the smoke
Maybe that's why it's a little bit unpredictable sometimes.
NIP have already over-performed here on their previous records for all that.
They are doing better than we expected them to on this attacking side.
And again, maybe it's bringing into the reason as to why we ended up here in the first place.
Kind of just goes to show them all that both these teams are really pulling out all the stops
to avoid a playing phase in that lower bracket.
Just get the job done now. Make sure you can get to the state safe and sound.
I'll have to play against, again, as you mentioned, FaZe. Nobody wants to try and go up against me now,
I guess that side is, despite maybe the woes that they've had as of late.
The last matter for a Team Liquid alien where they've got the opening pick and they've done a heck of a lot of damage here to the Black Room,
but Sett was having an absolute nightmare, he goes down, JV!
This shit's his feet off the center though, able to get a nade on the JV beforehand, I don't know what happened there, KZ's also been downed, what's going on, another one is gone, it's like Hase was trying to walk into the bomb site, what a weird opening minute.
This is very uncharacteristic for a game between these two teams at the moment, NIP have been kind of slow in their approach and it's not been a bad thing, we've been, you know, sort of praising them for it.
We get the Mart Stumb grenade onto JV, KZ falls, the advantage at the moment naturally is with
Team Liquid Alienware, they have three bodies left standing, one toxic babe, a C4, plenty
of Keeber barricades.
An IP though, are they going to be able to whittle them off one by one?
Nade, first player to fall, no mega-overreaction from Team Liquid Alienware at the moment,
What a funny old round that was, eh?
I mean.
team like an either just like headloss full headloss
I don't think I've ever seen that side play that way. I don't think I've ever seen that side play out that way
Oh, we gotta get the side open you need that. Oh, I think we'll get the time out after the buns
No
Okay, okay, we're there. We're not there. We're in we're in the thick of it
I mean would it be would it be the bomb back getting back together if we didn't lose our head
SL
What we need to do is just
We just need to catch your mind but you just need to imagine that this is like
NIP versus MIBR from like five years ago. Oh, no
Take me back
I mean, the only person who would still be on that side is, you know?
Uh, Fully Pucks.
Yeah.
Is that it?
Is that anything?
Playing on a controller.
Broken shoulder.
Broken shoulder, so playing on a controller.
Still absolutely frying.
Yeah, actually once, which was insane.
Weird old round.
round. First three rounds for NIP. No timeout at the start of round four, which is the next
round of bands. Again, it's a little bit of an elongated pause in proceedings, so teams
tend to like to use that just to gain a few more seconds out of their tack. It's the
clash and the thermite that both get removed. The clash makes a lot of sense. That's
been something that has been a bit of a problem, but I mean NIP, they could have
kind of banned anything because everything that they've been coming up against has
been dealt with. He's not lost a round yet.
This is a big round. Team Liquid Alienware. They need to try and get their first round
on the board. They will go back upstairs and I mentioned it last time. They had a
lot of win conditions. Look, the clash is off the board. They don't have that luxury
of that operator to not only slow down the round but counter through the shields. Whenever
you've got the smoke, you've got them to chunk it. That's your wincon. Play around that.
That's always going to be the issue for NIP. I mean, for NIP right now, it's, what about
that demo that's down there, just pestering these players and also look at all the Bs
being sent in too that's getting a lot of value. A lot of information being fed
for the NIP but sadly no picks for them as of yet.
And it's all about breaching these walls though isn't that's what they need to try and focus
on making sure they can get away into that default plant position in through that interior
breach.
Now mirror window is there to make things a little bit awkward and oh no a misty nade.
When I get the salva I think we still have one more though but I'm just making a viscous
impact trick.
Oh no.
Okay.
Oh, no, no, no, we're, we're in Balder.
Yeah, this is where alarm bells really start to ring, isn't it? You're in a single doorway, push into sight.
Maya picks the first onto Fancy.
Vassetto, what a great game so far. Five and one at the minute.
You might need another five here if you're going to try and pull this round out of the bike.
Primed and waiting to hop in on that Blackbeard.
and
you know and wizard both yet to die in this map by the way I
Feel like it's only a matter of time in this one wizard will find one Maya in with the trade
There is a flank up rocket as well, and it will be successful JVs three. Oh
Line them up and he'll knock them down
It must have been a cracking lineup for him to get that Wow
I mean, for NIP, it just shows how punishing that top floor is if you just have that one slight slip up.
And look, the slip up was the nade going on for the Selma, having only one Selma remaining, and then that gets impact trick, and they've got no way into the bomb site except through the door.
And I also noticed too, we had a minute left, and all of the util from NIP was gone.
They had no nades no flashes all the all the bees were used
They're using utile and they're not following up kills with it
I mean the grim was just firing the bees into her slot mess and nobody really looked as though that you're interested in playing off
I mean sure the day moves to maybe downstairs playing with the vertical
But he'll have to be careful himself. He can also get shot and die, which you know, he wants being challenged
Then something as simple as somebody coming up rocket stairs. Yeah, I
I think for me it was the deployable shield. You know that just stopped the hole push there
Yeah, because you can't throw your cell phones because you don't know if they're gonna get impacted
You can't push down on the blackbeard or the mark or the blitz or whatever you're playing just because you know that
Someone could swing out at any second and it just took so long to deal with that shield
The everything had already been spent and often that everyone else kind of knew that that was the main hold up
That should have been the main focus to try and get rid of I mean that and the fact that breaching was always gonna be
difficult, the thermite has been taken away, and NIP, I'm not going to sit here and say
they've got a problem with breaching, but they really do try and make it as easy as possible
for themselves. I say that, in this round, they haven't brought a single primary hard
breacher, instead we've just got a couple of tin openers on Basetto. So, who knows
how this is going to go, because last round it all came down to the hard breach, or
the lack thereof. Now okay, you're attacking Basement, so you need a little bit less
of it and previously when we've seen them successful down here it's come down to a
bit of a flood into sight and get the plant down under the cover of some smoke
that isn't going to be an option this time and much more heavy in the nade
department maybe there isn't the same level of extension going on from Team
Liquid Alienware there's only a couple of silhouettes upstairs that we can
say but again quite a horizontal approach right now from NIP. A bit of a scattershot I mean
you enter in through a garage and now they're looking to rotate the shield upstairs I think
it's just a case of trying to get that shield into position to challenge onto those roamers.
What's the lion though? C4 and oh no the Grim 2. So a lot of util operators gone straight
away you've lost your grim, grim information equally can be the same for lion. Really
get information. The thing is now with with NIP you still have rumours upstairs and now
you have two men who can help you with that. Team Liquid Alienware dug in at the moment.
Maya on the stairs, a favorable angle as always. You've got the high ground on the
shield. You are winning a flawless round for Team Liquid Alienware. Pretty much out
I know where this game has swung in the balance
We've seen three rounds in a row go the favor of NIP and then a very quick response no timeout either
From team liquid Alienware and they've chained two together themselves
Again shaping up for a flawless half a between these two teams have NIP run out of steam already demo
Have they only got three good attacks in him?
It's still not bad though. I think three attacks. It's okay
Okay. Certainly on on on layer. I think you can work with that and for an IP getting onto the defense and it will be a lot more comfortable so still for team liquid Alienware probably why they didn't call the time out only because they want to try and keep that for the kind of tougher side as you'd say on the attacks.
the game. I mean, certainly
for Team Liquid Alienware. If
they can get the even half here.
It really does open up the game
and it's a good kind of recovery
process would be in three old
down all of a sudden. Now it's
free free. You've got the
momentum and I and I fear going
to be thinking. Well, we've
kind of like this slip a little
bit. We sort of really well
now look at them. We've gave
them confidence. And obviously
for team liquid Alienware,
we've seen what what they
were able to do on live
server. They got just a
On lab so it just shows it aside and very quickly snowball our control
Yeah, it really doesn't take much does it
Doesn't say much from to put the afterburners on leave their opponent in the dust
Kind of feels what happened on labs. It kind of feels again. What's happening here on
layer
This was the weird round for me. Oh good bit of damage there, but another successful impact trick
He's going to be mindful, and that second placement is a lot better though, because at least
can you get something open, but you've got one cell on the left, and you still need to
get something meaningful open on that wall, can it be a really difficult task?
This was the round where we sort of looked to get in and questioned, was it worthy for
Team Liquid Alienware to take the time out at the end of round number three because
of how poorly it went. I just don't get the impression that that's going to happen again
here. Another attempt at the Selma on the wall. Finally, this time they're both going
to go off. I think there's going to be something able to be worked over on that breach. This
time with two opening kills for Fancy. One on to Nade, one on to KZ. It's already
looking a lot more reminiscent of what we saw in round number three.
pressure now Team Liquid Alienware and Saito is still alive. He's going to be the main key
component for getting this plant off for LIP. He can just sense off the entirety of the bomb
site and just simply walk in, avoid those vertical holes. We'll see if Team Liquid Alienware are
going to be really snapping onto that, but looking at the lineup, don't really have much
apart from the one C4 who could deal with that. It is going to have to be Team Liquid
Alienware on the back foot, having to try and recover this round, but this feels
I can say a matter of time before NIP are going to make this happen, however, for Leapox
with a cheeky kill, peeps down for the green stairs and able to pick off fantasy.
So that is a kill back, but still for NIP, just try and go for the plug-back, so they
should be focused on right now.
I think you're right, but I know that it's going to be difficult to get down.
If they've not taken sufficient vertical, it's going to be a nightmare.
You've got direct lines onto the doorways going into sight here, but two massive kills
there with the taking full epochs down that's what they needed the doorway being
watched there was only one conclusion there and it needed to come through some
kills whether it was one two or all three and IP there choosing the kill route
as opposed to play in that diffuser grab themselves around back and throw over to
our wonderful desk and they're gonna break down the first six rounds
Oh, apologies, I was told we're not going to the desk.
Yeah.
My bad, they're not ready for us.
My bad.
Well, maybe we're not ready for them, though, I was about that.
Oh, well, so we'll have to entertain it.
Oh, now he said, oh, don't worry, I'll have a go now.
Oh, no, you missed your opportunity.
You missed the booking.
Well, four rounds for an IP overperformed, I think, as far as I'm concerned, on that attack
inside. I really feel like we've got a game on our hands in our demo. There's a massive
opportunity for them. They've done nearly all of the hard work inside of this fixture.
I think the benefit that Team Liquid Alienware have got going into this second half is,
of course, going to be that they've got their tactical timeouts still because they
chose not to use it. But it kind of felt like they weren't too worried about whatever
this split was going to be because in their mind isn't an insurmountable task.
Tell me you've got me as well, don't know. No, no, no, I'm not. I mean, this is where
I think for NIP, they have to have the confidence now to say, you know what, this is our
We chose the go here. We've had a fantastic attack enough, which is kind of unlike them.
You know, we're going to mention how the attacking win percentage on layer for NIP hasn't been great.
This is where they want to be on the defense. This is where it can be absolutely stellar on their side.
And for Team Liquid Alienware, they kind of know they're up against it.
You know, they also would have looked at layer and said, OK, if they're going to, we're going to leave it open.
They can pick it if they want because we know we're going to have that defense start and we can really ramp up the rounds
That hasn't happened for them. They start off really sloppy. They lost rounds down to not playing their win conditions
So this is it for an IP to try and push us into that third map. I
Think this first round is gonna be really important because we ever go with team look at a we're getting the first attack
They're gonna be feeling confident. They bring it back to one round difference between them or an IP are gonna have a free round gap
Well, there is potential for a bit of a gap to start developing here if NIP get a bit
of a run on this defense.
We could very well be seeing Bank.
And I opened this map demo with the old, you know, the team that wins the second map
usually wins the series.
And the reason that I did it, obviously, I think it's funny nobody else does, but
I enjoy it.
But the reason that I did it is Bank's NIP's favorite map.
Now, I understand that Team Liquid Alienware, the old Fury Accord, they're no stranger to Bank either.
But it's a very good map for NIP.
I think that if they have the sufficient tank on them today, if they've got it in their lock and to go all three,
there's a very real possibility that they move on this upper bracket and we send Team Liquid Alienware down into that lower.
But a lot depends on this next half of layer because, you know, I'm talking like it's already done.
It is by no means over yet.
Here we go.
First defense for NIP, setting up in towards that top floor.
And the extension in towards operation, using it as a me.
So, off of the idea here for NIP, it's waste a lot of time early on.
such as using the exam and using the clash to try to hold in towards ups and also in towards mess
And then you try and hit them in the light game using the smoke
I will say I think they maybe could have brought in a little bit more
Plunk denial this I make the chunk is having like the staple pick hasn't he so I don't think it's a massive amount
The team look at a limb need to be worried about based on time
They've tried to force him with a shield now. However, you've got the ally you've got the four
You've got ways to counter this shield
Or for Leapox.
I'm sure he's shield counted.
So the shield disorientated.
The screen only just starting to let up now.
He doesn't need much visual to see that the kills are starting to come in in that top
right of his screen.
Casing the only casualty at the moment.
Aside from that a very successful first attempt.
We've lost the smoke.
Yeah.
Part of time denial here.
Well, overpeaking.
My only guess is that he was shot through side door.
So weird one to see the smoke go down.
I don't know, were they playing the smoke aggressive in towards rock? I'm not too sure.
But if he was just on site then yeah, certainly an over peek.
Off for NIP now. He don't have the denial.
They also got the man advantage and you look at the time.
A minute fifteen, that's more than enough for Team Liquid Aliyah here.
maybe after a bit of a pivot here only they're going to go and try and hit the green side of things.
Well they've got the clash to try and dance around a little bit haven't they?
I think they feel like the job's kind of done over in ops they can maybe leave that to a bit
of a lurk roll later on. They've still got 55 seconds and there's loads of information
that can be gathered here by full epochs. These remaining players for NIP need to be super
cautious. No hard breach active in this line up either as KZ did fall. Hates finds one onto
Nade, make it a second. His double kills tonight have been so impactful. Wizard is down though.
Maia will be recovered. JV can find the space and the time to get that done. Finish is
off wizard. The Settle and Hates. Not beyond the realms of possibility here. 25 seconds
and a clash to go up against is no mean feat when you've got zero util.
The lion and the glass, two DMRs going up in this battle.
Maya gonna start to try and get that plant down.
Bissetto is able to navigate around successfully.
Hey, he's just missing out on his shots and that's going to be the diffuser.
Confirm Bissetto, the shield pulls out of the pistol.
Maya has to hold on.
He's got a great angle outside from him, but you've got the clash.
Bissetto surely can just block up this rotate and give an angle for hates to work with
My solo surely can't be going for it on his own, but no Bissetto with the time
Perfectly played
He might have lost to one versus one clutch on labs, but he's not losing one on there
Yeah, very important that he clutches that one up
We could see that the glass he knew what he was up against
He made the right call where he needed to kill the second player
You know let the clash have the diffuser for a little bit went for the jump in but
You're gonna get one and then straight away the clash just knows that they kind of get off go for the easy pick
But yeah that shield the real kicker
For NIP or team liquid Alienware. I mean it was a 4v3
They did have the advantage and they went for that ever and it didn't really work
I just think that they rotated that clash really well, you know, it nullified that Blitz.
Blitz also had a nightmare to deal with Alamines with the forums, I'm sure too.
It was really, really tricky lineup, I think, with what Team Liquid Alienware went for.
Whereas, I think if they went a little bit more hard breach-orientated, a little bit
kind of plant-focused, they would have had a better time because we've seen the lineup
from NIP.
It wasn't screaming, we're going to kind of stall the round out here.
It was much more aggressive
Well, there was only really a smoke wasn't there a smoke in a clash and a clash kind of falls
It falls on the line between the two doesn't it because you can play it in either sort of style
You can either play quite aggressive or you can play for a little bit more sort of area denial
There was only really the smoke that was the big signal of like this is the you know
The denial portion of the round and well, I got taken out in the first what 30 seconds
So it never really became a factor either
Alarm bell starting to ring now, is it really going to leave it until the end of round 8
to take that time off?
That risk leaving NIP on a map point here, that's very strange in Team Liquid Alienware.
Certainly no time being wasted here in round 8 however.
KZ straight in clearing that top floor on the blitz, Maya going to be moving through
as well just behind. As all of that is being called as clear, we can start to work through.
Full top down as well with JV on the sledge, made on the ram so Soft Breach is in abundance
this round. And the sledge's job is really trying to flood some of these defenders around
from this mid-floor, but it doesn't look to me as though anybody is home, and I think
you've been very quick to rotate as soon as they've realised what's been going
only players now hold in half positions I peed up on these blue stairs
Think for NIP they're very swiftly realized, you know, they kind of set up here the team look at anywhere
I've never kind of hear the blitz as well
Clang around the map. You want to just try and get back to the bomb site and in the arm
Leashing some C4s up to see if they can try and pick off some players, but that's both of them
They're going to absolutely knock it all away like one of your fishing trips
Don't remind me
They're very unsuccessful recently
Need a new lucky token or something
Not sure what it might be yet, but
Willing to take any ideas if you got idea call in
Not enough for a bit
You'll catch on now going out as that's the setto and you starting to know the turd these attackers a little bit. I
I mean that's a trade but it's a trade that I would take as NIP. You've lost you know playing in aggressive position
But what have you taken out? You've taken out KZ. That was your key into the bomb site
Okay, you've still got some candelas from Maya so you can still make a bit of impact there
But it's not quite the same as a blitz. Maybe we can start to work his way down these blue stairs now
But you've got no idea fancy is gonna be sitting just enough angle in front of the reinforcement
And that's likely going to be the first of another three players here to fall or team liquid alien where the seto
Still with yokai drones in play
He's tucked you can deny anything that's going on here
There's not a good read on where that plant's going down though and is instead gonna come off
That's gonna open the door and allow fully pox to get it on but no stopped in the nick of time
Nine seconds left if you use a cold fully pox picks it up again for another reattempt
He's on super low HP, Haste doesn't need to land much, but it's the head anyway.
Two versus two as this is going to be scrappy, but time's going to do the job.
NIP, taking it there on time.
Oh my word. I thought Team Liquid Alienware were going to get away with one.
Planting in the midst of the smoke, but the Echo forces them off.
It was very, very close.
I mean, they've went for the
time out, but is it a little bit
too late here, Ollie? I think
it is. We're smoking about it a
few times. I was even doubting
myself at the start of the last
round, and I was thinking, are
we sure they've not used it,
but are we this? There's so
many breaks now. We've got
the halftime break. We've got
the time out for each team. Oh,
are we sure we've maybe
team. Are we sure we've maybe not? No, we didn't miss it. It has been saved from that point.
Now, the value at this point in proceedings, I guess, is that you've seen what two of the
defenses are going to look like. So you can discuss two defenses instead of just one.
I kind of get it, but it just puts a heck of a lot of pressure on you. But then again,
that's sort of accounting for the fact that we're thinking a timeout is going to be really
valuable anyway and sometimes there's just not too much you can do you've got to
try and figure it out yourselves in the round so maybe Team Liquid Alienware I'll
go in with that sort of line of thinking but whichever way you slice it
and I appear on that point and we are barreling towards a bank this is gonna
be a big part of soul searching here from Team Liquid Alienware to try and get themselves out of this
has not went to plan. NIP though credit to them. They've played it very very well I mean obviously
that opening half that was the key for NIP and I mean they've had a pretty comfortable time here I feel
on their defense and this is where now we go into the tertiary bomb site into our bunk
So what we have at our disposal, not for a team look at Alienware, I mean this is like the lineup you expect to see.
You've got that sense coming in, so I don't expect them to try and go above.
I think that would, would that be the greatest of the idea?
I don't think they've got the best lineup to kind of deal with a lot of that room presence upstairs.
So I think maybe this direct insight could be key.
However, NIP, they do have the solace.
So even though the sense is going to be used to try and block off all those lines of sight,
sight, the sense can still check to see which is the real diffuser being planted. Speaking
of them, finds Fully Pox, Monty's going down, how's that happened?
It's a disaster for the lineup that you've got ahead of you. You're thinking that Monty
is going to be a big portion of your pushing power in this round. You've chosen not to
bring the Ying, you've chosen not to bring a Capita, you've chosen not to bring
a Blitz, a Blackbeard, you chose the Monty. That's the first thing to fall.
KZ sends the nade in, destroys the barbed wire for later, the diffuser will be recoverable.
It's called on the ground but outside so not as big a problem as what you have lost in the process.
I think this is just going to spiral Team Liquid Alienware into a secondary plan and one that
you've not really got the kit for. You need to go for this vertical clear.
They haven't got the safety of the Monty to plant behind.
Sure they've got a couple of smokes, sure they've got the ROU projectors.
I think even they know that that isn't going to be enough.
Are you prepared to get sent into site?
Nade has the kit.
He can try and work his way in, but it's vertical.
It's just got to be too powerful.
You've got the solace.
There's no way that this goes down without an IP knowing about it.
Now they're going to have to go now or never.
I said they're not going to have the utility to try and challenge these players above,
so it's all in, using that sense.
So now we have to kind of look towards Hates. He's the player who needs to make this happen
for NIP. All pressure on him. In goes the util, in goes the smokes, up goes the sense,
in goes the plump, or gadget, or takes the damage. Just gonna stick it though. Any solo
fates, where are you? Never mind, just kill them.
Well, yeah, Wiz is gonna do the job anyway. Warden, almost as good as a soloist in
In that situation, JV and Nade left to try and pick up the pieces.
30 seconds though, we will find one.
It's a great start, but with the diffuser cold and still players upstairs, the face
for that impossible task of challenging the vertical from down to up, Nade has recovered
the diffuser, maybe starts trying to get it down, but I come back to the same old
point.
You've got the Solace.
This should be known right now.
I mean, the stats were against
them and all the metrics. But
they have done so well. I mean,
it's that opening half was that
that was the scary half. We knew
the defense was going to be
fine. It was the attacks. We
had question marks with NIP, but
they really showed us how it was
on a 4 to 1. So, you know,
the defense was going to be
fine. It was the attacks. We
had question marks with NIP,
but they really showed us how
really showed us that was on a four to half and they just cruise in the defences.
I mean, this is why NIP for me is one of the more exciting teams to watch inside of SL.
I know there's the big names. I know there's the players that have been there and done it.
I like watching the players that could be next up. And for me, NIP feel like they're on the edge
of being that team at the moment. This series though, it is still not done.
We have bank as a decider map and it's going to be coming up just after this.
Everyone's talking about it.
What's up with the R6 Competitive Calendar?
The structure of our Competitive Calendar has changed a bit.
That means more tournaments, and a slightly different path to the 6th invitation.
But let's break it down.
First of all, we now have a brand new addition to Siege, the CN League, the Chinese League.
That brings us to five regions total, all following pretty much the same structure.
Now let's focus on what matters most to us, how things will work in the South America
League.
Before anything else, it's important to remember that the 20-26 season actually started way back
with the Challenger series, where Rising Teams fought for a shot at the top tier and secured the
final two spots in the SAL. Then, and that's where we are right now, we have the kickoff.
Now, think of it as a Stage 0 for the SA-L, shorter, faster, but still super important.
It awards 4 major spots and distributes 970 SA- points.
Next up, in May, we've got the first major of the year, 20 teams, over 30,000 SA- points
on the line, live from Salt Lake City, USA. After that, between June and July, we officially
kick off Stage 1 of the SAO. Same classic format you already know. One group of 10 teams,
round robbing matches, and the top 6 advanced to the Double Elimination Playoffs.
This time though, the 4 available spots are for the Esports World Cup, taking place
in Saudi Arabia. Plus, we've got another 1,695 aside points of photographs. Speaking of that,
the eSports World Cup kicks off in August, with 22 teams competing for a $2 million prize pool.
No aside points here, but the winner gets a straight ticket to SI 2027.
Then, between September and October, we move on to stage 2 of the SAL.
Same format again, 10 teams, round robbing, playoffs, 4 major spots, and another 1,695 S-I
points in play.
In November, we'll see the debut of the final international event of the year.
the first major ever hosted in Japan, 20 teams and 13,650 SI points on the line.
Finally, closing out the calendar between December and January, we've got the last chance qualifiers
in each region.
This is the final shot at making it to the biggest tournament in Siege, and those five
15 will join the top 14 teams from the SI Points ranking, plus the EWC champion, making
a total of 20 teams qualified for the 6th Invitational in February, the tournament that
always wraps up the season.
And by the way, it's happening right here in Brazil again.
Simple enough, right?
So let's get into it.
The kickoff is ready.
set and now it's time to sit back and enjoy the games.
Thanks for watching everyone, see you next time!
for NIP that bring it back and tie it up and take us into the third map.
Before we talk about that, we have to dig into Hive Haven and what happened NIP looked on another level here.
Yeah, it's basically like they didn't change their core playstyle compared to labs.
It is still very slow. It is still methodical and step-by-step.
What I do not understand is the game plan on the side of Team Liquid and anywhere.
I think they were trying to play and peel off like they were on labs.
The reality was NIP just attacked much more efficiently on that map.
And I think by not going for full extended rooms, they can have shot themselves in the foot here.
Let's take a look at round two, for example. If you look at the lineup on the side of
Team Liquid anywhere, you know, they bring the clash, they bring the goalie, they bring the
warden. They are trying to basically play against an execution, but they gave the whole map.
So, every 50 seconds, let's look at this. The execution is perfect. You've got Hades,
who's coloring the plant from above and kills the Romer. The clash is completely used
They have no idea, no denial, nothing to deny the plant.
Warden didn't even use a C4.
Mind you that the plant went down inside a smoke.
Where's the warden when that happens, you know?
So it feels like they're just trying to play a weird wind condition
and not even committing to it.
And on the other side, you can see an IP.
If you give them too much space, they will take that space
and they will coordinate the perfect execute.
I mean, in this position, there's nothing JV can do at this point.
What's beautiful is, if you look at this, honestly,
So smart take on it. Not that many teams would go through stock to actually plan the diffuser.
Most teams are used to the plan going down on filtration side.
So I think it was a great bit of innovation.
We were having doubts, I think, about an IP and this map in general.
Also because an ethic demo pointed in that as well.
Team Liquid previously, as for you, had a crazy win streak on that map.
But I love the innovation that we've seen.
And now you might ask me, Lush, okay, that's cool.
Great attacks, but how do they do it in defense? How do they do it in defense then Leo?
Well, if we look at the round 8 for example, right?
It's exactly the same game plan that you liquid any other where I put again. It's the same one
So we're gonna burn time, right?
And if you look at around it, it's the same thing this time they bring it to brawl
They bring a code they try to slow down so you know, it's it's I don't know
It just feels like it was a game of who waits and who stares in the eyes the most possible
and who has the best composure.
And at that game, I think that Basseto, who was the king of that gameplay or that playstyle
could be the previous loud roster, I think it just so worked so well for him.
One thing during this second round especially I know our good friend Davo was talking about
is like, yeah, here's all these stats, all these things that you need to keep
in mind.
And yet at the end of it, look at what happened.
That win streak really did not last long
against the way that NIP were playing their tack.
And this is your round eight here, Leo.
Yeah, it's just a great example of that denial
that I spoke about, right?
We're more chaotic on the side of Team Liquid
for some execution.
The UK road to diffuses, the defenders,
they're running around the boom side.
Look, this way is retaking from filtration.
The cover is not as clear, not at all as thin as with NIP.
And then the Bassetto just spins the round,
sitting on UK runs here.
So same win condition, right?
Burn time, denied of net.
And I just felt like one team was just better at it.
And I think it comes from,
or it stems from Bassetto's all based on love.
It's beautiful to see that despite Maya's best effort,
and my God, did he put in a lot of effort in this round,
this game in general,
there's not enough to win the round,
there's not enough to pull the game back
from the clutches of what ends up being
a massive loss for Team Liquid Alienware,
especially compared to how map 1 went on Naive Labs,
with a very clearly one-sided layer,
Naive and IP outplaying on the attack,
and the defense wants the halftime swap came in,
and this does not bode well for Team Liquid Alienware.
However, both teams, they ended up winning
their own map picks, Leo.
That's something that we're gonna at least think about
as maybe this is the ultimate equalizer,
now we can actually go to a map 3
that might fit the two of them in their own way.
You'll see Maia, Beceto, everybody on the board, but I want to talk about our map veto, because
our third and final map for this series, and a reminder, whoever wins this map, effectively
a B01, just qualifies to Salt Lake City.
It is simple as that, though, we're playing for seeding later on versus the winner of
Fluxo W7M and their opponent, Saphuria, but for now the focus is on this one specific
map, and that is Bank Money in the Bank.
This is the game on it, but statistically speaking, what's going on here, Leo?
Well, let's celebrate one thing.
It is the first map where Maya doesn't drop double digits out of the whole of Kikaf, and
then he was just one kilo away from it.
This guy is still losing 7-2, so how crazy is that?
And then on top of that, I just want to point out one player that is Bassetto.
I just want to mention it again.
The IGL, many teams were saying that NIP would be weaker with them as an IGL.
I thought that was going to mean to him.
Yes, he has a slower vision of the game, but look at this place the shields place all of this and he's still the best rated player on the roster
It's not often that we see that from an HL and it was worth pointing it out now
You've stated yourself
Bank is an X map and whoever wins it makes it to not only phase two of the so they see the major but also guarantees a hundred seventy five
aside points guarantees
$8,000 of cash price and that's from kickoff only so this is a massive one right if you look at bank
Most teams would say that three on bank, you know, we're really good team on it initially that would carry on onto team liquid
I'm not aware that makes a lot of sense one thing that most people don't for now or tend to forget is that actually
An IP have a pretty good record on it
They played it during kickoff and beat loss seven three at SI they played it twice and they beat both team meritics
But also a matey on the map that to me is a huge statement and during a sale finals
they had beaten Liquid on this as well. So it's by no means one of the flashiest map of the map pool.
However, they're still a forward streak and a forward streak against teams like MAT, teams like Liquid, you know,
big international teams. So it's not to completely rule them out here. I actually believe it is a strong map of them.
And with the momentum they've had so far, they could very much carry it into the decider.
The main thing to me is, it is a very slow-paced game all over, from laps to lair, both teams
are very, it feels like both teams are trying, not to lose rather than trying to win, just
how slow they are playing, and I'm very worried, especially for the side of Team Liquid
LL where they have the form of Fury, a core roster, I know you lost herds, I know you
lost the most aggressive player on your team, but you're still supposed to have
some of the best gunners, so I'm just wondering, is there maybe a way to win this by changing
the playstyle a little bit, taking a bit more risk, trying to play to win?
That's something that I definitely don't want to see on the final map, where both teams
are slowing down even further, I don't know if it does not give it maybe a less enjoyable
viewing experience from our end, but you also don't want the game to ground to a halt
where either one really wants to take the, it really takes the first step into doing
something more creative, because this is the moment to get things done and creative.
If you lose this, you're going to have a tough time against FaZe.
You really have to throw out all your stops just to get the position through.
You can argue that the final game that you'll be playing today,
should you win this game, that you can kind of conserve your strategies.
It gives you a seeding, but it's not the most important thing in the world.
Sure, but for now, show up and show up as a team to Liquid Alienware.
We need that for you.
NIP right now, they are looking hot after lane.
like you said Leo, that momentum is dribbled way
to the formula later, they carry it through.
Depending on the starting sign of the bands
that can get really complicated for Team Liquid Alienware.
They're at some point held, I guess, a lot of esteem
and respect for their qualification potential.
Though that is it, from us we'll give it to Demo
and extra trucker to Karius, all through the action of bank.
Melishly, I'll thank you both very much indeed.
We are going to be headed into our third and final map for our first best of three of the
night here, Team Liquid Alienware, NIP, On Bank, little bit of a classic demo and a big
old prize at the end of it, direct qualification to the Salt Lake City Major starting in May,
175 SI points guaranteed and of course a cash prize as well and maybe the bigger
prize out of it all is that you don't have to play a phase that is currently scorned in that
lower bracket because let me tell you they are going to be on a warpath to get themselves to
Salt Lake City and I would not want to be the team stood in their way. So a heck of a lot to play
for over this next map. I think overall that the map is really good for both sides. I mean
I mean, for LIP, it's their most preferred map, you know, that is the map where they have really good success on.
If only we're lost at once, it's a team that, or it's a map that's always going to get banned against them.
And I think you kind of look on the side, though, team like an area where, again, it's, for that kind of period of core,
it's also always a good map, you know, they, they're definitely the world for this map.
What a way to kick things off of Boschie!
It's over.
It's quite simply over.
You've lost your Hibana and yeah you've got some 10 Openers on Maya.
Oh boy, oh boy.
What a way for round one to kick off.
I was going to make a...
I had it in my mind to talk about Fancy in this map and it feels a little bit early
to be jumping the gun and diving into that topic of conversation. And there it is. He's
taken out by JV. Coming into today, the only person that had more opening engagements than
him inside of the whole SAO was Cyber. He has an insane amount of opening engagements.
Now this opening engagement hasn't really opened around for his team. What it has
done though is removed the Hibana, which means that these hatches are going to be
bit of a nightmare. Well, if it doesn't look as though that's really bothered in Liquid
Alienware in the slightest, is now with half the round still applied, it's a 2v4 in the
basement. Bizzards! No one's going to have to try and go aggressive and find a kill
go back. Yes, people can do that. See now if NIP can try and weather the storm, look
at the utils still on the side of Team Liquid Alienware, they've got the Dope Recall Olly,
they've got the bees, they've got the nades from the Blackbeard too, they've got everything
that they need to make this a success and you can see KZ has baited out another smoke
canister hates down just just the one but really for NIP they just you know
that they're actually are they just they don't know what they have to watch just
so much I mean this just feels like an open goal right now team liquid alien
where all we've got to do is tap it into the back of the net they've got the
man advantage they've got positional advantage and they have a utility
advantage they've still got a dope because they've still got four bees
and they still have Blackbeard and that horrible shield.
Wizard and Hates are both going to have to hit some pretty serious shots.
They are doing their best to try and pace out what little utility they have but as the bees
start to come in now the dole can be called is threatened.
As we've said, they should be fairly straightforward to convert, but NIP are really making them
work for it.
15 seconds, Final Toxic Babe canister goes out.
The diffuser is in the hands of the leapbox. He's waiting for that to dissipate before making his play.
Hates. He played beautifully up until that moment, but just overheated ever so slightly.
Felt like he had to try and make something happen.
And as such, he left Wizard in a similar spot.
An inevitable end, but one that Team Liquid weren't taking any chances about converting.
I think the two remaining players knew as soon as that doggly call came in.
that's whenever Team Liquid Alienware were gonna make their maneuver and you know that they've tried to
go aggressive, tried to challenge, but the hatch cover is just too strong.
You can see that that last Goyle canister, it wasn't going to really affect the Blackbeard because
he could sidestep it and plant on the long angle. So that's why the smoke was kind of thrown at
the 15 second mark, but once that was going to dissipate, the NIP knew they were beaten and
they had to try and go for aggressive play. But yeah, overall for Team Liquid Alienware,
They just suck the life out of that round, didn't they? As soon as they had that man advantage, they just kept on to it. They knew they had the U-Tile.
And they were just never going to be, you know, out of sorts to lose that.
So for Team Liquid Alienware, they get the first round. They set the tone. They set the pace.
Red IP, they're actually going to run it back.
I don't mind them run it back, mostly because if you're looking at the lineup, you're spec-ing, okay, kind of traditional bike baseman, Goyo smoke, all of that.
Whatever you lose three people with inside the first half of the round you're thinking what we doing
Yeah
For me it was a weird one because you get fancy with the opening pick
but then instead of doing like a
Retraction and sort of saying show we've got an opening pick we can just sit deep
You know we just get ourselves back to the site we can challenge on blue stairs
We can challenge on main stairs, but we don't need to work too hard for it
We can even hold inside of elevator and drop off at a point once we've shot a few drones or whatever
Then for three people go for two other people to die after fancy did
For me it was just a bit of an alarm bell
It was like why are we why we put ourselves in that kind of position like we've got the opening pill
We just need to we just need to chill out a little bit
We just need to work this advantage and they kind of just gave it right back to seem liquid Alienware
So we'll see how it goes round number two is a bold attempt to try and run it back
But again, I agree
I think it's worth doing and it's bank is baseman is the best site on the map arguably one of the best sites in the
the game. Why wouldn't you
want to play it back again
another time already differences?
Well, it's a little bit slower.
Fancy is being a lot more
reserved with the boss G. This
time isn't getting himself into
as much bother.
It's better from an IP. Make
sure you can keep everyone
alive. I think if you are
defending side in this
basement, you kind of want the
525 execute because you've got
a lot bodies that you can
Hope that you can try and stop the plant going down which I'm sure is going to be the game plan here for Team Liquid Alienware
once more
These agents need to be careful as a player inside the elevator
Doesn't know which one. It's like a game show. All right, what's behind door number one?
Well, you can pretty safely assume that there's gonna be somebody behind door number one
Ace will drop off
Just take a bit of damage for it though
NIP are really making Team Liquid Alienware work for this map control at the moment.
A minute, and they've got it. So fair play.
But there's hatches to be opened. They still serve it to clear.
Main Stairs, Garage, all of these are areas that NIP are going to be looking to try and hold.
Vulcum Pack detonated at the top of blue. That's just going to buy a little bit of time for Bissetto.
He's in a prime position though. Playing on the mute. He's placed his utilities, doing his job.
More time and if he can burn a body here, even better.
Caught out fancy.
Finds one. Make it two. Where is he getting these kills from?
Tucked in on the server.
Oh, he's directly underneath the hatch as well.
How's he getting away with this?
Full white flashed and still there for the challenge.
Bissetto able to back him up a little bit on the stairs as well.
Eventually will be taken out, but fancy can just get back.
Get himself in behind the server rack.
Feed this information across.
And Nade takes for Leapox down! Oh, it's beautiful! Pino!
He comes in to join on to the action and Nade smoked out.
Ten seconds, and all he can see is a cloud of yellow.
The final touch of wave canister from Pino gets sent out there.
And he's little to do, but pre-fire hoping for a miracle.
NIP quite right to run back to the basement.
Hey, Miracles on Black Dragons, Ollie, did you get them out?
Oh, you get home.
He doesn't play for this team.
He's in another team.
You need that.
Oh, he's already taken.
You've been training a long time for that, Miracle.
There's also a Miracle in CNL2 as well, by the way.
There's another one.
There's two Miracles running around.
Is that?
There is.
America and cnl. Yeah. Brilliant. I mean, one guy has just won them that round because
he swung the hatch. And that just shows it's the confidence. I mean, look, you remember
ever like whenever fantasy first came onto the scene, never. He was on the old furious
side. You're beloved. And remember, he hit the back to back gazes. We were thinking
always he's next up. He's going to be the next world be here, but he never got
himself onto a big side. And that was always weird because we've seen the drop
He was kind of in like a limbo phase. We're just kind of it just a player who played in the stages
We've never really seen him in the international level
That's the soul for the NIP and you can start to see him have that ignition again
Yeah, I mean don't forget he's super young like he started playing at 18
So in terms of you know time
It's on his side at the moment to find himself on that you know more powerful stronger
a better team in a lot of senses. And he's finding himself in that position right now.
He really does fulfil that cyber-esque role for me, where, let's be honest, quite separate
from the rest of the squad. And that's very similar to the way that you'll see cyber-play
on FaZe, is very much out on Nylon, very much out on their own, but a lot of the
team does a lot of things to enable that as well. Oh, good opportunity spotting. Hates.
You will have wished you checked the garage. Unfortunately they let the door open.
It's a big door, big shutter, isn't it? I can't understand it, I bet it's a pain to
close. And there's also a police car in the way.
A nightmare. Who's parked that police car there?
You can't park there mate. You can't park there. I think for a team
that opening pick. It's kind of
monitoring things. Yes, it's
great that you've got the pick.
However, you have shown the
Amaris, which I expected would
have been used to maybe try and
target the echo inside of
elevator because that's a very
classic position. You have an
echo inside of elevator. You'll
sit in his drones and because
he sat on his drones, you'll
lean down the wiser that
somebody. Gara hooks right
beside him and we get the kill.
We've seen that time and time
again. That's the only maybe
slight issue, but still a
kill is the kill and that
sort team liquid Alien where
we're looking for.
Wizards somehow managed to get himself out of position there. He was getting heavily flashbanged.
Couple of kills coming in here. I mean it's not gonna stop the plant from going down.
I don't think I'll stay again. Nate comes off.
Maybe the Yoke Hydro on there has stood him off the plant.
Three versus four now.
Veseto and Fancy both low.
And Wizards and Fancy taken out.
Veseto is down to the revolver. This is not ideal.
The recoil on that is a nightmare.
back into your kidro peanuts try and stop this plant from going down that all
push up no now's not the time you don't comment all this body's everywhere
did liquid alien west scrapping for that last scale and it's gonna be JV
credited with it oh well that is around where a lot of big engagements just
went in favor of team liquid Alienware I mean imagine if that cave was able to
get one though then it really would have been interesting I just think
that one V3 just a little bit too much or for Pino the deal with. I mean, I think you kind
of look at the time there, 14 liquid Alienware, they gave himself enough. So even if there was
going to be an echo, you know, they had enough time to kind of re-plan, challenge him, whatever
they needed to do. It wasn't as though they were going to lose based on time. So you
really simply picked up the pace and they went for that free to one exit very, very
I mean, the Echoes are only showing the one time and it was for that top floor and straight away it's gone.
It's a big ban, isn't it?
Attackers have located a bomb.
That's a big ban from Team Liquid. I think it shows their intention though.
I mentioned it in NightAven Labs. They've only planted three times throughout the entirety of kickoff until today.
Dancing has been on the cars. It's been something that they've been looking for that opportunity.
If there's an opportunity to get the defuser down, they're going to take it.
Now is that because this is where it really matters, this is the qualification series,
so they're pulling out all the stops?
I don't think there's going to be a big fundamental change on the team.
The Echo player is certainly going to assist them getting that plant down if they find
themselves in a similar position again.
Did you think about it?
If that Echo player had been a bit more tucked, had been away in Narnia, then it would
have become maybe a little bit of a problem.
Obviously there was enough time to do it, there was no bodies, you would have shot here but
under slightly different circumstances could have been a round winner.
Again, I agree, it just seemed like a big bang.
Who threw to the mid-floor? Round number four.
It seemed like we're dealing well with success on both sides played so far.
We have seen basement twice, hence NIP with a round of their own.
You don't have to wait a little bit until we can go back down there, at least to the end of this one.
I think a lot of it is going to hinge on them holding control of this upstairs.
Oh, hello.
I mean, that's one of the downsides about going for a run out in 2026 on bank windows.
It's not the same as it used to be, is it, Demo?
It's like that, I think he's kind of lucky not to get a kill, look at my HP.
You know, it's a rough one, I think, for Hates to take in there.
But you dragged out of the ADS.
Yeah, I get that.
I get that. I get that you should have got the kill, but you're asking a lot for a spray on a hip fire.
I mean, either way, it was always going to be a one for one.
That is the best case scenario. Hates was never going to make it back into the building again once he went for that jump back, so...
But, yeah, it just hasn't worked.
Oh, look at this. Really good information here from the drone.
The leapbox. Call out that there's a prone player with a shotgun, but Jamie makes a bit.
However, he's been down for the hatch!
Oh, my word!
That's something you don't see every day.
I mean surely he'll be in a position to get revived here Ollie, he's got to be, he's in the middle of onsite.
Ground floor's like an onion, there's layers to it!
Half of that bled out at the moment but he is gonna get up.
This only comes back on 20 HP.
It's still a body that you've got for this final 55 seconds, fancy.
Finds one onto Maya.
It's an important kill.
Not really for the Twitch, but mainly just to remove Maia from that F2, Bissetto back
from the dead, takes KZ down, even wishing that he was finished off, speaking about kills
that go unfinished, Alepox falls, Nade might find himself too here, certainly gets the
down on Topino, he's put himself in a fairly winnable position, but he's still asking
quite a lot. One versus two, no defuser and everybody on the server knows exactly where
he is. Shot through the soft, reaching charge isn't going to help you mate. You've got
one HP and you've got no time. A sniff of a bullet here and you are going to be gone.
Hold out the bearing nine. Means to hit some live shots there to make it happen and isn't
going to be given the space. Fancy top through bottom here on bank has been a
star performer but NIP are holding firm. Oh he has he has been the reason why the
NIP are sat with two rounds he's got eight kills inside of four rounds and also
dominating in the entries two and oh in the entries and for Team Liquid Alienware
you think okay I'm pretty good standing they kind of get gifted freebie at the
start able to down that smoke even though JV did lose it but they just
could not convert to kill. But I don't know, it was, it's not what I was expecting. I mean,
whenever you kind of look at the lineup, you would, you would straight away expect, okay,
you're bringing the Habana, so you're probably going to be iron up using that Habana to open up
the kind of angles in towards the quad war. But they never really went for that. They tried to
kind of flood in through lobby in through the kind of horizontal take that we see.
But it just didn't work. I think for NIP, they double up really well, they will
the trade kills back and forth then the time just got away from me and also I
think it was a tough one you know considering what he was up against two
kind of DMR shot under the ACOGs, not fun to play against. But here is what it is,
NIP, maybe we'll get another defense. I mean I think in terms of like I think it's an
attacker side of the map so the fact that NIP have got the two defenses is pretty good.
I really like this lineup that they're showing us now as well. An IP of entirely switched gear,
whereas they've had fancy just let off the leash like a loose dog. He's now playing the
two brown. Ooh, I'm telling you, this garage! Get a tow truck, move the police car and close
the door. Two times now that we've seen Team Liquid Alienware opening pick just by walking
down into that garage. PC didn't even get really into it, it was just outside, but still,
the point remains. I really hope that Wizard of Guts placed down all of those Vulcan packs.
Because as I mentioned, the lineup very different, NIP, much more soak orientated. Not only have
they got the Goyo, but they've also got the T'Chanka and the Smoke. Two C4s, they
are going for denial they're not going to map control here they'll contend and
they'll contest on half stairs but not with any sort of vigor instead it's all
going to be down to the cave close it's all gonna be down to this techie
utility game forcing out the Maverick to get those hatches open and hope that
they've got enough time denial to really make it happen a C4 sent out
through the hatch that was very ambitious didn't come anywhere near
Yeah, JV-92.
Now we'll be able to get this hatch opened up.
Not much that really hates can do here.
Listen as that site hatch goes.
Blind in behind that bomb chassis,
there's not gonna be a thing.
Just take the side, try to save us what you can.
He did, I think he's in the hat, but...
If you saw what you can really do, there is.
That's gonna be opened up.
Doesn't have the C4 though,
So he can't really leash that back back brick
A few bits and aids as well being tossed in but in really net much
Still for Team Liquid Alienware though Wally
They've got what they wanted, they've got the hatch open
So now they can start eyeing up, moving in towards blue
In towards server, start eyeing up that plant
They're popping the goya's too in the bomb site but
This was the issue last time we hear though Wally, wasn't it?
It was getting into server
Server was the big problem, Pinoe gonna play aggressively now
He wasn't expecting it to be a Black Bear Doa
Beats into the ground and takes him out of the situation five versus three now and a successful take of server is
Likely gonna be the key for setto. You've got 20 to me cuz you need to get firing them
And you need to get firing them now. There's 20 seconds left to hold on smokes getting sent into the site
Oh box gonna move in deep KZ now down for the count Maya provide an overwatch
This unique is good enough to force fully box off once
Are they gonna force him up again trying his best to find an offside?
But just left in the middle of the site, but his team floats through and picks up the kills required. I
Feel like with the time that was the only way that that round was gonna conclude safely because Flee Pogs didn't have the HP
To be tanking fire at his feet. He wasn't a great spot and it was really good reaction
I think from team look at Alienware to I can't realize. Oh, no
No, our guy is getting absolutely smoked, we need to get in there and try and find these
kills.
It was a flood come, a serious flood come, flood the site, take him, get him alive, we
need him gone, there's nowhere to plant the floor, his lava, save me.
And obviously the issues with the chanker, you even have your chemical launcher out
from the dial but then you don't have a gun, that's always going to be the disadvantage
that they're trying to get. I've said it plenty of times before. If you know he's got the launcher
out, you just rush him because he doesn't have a gun. Did I have a gun? Just kill him.
Chance here for NIP to get an equal half. And another rounder. I mean, it came down quite
close there. Obviously, we saw it from the PRV of Fullypox trying to plant the defuser.
We don't know how close those gunfights really were. And that was all from NIP
getting basically from the start with a man behind. They lost that early kill so early
on from the garage bush. Team Liquid earlier were definitely switched on over the course
of this series and they've only held a lead for what two or three points throughout the
whole thing so far. It's been very hotly contested. Round number six, another round
and another DMR in the hands of Fancy. He's going to be looking at trying to
contest some of those longer angles onto the repel.
Teamplay the two brow, teamplay the Aruni. The reason is the same, both have a DMR. The
utility is very much secondary. Although those laser gates are very nice for CEO, it is just
going to be one more thing that the attackers have to burn. And I don't think the Team
Liquid Alienware are going to be too concerned for the epochs of the minute. Just heading
up onto the rappel. Couple of players joining them out here and with the launcher in hand
usually speaks of something that's about to happen. Nade has got the kit. Maybe a bit
unsure which line of utility we want to be going for here. KZ needs to make a bit of
progress up square before they go for anything on the windows.
I think Sloane's down here. Four team Liquid Alienware. It seems to be a much more traditional
kind of attack where you're looking to prioritize getting that plant in, for the
third might, make that breach now. In terms of denial, 1c4, that's it. So all they
have to try and get through, so this is gonna be quite easy, but you can look at
Alienware, and they go also to the Baturalee to deny the c4, but H just
sprays through the smoke and finds the kill of the player going for the plant.
Xotel is all the time, where's he planting? Probably in the smoke where you
can't see him just spray the smoke even with the fact that they get the job
KZ's having to go nuclear to close this round out three kills so far you know
fancy still just about in the fight draws for the pistol Maya with the trade
Pino tucked inside of meeting 50 seconds and three players who are gonna be
baying down on swim the only advantage that he has at the moment is the
diffuser is called inside and there are eyes on it but he has now just been
droned player on the window just gonna push in it through janitor as well little
pre-fire through the wall picks the first he can separate these out he's got a
very good chance this needs to be a hell of a pistol shot though to try and win
the round it looks as though KZ thinks better of it retreats well epochs has
now made his way in picked with a diffuser can look to try and guarantee
this round instead of separating instead of giving one versus ones this
This is Pino's time to shine though, he needs to nail this kill and he needs to do it now.
He's able to take KZ down whilst it was 1v1, land some shots, but both players trade.
The leapbox is better on the second chance though.
A narrow end, that felt much more like Night Avenlabs do than a big bank.
Those rounds haven't been close for a while in this series demo.
Oh boy, oh boy, we're gonna take a breather.
And we are gonna let you hear from our wonderful desk as they break down the halfway point.
Yes indeed my friends we are at the halfway point with very close round that would have gone the way of
NIP at some point and it kept flip-flopping between them
Tactically speaking team liquid Alienware are winning pretty much every single round
But there's something that's keeping NIP in this and keeping liquid Alienware from running away with every single one of them here on
Ben Cleo
Something Minosh or someone
I think looking at it, looking at what you've seen it, right, you've seen fantasy, he's
nine and five right now, and for me it starts with this, first kill, first kill of the map,
a one time with a boss G, when Tim and Ligunelli were trying to attack server, look at this
guy, he's on vitro in server, picking the hatch, everyone would die here, instead fantasy,
he gets a triple kill somehow, and that's just, that is the only guy keeping NIP
in the race because if it's not for him going crazy and pulling these kills out of nowhere honestly
an IP wouldn't send a chance that was the impact on the Blackbird by the way that figure later
and then that's the infantasy 8 and 3 here getting the final kill on to the round the 4 on open area
now honestly I look at this and I think okay it's all great that's it no it's not the slow
pace team that we expected an IP they've changed things they tried to go on the room
They try to have the vigil and then was it together, but it just doesn't work because on the side of team liquid
You have a team that plays behind the black girl of Feddipox that goes through the motions
That has some direct takes with the glass the ying and the amaru and another fight to do it all this the last round
For example around six. It's exactly what they do and even when that fails
They have KZ to unlock the situation. So they've made the most out of the out of the attack side the weakest side
for Ben Kelly in my opinion his defense so NIP was still not weak side and we'd
love for fantasy to continue being this aggressive when he switched to attack
and for the rest of the team to wake up a little bit alongside him because right
now he's the only player keeping them in a race. Everybody should be checking
their monitors here to see if they're up and awake and ready NIP
collecting two rounds on their defense like said Leo the tougher side but
what happens when you swap it and will that teamwork that we saw in map to come
back and play will have to see we'll hand it over to XR Turcan demo to get us
to do the action. Enjoy.
Milagio thank you both very much indeed we joined back round number seven here.
I agree I think we always hit the nail on the head.
Fancy his main force. Well, I mean, it is kind of his job, isn't it? Yeah, we're actually
we're talking about yesterday. You know the way that he's, you know, we kind of teach
him to say words, you know what I'm saying? Well, you teach like a like a five year old
like a word that they shouldn't be saying. Anyway, you've kind of taught him a lot of
words. You've got any new ones for him that he doesn't know yet. Oh, like sayings.
Yeah. You know, you taught him like Nackery. He loves Oh, you're completely. Yeah. He
love that one. Yeah. She's usually like more northern England sort of slang words, isn't
it? Nothing rude or anything, but I don't know. They just sort of come out. But phrases
can be one as well. Cam on the pigeons is a favourite of mine, and I won't guess it.
I don't know if he does. Leo and he cats amongst the pigeons. They probably sound quite good
in french as well that you can be still you're fun you can be careful okay turn them off turn off
the boxes he's gave us a translation and chat and me lude the pigeons yeah I think it was the same
you know I've got a new I've got no saying what is it there it there is to do you've been saying
that for a while though. No, that's recent. Listen to anyone. No, it's not. Like, you
were pulling that one out last night when we used to cast together. No, no, no, no.
I've had it before. It's not new to me. You got to get up earlier than that to catch
me out with a new saying. Round number seven then. A grim and a ying band that counted
with a castle and a goreo. Yeah. And happy again. I think they recognize their weakness,
It is the time. They are a very slow team and it's not necessarily a bad thing and is it necessarily a weakness?
But they just try and make that late round a little bit easier for themselves and the go-yo removal is going to do just exactly that
Kind of surprised to not see this chanky here, but we move
It is available for a later point. Bissetto is going to be allowed a shield to play around at the moment though
But that shield
It's going to be getting harassed a little bit the roaming Yo-kai good pinch onto Maedo
brilliant cover and a great cutoff from Pino. As with Habana and that DMR now you can hold
some of these really long nasty angles and have a great effect especially with that Monty shoving
the players around. That is going to be the C4 gone out of this lineup. So in terms of what
you've got to chew through later on, yes you have the clash and yes you've got KZ with
only one toxic bait canister. You've given yourself a little bit of an easier option later.
I mean look at the time, minute remaining, still have yet to clear out these players in mid-floor
KZ, enable a fine wizard, the Monty is there to try and feed out the information, they hasn't
dropped just yet, JV goes down as he was challenging onto that Monty and gets picked
off from quad wall, in 40 seconds you've still got a clash up, more importantly you've
got the Echo, I mean the Okai drone is obviously going to be the kicker that can
maybe win them the round or not. But NIP, they really need to start moving 30 seconds remaining.
Where are they going to go?
I mean, as far as I can tell, the Yo-Kai drone's in the square, so that's going to need to be
moved across. You're not going to be able to deny the plant from there unless you've
got a worldy angle through the hatch. Anthony knows that there's a player inside a server
right now, and a trade going to come out. Leapox takes Pino, but Hates is there
for KZ. This is where you need to find that value out of the Monty. Big kill coming in from
Nade though. Takes Hates down. Assetto, you might have the kit, but you've got to do a
bit more than that. You've been left in the 1v1 by your teammate and it's Shield V Shield
for the showdown. Zero, zero, Plank going down. Well, Assetto isn't going to give
Nade the satisfaction of grabbing that kill and patting the stats. Instead, he's going
going to come off and time will do the rest.
NIP, I'd love to see what they're capable of with an extra 15 seconds, like they could
just buy 15 seconds at the start of the round.
Like where do they lose it because that's all it takes, that's all they need.
They just need a little bit more.
I'll be honest with you, they've kind of bought an extra 30 seconds with the Goyal
Bump.
And they still can't do it.
Like it's not even like they're unaware of it, they know it's a weakness, they
know it's a problem so they banned appropriately and then it still bites them
you imagine that round with an echo but with a go-yo in play I mean taken mid
floor with a minute remaining it you need to be snappier yes we know there's
gonna be hold in towards open area but you just need to run through the motions
and there's what maybe two players upstairs and that was it
Oh well, I mean for NIP it is a heavy round to lose because similar to what I kind of
mentioned whenever we seen NIP 4-2-2 up against Team Liquid Alienware and we came
in to that kind of side switch, you had a situation where you could either
drop the game back one round apiece or you've gave Liquid now the free
round extension similar to what Liquid did with NIP.
Yeah, it feels like exactly that
For me big round round 8 must win at the moment for an IP you can't give team liquid alien wear that match and series point
At what feels like quite an early point in bank as a map
Gonna be attacking up to that top floor
Side that we've seen successfully attacked by team liquid alien wear today
And they successfully defend it
Bit of information gathering here as Fancy is going to be below.
Often finds himself in these vertical positions.
Very rarely will play like a typical VR operator there.
Game of Snake, it's time to go could be.
All of which can do the job just in slightly different ways, a bit more pinpoint accurate
when you haven't got the skeleton key to rip open everything.
Crazy.
Daisy.
In good position to put it up with Filippox here.
Team Liquid Alienware aren't leaving massive gaps between each other at the moment.
They're not giving that opportunity for players to just walk in.
Dokebycourt comes out.
Once he might find something vertically off the back of that, that DMR will rip the floor
open.
Big C4 attempted.
It's going to put Puzetto down low.
Immediately down as he moves in.
Fancy has to make a big play now in through Janitor, the diffuser, going down.
Pino.
to be successful with this. It should be holdable from the windows. Get yourself outside. The
post plant is on the repel. Pino in position. Fancy. Another logic on phone call. Chance
to kill onto the player inside a stock and doesn't waste any opportunity. Ripping Meyer
to shreds. Fully pox. Next on the chopping block. Chunk down to just less than 20 HP.
This is advantage. Further favours NIP, Nade with one. Shuts fancy down but the rest of
the players are external. They're on the roof, they're on the repels. You haven't got the
angles to challenge onto that. JV, a long rotate, up spiral. Six seconds. We all know
that time is too short in padded stats, but the round will be given to NIP.
They're nice from NIP, the Wing Kong or Team Liquid Alienware.
They were hoping their main form of denial was going to be the Maestro cameras.
But what do NIP have?
They have the Doka B.
So as the player goes in for the plant, you use the Doka B call, you force the Maestro
off the cameras and there's no denial from Team Liquid Alienware.
So overall for NIP they assess the situation, they see the defense and they counter it
perfectly.
The theory and the strategy behind it, second to none, the execution, second to none.
They did exactly what they needed to do.
Nobody overcommitted to the building.
I think it was Fancy and Pino, the only two players that actually made it inside the
building because that was all that was required.
Let's be honest, you need Fancy to go in and get some kills and you need Pino to
go in and put the plon down.
After that, everything else is done from externally.
Get yourself on the rappel get yourself on the skylight find the pics pics are gonna come to you
You can see the diffuser. You know where the post plant is
Brilliant stuff
I'm surprised we didn't see more of a challenge onto those players that were on the rappel
There was no aggressive run out. There was no one playing downstairs in ATMs
Nothing really from Team Liquid Alienware as soon as they knew that that was gonna be the game plan
I would have expected them to play a little bit more aggressively for that control
And we just didn't really see it. I'm not saying that they rolled over and let the plank go down
Their version of what the plant denial was going to be was very different to what actually transpired
As an IP as you say demo just circumnavigated it
Oh, they've got a maestro. Oh, you might need to play the problem. Nope. We'll just play the okabe
We'll get them off the cameras one way or another
I mean there is a one-man army on an IP right now isn't it?
And that's honestly the only reason why they're stolen this game is because this one guy, he is miles clear from anyone else in the server.
He's got 14 and 7. Remember I said he was what, 8 and 4 earlier? He's still on a 2KD.
Big performance from Fancy, but this is why you need those players that have got the big
performances in them sometimes.
Speaking of big performances, great opening pick, Wizard, tasteful Epox down, Epox playing
on the YMI upstairs, ooh another down as well.
Oh dear this is going from bad to worse, this is going to be a flawless demo.
Fancy, Presetto, Wizard, all contributing here in round number nine.
fire. Just headless. Doesn't know whether to run in the site or rotate back upstairs.
Nade with just less than half the round is now getting Damos tracked. Don't could be
called. Full white flashed. Pushed by a shield. Finds two.
I mean the end was written on the wall from the start but I'm surprised he got two. One
was a razor bloom granted. But it wasn't looking great.
almost a flawless round for N. I. P.
You think back to a couple of
rounds ago when I said that was
a must win round for N. I. P.
They have taken that and ran with
it. They are now within one of
leveling up with team liquid
Alienware. I mean, that was a
whitewash of around, wasn't it?
And just everyone flooding in
through the top floor in
liquid Alienware of trying to
fight against it. They've lost
their engagements. I mean,
going to the bands.
Capital as the ban
haven't played it once
Running the the doka be and the blitz down the past few rounds, which has been successful for it might be
That's allowed to stay up. Maybe it's the fact that they think okay
We know that we're going into a basement. Oh, maybe try and use that operator for the basement
They have a weird one. I think it's just more of a preemptive ban
it's not enough to attack a
band is that. Because there's
so many good attackers at the
moment. You spoil for choice.
You can really just go in any
direction with it. You know,
snake Game. Us. Both of those
are just not enough to attack
a band. You know, you can
you know snake game us both of those are going to be fantastic pics
don't be has already proved to be a huge operator
but what nip want to play for how nip want to play
in this series don't think you could have made it
bad choice really with the band but you just not got enough of them to
you know close every avenue down and it's
you basically left with just picking what your most comfortable playing
against or maybe what you're least comfortable playing with and that's the
way that you've got to make your decision. Team Liquid Alienware again slightly
different approach. Cade isn't available. It's a forced onto the two brow. Banshee.
Might be looking to try and make something happen a bit quickly here.
He's gonna send the Nade into dirt tunnel, potentially just trying to burn a
little bit of utility. Might not fully know what's down there at the
moment, but he's not going to make his approach there. Instead, quickly get himself out there
onto safety. Zipino once again trying to play this cutoff angle. We've already seen him have
success with this.
I mean first minute gone, but the NIP really got the show for it. Guests have been able
to take spot four, but that was always going to happen. Look at Alienware are interested
in that part off the map, they want to try and hold in towards open area.
To be fair, I mean they dropped off a lot earlier than they did last time.
They still got Maya upstairs, but I don't think it's going to be too long until he also goes down.
After I'm gone, NIP just have to try and get out the last player,
which they have done now as Maya has dropped.
So at least they've got themselves into open area now.
That just is going to be open to them too.
That's that blue stairs. That's the next minigame. That's the next fight that we're going to be eyeing up.
I mean dealing with full epochs on the 4 and with a shot gone as well to boot.
They must call. Form. Position known. Bissetto.
Has to try and make this work along with Fancy and they can go in. That's likely going to force them back down the stairs.
Fancy not really in a position to try and hold that angle.
He knows how powerful this hatch can be. We've already seen how capable he can be played on the reverse and just has to show a little bit of patience here and now.
The Sector will clean that kill up. An opening kill coming at around the 45 second mark. The trademarkly slow round here for NIP.
They are not leaving turned, but as such, Nade still has two toxic babe canisters.
They're going to choke out a lot of this round from that server side.
As such, players like JV92 can turn their attention.
He needs to be worried about a gold drop.
Where is the second element of pressure going to be coming from?
Feet shots in onto Maya as Bissetto is trying to get this defuse down.
I think he's got a pocket there.
The smoke's been missed.
Wizard finds one, dodges out of the way.
The C4 beautifully. That's the only one. The cover now has to be perfect. And it's all down to JV92.
He's getting shot left, right and center. And eventually, Wizards finishes him off.
A flawless round and a plant. NIP using every second, but using it to perfection.
I. P. with three in a row. They've been able to win the full rotation. Against Team Liquid
Alienware who were cruising at five to they've called the timeout because momentum. It's been
taken away from them and I. P. on cloud nine right now.
And for NIP, all that you look at that last round, the difference was, team Liquid Alienware
kind of left a little bit maybe too soon. I don't know, I feel as though they could have
maybe stuck up there for a little bit longer. You kind of leave at what, a minute 30? NIP
are thinking, you know what, we got the extra 30 seconds, all he was talking about,
we have it now.
And it's incredible to see how they can perform when they've got it.
And from Team Liquid earlier in my point of view, what do you do?
Do you risk the roam?
Or do you just try and double down onto the site?
You've lost the go-yo, so you've lost a lot of that ability to double down on the site.
But that's the direction that they're going to go in.
They're going downstairs.
They're bringing the clash.
They're bringing the T'Chank.
bring in the smoke again.
NIP get a good read on this and recognise, hey, they're doing it again, maybe they've
got KZ out on the road, maybe they'll leave KZ as like the unknown entity.
Fenrir, it could be fairly self sufficient out there.
Maybe you can waste some time, maybe you can shoot some drones.
Might be enough, but when you've still got the Monty available, and NIP have already
just so masterfully showed us that they're capable of taking that control and really
carefully dealing with people. I was so worried when we had the fancy engagement on blue stairs
and we've got Bissetto on the Monty. Like how many times today have we seen a Monty go
a little bit too far on their own from NIP? It's not been so often but it's happened,
hasn't it? You know, there's been a couple of really key occasions that you can think
of. I genuinely don't think they could have played it better.
Another thing as well that I think we need to take note of is the opening kills. The
past five rounds, NIP have had the first pick and it has not been traded back. If our team
look at Alienware, that is certainly something that they have to look at as the entry engagements.
They're constantly going into these rounds at a man disadvantage.
But we run it back into the basement as where we go. More focus, of course, on that denial,
we'll have to check it being brought in alongside the clash too. For NIP,
I wouldn't say they have a great line up though to really deal with the clash specifically.
They've got one Nade and that's it.
Even then, if you have to get the clash to put the shield down before you get the value,
so I certainly think that shield is going to be a kicker here for Team Liquid Alienware.
N.I.P.
They're always working against the clock.
There's the first minute gone and once more.
not quick enough to get in the build and I fear early yeah not too much has
happened you've got the hatch open toward gold that's a big tick in a box
like you say with the position that Maya's playing at the moment on that
clash it can be fairly safe in there gave you gonna get called in the garage
as is the rest of Team Liquid Alienware fancy trying to make something
happen in through server he's gonna smoke himself off an attempt try and
work through that. The toxic babe kind of state is just going to force him out briefly
a very important engagement but doesn't finish it off. Maya in the right place at the right
time stops Filippox from getting finished and there's a chance that Filippox can be
picked up here. There's nobody from NIP to secure that kill onto the blue player at
the moment. Hates just going to be playing the hatch inside of open. Filippox picked
up and more importantly with it two toxic babes. Oh and I think up against it I mean
unless somebody can appear big old double or triple kill to really turn this
round on its head I just think it's gonna be the lockout here for Team Liquid
Alienware and so they've been able to stop the bleeding it was what's
happened on this half currently well there's percent one but oh no it's a
Clash that he's looking at who can easily rotate their way back into the bombsite never mind my actually gonna go for the
Server take instead. I'm gonna try and hold his ground as long as he can and waste time
He will get finished off 15 seconds
But we know that the chanke is still up in the life after the global shield and I can you're gonna have to try and go
Deep now using the smoke, but surely the flames are gonna ricochet. They're gonna bounce the cell gets it off
No, Casey stop sick
We'll point second ago. It finds a double two
I almost was worried there.
At the chanker. Maybe not doing
enough. I don't think the
chanker did enough. And if
Casey misses a couple of bullets
there. It's matching series point
the opposite direction, isn't it?
Team liquid alien where holding
on when it matters most. And
you just get the feeling that
NIP bought it. Whereas the
momentum gone that they've had
see it. There wasn't as much confidence. There wasn't as much team play. Very individual solo
pushes and none of it really transpiring. It got close towards the end. But again, you're
planting in the smoke like you kind of need to still have control of upstairs in open
area. And the only reason that they don't is because they've already lost too many bodies.
and there's only so many places that the remaining players can be.
NIP, a late timeout.
It's just got to be good for one round to take him into an OC.
They've had the run of their teeth so far on this attacking side of bank.
And it'd be a shame for them now to let that slip.
Team Liquid Alienware.
I don't think they're necessarily going to be pinching themselves demo,
but they're going to be breathing a sigh of relief.
that they've got themselves within a shot here and overtime is at least guaranteed for them.
NIP, that last round slipped, but if
Dave could roll back over to Team Liquid Alienware, who because though they want to try and finish
it here on that top floor. However, last time they were at the top floor, I mean NIP had a great
lockout, really good plant position using the skylight to make it so easy to hold.
I'm looking forward to it.
Where's the shields?
The shields have been the big thing, I think, for NIP winning.
Where are they? They've gone.
The last round, they didn't have one.
Just look at the sheer amount of soft destruction as well.
We've got the ash, there's the fear, and the flores.
What are they expecting to have to go through?
There's not even an employable.
Yeah, that's what I mean. They've banned the capsules.
Do you look at anyone that aren't playing me as army?
They've got the ace to open up the wall instead of the thermite, which works so well. I mean, it's a choice, isn't it?
Bancy.
He's making his choice right now and he's spotted a gap.
There is going to be a player just tucked into canto right now.
He's on the nook.
Creeping his way up there.
There is allegiance. There could be a goomite up at the top here.
got another one. So it is going to be all square. NIP, where do they go now without
honestly leading the charge? It's up to these three players now to try and make a
success Team Liquid Alienware. I'm sure they've still got the information from
the Echo that they can have and also that BP. So I think in terms of the
information game it should be Team Liquid Alienware on top. They've got a
minute left. They've got two C4s still that they can utilize. NIP, it just
feels a little bit of a slower paced time here for them. We're almost waiting to see
a Team Liquid Alienware going to expose themselves and get them some kills. Obviously, you have
to also wait out the top two as they try to open up those breaches. 40 seconds, NIP,
need to start iron up the bombsite and go in for a plant soon.
Yeah, timing space isn't something that you want to be given Team Liquid Alienware
right now. Hates going to take Maya's time away from him and KZ's for Lepox tries
to deny the plan, but Bissetto is able to reposition. There's nobody to shut him down
and Pino from the window seals the deal. Overtime confirmed.
Oh, it's fitting that we see the OT come in. There's been one heck of a map. I mean, what
if you think about just how this game has went? It's kind of been dominated in large
portions by one another, hasn't it? We had seen Liquid going a good run, NIP,
little bit back and forth for the start back and forth now, but for two splits. I mean,
it is bank. I think this is what we expected. It's four to an attacks and who gets the attack.
Well, you look at alien where they get the favored side.
That could be defining for this series. It really could. I don't think the NIP's
performance on the attack can be stressed enough. I understand that team liquid alien
where it came away with exactly the same split, but the sheer dominance in that opening kill
statistic, every single round, bar one, NIP got the opening pick on attack. It really
controlled the pace, I think with a bit more time and with a little bit more speed, there
going to be a devastating team on that attacking side, but it just felt like they weren't
there yet. They are in some rounds, but not in all of them. This is where it really starts
to get tested. Now if that isn't a signal, then I don't know what is demo, but Fancy
is on the clash. He's 18 and 10 and he's on the clash. Now is this because they just
want him to stay and play inside and they don't want him on the vigil roaming around
all over the place? Surely, I mean he's going to play in open and he's got the
hatched a drop so needs to burn a little bit of time that's a big statement for
your best fragger of the series not that clash is particularly bad in that
department but it's just not what you think of when you think of the clash
player big risk David pays off for them and look at Alienware one for the
motions and I mean look at the difference between the two teams look
quickly Team Liquid Alienware in the building could NIP in their attacks, you
know, and also if you look at the kind of setup here from NIP they've got a
clash in open by himself that's it nobody else so should be pretty simple for
Team Liquid Alienware to gain control of this mid-floor and goes to the clash.
She look at the difference 30 seconds quicker than what we've had NIP in
these attacks. Two left over reinforcements as well. I mean not that it's going to be
you know the biggest thing that elevator hatch isn't reinforced, because there's an option
that someone can open if fancy and needed it at a point in the round, but something to
take note of. Hatches now can start to be opened. Davy92 is just going to need a
little bit more time on the maverick to get that job done. As we know he's very
proficient with that blowtorch so it isn't going to be a massive problem.
Assetto, a very crucial part to play. They start to get droned here on these
blue stairs. Fortunately this time for him there's no shield that he's going to
swing around into so anyone that is going to try and challenge him is going
to have to face the full wrath of the shot when at close range. His players
almost lining up right now to be that person.
Bully pox, Maya, and KZ joining this action. Banshee can feed away that information, but
the air jabs are just going to force him back to side.
Well they need to try and prop in and see if they can find the guy in blue stairs, but
KZ is ignoring that. The shotgun swings, it misses though. Bias take a lot of damage,
show us KZ. I mean Basel is still fighting for his life. Oh he's fully blind but he
finds the shotgun. However, Maya's been able to kill him before KZ was finished
off. You still have this clash, though, that's up. They need to try and deal with fantasy,
but he's going to try and make his heels in as best as he can. The smokes are being panically
frowned and Pino only has one more remaining.
This Twitch drone sent in as a last ditch attempt. Naya, Nade, both desperately pre-fire
and trying to make something happen. Fully pox is down. He's usually in the Fuse carrier.
Two for the Toxic Babe canisters and two for Wizard. Naya might have the kit,
He's got a second to work with and with two defenders left alive. It's gonna be impossible and happy. No, just how big around that was
What was that?
To people dying to the smoke and only do I think it was
Because they'd used their own smokes for the glass
I didn't know they run they run in deep so that they didn't know that what they were going into it was it was it was bad smoke
It was bad smoke
The second-hand smoke that's what it was
Oh
Keep looking alien where it was the sort of like the one of them fell for two of them fell for
Well, they didn't really have much choice
the time was so low like you know you can understand the mistake but it was in
part due to the lack of time I'll tell you what this has been a hell of a series
we have seen a lot of these rounds like we've regularly been in the last 10
seconds we've regularly been in red time I know about a seven four and a seven
but to finish off with an OT I think it is fitting especially for what's on the
table here a spot at the Salt Lake City Major guaranteed 175 SI points and a
seeding match to play later on between the winner of course of our second best
of three of the day.
area versus fluxo. So whoever wins today, I mean, they're not out of the fire necessarily.
They're not, you know, they're jumping out of the frying pan and straight into a fight
because they're gonna have a best of three. Obviously they've got to wait for that best
three to happen. It's gonna have plenty of time to rest up. There is still some siege
going to be played.
That's for now. NIP onto this favorite side. Could be. Big window of opportunity for him.
They need to get it done here and now. I mean, does it smell like a Team Liquid Alienware
versus FaZe? Do we smell red on blue? I know. I know. I could be on the way. Oh my
Oh no no no! Hates pulls off a double that he has no right binding. I think that's it.
Is that the nail? Is that the final nail in the coffin?
It's either the nail or the hammer that's hitting it.
This is now a massive task. Oh and then I appear flooding. Hates, he's hit the third.
IGL, what have you got to show us?
A massive extension into that top floor that hasn't paid off.
Fancy to finish things off and to wrap up the flawless for NIP.
They have confirmed Salt Lake City, they will be at the major.
They will be at the major.
They've confirmed Salt Lake City, they will be at the major.
And they deserve it.
I said MIP last year were my team that just went from strength to strength and proved
and proved and proved and it was coming into this year, having a roster change.
How was that going to impact the side?
Ollie, I dare say I think they look better than what they did last year.
Yeah, I would totally agree.
They've ironed out a lot of the creases that we were seeing inside of this roster
and the for me they've moved from call you know I don't even I don't really call
them that young roster anymore they're getting that experience they are gaining
that exposure and I think it's beautiful to see as a team they are really
starting to come together I mean a bit of a one-man show on bank at times from
fancy what hates is certainly at his moment in the sun today as well some
of those rounds on night even labs were massive I understand it's a map
that they lost but the point still remains and IP have done an incredible
job today, securing their spot at the Salt Lake City Major and sending Team Liquid into
that lower bracket. We're going to jump over and hear from our wonderful desk, but we have
got plenty more siege still yet to be played today. Stay tuned.
I'm a bit speechless, Leo. I'm a bit speechless. Oh my god!
I am as well. Hello, Kanen.
I think she speaks this as well. She's restless because she's like, how did
Team Liquid Alienware throw that away? They had it all! So, so many rounds and the first
half we glazed the hell out of TL Alienware. We're talking about them as, wow, this
looking great. You go to the second half and NIP just keep rolling. It's not just a fantasy show,
it's the entire NIP show. It's my mic. Absolutely destroying people's ears right now.
I feel like I'm the only one that hear you properly. So I'll just take over on this. But
you remember when we said a half time? We remember when we said that overall I felt like
Tim Liquid was in control of the attack. One player, the one on your screen, fantasy,
was the one keeping NIP in the race. In defense he was the one that pulled the crazy triple kills
on the VGO. He was the one that tried and retained as many defense rounds as possible
because let's be real at the highest level of siege this map will always be at the side of
actually that's what we thought. And so whenever Timberlake goes and gets 4-2 on their side
you think that you know there may be another advantage? Well I thought that if NIP got
their stuff together and managed to really, I guess, leverage the advantage that was,
the fantasy was creating every single time. They was a space for them to come back.
And as soon as they switch to the attack, it's exactly what happened. Fantasy, once again,
either finds the opening engagements, either finds the critical kills in so many moments,
and based from that, they manage to snowball. I mean, honestly, incredible game from him.
I think he's got more than 18 kills in the end, but also props to the rest of the team,
you know, that knew how to react, that won five, four different attacks and continued then in the
defense. It's not a given to take down the liquid, especially when you know the scale that was
there. And I think in a very obvious way, I believe that the fact that they had played the
the BF3 on Tuesday that they want that they played more official games really helped them,
especially because they have a new RGL and Timnick could have changed all of their roles.
So there you remember what I told you about getting punished because you were top of the
roof and you were only playing one BF3? That's exactly what I feel has happened here to Timnick
with Alienware. We saw how NIP played in their upper bracket match and they looked very comfortable
against loss even more comfortable than the score even lets on to if you ask me but
going into this match is that this is the first real test for team liquid Alienware the first
time they see it and that's the first time that we're seeing against a tough opponent in that
setting other than the bo1 that they had against face and that themselves they knew that it's
It's just the B01 and good.
It doesn't really say much or do anything.
That's out of Team Liquid Alienware themselves.
Kudos to NIP for playing it the way that they did.
Fantasy at 20 kills to Will and Death.
Insane performance in this map.
Insane performance in the entire series, right?
But especially in this map where it really mattered
to get NIP across the line.
Beautiful, that is no longer a fantasy.
It is real what you're seeing here.
NIP have the team liquid Alienware 2 to 1 8 to 6 on bank and they qualify to the Salt Lake City
Major what seed that'll be a question for later depending on who they'll end up facing the team liquid Alienware
They're gonna drop in that bracket. They're gonna play face time. That's gonna be an insane match a lower bracket game
Or only one of them can qualify to Salt Lake City
If that doesn't get you watching on Sunday, I don't know what will a best of three like that
But I'll tell you we got Pino on the line and I hope that today he's very excited and
Happy and there he is. I'm seeing a smile from Pino. How's he doing?
Very well, it was a
Very pressure match like when we got 5-2 on bank it was really difficult to come back like
On labs it was our first time if we were not playing it, we were hiding it
And we played really bad because we don't have much experience on tournaments yet
I feel like we could have won 2-0 if we won lads, we trolled many rounds on difference.
I think that the match should have started 5-0 for us.
On bank it was really hard that at the beginning of the comeback 5-2 we have trolled some close rounds as well.
But yeah, proud of the team with the resilience, with the job done and free zone, did a really good prep for this game.
And yeah, hope to do well for the major.
And what's the game from fantasy by the way that that and one with the on bank
I don't know if he I don't know if he was getting crazy in the voice comes
But like the shots that he was eating did you say anything after the first skill not very first round with the boss G?
I want to know
No, he didn't say anything. He just he just said that he would have and
And then
It was a great shot for him. I didn't see where where he came
He was tough. Yeah, okay
and then Hibana is rappelling main, he just quick-speak main and through the window, just one taps with the bodge, he's straight in the head and then goes back down.
It's just...
In between the bars on the window, he's sitting in the cat, it's insane.
That was one of the rounds we tried, we killed Hibana and didn't fall back, so yeah.
It was good, the open kill, but really frustrated those after it.
Yeah, but I mean the end result is the one that matters.
you made it to select CT, you're guaranteed to go to phase 2, you're guaranteed to be at least top 2 seed of SEL,
and 175 SI points as well. I think I'm wondering, is this victory tasting even better,
because you're sending two of your biggest rivals to face each other,
and you know that either phase or Team Liquid are not going to make the major because of you.
Yeah, it feels really great because last year we qualified for all tournaments, but in the
qualifier matches we played low tier teams, but this time we beat one of the top dogs.
So yeah, it feels really great.
The way we did it with the resilience, with the adaption, with the strats and mid-hounds.
So yeah, it feels even better than the last year.
And yeah, for sure, we are playing better as a team with you.
And then I guess one last question for me, Pino, I think when we talk to other players from other teams,
they seem to think that because you had lost cons and you got Bassetto instead, that you would be weaker.
And I think that the results has proven them wrong. What would you say to these guys now that you have Bassetto?
I think most of these comments is because loud performance, but the team there was not playing well for a long time
and they had a wrong impression of him.
He's really good.
He's helping us a lot with coordination on the attacks.
And yeah, we proved all these people wrong
and we hope to keep proving them wrong at the major.
Today an incredible day that you've had here at Pino
for yourself and for the entire team.
Like we said, you dropped him liquid in,
we're to lower bracket to face face plan,
but you still have one more match to go.
It is a seeding match, and that's for later.
Fiora plays Fluxo W7M in just a bit.
Who do you think is taking that match and qualifying directly to Salt Lake City
and playing you today for number one seed?
Sorry, which matchup you asked?
Fiora, Fluxo W7M.
I think that if Fluxo knows how to play against the fast pace at the start of the round,
that's where it has, they should have an advantage.
I think there may be learns from the last bar
that they played in the best of one.
I think that they triggered the adults
that the pace that we are placed,
it could be so I think they have an advantage.
Very good.
Thank you very much for your input, your insight
and for I guess an incredible matchup
that we just had Pino, congratulations to you
and NIP anything like to end with
to the NIP fans out there
that are excited to see you at yet another event, Pino.
Yeah, the NAP fans can expect always the best from us.
We are dedicating very hard.
We are playing better as a lineup
and we are coming for more than last year
as we are going to be better.
Hope to make some more large runs of the playoffs.
Very good. Thank you very much, Pino.
And I'm sure Bob is going to be very proud and happy of you in the entire team.
I'll let you go, rest up before your matchup.
We'll be seeing you later this evening.
Have a good rest of it.
Thank you.
Bye bye.
And there it is, the man of the hour that is Pino.
Of course, we've been hearing from him and about him for many years.
And on the NIP side, they've managed to beat expectations in more ways than
one and qualify to the Salt Lake City Major to defeating Team Liquid Alienware. A huge
comeback on Bank to bring it home. A big, big performance on Lair. Everybody's playing well
really to their best fantasy in terms of the kills department. Excellent, but he is not
the MVP in numbers because Hates overall in the series has put in an even better performance.
It's just crazy to think of Leo, because you just saw what fantasy and Pino have been doing in this game.
This team has it all.
He just kept on playing, not all the operters, but like roles and play style that are entirely
either very passive, either very aggressive and doing so in such a way that he was consistently getting fries.
You know, I think that I think I'd be really proud of that lineup.
Remember when many people say that, you know, they had lost cons and they would be weaker.
I think in most of these moments, many teams would see this as a setback.
I think this is an opportunity to bring in an IGL that would bring them a fresh vision.
And I think that so far what I've shown shows that it works, you know.
You know and and I like what Pino said with confidence here. We think we're gonna be better than next year than last year
Yes, we made every event, but let's be real Pino is the guy that has an and won an SI, you know
So I think I think in terms of ambition you can't really get higher than that
So for him to say that you know, they're gonna do better this time
I'm quite confident on it and especially now that either team liquid all phase are gonna miss the event
So this will a huge huge blow to to their chances
The conversations around Salt Lake City are going to be huge, especially for SAO.
If you're a fan of like any big NA or EU team or whatever it is, really any other region,
then you're thinking, oh, either FaZe or Team Liquid Alienware are going to get knocked
out and not play at Salt Lake City, you're probably going to be extremely happy because
that maybe gives your region a slightly higher chance.
honestly looking at had an IP play today I'm not really sure that you're
getting an easier game at the Salt Lake City which is great for us good to see
we're talking about big dogs right that's an IP but we got a big dog joining
us later on that's links swapping in on the commentary because we have match
number two of three today is a longer day as well tomorrow as will be
tomorrow and now we get to decide who plays against NIP in that grand final
for seeding Furia versus Fluxo W7M. A game that I expect to go really really
quick in the rounds. We'll talk about that after the break.
No, it's just my will, it's just my will
Man, I got it, Viadu!
You guys are wrong!
I'm terrible!
Horrible!
No, let's talk here, who was the worst?
Let's talk there, because I saw that...
Ah, I saw that!
I'm dead?
No, I'm not dead!
I'm dead!
I want to do it again, I want to do it last, because it was horrible
It's a good thing we're here.
We're here to get back!
It's a good thing we're here!
We're here to get back!
Jogging
We practice in the office, and we play like 50, 60, every day.
Here I think the game is not really helpful.
And the box, the box is not very good.
But that's it. The inside of the box is made.
I'm not sure what I'm doing here.
I'm just going to go back to the room and get some water.
I'm just going to get some water.
I
Welcome back, my friends, to
S. A. L. Leo. We just had a
wonderful match number one.
That really changes things or
conversations of the team liquid
and FaZe Clan, they'll be playing in that lower bracket, but now we have to see who
plays NIP in the upper bracket final. That is a seeding match who gets seed one
and two going into phase two of the Salt League City Major. You get to skip the
first step that has eight teams divided into two groups and four of them will
be able to survive in advance into the Swiss Buchholz system. Everybody's
playing everyone and seeing who gets to make it out and into the main event.
That comes down now to Furia vs. Fluxo W7M.
So remind everybody, Fluxo W7M, that game they had against FaZe was super tight,
you flip a coin and it's FaZe still in this upper bracket, not Fluxo, which is
pretty scary if you ask me, Leo.
I think it's a good idea to do
this.
Mm-hmm.
It's so against face clan, the two
times as I champions and beat them.
In that opinion, that is the only
more experienced also is more
matches for the 0-1s have not played a BO3 yet as a roster, an entirely new team that
yes has players of experience, but still players that don't have a lot of experience together.
In my opinion, once again, I think it's Favour's Flux of the W7M, because when I look at this
career roster, I look at the team that is made of superstars, but that has, they still
have to prove that they can do well together.
I think topping their group was a big statement, and I think doing so in the way they
they did it by dominating loud by 7-1 in Fluxo WCNM,
by beating NIP was such a statement,
but also a proof of inconsistency.
How can you do that and then lose to INCZ, for example?
And to me, it speaks a lot about what Pino
just told us about them.
If Fluxo WCNM is ready for their aggression,
then they will win.
Because we all knew that if one roster was gonna be built
around Hertz's play style, it would be relentless aggression.
You take Volps, the most aggressive player on the side of Fluxolomu7M, last year.
You take Boxzera, the most aggressive player on the side of ENX, last year.
You take Loira, arguably the most aggressive player on the side of G2, and then you bring
the backline that was holding everything together with Liquid previously, which is DS.
And I look at this and I think, yeah, they have one clear vision for the game.
That vision is aggression, it's chaos, it's being unpredictable, however, if
If you expect it, then it's not a surprise anymore.
And if you know how to control it, then it becomes a weakness.
Absolutely.
And Diaz has been around the block,
quite experienced player at this point.
So has the lawyer, but Heard's has been someone
who's grinded a lot after SI.
I think at that point he had already known
that things were gonna change after the Invitational
and they would split.
Basically, he would remain on Fioria.
The rest of the squad would go over
to Team Liquid Alienware
and he grinded for the entire month right after SI.
Basically the moment he landed back in Brazil,
just because he knows that this team has a lot of potential,
but they have to work together
and they have to play as much as possible,
scrim and play the game on their own and together.
And so far, they've done well.
This is a big test.
Flex to W7M on their end,
they are not gonna give them any quarter.
We talked so much about this roster
and how high it will go.
You're seeing some incredible players on here.
Conjure the one, of course, that the conversations
kind of surfaced around.
But Loeb and Palu are also two that have really
put up numbers when it was necessary, especially Palu.
Yeah, definitely.
I think looking at the statistics that we'll see later,
you'll see what we're speaking about.
I think in terms of records with that team,
I think they had a slow start
and maybe got punished a little bit by the format
in the sense that they were in a group with Feria,
They were in a group with an IEP and so when they had to play them, you know, it was rough.
They had two regulation loss, 1-7 to Furia, 5-7 to an IEP.
It really hurts their chances to make it into the upper bracket.
Eventually because of their dominant victories over LL and IETZ, they still managed to
do it.
But I think when a really redemption happened and you spoke about it, Milosh, that was
a 2-1 victory in our face plan, taking them down in the B03, doing so in a very
close fashion but also dominating. I'm looking at this roster, I like what I see here. Because
the main thing that Flux.0.7m was lacking last year was direction. Dots became the AGL and
on top of that they got cons, was the AGL of NIP who can then shot call from the flex
slash front line. So now not only do you have strong players like Palu, Lobin, Dodes
in terms of fragging power, you have cons that's able to shot call in a flex position
and dots who can both play the shield and IDR at the same time.
To me, that's a roster that works on paper, is it enough to take down Furia?
I think so, I think I have more experience together.
It's just overall a question of can they punish the aggression on the other side?
Well then, that is a big question for us to try to solve in this one.
How can you adapt and kind of guess how your opponents are going to go,
In the sense that
Furia can be predictable
Flux so adaptable
But is that enough in a game with so many stakes on it?
We saw the pressure getting to other teams though in this head-to-head between Paolo and Vulp's both
Leading their teams in performance both gonna need to keep that up today Leo
And most importantly this one has special emotional meaning
Not only is it for Vulp's he stick it to the soul like CD major
It is him leaving his former roster, a roster that, in the Munich Major, for example, was
looking up to him to find solutions whenever they were getting eliminated.
A roster that demoted him from being the IGL and sent dots to be the IGL in this place
when they played at SI.
A roster that meant a lot for him because it was representing the W7M colors.
It was playing with a roster that achieved so much in the past.
And a roster that he left to join Ferian on a whole new project and rebuild everything
from scratch. For him, it's more than just the ticket to the major. For him, it's proving
that he made the right career choice, that he chose the best project in this huge Ross
Germania. So four Volbs especially, this must feel emotional. And for his foremost teammates,
it's the same story.
Well then, Armand Vito, what do we have for this best of three series? This is the
second out of three that we're going to get today. And with our first four bands,
We're going to go to Fortress, alright, that is the Furia pick in this case, they played
against Loud only a week or so ago.
How deep does this go, Cafe and Night Haven, Leo, thoughts before bringing our casters?
Yeah, I think there's a little bit of contrast writing involved, I think that, you know,
Foxy Little 7M, they played it against Faze, they lost it against Faze, that gives
Furia a blueprint to play it.
Feria who were already comfortable at SI, the old roster showing it, but the current one
have played it also and managed to be loud on it during kickoff.
It was a close one, closer than expected, and it was very heavily defecated, which is
not always a good sign for Feria, we will be starting in attack.
And then looking at Café, it is a map that I think we have seen Feria play recently,
twice in Geek-Off, including a victory over NIP, which I think is a statement victory.
However, it's also the one they lost against ANTZ.
But, most importantly, on the side of Flux2WCNM, it's a map that no one want to play against
them.
They're so used to being so good on it, no one wants to play against them.
They didn't even have a choice to show it yet in Geek-Off.
That's how good they are on it.
And then Labs was one of their favourites.
Yeah, we'll leave the in-depth conversation about labs if we need to get to it later on.
For now the focus on fortress, let's bring in our commentators and have a quick chat
before we dive into our live matchup.
Joining us now live, our ex Sartreka, of course back at it again, and Lynx, my friend.
How are you doing?
What did you get to see so far from our previous match?
Did it get you fired up for now?
Who can go up and face an IP in the final?
Oh, I mean, obviously it gets me fired up.
fun thing and I'm sure all I can speak to this like when you're casting a really long match
you have to balance both like excitement and also just like the fatigue of like being actively
engaged in that casting process the whole time. The benefit of not casting watching a match like
that is I feel like a fan all over again is like I get to appreciate everything I don't have the
strain of casting it I just get to be like wow this rules so now I had a great time watching
the last series and while I'm excited for this one I too am also just thinking about
team liquid Alienware versus phase tomorrow. So I'll be a bit distracted by that thought the whole time.
I think everyone's going to be thinking about the El Classico that is going to be happening tomorrow.
Looking to this one, honestly, I looked at the bands and obviously the series that we've just
been through was a very good series and I look at this and I think it's going to be a three
mapper again. I genuinely do. I agree. The odds are just stacked against one another at the
the right point to really round it out.
Maybe I'm speaking into existence.
I don't know, Milesh.
It's the cast of Curse, as some would call it.
We heard it from Pino in our interview.
He's thinking that Fluxo W7M have an advantage,
but it comes down to shutting down Furia's early round
aggression.
That is from the horse's mouth, in this case,
former world champion.
Of course, how does it actually play out
on Fortress?
That's the question that we look to discover here.
I'll leave it to you.
Link, Senex, or Turica, take it away.
Thank you very much, Milosh.
And straight from the horse's mouth is what Pino,
or is not what Pino said, but we heard from Pino earlier
that potential strategy that Fluxo W7M could win.
We'll see how it pays off.
As Ali, we have our first set of bands
come through on fortress.
My first time casting the map that I've watched it play before.
And what do you know?
Cade and banded band, might be a new map,
but usually the same old defensive rotation
we've seen quite a bit.
So I was thinking about this.
Are you sure we haven't cast a fortress?
I am actually very sure that you might have,
I don't know, I have not casted Fortress.
I am, I don't know who I would have done it with though.
So that is the interesting thing.
I don't know.
And we went through a whole stage of NAL without casting it?
We have not cast Fortress in any of the games for NAL
that you've not casted.
I say a whole, we've cast like,
we've cast a few days of kickoff.
I don't know.
A whole kickoff without Fortress.
We've got the whole three games, yeah, I mean, who knows.
All we know is that we are here now.
Furia and Flux O W7M, as Leo was putting it,
there's a little bit more between these two rosters
that maybe first meets the eye.
Obviously, there's the vaults angle,
the vault storyline that is gonna be woven through
these two teams going against one another.
I think that that in itself is always a nice thing
to pick upon when you've got two teams that,
Let's face it, either one of them is going to make it to Salt Lake over the course of the next three maps.
It just depends on how well either of those two teams play as to how many of those maps we end up seeing.
But at least for now, we'll be starting off on Fortress, period, on that attacking side.
As you've mentioned, they have made the breaching nice and straightforward.
That's demonstrated there. We've only seen around 30 seconds of play and already
of key walls being opened. On the flip side, it's a little bit of the outside to end. There's been targeted.
Glass removed. Last thing you want if your walls are going to be weak and vulnerable is somebody being able to sit out there in a cloud of smoke with glasses
scope, picking you off through it. Of course, the ying taken away some of those more quick disrupts of plays.
But both those bands mean the absence of any shield bands whatsoever and so what will still bring some explosiveness with the blitz in down through the old tower.
I look and progress deeper through the second floor though of course with that early bit of control established in the first minute hesitant to press their advantage upstairs instead.
It will isolate the lone defender down below about as clean as a press as you can get in the first half of a round of rainbow six spot the player down below the shield goes into push and back.
the gun not too far behind to close in for the kill. Minimal effort extended by Fioria to get this
5v4 advantage and now they continue their march across the top floor.
All off the back of vaults on that shield as well.
Shouldn't have too much of a difficult time of things right now as they start to move through.
As you mentioned with loading going down, with benefit of going down as the Valkyries
you can at least man your own cameras, but it's not as if there's a C4 to make good on
on any of that information. The sheer amount of smokes that are getting sent around. No
surprise that it's going to be a difficult job to really pinpoint any of these attackers
at the moment. Fury aren't rushing into this. They're moving very cautiously throughout
this map so far. Talks to a big caster on the window that a slow box area is approached
down somewhat and the clash is starting to make a play.
And she's got to make a play as now that the smoke canister is gone and two bodies
down. The clash is really the only tool left to stall out this Fiora aggression. And well,
she's not seen the fall soon after I make note of her presence. Kansan Dodez in a 2v4. As Laura,
the first player to bleed on the side of the attack and it seems herds, he'll bleed at the last
second but not before Fiora take victory in round one. As you mentioned, they moved very
slowly throughout the top floor and then the moment they find their opportunity, they launch.
And often they needed to rush in to things really did they had everything nice and open
obviously the ban the hard breachers so that isn't going to be too much of a factor and
they can just start to move through the map and especially with the power and the proficiency
that Volps can play the shield with it just makes things a heck of a lot easier when you
start to move on through.
and defuse barbwire.
Random one chalked up for Furia there, isn't going to force too much of a reaction out of
Fluxo W7M, it's still going to be running that clash, it's still going to be running a little
bit of information, this time instead of the Valkyrie we're going to be switching things
over onto the pulse.
I'm not sure about you Lynx, but do you think that Fluxo W7M have enough barbwire?
You know I think it's an excellent question one we might be considering long after this
map ends however it goes. Eight different sets of barbed wire being brought and on top of that
I'll leave the clash again. It's just a bit jobless isn't it? I mean how much more could you possibly
slow the attack? Anyways it's ironic because we just commented that Furia didn't I mean did they have
quick like bursts of speed and pace? Yes. Were they particularly fast to necessitate eight pairs
of barbed wire and a clash? I don't know about that. For about eight minutes into a best of three
You drop in the jobless comp. I mean, it's literally it's four sets of barbed wire in a clash and in a zombie
I didn't mention that I
Mean at least it's all been used. I will can see that they have found a huge for every piece
They've actually managed to find enough space. You've had to put an extension on though
to get
They rework the map so fluxive every seven of them could put this farbed wire down. Yeah, I heard that. Yeah
I heard that myself as well
I mean, it's a play, isn't it? I think we focus quite a bit on secondary utility sometimes
because it genuinely does interest me. Obviously, the primary utility gadget is so important,
but that secondary utility equally so, and so many rounds come down to AC4 or information
that A-Bulletproof camera provides, when you do see a real hefty investment onto one
particular type of that utility, it is always worth a bit of a mention. At least for the
moment and causing too many problems. Flora should see to it that a lot of that barbed
wire is destroyed and if the barbed wire on the stairs will go, dots. These are the places
to shield down for a time being and I can try and challenge off the back of that. Lobin,
coming over to join him as well. Asferia, again, not over-committing. They're just
poking and prodding at the building right now.
So they found much less success than they did before.
Herds and Volbster able to hop in for a quick 5v4 down below.
But as the defensive here is much more consolidated on the old tower side, they've yet to find that same gap.
There's a quick trade as you pass the halfway point of the round.
Bok will reveal some kind of lurk on this side by the Razor Bloom, but no, a lobin.
Self-focused on the front side, Bok still goes unnoticed.
Herds really making up for those poor stats we saw at the beginning as Loira!
4 F2 kills by two separate players. Here we get their second in a row.
And that's what we talk about, or at least that's what Leo was talking about when he was saying that this fury aside can be very aggressive.
Not that there was loads of aggression being demonstrated there, but just the ability to perform in the gap that you spot.
Everybody on the side of fury hitting those crucial shots.
Couple of them thrown in there as well and Flux OW7M. They look so flat footed at the moment
Like they know that this is an aggressive side. We made the joke about the barbed wire that they're trying to stop people
From just walking in and all fury of do is they just play floras
They just destroy the barbed wire open up the open up the corridor open up that lane and all of a sudden
You've got people walking down picking up kills off the back of it
really straightforward stuff when you look at the furious side of things and for
Flux on not to be able to find solutions in all of that it feels like there's a
bit of an alarm bell starting to ring I think this is why we're seeing Fortress
as map one in the series and again it sort of furthers my thought that there's
a very good chance this goes to all three because there are some very good
Flux on W7M maps coming up. I've also got to acknowledge I mean the herds making it look easy
so far throughout these first couple rounds. Obviously the 4k in round one, but a double in
round two in which case it seemed to be that that sort of weird quality Herds has where everything
he does just looks like the easiest thing on the planet when he's playing well. It looks like the
shot like anybody could hit those shots and obviously that's not true. He just makes it
look that way when he's performing well and that energy seemed to carry through with both
Moira and Box here. I think it would be Moira in that round as well. Perhaps it's just
the quality of the new F2 feeling particularly smooth. Who knows? But either way,
coming out to play.
Fiora moving to the map quite nicely and clearly with a lot of comfort.
Snake also helping gather a lot of early information on these defenders.
Fiora multiple times has gone up to a wall, activated the scanner and
tried to spot what possibilities might be involved in this defensive setup and
who might be playing close.
Unclear if they know Loven's exact position but
he'll take some damage as the barricade falls.
Much defensive presence on this top floor.
Three different defenders spread out along its length.
Once again enters their I suppose normal positions in the beginning of these rounds probing for any weaknesses
But again, they start off in the deficit dots spraying through cuts down box Zera
We'll see if a trade falls furious way like it did in round three, but it seems the defense might just have got away
That's the benefit of just that gentle roam on the top floor
So when the sights downstairs if you can get a kill and get out of there, you are gonna benefit quite considerably from that
The worry that I have for Furia in this line up is a bit of a lack of soft bridge.
Oh great kill from Lobin up the hatched lawyer just suffering some really
unfortunate time in there. He had to read on the Solotone scanner as well so
even more unlucky to not come away with a kill off that. The soft bridge is
really where I start to worry. Three smokes. Yeah you've got ace but I mean
the hatch is already open like they've ever reinforced walls. You can bear down
with this Monty with a brilliant crossfire being held. Don't expect some to close out the round.
Furia, fight back. It's amazing what a little bit more space is going to give them here in this
matchup. That top floor has been really punishing for them just because of how much or how easy
I should say it is for attackers to quite literally just walk in as soon as they just
just get given a little bit more space,
they find a bit more confidence.
Clash and a snake removed at the start of round four.
I don't think there's too much surprise there
with the snake ban a-links.
No, I don't think there's too much surprise
with the clash ban either.
I mean, sure she wasn't played in round three,
but it was a focal point of both
of Fluxer W7M's primary defenses,
so it makes sense to take her down,
and that's even ignoring the intrinsic weight
she can bring to a defensive lineup.
But to your point about the snake,
I mean, it's obviously the Salaton scanner has proven
quite invaluable and not strictly speaking necessary.
They highly valued tool in the attackers overall box.
And as we've seen with Loire,
just walking out to the outskirts,
gaining in for quite a lot of information
for whole segments of fortress
by triggering that scanner.
It's enabled Furia to, at least in theory,
be a bit more decisive on their attacks.
And you can see that in the way they move for control.
And even though Fluxer W7M were able to kind of
Leave them in and then cut them off either individually or through crossfires.
That skater still gave Fiora a lot of comfort in moving through and trying to acquire that control.
So it makes quite a lot of sense why even though it didn't really stun Flux or W7M that much in the last round,
it's still a powerful tool that won work twice and two,
but definitely a lot give Fiora a lot more confidence moving through these rounds, win or lose.
So to be said I'm still hammering on that information game. I like the addition of the
Lucy. Something that is going to be crucial. And something they brought before. Something
that they are going to need to just stop this walk-in that they seem to be suffering
from when defending upstairs. Do you have a little bit more space to work with this
time though. Nice thing that Fury have got going for them at the moment is that because
they played a little bit of clash and it's been enough to attract a ban, they've got
a mirror available. So Dots is going to be able to play those black mirrors in some really
good, powerful positions. Again, just stopping that horizontal approach. Parker
Kammer's now getting spot out by Herds. Herds always a fan, never needs too much
of an excuse to jump over onto the IQ. And there's quite a liking for the gun there for
Hertz. Ooh, mirror window place, but both sides of the panel fully reinforced. That is a horrible
place, George. How is that on this? That's maybe more of a visual thing. This is the problem
with the mirror. Not only does it give you great information, also a vessel for a bit
of impact trekking. Unfortunately for Fluxo the Weaver 7, they only brought one set, and
voters has used both.
DS has one more Selma at least, so could get some additional form of hard breaching, but
the remaining supplies are growing minimal. So with that remaining hard breach charge,
the Volts probably the slowest round I've had so far despite the presence of both these
shields yet. The one that's gained prominence in this round is the Monty slowly moving
their way out from old tower into the broader setup. Moira taking a fight spotting one player but
not knowing that there's two around the corner loses the fight against the one he's aware of.
In fury again the very lengthy deficit only compounded by a double from both dots in the
late round a triple overall and Diaz often finding themselves in these clutch positions.
No one for winning them but being quite expert at navigating them. A 1v4 on 50 HP seems a bit
it beyond the pale for the moment. The barrier is in his way. The fuser on the opposite side
of quite a few rooms. We'll still try with 30 seconds remaining, sending out one of these
two flashbangs and finally Dots puts an end to it. Believe it, that's a 4k from Dots in
round 4, and it's all tied up for Fluxo W7M.
Oh, Fluxo W7M back in the fight here. I don't know if it's timeout worthy just
yet from either of these two teams. Oh, there it is. It was timeout worthy. I was on the
edge links. I had my little spider senses of tingling on whether the timeout was going
to get called or not. But I think for how straightforward, I kind of want to say, that
the first couple of rounds went for Furia, it makes sense that after coming up against
that much opposition, struggling on the first floor site, struggling on the second
floor site, again after going back to it, it makes sense that they bring out
that timeout now. The landscape hasn't changed too much. The bands aren't drastically
different. They've removed the snake. These players know how to play without a snake. So
it should be a fairly straightforward correction here. And I don't think they need to do anything
that's like world changing. They just need to alter a couple of little pointers, a little
bit more of that teamwork, a little bit more of that coordination, isolating those players
out there on the roam. But likewise, as the game's gone on, Flux O W7M have started
playing a lot better. They've started giving less of those options available.
Yeah, I think that's the big thing, isn't it, is that Flux of W7M have made a good adaptation
they realized.
It's not that they were playing too spread out in terms of the relation between the off-site
positions and the on-site positions.
They were playing too spread out in terms of each player's relationship with their
other players.
There are a lot of gaps in between their positions.
There were some roamers who were solo on the bottom floor going back to the first
round.
And once they started actively denying those positions or when they were there, they
a quick retreat. Fury have completely lacked not only the kinds of opening kills but also just
openings for map control that they had in the first couple rounds. But really if you think about it
only majorly in the first, even in the second they went down in the opening pick,
they also were trading that out and needing to rely on some mid-round blurks which often you have
to in Siege. That strategy was a quick read by Flux with W7M1 that's continued to pay it off
and one that Fury will need to work around as now. They again go with a double shield like they
they did in the prior round but now this time going with the Monty and the Blitz
we've not seen since the first. Back on the pulse in the tent to gather that
information and as you mentioned double shield being brought here for round five
it was for the top of the time out play around that shield and really bully
these defenders around a little bit. Nothing really to deal with these shields
I mean, you've got the razor blooms, I guess.
I've got a couple of C4s this time
where we've only really seen them bring one.
Oh, the great kill there from Lobin.
I don't know if Heads was assuming
that wall was reinforced or not,
but that's hardly each gone.
Yeah, Vulture's got a little bit of secondary,
but you're lacking the thermite now.
And also just lacking a player who,
well, he's been quiet for a couple rounds now.
You still always have to worry about a gun,
the exothermics, massive loss for Fioria,
We've only hit a minute in it feels like so much is happening in the first minute of this round
We have C4 is going up don't be calls being used the shield's trying to find greater initiative
The Monty by himself at the moment is a blitz with the other two attackers
You can see Flux W7. I'm wondering if maybe they can bounce but no not the moment
They're continuing to employ the lessons they learned from that first round playing a lot more stable playing a lot more together
You're gonna pocket mirror window to keep that position intact
The Selma charts will end up getting Palu another angle from which he can peek around that black mirror
And so again, even when Fury of 8 progress, they're still in the same position
It almost feels like two shields is too many for this map in this style of play
Boxer a great kill there on Topalo off the back of the information gathered by Volves
Maybe I'm about to eat my words about the shields, but
It's not getting the same level of value. Yeah, they're able to bully these defenders around
But because of where they've been defending because of the slight extension
into areas like bathroom and briefing.
You've just got a little bit more room to move.
Dodez takes a ton of damage through the drone hold
and Toxic Babes can now start to force off that doorway.
D.A.S. great kill there onto cons.
That finally gives a bit of an advantage here for Furia.
Oh, and you could see D.A.S. sensed his opportunity
with Dodez on low HP,
but the Azami ready with that pre-fire.
Furia maintains their lead,
not over yet as the last bit of toxic canister is detonated.
Not any more utility to delay, so must be one with guns and lobin trapped in the corner.
Two shields just enough to get the job done for Fyria, meeting plenty of obstacles by
the defense, but countering them at every single turn.
Well, here I am to eat my words.
Fyria did make it work.
They had 30 seconds left on the clock as well when the final kill happened.
So the double shield play, clearly working for them and they're going to run it
back.
They are going to run that again.
It would be a different landscape this time though.
I think it's okay for that top floor where they are able to open up a couple of the walls.
They are able to really navigate through.
I mean that was after losing the thermite as well, don't forget.
For this first floor, it was kind of the soft destruction that they really struggled
with.
So I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of six-picks here, but the moment
He has just switched over onto the ace, really doubling down on that.
Again, two shields, it doesn't matter which two, it's just gonna be two that are played
to the Monty and the Blitz, it's looking like the Blackbeard and the Monty.
Same sort of sentiment though.
Shuri looking to recreate the success they found in round five.
And it felt like Slim's success at every turn until at the end they were able to move
beyond that 3v3.
Bucks at W7M did a good job at keeping them at bay, but when you have those two shields,
it's probably one of the best tools to break it.
Just barrel on through a ying would be great, but of course she's banned, so can't rely
on that nearly as much.
Lobin running around over by the museum's side very early on trying to gather some
information.
What they might find as you mentioned, all of the vertical destruction can be very important.
It's something that Fluxor W7M will have a mind to as they pick this site.
The part of the reason they bring the castle, either to allow them to extend or give them
some greater cover, not from the vertical necessarily, but allow them to play in greater
areas in the horizontal to avoid any vertical angles that might be created closer to the
site.
Heard spots one.
And so we'll look towards the area we saw Loeb and running earlier.
Museum, the bedroom to try and see if in either of these rooms the aid of a
blitz out front. They can clear this position and get another 5v4 like they did right at the start.
Smoke grenade will go out, and yet they buy their time. Bucks at W7M doing a good job at the moment
of destroying a lot of the information gathering devices on this side of the map. You can clearly
see it's halting fury a little bit. Next, smoke canister goes out and Fulves loses quite a bit
of HP. When he tries to run down the central stairs, spotting another, these stairs always
so difficult for attackers. Your shield attacker specifically to run down exposes the feet
or the head, but still gives Volts the information and Herds moves in for the kill.
Dot's gonna be the first player to fall there. Herds takes a good chunk of damage.
Clown the beeper. That isn't gonna give him up just yet. Still well and truly in the fight.
Tuck is gonna be holding on for another here. Lobin isn't too far away on that solace.
Like Heads, that second life that he seems to have gained might just go hunting or at
least hold the angle and stop this backstab from materialising.
Furia, all but ignore the top floor here.
All we've done is just move through it.
There's the kill on to Lobe and the backstab has been stopped and Heads can now just
move on and look to pressure onto the site with the rest of the team.
Continue to be the thorn in the side, but no, Palu rips it out.
gonna buy a little bit of relief here for Fluxo.
There's Army.
Doing a great job at keeping those shields at bay.
Is it gonna be enough?
The barrier's doing okay work, but Kahn's ends up framing himself perfectly for Boxera to take that fight.
Volts will fall off the defused plant where this is Army effectively pinned down.
I was about to say the only hope remaining is Dodez and it seems that one's vanished as well.
So you got four total finds the next one now with box Zara
Apparently lower HP both impact to cut off the approach another one detonated this pollute himself force out
Might just give box era enough time to get this diffuser down
Yes, it will and move back up in full shield in the process
No impact grenades to speak up but one key but a cover and box there a full shield and keep him at bay pull the
Vita King special and secure the four to half for feria firing some shots, but box Zara
What decision does he make with safety behind the wall?
He overheats and Palu burns him alive.
I've never seen a more blatant multiplayer in all of my life.
I've been watching and playing this game for 10 years and I've never seen anything that incriminating.
Look at the range he's deshielding on.
Oh
He has a big moment every single series and he's already in map one desk
I mean we got to send it to the desk the desk needs to take over. I need a breather
Let's just say that that was probably one of the worst things that you can do in a situation like that obviously
P9 great pistol for ranged combat. Anyways, I almost lost my cool there, but it's clear
though strategically, Leo, if we peel back the layers here, that there is a bit of a
Testudo that's being forming here, a Fabian strategy, as one would call it historically,
starving out your opponents the way that Furia have been closing everything in with
some very specific operators.
Yeah, two different ways to do it, right?
For them, and let's take a look at one of the first rounds, right?
Let's take a look at round two, for example.
You don't see a single shoulder in line up.
What they're trying to do with Solid Snake
is trying to get a gap somewhere.
If they find a gap somewhere, look
at how everyone is split around the map.
But everyone is ready to react to a first gap.
As soon as someone dies, they know the movement will create
move.
Well, the first guy dying will create movement.
And because the first guy is dead,
everyone moves around.
And three to one, the rest of the team executes.
Now, that's the aggressive theory we spoke about in the pregame.
If you leave them a gap, they're going to exploit it.
Now, let's take a look at the adaptation on the side of Fuxo.
Let's take a look at one of the round in defense.
When this time, they choose to close the gaps.
Round four, what do they do?
They decide to go back to their roots,
closer to the bomb site, bring the mirror,
bring the melozy, break top operators,
and the valkyries, so you have information.
And then, instead of just letting yourself get picked,
you swing the guys, because they're isolated,
because that's the way FURIA has been playing
entirely split around the map without trade potential.
Now, so far, you think this is a great comeback
from Fluxo W7M, but then, then,
if we go out and play out the last two rounds,
what do we see Fluxo W7M are struggling
to contain the double shields,
and that is the adaptation on their own for FURIA.
They bring out the double shields,
they bring the Blackbird and Monty,
or they bring the Blitz and the Monty,
and that is the testudo you spoke about.
It is a moving core unit that creates movement because of the shield and then the rest of the players like Harrods can get punished or they can get free kills.
I wish the players that are moving too much and that was with accounting for Palu Hayes and what was that out there?
Why do you extend there? Why do you extend? That was crazy.
Anyway, yeah, speak of shields.
Monty comes out, Fury I know that there's going to be adaptation.
Flux overbending out the clash from their own side. Maybe we'll have a bit more of an even set here
But it's not us casting it. That's links and extra Durika all yours my friends
Thank you very much. Oh, no Ali. Sorry. That was Milo. She's entirely different person
I don't be honest. I still I still am frozen right after he like that guy ADS'd
I'm still living that moment
like Leo's analysis was great and I was paying attention but like
like, Jesus, that's just, it's a rough play to end on.
It's a rough play for the sides to switch on, isn't it?
That's gonna sit pretty heavy on,
well, the professional players aren't they?
At the end of the day, it's a mistake.
It happens, doesn't it?
I think from the standards that we hold these players to,
which we can hold that standard
because all we're here to do is lend a voice to the game,
We look at it and we call it what it is
I think in the heat of the moment when you are on the team and play in the game
You've kind of just got to chalk it up and you know
It'll come out in a debrief at a bit of a later point
You can't really let it define or you definitely can't let it define the way that you day goes
But this I mean this should be 40 absolutely should be 40
Give him probably that little bit of an option. He doesn't need too much of an invitation
They were the only five kills that he got by the way in those first six cons
A little bit of a slow start from a main player and a star player on the side of Fluxo to be 7m.
Early kill, dots the blitz going down, unfortunate batch of I believe a C4 tossed out by Fioria.
So looking to recover very quickly from that lost momentum on at the end around six good pinched by flux of W7 good follow through as well
Notice might be on low HP, but a 4v3 advantage is flux of W7m can spot some gaps of their own
Vertical control seems well and established as the first side being defended by fear as you can see waiting room and cafeteria
And with the vertical positions controlled
They can throw down these bookie drones create some new angles and like to take a bit of a reset in the mid-round
I think about what to do next box era currently has all four of his keep a barrier stocked up likely waiting for the actual push
The local also taking a lot of damage from beneath this might be a 3d4
But you're not kind of fury adjust yet still plenty of tools to throw against the attack
Logan Dota is both a little bit low at the moment, but a four versus three nonetheless
Solt on scanner is going to provide some crucial information right now
Flobin can make good on that or feed it through to the rest of his team
Might be able to leverage this advantage right now. They have a man cat advantage, but certainly not a HP advantage
Sometimes that's really what matters big kill there from parlor
You can only hope and only think that that was information gained from that salt on scanner
see for their from Diaz intentionally placed on the frame I think he's just
trying to deter anyone from trying to push in at the moment still time here
fluxo to be so known to work this advantage salt and scana again coming
into its own this pinpoint information in the fall versus to it might not be
enough no I might not you can see the feed holes oh but Diaz who's not an
initial opportunity and then walking under the vertical holes yours for the
The briefest of moments of 2v2 within his grasp, and just the moment slips by.
Boxterra, another 1vx down below, this one falls short, but in a much more expected way.
Not much you can do in that position.
Boxo W7M, two rounds in a row, finally realized their lead.
I feel like Fluxo W7M are on the precipice of chaining a few rounds together here.
Purio have used their tactical timeout and they used it at the end of round four.
then they've only been good for one round. Likewise Fury are only good for two
in his early days. We've got a side swap thrown in there as well so it's a very
turbulent point in the game. But you do just feel as though they're starting to
slowly but surely come alive. Vesta 3 it's a long occasion you don't want to
peek too soon. You equally don't want to fall behind the pace.
Now Fury are came out of the gate pretty much swinging and we get to see
that same level of aggression from them. Now granted they have swapped over onto the defence
so it's going to be a different type of aggression as to what we were used to seeing in rounds
1 and 2 on the attack but still the sentiment remains.
So it's going to be so an M, round number 8 looking to make it 5-3 now. Now they're
going to be getting rid of the snake or at least swapping it off for another equally
as annoying operator. It wasn't going to be the doggie, now it's the daemons.
point still stands. Just insert awkward operator on Zalobin and you've pretty much got the full picture.
Whether it's the Deimos or the Snake, you know that it's going to be a nightmare. The thing that I
like in this lineup is I love the addition of the Rora because there are so many doors,
so many windows on this map and so many corridors that all it takes is for a couple of those
to be blocked off and you've pretty much got a highway right to where you need to be.
Just a direct line to your destination, but of course by the same token, sometimes the
door can end up boxing the attack in, both can be true, and sometimes even despite your
best intentions luck might have completely different plans for you.
We'll see what it might have in store for cons today.
So with the solid snake, you should be able to get some good information where these
positions are and then place the doors accordingly and mitigate some of those downsides
it a bit or at least more effectively. Dot's breaking the barbed wire, moving up the barricade,
you can see it's in quick acquisitions by Flux or W7M, but one just around the corner.
Doral block them off, and so Dot's it backs out. As I said, they look to the opposite side,
more towards old power. The C-Ware to effectuate their push, Breach is going out,
but despite how close the attack has come, the Roardor is just saving any kind of conflict
like it's occurring.
Just keeping everyone safe, isn't it?
It's keeping everyone in their own lane, keeping the defender safe.
It's also keeping the attacker safe.
But at a point, we are going to have to see a clash.
We're going to have to see a little bit of violence.
That's kind of what these rounds are all about.
Dias going to kick things off, takes dots down.
And I think the Selma's have already been placed.
It's not too much of a concern.
There's an opening pick that you don't want to lose.
trying to make good on that Soliton scanner. Lobin taking down to low HP, we've got
Hertz tucked in behind the desk. He's got a great angle here for the ACOG.
It just depends on how long he holds on.
Spotted position on that Soliton scanner. Again the attack so close to the
rest of the defense. Oh just spotting one behind the shield as he really
goes out to take the fight from the opposite position.
Notice this is a bit of an opportunity. Polly good for that one. Just straight
up 1v1. There's the trade from DS. So on point so far in this round for Furia.
Run down the Keebas, great a new forward position. Bringing outside the breach as
Box Zera joins at his right flank. Spotted by Loben with two deathmark trackers
remaining. Thirty seconds. As the final bit of these Keebas go out to block,
DS spots one on the other side, can fire through the soft wall. It has all
been DS for Furia at the moment. He might be able to find five.
DeLobin on such low HP and Dota's worse for rare 2. He's looking directly at the position, but now his numbers up
How to be spotted by the Deimos and turns around, rides the Deimos, swings, but on such low HP
He knows and Loven does too that if one bullet hits him, that'll be the end
But Dota is off that information. He's able to mitigate any damage with such low time.
DS by his sacrifice might have just given the round to Furia. Unless Bot can find him around the corner
He dies all tied up for the third time. No for the second time this series
The timing on that was atrocious wasn't it?
Diaz just looks do like just the tall opposite way just all scaring at the wall
I'm just thinking. Oh, no, like this is the time strike lobin swing the corner
so close
Are you never know?
If it was both Aaron the one versus one who knows what might happen
Maybe D shields on the Monty from a hundred yards away
I wouldn't like to predict what would happen next.
Furia do level it up though, four rounds apiece.
A very hotly contested fortress on our hands at the minute.
Able to hold on to that top floor and now going to transition into that bottom floor.
This is, I think the lineup that Flux O W7 ever bring in, it's much more what I would
expect.
So for this sort of a bomb site where you're going to want to take control upstairs
You're going to use the black bit to do that
And then you've got the sledge element to really rip open the floor
The vert just wasn't something that we saw furia do when they were attacking on to these first floor bomb sites and
You know it didn't go terribly well
It didn't go terribly wrong for them, but it was a bit of a gap
It was something that you looked at and thought there's maybe a bit of a missed opportunity there
because they were just trying to bang there and against the site and they would have been successful and
Obviously, had it not been for the dreaded one versus one, but I just like this a little bit more from fluxo to username
It just feels a little bit more stable. It feels a little bit more predictable
Creatability surely makes our jobs a bit easier able to foretell the consequences a lot better or even the possible benefits
But as consequence is not inherently negative concept
On consequence of this native, it lands at the feet of that defender, will be de-forced
amount of position, but it seems especially not with any guns to the follow-up, it would
be more like a null event rather than anything impactful.
Very strange to see a note creeping up a staircase with a DMR one-handed in the process, but
I will say, probably brought the right tool for the job, lobin, massacring DS at the
top of the central stairs, now looking deeper into the bunk's position, but the rotate
hole has already been reinforced off.
It's no easy kill like you just found cons up with the next looks so w7m confident the first minute 10
Swinging around the corner as an aid and impact trains trade positions the lawyer the only one to deal any damage
Detonates the Vulcan in response likely needs to start contemplating an exit two players bearing down in his position a Selma charge opening up
The wall he will retreat to the single door for a bit more conservative of an angle
two brown Zoto kind of just freezing out that Selma briefly it's gonna stop the initial
flow at the moment for fluxo dots takes a sniff of damage as it eventually detonates
couple of needs getting sent through there that's going to do a good job of moving these
players on the top floor but nobody knows about box there at the moment say again
Oh, brilliant shot there!
Dodez, no flies on him at all!
You don't think that was a sound call or maybe even a drone, but...
The fight isn't over, just there! Lawyer for two, eventually taken down!
But damage already done!
Herds!
Left in the clutches right now, Dodez.
Getting that plant down quite early on, still over 40 seconds left in the round.
And now another 45 seconds as we enter the post, herds moving in deeper, no C4 to rely
on, but a DMR always a lethal weapon, and especially in the hands of him, we might need to reload
at some point.
His first goal is the information.
Where is this diffuser?
Better question might have been where is Dota's on a long angle on Overwatch watching
that exact position.
We'll take him down and Fluxo W7M reestablished their lead.
on their narrow lead but a lead nonetheless. Round 10 sees our final round of bands for fortress.
Even if we do venture into an overtime, bands will remain dependent on the sides that the
team sit on of course. What is it going to be Ace and an Azami?
Makes sense. I think that the Ace is maybe a weird one because Fury have done a really good job
of impact tricking and sort of fighting against that a little bit and it is going to force the
it forces the thermite play. His army always a good thing to get away from.
Downstairs to wait and room we go then for round number 10.
Fluxo. There's not been a serious like chain together of rounds so far it's been
very stop start from both teams. Couple of rounds for Furia, couple of rounds for Fluxo,
couple of rounds again for Fluxo with one from Furia just sandwiched in the middle, a little bit
swingy in terms of the opening pick as well I mean for a large portion of the game W7M had that
up a hand they got four in a row it only netted them two rounds though likewise with Furia the
opening pick hasn't always meant that that round has been won it's a stat that's been struggled
to be converted on. It's held true for the last few rounds though but without big pop-off
performances from... although it doesn't parlor.
Tuxedo W7M would be way out of the fight here today.
They're really relying on these big solo pop-offs.
Not necessarily solo, but just chaining a couple of kills together in quick succession.
And that is the playstyle that Fury are going to give up against you.
They're not going to come at you one at a time. They're just going to flood.
They're not playing right.
Well, long way away from a flood, but I can imagine Flux W7M always ready for that kind
of play style, especially when you're going to be moving in with a blitz.
You've got to be careful getting overwhelmed by a shield if you're too overwhelmed as the
shield if you're too isolated.
And so the attack, taking a lot of these standard exterior positions, especially we've
seen saw a lawyer holding this exact position with the soliton scanner trying to gather information
on the interior. Hertz will likely be the number one target they're looking to find.
There's going to be anybody by themselves. It'll probably be him.
Can he hear the shield drop across the way or is he detonating?
We'll give Hertz double information as the blitz position.
So the smoke goes down to cover the angle. Wolves the first to fall.
Go very fast trade. No defies any impact brought.
though with the loss of the capital some active utility that looks at every seven
I might otherwise desire spotted lobin ripping up the wall in front of him to
get at his target and a lot of individual performances from fury and some of these
rounds herds on attack deus on defense and how lawyer as well getting
involved finally an advantage breaks their way three to two my dodez and
Polly remain on the top floor uncontested within the disadvantage the
The round has sort of happened in reverse, hasn't it?
We've seen a bit of a side-execute attempted in,
yet we're now only getting Boogie Jones
sent out onto that top floor parlor.
He's gonna fall, get shot through the soft wall there.
Lawyer hits him with the business.
I don't think it was Lawyer on the swing.
I think it was, actually Diaz.
Dota is now in a bit of a do or die.
I has to find three kills.
He's got tons of time.
And I don't think he's got too much information
given that none of his team are sat there watching the drone,
but default cameras are flashing all over the place.
Oxera and I saw Crouch Pete to seal the deal.
Inferior tie things up once again.
As close to games you could probably get
on Fortress so far.
I mean, I think the leads at one point in time
were two rounds and that was all the way
at the beginning of the game.
Since then it has been very tit for tat
between these two teams.
And for Fluxo W7M in particular, that might favor them because they are in the lead.
It's also evidence that Furia, if they just start making the right adjustment or make
the right play or even just get lucky once, that lead is a whole lot more fragile and
you might otherwise think.
And as we move up to the second floor, of course, turning our attention back to that
ace in the Azami ban, how did Furia adapt to those defenses?
Well, bringing the presence of a bit more trap operators, you've got the introduction
of the Fenrir of course, but in tandem with the Ella,
finds a lot of information for what Fluxo W7M
are going for, and if you're going to bring those shields,
the possibility of running into one of those
could end up stalling your approach,
could end up delaying a lot of time
and providing information to the defense
as well as disvanaging you in any kind of gunfight.
Fluxo W7M will stick with that strategy in this round.
They will bring the shield again,
though it's a last second change
from the Blitz to the Blackbeard.
The presence of those traps now,
razor blooms instead of the Gershmots is going to be a factor they'll have to contend with again.
Thorn increasingly popular at the moment. Great gun, really in gadget, something that can be really
good at not only dealing with shields but sort of forcing attackers into really less than
favorable positions. You trigger a razor bloom, you're left with one option and if you just
just hopped in a window. Turning round and hopping back out isn't really one of them.
You're likely just going to have to firm it and push through and hope that you find a
pocket. Notice, quickly dealing with one of the Castle Barricades that Volpe has popped
out there. It's going to be a plethora of nades, so there's not going to be too much
of a problem in round 11. It feels like a really big round, just through the back
and forth nature that Forged has been so far. The first team to guarantee that
over time. It's going to give themselves a heck of an advantage here.
Otis, I'm going to try and blank off. Those treksing is getting sent out there, box
aira. Trying to challenge onto some of that vert as well. One of the razor blooms can
be heard there going off. That's enough of a reason as any both herds and box aira
to dip out and just retreat back into command.
You see the idea from Fluxo W7M there, use the nade and then cut them off through
that vertical angle. Unfortunately, CAG's up herds doesn't end up finding any kills,
but we'll push the defense back. Second half around to secure this minimal control as Orchard
W7 never made progress. They are a bit claustrophobic at the moment, just outside of command.
Loven taking down the first, from neither side gaining a lead. They continue to find
their advantage and the defense seems to be holding strong! Oh, Dodez! Sides to reload,
the exact moment that Fenrir crosses.
Here you're keeping them at bay quite effectively.
A quick swing around the corner
as Volts with a better positioning.
It's his furious pick.
Taking the lead wouldn't be a surprise,
but holding this strong.
Taking the lead away from Flux or W7M
as they started out so strong on the second half.
It's a must win at the moment.
It's now Doad as the only one left.
No needs to speak of 45 seconds sometime.
The moment he swings one, the others will go next,
but Lawyer takes him down, very narrowly cost his life,
but finally somebody gets to in a row
and it's Furia one round away from their pick.
It's been a while since that's happened,
but Furia managed to cement that OT
on a chatter in the old chat there.
Sounds like this that I wish I understood.
Look, so gonna choose now to take their tactical time out,
try and give themselves a little bit of clarity
the move into what could be the last round here on Fortress into hold off.
Curia, they're really successful round.
And again, a round where they open and pick.
Lobans had the opening pick in the last three rounds, links.
And Fluxo W7M, they've been able to convert one of them.
And I think part of it is based on what you can see from the shift in
strategy. It's we saw this shift a bit earlier on from Flux of W7M when they were on the defenses,
but when you have an attack that is generally good at well in Flux of W7M's case using the shields
to kind of break through and create gaps and isolate engagements, a natural solution is to
bring those trap operators, which if you look at the sort of lineups we saw, we had one maybe
in the lineups from Furia, but then since I would say around 10, we've seen double both
times, Ella then Fenrir and then Thorne then Fenrir.
And now is actually the first time
where we don't see that straight up,
but it comes in an important moment.
When Fluxor W7 are taking that tactical time out,
they're thinking, okay, we want to use the shield,
we want to break that control,
they're going to bring traps, what we can do.
So if you rotate to a kind of operator
that honestly I'm kind of surprised
we've seen so little of this half,
which is the hard breach denial.
We saw the K last round,
but that was basically the first time outside of mute,
or I guess Tuber Al as well,
Now we're seeing the full and electrified hard bridge now despite the fact both of them were banned in the first go around so you can see Fioria rotating to a new play style anticipating some kind of response from Flux or W7M instead moving to something entirely different.
Of course, tackles can be picked. We'll see what Flux or W7M's counter is and the Thatcher gives us a clue.
The Thatcher is going to be required here if you want to try and get this wall open.
Of course you've got so much more that you can do with that Thatcher.
The Grismo mind you can disable, play for C4s, you can also deal with Warden and stop
those glasses.
And here a C4 already ripped, pretty early for that to be a Factor, but it makes Lobin
think twice before just walking in main door.
I think he'll settle for the default camera for now and just cautiously back himself away.
I'm not giving any options open heads.
Trying for a bit of a rat play.
Just took him there to tower, maybe hoping he could catch someone unawares unprepared.
I'm gonna bandit trick attempt there and it's gonna work to a degree.
Still 12 pellets for cons though, so shouldn't be too much of a concern about getting these walls open.
open. You just don't really want to be stacking up in that position when you've got the single
window that looks onto the breach. Maybe this vert play is going to be the key that opens
the lock for Fluxo.
It certainly unlocks the first kill. The third who's riding at the beginning, not
necessarily right then, but goes down to the attacking team making watch of that angle
Oopalu with the flank watch reveals Vulp's flank who is none the wiser to that information
Lot of damage done to these attackers so Dots, Dota's and Palu quite susceptible to enemy fire
but Dots knows it's got the warden's exact position figured out well bait him in but
it's getting revealed in the process and so the warden wisely retreats well I'm not sure that
he will know just how close he came to death. We certainly won't have the impact that he might have
otherwise because of that information. That being said though, only a minute remaining and Fluxer
W7M have not made much progress in the game for an scheme of things. One of the only full health
members of their attack has now gone down and they've not made too much progress beyond that.
It's still struggling to get this wall open. It's still causing them a lot of concern.
50 seconds left on the clock and they're gonna be attempting it again.
A couple of Thatcher's getting sent out there.
Plenty of Xcaros pellets.
As you say, the HP advantage, it just isn't there for Flux OW7M Furia.
They just need to play patiently right now.
This is gonna be a very flat push when it eventually happens.
A low HP blitz is not really where you want to be.
There's not too much that you're gonna be able to do to mount off the back of it.
A C4 burn out, but still toxic babes remain.
And one will choke dots even further,
Lawyer at getting the next kill,
Codds crushed to fall,
Furia just not even,
not even phased by Fluxo W7M's attack.
A known quantity and a constant
around which Furia have ensnared.
Seven to five, three defensive wins in a row
and Fortress is certainly Furia's map.
the defensive side in particular.
Looking fantastic and equal split on the attack. I don't I don't think you can ask for much more. They did everything. They played at different levels. They knew when to turn it on the new one to dial it back a little bit. The new ones play time. They even were able to fight back from losing the man advantage so many times.
Those last three rounds that they won. They lost the opening picking every single round.
one they lost the opening picking every single round
v7m just off the pace at the moment and if the ultra has anything to go by i think that furia
would given it the biggin in there as well despite the little bit of a whoopsy that we saw at the
end of round number five they've walked away with map number one we're gonna hit very short
break and after that we will be back excuse me with map number two which is gonna be cafe in
in this series.
And it's official!
The Kingdom Hearts of FPS games is real!
Okay, okay, that's obviously a joke, but unless you've been hiding in the cave for the past
few months, you already know that the main character from the Metal Gear franchise is
now on a mission inside Rainbow Six, the legend himself, Solid Snake.
So let's break it down and see what this iconic creation of Hideo Kojima can actually do in
the world of Siege.
Snake is a brand new attacking operator introduced in Operation Silent Hunt, and his stats is
got 1 health and 3 speed.
His loadout is just as spicy, the beautiful F2 has his primary weapon and the exclusive
Tassid.45 has this secondary, which by the way is basically the same suppress pistol he
uses in his own games.
Now, when it comes to secondary gadgets, you've got options.
A lot of options.
Frag grenades, stunts, impacts, smokes and even breathe charges.
But the real highlight here is his signature gadget, the Salaton Raider MK3.
This thing doesn't just reveal defender positions.
It also shows which direction they are facing, but don't get too excited.
Charges are limited and enemies will know when you activate it.
So yeah, timing is everything.
And that's not all.
Snake can also pick up secondary gadgets from eliminated defenders, giving him even more
adaptability as the round goes on.
Now to me, everything sounds pretty solid, maybe a little too solid if I'm being
honest.
to the bros think about this new and very famous operator.
I dragged him and he knows what you're doing.
At the same time, you're going to get a gun, that's it.
But if you give him a gun, it's going to get worse.
I don't think the guy 4-1 is good, isn't it?
Perfect, efficient, adaptable, and with an easy-to-use gadget.
Nothing to complain about.
Editor, go ahead and stamp it.
Approved!
But what about you guys?
Do you like the new operator?
Do you think he's going to be meta?
Drop your thoughts in the comments.
I'm out for now. Thanks for watching, everyone.
See you next time!
I'm IBS?
IBS?
IBS is easy, man.
Worst team in the world.
IBS is 6.
Wow, I have a special activity.
Wow, how boring it is, right?
I think it's very cool.
I'm going to put BD.
The old NTC.
Wow, what a bad team, man.
It's BD, I think.
I don't know.
A lot of tradition, a small team.
It's true, I think it's the same, man.
But these guys are very bad, it's hard, man.
The players themselves, the team,
they say we're in BD, to the minus-prez, I don't know.
Who is from outside, it's not like I'm from a different place.
But you always remember the name.
Flutin, you know what I mean?
The guys managed to compete in the old Flutin.
Now there's no respect for this tag.
I'm a Capetinha, bro.
Wow.
Look at these guys with no humility.
Holy shit.
I'm a Capetinha, bro.
I think I'm the 16th Capetinha.
I'm Dina.
I don't know.
Bro, you have a better idea, bro.
Good?
Good player?
I'm Alemão.
He's always playing with the other guys.
It's just a few problems now.
I'm in the R6.
I was already playing No. 2.
You were playing all the problems you talked about.
You wanted to play PVV, being in spools.
Because the guy is a pro player, he's a problem,
but he still plays a lot.
He talks a lot, he already had his target,
but today he doesn't.
won the map. Yeah, in the grand scheme of things it was bait. At the end of it we
still got a victory for Furia 7-5 hard fought here on map 1. Fortress, how do we
get to this point here? Because Furia were locking things in that the
Studo was playing well. We had the 3-3-1 half and then on the swap things
just were not flowing well for Flexi-7-7. Yeah, they just look in the
defense which is in theory where the play style of a team like Furia that
that thrives on the individual players holding individual areas is just going to thrive.
I think that's just where it's going to work.
For them to already achieve a 3-3 side, on full trust that's a little bit different
as I said right now in the meta was already in my opinion the best heads out possible.
As soon as I saw 3-3 I was like okay it's probably in their hands now to just take
it 7-5.
Like if they have a full 3-3 defense it's very doable.
It was a game that we expected, you know, when we expected that this to have some crazy
multi-kill, some crazy moments, I think we got what we wanted.
I think we got what we wanted.
I think some crazy individual plays from there and here and there.
Lobin gets a 3k on that one, by the way, in round 4, just the round before.
And then finally, the round after that, by the way, the round 6, this was one
of the cleanest attacks, the round 6 here, oh my god, like, it's a 5-3-3-1, everything
and then there's the execute. Here comes the execute, 3v1,
probably gets the first kill here, there was a triple kill, fourth kill,
and then, oh, the extension of the shield. Why? This should have been a 4 to speak.
This is why I think that strategically Feria won the game. I think first and
foremost they attacked way better.
Beginning to adapt to the way that Flux of the Shield was playing, I thought
It's smart on their side, you know, to bring the solid snake consistently, bring a demo's
or a shield, try to gain the advantage early on when you thought that Feria was going to
be aggressive.
It was.
Feria, yes, some of the players are aggressive, but they also know how to peel really well.
And so as soon as they had the advantage, they knew how to abuse it.
This is a perfect example, by the way.
This was a 4v2 round, and obviously they made it back to a 2v2.
That's the problem in the way that Feria plays.
That's what the 5v3 that they brought back and they won it by the way.
That's the problem when you face Ximac Feria, is that every single player on that lineup
can go and get a crazy 3k and make a round that was seemingly impossible to win, suddenly
become possible to win.
And that's how, if you look at the last few rounds, consistently Fox 2.0 and Ximac
win the opening engagement, and yet despite that man advantage, Feria will always find
a double kill, a triple kill here and there to bring back the man advantage.
It is so frustrating for Flux to lose to them because they do the first step well, but then
get punished afterwards.
And I just want to praise Lobbyn here because he's playing against some of the best guns
in the world, and he goes 5-1 in the entry.
And yet despite that, his team is just full shot because they are unable to have the
discipline to shut down the aggression from Furia.
Yeah, losing, like gaining that entry kill, which is why you're highlighting Lobbyn
in this case, 5-1 on entries, you're getting entries, it's working great, and then
you're not able to capitalize on top of it and the reason why we mention it is
that statistically speaking and this is not new this is over the entire
existence of statistics in Rainbow Six we're going back to the times where you
have to manually track everything by hand the entire point was you get the
opening kill and suddenly your potential to win the round spikes to 70
to 80 percent which is huge so there is always the chance of get the
opening kill, slow it down, solidify your position, and then play after that.
That's where attackers, you see them always ganging up at one player in the
beginning on the roam, or maybe a bit off position. There was a lot of that for
Furia, but what Furia were doing so well is lurking in little spots the
whole time. Is that yeah, you take out one, but on the other side you got two
or three others that are lined up as if using that player's bait to shred
through whatever frontline you have and by the time you get to the point where
you're pushing for a site you're going for a plant you have a very limp attack
going into the site because you've lost all the utility and the manpower that
you need for it that's where fury are really really shine that Panther that
represents the team it's there for a reason because they know exactly when to
strike and they hide all around the jungle that is whatever map they're
on they'll jump on you when the opportunity comes
strong for them. Like, to be honest, they were the second best team in the all-of-kickoff
and group stage in defense win rate, 65% when most of them. And I think it's just because
of just the talent on the roster. Like I said, most of that defense relies on the individual
initiatives. One guy holding one area, another one holding one area and calling to each other.
Those macro plays, they know how to do it perfectly. That's why they're not worried
than 4v5 because they know that they can still get aggressive and grab that man at his edge back.
Now why is it a problem? Let's take a look at the map veto again. And why is it a problem for
FuxxLW7M? Because right now, three are just on their map pick, which meant they were starting
in attack all good. Now they're headed to cafe. Cafe again, one of the most different
selling map in the meta. A map that they know very well. And they're going to start defense.
So the main thing for me is, I'm sure they're going to continue on that momentum, you know,
the fallback idea, the traps of use, and the idea that whatever happens, your backline
will be able to fight themself, you know, around the bomb site, even if you're in the
heavy man disadvantage.
For the side of Fluxor 7M, what I need to see change is the discipline once you get
that man advantage.
You know that, Fiora, they're going to go and aggress you.
Most of the time, it's around the 1 minute, 1 minute 30 mark.
When you're just preparing for the execute, you have utility in their hands.
That's when Feria gets aggressive.
So they should be expecting that.
As soon as you get that injury kill, you've done half of the job, stay close to each other,
have great discipline and punish the aggression because it's going to be coming.
I am very fearful here.
There's going to be something that the Flux of W7 have to bring out on their attack.
thing is you might be thinking oh well they can run the same Testudo Roman
set up that Furia were running on fortress right a lot of things are
translating for fortress into cafe pretty well but you think Furia are not
gonna actually just be ready for that and immediately fight back against you
they're gonna ban the big shield that you might rely on maybe it'll be the
Monty maybe it'll be a Blackbeard or the Blitz it's gonna be a tough time
time.
Yes.
Could also be, you know, I think you have two options on the setup area.
It's either you remove the shields and you make dots blind, basically, and it becomes
really impossible for them to get into the building and its struggles to IGL from there.
Either remove the solid snake and the Deimos, because those are the ones that have made
it really hard for the guys to roam and to win the initial opening engagements.
This is something we talked about once the, I think a couple rounds into the second
where you're seeing the the demos the snake and the ducati come out just to try to help out with or without a lion depending on the
situations where the three operators together are meant to corner in a different way it's like a sidegrade to playing shields when none are
available in a situation like that. I like the idea execution unfortunately did not go well in the attack for Flux of W7M I wonder if
they're gonna replay that and bring it back here for cafe if not at least have
something that's that's solid now I'm not gonna discount anybody because we saw it
in game one and Tim liquid Tim liquid Alienware and an IP how map one went
and wrote a map to and things were completely flipped on its head each team
won their own map pick and I would say that map to went in very distinct
fashion for the Ninjas and Pajamas. Can it be recreated here in a completely different
scenario? I'm not sure yet. I'm not saying yet also that Pino has maybe I guess cursed
the Fuxxer W7M but that's just all a theory in here Leo. So from a comeback
perspective what do you got to lock in for the attacking side on cafe even if
This is your map pick as fuck, so they're 7-M.
Well, I think I've already explained the blueprint for me,
is that you know that Friya have a very unique playstyle,
but it's very readable.
As soon as you will get an advantage,
they will try and find a way either to conflict you,
either when you try to go for the execute,
to have someone hidden somewhere and go for a crazy kill.
So the easiest thing to go about this is,
as soon as you get an opening engagement and you win it,
you hit that reset button,
and you make a clear win condition.
We're gonna take this pace,
we're going to execute here, everyone stays close to each other, and someone sits on flank
drones the whole time.
So long as you have that, and you play anti-Roma parryters such as Dian, such as the KAD, Evan
Deimos, or even Soul Snake, whatever is open.
So long as you have one dedicated flank watch, I can assure you, especially on a map like
Café where Gridlock has played a lot, that you will get free kills from just sitting
on drones and waiting for Phyria to come to you.
Because that is the one way, the one trick thing, the best way for them to
just win rounds.
So they abuse it as much as they can
Well, that's from us. Let's bring it to casters here and have a quick chat as I believe our game is almost set
Oh, no, it is it is. Oh my god. We hear it in the back. We've summoned it links Olly
I'm not gonna ask you much going into this, but are we believing and a comeback for map three? Yes or no
now
Oh nice
Literally I get asked a question. I answer the question because we are low on time and I am getting flack for it
Assaulted for my opinion
But in all seriousness in all seriousness, I actually think
To give Leo the credit he did not extend to me with that answer
I actually think the last point that Leo brought up is a particularly good one
on specifically playing the
flank watch operators on not
only against Furia Ali, but on
cafe. I mean how many times over
the past year I feel like have
we talked about gridlock's
importance on this map and while
she's never important enough to
get banned. She's always
important enough to get played.
Yeah, I mean, it's just too
popular contested, isn't it?
Attacker bands are a real hot
commodity and you have got to
They'll play the, you know, they'll play the Nomad, Frankin's still difficult anyway.
It just doesn't attract the right amount of attention, but it sits on that precipice.
Because as you say, we will see games where somebody only ever plays that gridlock.
Um, as it stands, looks like Loeb is going to be switching off.
He is going to be going over to Rora.
As I imagine that it's a bit of a surprise that Fury have chosen to go downstairs to
kick things off.
From the flux of W7M, we're maybe expecting something a little bit different. Maybe one of the middle floor sites
Reading and mining or of course reading and dining. However
Doesn't seem to be the case downstairs. We go
Herds, very ambitious C4 right off the rip
Four of them so we can afford to be pretty loose with the first. Oh, yeah
I think we can see from the outlines. It ain't gonna net too much if he lets it sling
There's a, oh, we actually threw a completely different C4 out of a window.
This one's sent out of dining more towards where the attack actually spawned, but similarly
does not meet any kind of success, unfortunately.
But with that surplus, with the presence of an additional three after the fact, I don't
think anybody, including Fyria, will really feel all that bothered by the loss of it,
seems like we got a bit of a setup nearly around here.
How long did the deathmark tracker goes out with some smokes already prepped to be sent through the VIP double window?
Another another c4 goes out, but this one also doesn't meet anything early trade between these two teams
Collie's 1v1 that might be something that makes it a little more decisive
But if he wins in the backside where the fury holds him off just by their presence
They have the warden that did what the hell dots is in the site dots has walked in through bakery in the prep
is halfway to getting the defuser down and the defense has no answer for this.
The war doors blocked them off perfectly. He's denied every single angle and now
it's a retake that Fiora have to effectuate. Dott's holding inside of the
site will bait in a defender as Dodez on the cross takes him down.
Diaz, waiting in the smoke with one player just on the opposite side will
look to buy his time and land his opportunity but Loeb in ready for that
one as well. Every eventuality considered but Dott's floored by one
Bob of the M five nine still an elegant cross held from Bakery has heard so little ammo in that p-10 Rony
I've got to land a lot of shots only three seconds ago door pops up and what a beautiful round to start
Right was on the wall ever ever since looks out chose their lineup ever since that six pick where they picked up the Rora
It was always going to be a direct to site push. They had no soft breeze. They didn't have a sledge
They didn't have the RAM they had no intention of Roman
No intention of doing a Rome clear. They just wanted the site little bit of pressure in the bottom of white
Brilliant Raurador at the bottom of red stairs cutting off wedding and just a stroll on in the defenders
Scattered to the wind more concerned with throwing seafoes out of windows and really what was going on
I think at the point where you don't get pushed on the top floor in the first 30 40 seconds
You've maybe got to think hang on a minute
are they just going direct because if you know where they aren't you can guess where they are
and Fluxo W7M have just stolen around in broad daylight here on cafe and this attack is statistically
the hardest side of the coin here so getting around on the board nice and early is only
going to be a good thing for Fluxo especially seeing is that they are fighting this series
warm-up down.
you time to really think out the plan you want to do and surprise Fiora much later in the game as
it appears at the moment. I should know flank watch operators at least the stereotypical ones that
we talk about you know Nomad of course but specifically the gridlock on this map. You have
the doki though who will give that anti-roam information that the desktop particularly important
and with players like Herds and Lawyer are roaming around the map it's something you
have to consider but at the same time Ollie well before I say that seems low bin oh it's
It's just found somebody going for a little bit of a walk.
And unfortunately for Laura, he's not that sneaky today.
Volts takes Doris down, as you say, not before Laura falls.
What can we call answered box error?
Just playing on those cocktail windows.
A little bit of a stalemate at the moment for Fluxo there.
They've got a good amount of information.
They know where a couple of players are.
I mean, they've got Polly on the salt on the scanner.
know exactly where at least a few are you know move through and take box error down
he knows that somebody's in the vicinity in piano he's not got the quite not quite got the pin
point just yet but all it takes jump into the salt on see where they are assuming someone's
on the bar but we know this looks into shop the dangerous angle right now and he's has to
Hey, shut up, but no, Kong's gonna fall.
Kong's falls and it's herds.
The next body for Fyria.
Not, I do not know how Paul,
who made it out of that crossfire,
but he somehow evades it entirely.
Lopes forced back down as DS
with one press of a button levels things.
Paul was weaving his way through the top floor
will not ever see the middle.
Instead it's a lobe and he tried to pick up
some of that same success.
Tucked in Z, a very difficult position
Given that defender, he turns around at just the right time,
and now might be DS who's trapped, locks on the low bin.
No C4.
Since this will have to be a gunfight, he wins.
Can God duck down?
Start playing as defuser, and instead he pushes deeper.
Looks to take the fight, or make it behind the reinforcement.
He's checking quite a bit.
The two foes spot each other.
God's still looking for the angle,
but DS is keeping him at bay,
and ready for it when he peeks through the fireplace,
perfectly framed in the other site.
one round for Furia.
Furia look up for the fight today.
That's the second round of map two.
We've got people out of their chair.
These guys are firing.
Reading room and fireplace going to be round number three
for us.
Again, another round that comes down to a one versus one.
Been a fairly consistent theme of the game so far.
There was a couple of wanders, wand thrown into the mix.
It seems as though Cafe is going to be no different.
From Flutto's side of things, I think they did a really good job on the roam clear, but
there was just that little bit of de-sync with Polly like, I was watching him and I
was expecting to pull out that scanner at any moment.
Like, that was one of the real key moments that you should be using the salt on scanner
because you don't quite know where somebody is.
And we just didn't see it.
I don't know, it just really confused me.
Five seconds remaining.
It was a bit strange, definitely just one of those moments
that like, narratively you're like,
okay, this will appear, right?
This is like, solid snake, it's a snake.
But no, it didn't, and unfortunately ends up,
I think just impacting.
Flux of W7M in a pretty critical way.
So these will be looked to what fury
it could possibly do on this side
as they tied things up quickly.
Fluxer W7M rotates to the presence of a shield, something we saw in round one, which they were able to sneak.
Ho-ho-ho! Loyra probably could have killed Dota's right there.
Decides to make the safer play. Maybe the Nomad was ready, but just misses an opportunity.
Founds with his Quicksilver.
It is second floor, so maybe could get a rush, but I don't think it'll be any sneaky play like we saw in round one.
We'll see a lot of time expender fluxer W7M earlier on into information of these extremities
Yeah, I don't know if I mean to
Overplay the hand of gap spotting
It's cafe. It's going to be difficult attacks are gonna be hard for
Know that
Nice little angle just trying to cut off the bottom of those browns
Oh my goodness
birds
Prefire, Intuition, Information.
Any of the above credited him with that kill on to Loving.
Loving no slouch either at the start of this map at 5 and 2, that's only the second time he's been taken out.
You've lost a big portion of that soft breach.
So many times we see these mid-4 rounds and that soft breach.
Have you got in upstairs in time to destroy sufficient of the floor to then transition into a plant are you able to move the defenders out?
successfully into cries
Announced that both those
Should gonna be dull here
Not only because look what time's gonna start to be a factor. We still got three players out on the repell
There are about three players out on the rappel as the E1D goes out.
I was able to get some good impact on the flank watch from this position.
Now the shields need to be a little bit out of the shield.
Singular needs to be a little bit active.
Moving their way through the top, on space checking at every single angle.
Of course finally, securing complete control of that position.
What's better success than he was before, or what do you know?
One guy sitting right there on the opposite side, the Foxy are riding on this position.
We know what Furia were going to do.
We know their game plan entirely, so as the next one crosses the corner, it's an easy
one for Valk to figure out.
Furia up three to one, as Polly finally making his way to the inside.
He's got to pick up all the pieces of an attack that is dead and gone.
Well, in classic parley fashion, he'll get himself an exit frag, but that's all it will
be.
Heards again out of his seat, letting his team know just how much it means to him, hyped
up and ready for the fight.
This is a qualification match, don't forget.
directly qualifies to Salt Lake City. Loser drops down into the lower bracket.
Winner of course plays against NIP later on tonight. It's a three best of three day
here, may I say I'll broadcast. There is plenty of siege yet to come.
Round four we see the Mirror and the Nomad are both taken out and I don't
think it's too much surprise to see Fluxo use that time out here.
regardless attacks always going to be difficult and I don't think they feel
like they need to save it for that defensive side.
No, I don't think they certainly don't and I think when this is your pick when
Fury have clearly shown they're starting to gain momentum in the series and you
came out the gates swinging with that creep in a bakery but now since then
it's been not one side I mean Brown two is a 1v1 but it's like Fury have had
the upper hands their rat plays are working the flank watch is not having
success that we thought it would though really was only somewhat noticeably
present in round two it's not been a factor I mean there's no mad in that
round but when when you're controlling the flanks but the defenders are ratting
in positions you haven't cleared especially in positions you don't really
air jab there's clearly got to be some other thought put into this strategy
now what it might be so it looks at W7M decide to rotate towards
of course, the rest of this round, the rest of this half.
Here we'll start repeating their sight, start learning on these improvements and for what
there at least pre-adjustment has been, seen a lot of mazzi being brought in, not banned
out by Flux of W7M, but drops away and quite a heavy utility setup.
Of course you have some traps in some intel, but this screams to me like nobody wants
to move an inch out of the first floor.
I mean that was well which first floor we're talking American first floor or
European first that's a that's a good point that's actually a very good point
sorry first floor I think American first floor yeah so we would we would call
ground floor okay okay because I was saying the fact that they didn't move
out of the first floor which you would call the second floor is that it was
the problem inside around number one right because they just let everyone
walk in and take the site. I agree I think they need to well I mean they're
still gonna try and play the C4s out of the windows. It's sad maybe successful as
well. I don't know if Boxerra lets it go or not but on the outlines it at least
looked like it was possible. At the time in the moment has passed now though.
The lineup it's much more typical isn't it from Fluxo W7M. They know,
it's like you said in round two, they know that they're not gonna get away
with just walking into site again. Instead they're gonna go for their
alternate approach and it's an approach that Furia haven't seen yet. It's a full map clear,
it's drone the top floor, it's get in, work the skeleton key on the book, utilise those
track stingers on the stairways and really just take full control of the map from that
point. There's only two spots, I say only. There are two C4s to contend with, that can
be devastating but it all depends on the information that they've got to go off,
depends on the box, black eye cameras I guess.
I don't know if you can get to a worst start to flux a W7M, some intended flank watch and
mean Dots couldn't spot him that was the Deimos's job but I mean nobody with the
follow-up that is just continued to decline for Flux Rw7m.
Con's gonna at least move in and start getting the vert going now but what she
says that's a big portion of your pushing power and brilliant swing time
there just as the f***ing name it was the Freezer War thought this end of the
world trying to shoot through that we got to deal with the player inside of
the IP. That's true, but we find one on to hurt and get himself up alive. I think of
as well, not a bad trade by any stretch, though there's still this player inside of
Christmas at the minute, so nobody at the bottom of the Branstad's, nobody on Branstad's
Search.
Go look.
He's pretty much free.
I don't know, HP, there might be a cost to this at some point.
There's always a risk you have to keep in mind.
A Vulcan Pax detonated, some important utility destroyed.
There's lawyer rates.
There's weights.
There's an oncoming push.
A lot of damage being shot.
The hole's outside of code check.
that's still no progress by
Fluxer W7M. Halted at the
immediate entrance to the site
facing quite a lot of
difficulties as they
progress downward. Shots fired
in turn. Finally, Laura might
find one. It's a huge amount of
kills flying curious way around.
Pretty much goes. Let's be
honest how it we all expected
when Fluxer W7M couldn't even
make it down a staircase.
I think that the insinuation
was that they have them in their pocket and I would agree. I would wholeheartedly agree.
At the moment, Flux OW7M are falling flat and it's such a shame because that first attacking
round you look at it on the balance of things, it was everything that you could hope for in
attacking round. It was opportunity spotting, it was a clear call obviously inside of the prep
phase which resulted in a six pick and then everybody just did their job and the round
was one everyone knew exactly where they needed to be and since then we've just
seen a level of disjointedness that I've not really been familiar with with this
flux of W7 and roster so far don't forget this is the team that we casted
last week that did fantastically well against phase and not phase into the
bracket well and like and look very good doing it like you know obviously it
wasn't perfect but you have to be get the on the ball that day to not phase
games are always gonna go to overtime that is just a rule that God made it's
the seven days in a week phases games go to overtime it's not news you know
to me seven that we're able to dig that deep that often and yet we see them
day against his furious side? It kind of looks like a shell.
Well certainly, certainly on cafe they have which given that this is their map
pick it is the last place I mean Ollie kind of, or not Ollie, why don't you call
him Leo Ollie for some reason. Leo alluded to it on the desk you know there's
a bit of a defender sided map in in Brazil in the SAO so if Fluxo W7M
picket odds are that they'll end up playing the attack. This is not some crazy possibility
that they're encountering. The fact that they are struggling this hard is worrying to say
the least. But still could win two rounds in a row and tie the hat. So it is not doom
and gloom yet. They lose this one. Free one is recoverable, but five one starts looming
in the mind and for everybody involved, that is a much too scary thought to contemplate.
waiting on the repel, seeing if anybody might run out of the white position.
Not finding anybody just yet.
Spherian, the first minute 15, have not looked to test Flux or W7M all that drastically.
Said holding these power positions on the top floor, contesting around bathroom and so on.
No presence of a mirror as she's banned.
You can't really peek out as aggressively as zombie can push forth.
Ooh, folks will be able to find one of those Selma charts before he makes his way back.
folks just hanging around inside a pixel there
lobin lets try and move through can just destroy the deployable
camera and get himself a line
in onto freezer there's the potential for a run out there we've got a great pit
players on repel need to be careful this is cafe
that sort of thing is very common
we've already seen players throwing themselves out of the window
Boxer we're looking at you
That time it was lawyer just dressed in at the bottom of white stairs instead. It's Diaz to find
Response here notice going down
Mobile is flying as low bins put super low
For so maintain a brief advantage again not a HP one. We're still in advance nonetheless
Something they can push forward and build off of
with a DMR still in play, nevermind, by DMR.
Dot's able to move in, put this defuser down.
All the angles should be covered, not quite sure
how the defense might fight back.
C4 goes around the corner,
but Diaz has a tap, he's hot on his heels.
What a flick onto the bathroom rotate.
But, I mean, Dot's arning it,
Polly on the corner,
blocks a W7M, only need two rounds to tie things up.
Must improve in the first.
This is more what we were expecting out of Flux
on W7M.
This team has a six map win streak,
or a six game win streak, should I say, on this map.
That's not over a crazy long time period either.
That's over the last four months.
So that's been played at, well, majority SI,
and then, I guess, in SAO finals,
the 4th of December, result against phase,
it's a 7-2 lead phase on this map, way back when.
So four months ago, it's relevant data.
It's recent.
67% win on the attack.
69% defence win. That's the sort of standard that's the quality that we're
holding Fluxo W7M2 on cafe they've picked this map they need to be coming out with
at least a favourable split I mean that's all that they can hope for at this
point you can hope for that equal 3-3. Would that be classed as favourable?
I mean it's 50-50 it's not as good as their 76% win rate that you know the
data would suggest but as we know we can't always trust the data we can
Just use it as a guide to lead us to where we end up.
Sometimes it leads us a little bit astray.
Period.
Clearly want to try and lock this last round down
as Vultz is going to pull out a bit of an old favorite.
We're looking to try and play the clash.
I imagine he's going to try and play that inside the cigar
here.
I don't think he'll play too aggressive on the piano.
Maybe for the opening portion, see if he can get a little
bit of aggression or just make players think twice before
a quote in the building.
If you can back himself up and play White Corridor a little bit in pixel,
I'm always the one to watch right now, though, primed and ready.
Tempted for a jump out, he's got, yes, in tow as well, just on the other side of the soft wall.
I feel like Furia, they're sort of tempted by it, aren't they?
But they're holding their nerve, they're not jumping the gun too early.
The thing for Fury, exercising by that discipline, is always good just because they can be so
quick with it and so ready to take that course of action, that I think just tempering it ever
so slightly makes them probably the more lethal team than just letting it run wild.
So hiding behind these reinforcements, playing these power positions on the defense, but
most importantly, biasing it towards the cocktail side, sure, it's going to allow
dots in the first minute ten to put down some of those boogie drums, gets some
important vertical control. But now that he has to push up, not only can you hold down to the
comps outside, birds can jump out, oh, but, well, he spots low, but he's clearly on the ADS the whole
time, and I suppose inadvertently facilitates some of these retreat down white stairs, but as
here you decide to activate, it just does not work. We saw the same on Banker earlier,
obviously the new changes jumping out and thrown out of that ADS animation,
you're relying so much more on hip-fire to get the job done.
And it's much more seldom now that we actually see those kills or those attempts to be worthwhile.
Got to get a little bit lucky as a defender to make it work.
Maybe a little bit of a throwaway there from her gives an advantage over to Fluxo,
and they desperately need it.
Palu, just hanging outside of red window.
It's a lawyer, quite literally a meter and a half away on the other side of the wall.
And I just feel like Palu knows, we're not in the best position right now, especially if someone starts to walk down those red stairs, but I don't know, he might find a kill there onto Conn's sake.
And Palu takes him out as the kill starts to flood in here for Fluxo, and the Gears left to try and hold the line as he's been so many times.
Fluxo W7M, a flawless round. It was a slow burn, but they finally got up to speed on the attacks here for cafe
I want to know what Leo and Milosh have to say about the first six rounds
Question here my friends because before we got into map number two in the series
we were talking about
what does Fluxo W7M need to bring this game back on their attacking start here and
And Leo said very carefully and very promptly there was about playing together as a cohesive unit and with discipline Leo has that been the case so far?
Yeah, I think that if you really focus on a few rounds where they do a direct take,
I think it works really well.
If you take an example of round one, for example, they hit bakery instead of going for
a full clear all the way up top and getting all of the things, giving a lot of space
for the rumors.
What do they do?
take onto the bomb site, sneak dots in with a black bird,
rear-eye execute here.
With the new rear-eye above, it takes ages for the rear door
to open up.
And then as soon as they have control,
there's nothing for you I can do.
That was just one example of those direct takes.
The last two rounds in attack are examples of direct takes.
They take limited control.
On the top floor, they just take cigar and piano,
go straight for the freezer execute at the door
and go for the bent.
The less control you take, the more you can maneuver
exactly where the aggression is coming for.
And I think that's exactly the right plan.
Take limited control, make sure you have what you need.
Because if we look at another round where they don't do that,
if we look at the same exact same onsite, right,
of the ground floor, we go and look at round four.
This time, they decide to go for a full round clear.
What do we see here?
An opportunity, four buck to get aggressive,
jump out, get a kill on two dots,
and then even later, what do we see here?
They have information on these restrooms players
and they just let him go away.
They have 20 seconds left,
four players are still alive,
And in this situation, honestly, there's nothing
Futsu can do to win this convincingly.
Yes, you're good, you take control,
but in the end, Furia is still in a winning position.
And so they take you apart.
And so I thought that, in general,
their idea of hitting side directly,
as directly as possible, was such a good comeback
to the way that Furia has been playing.
And now it's still free.
They will three attacks on the hardest side.
They can go and get the defense
and make sure they get the remaining rounds.
I would say great results for the attacking side of Fluxer W7M.
Last round being incredibly important to turn it into a 3-3.
Now on the defense, can they play in the same way?
Can they use these shields and defense positions to their advantage?
We'll see how they fare against Furia who's already bringing out the Montes.
I'm very excited to hand this back to Lynx and Xeratroica. Enjoy.
Thank you very much, Milosh.
And I think as Leo mentioned with the direct takes and
enabling a tie game between Fluxer W7M and Furia.
Now we will of course look to the opposite sides,
but I also think of just some important,
I think slight differences in the band base
to start snake band out of the gate of course.
But then of course the mirror also getting taken out
early by Furia.
Some important tools, not only in general,
but especially on cafe.
Make things a bit harder
for both these respective sides going forward.
And then of course,
Kahn's bringing out the clash and operator
that I believe we only saw once at the very tail end of a half from Furious Defenses we
brought up immediately with Luxo W7M.
Yeah, some slight differences there. I think that the Snakeman is just going to attract
so much attention, isn't it? Especially for Cafe because attacks pressed anyway at the
best of times. Anything that's going to keep you out of your drone or enable you
to be a little bit more self-sufficient or feed information over to your team, it is going
to be targeted. We know that Fury are a team to, you know, crush on to that a little bit.
So a couple of players really like the F2 as well, there was a couple of rounds over
on Fortress where both F2s would be in one, both the Snake and the Twitch really lens
into their playstyle. As it stands, they have to do without it as they have gone
for so long, Loire. Really punishing dots. Sentry. Maybe going for something at the bottom
of those white stairs, I think. Loire's just got some really nice timing on him. He's taking
him out as he was attempting to challenge onto the windows. Again, it's part and parcel
of playing on cafe, isn't it? You know there's an attack of it. You are never safe out
there on the Repel. There's always an angle that can be challenged. You can have
I love this from Volbs at DMR is going to be super effective through that sort of a pixel.
And he's not too worried about the clash.
I mean, Collins is literally just operating inside of cigar right now, but there's not really
much that any of the defenders can do anything about the players on the windows.
No one is it? That's always the case on tap.
There's something you kind of have to deal with.
I mean, you know, Mira can be brought to deal with it.
Of course, she's banned alternatively in a zombie, but not an option that Furia or Fluxor W7M,
excuse me when I go for in this round.
So it's more passive defensive style.
Don't need to take these early gunfights.
Just hope that the clash and maybe just the general vibe
of cafe is enough to keep them at bay
and stall any kind of entrance.
It's only a minute 10 seconds
before DS actually steps foot into Christmas
in behind the brown bar.
It's only a minute remaining
and they have not made much progress beyond that.
That being said, one kill earlier,
lawyer with a quick swing in,
catches Loeb and ratting outside of snow door.
So even though you are low on time with these couple frags you've gathered just over the course of the preceding round
It's gonna make this a lot more workable
Especially if it ends up being low time a two-body lead will making so much better lawyer a spotted on the cam
One defender around the corner behind the cocktail bar need to be ready for this engagement because 3-3 might just come
If he ends up losing this fight Dota has focused on the long angle not looking to his right
the ball. He's not going to
win. It's Paul, who instead the
one to even things out. Finally
the player falls and instead
it's all left up to the
thorn. Quick swing as he cuts
down all of them. Paul who's
second ace of the series. My
goodness. Not even we expected
him to win that. There's
nothing more iconic than a
parlor ace and then seeing the
player comes and that laugh
that he does after it because
He'll laugh his face off for like 10 seconds as the rest of the team are just like, oh my goodness, thank god we've got Barlow in our team again to pull us out of the shit when it all goes south.
Another ace, two rounds entirely off Barlow's back in this series. Now this time it's a little bit different. He got the ace over on Fortress and then with the first five kills he got on the map and I think it happened in like round three, round four.
This time he's at least 11 and 3 so he's firing. He's having a great game so far. Barely dying.
He's only died in the three rounds that Furia have won or at least that's the story line that
sounds good. He might have died in a few of them but who knows. The big performance from him on an
attack that it was hanging in the balance wasn't it Lynx? I think it was a time where you thought
okay two kills for Loira. Still not looking terrible. But sort of you said I'm still
still have the clash, they still can work around that in some way. And then all of a sudden
Lover jumps in towards New balcony and you think, hang on a minute, you can now challenge
him to cocktail, we've got the cocktail player super distracted, posh posh a couple of kills
go elsewhere, and then a tail is all the time, where's the last defender? Well, they're
usually in the freeze, they're tucked in, and in this instance it just happened
to be Pahlo, and he had the bullets for business.
Second ace in two maps is quite impressive, but at the same time, Flux 7 down, 1-0 in the
series, but up 4-3 on their pick. Starting to chain together rounds. That was their third
in a row, now they look to acquire their fourth. So, as Polly moves to the clash,
a really action-packed operator when it comes to the gunplay might be a bit more
passive for the majority of the round, but I think that's a good role for him
to be on in a place that you will feel very, very comfortable.
A lot of utility, station around this bakery side, some Rooney Gates of course, and the
clash can rotate to any of these outward positions.
There's two different players, or three different players I guess in total.
Station around bakery and small bake, utility goes in.
We're going to get an angle through this smoke as the glass pushes through.
Some shots will land inside of the small bake but not hit any of the actual attackers.
Birds pushing deeper will cut down Dode as the clash must fall back.
with supportive dots from behind will not fall today.
There's one player pushing into the VIP side as well.
Furia looking to surround this defense.
The Flux of W7M have warded off the pressure
for the moment and aided by this information.
The glass is prone behind Small Vic.
There was nobody covering that window.
Perhaps Furia getting a little too comfortable in this round
as Loven walks up against the freest kill of his career.
Speaking of free kills,
seems like Fluxo could just shoot at a wall
pick one up at the minute. Valken herds last two remaining attackers. I mean that's, it's
a choice way to try and deal with the Glaz, isn't it? Just smoke them off and hop in.
Where was the cut off from Brownstairs? Where was the cut off from Coachek? Where was the
cut off coming in from the bottom of red? That killer go down as a trade, leaves
a chance for Valk. We all know what that DMR can do. When one of them's a clash,
always going to be up against it isn't going to find the first not time to worry
about the class she's going to get through cons first and isn't going to do
so it looks like the B7M breathe a sigh of relief they've chained two rounds
together here they've now got a two-round buffer
furia just as good a time as any they're going to take that tactical time
out and two rounds by the way in which fury I have started with the
opening pick. We've kind of had the the shoe swap between maps one and two. Map one, it
was a lot of Lobin early round impact and Fluxor W7 and failing to convert. Now it's
Furia who she would be struggling to implement any kind of like consistent plan on their
attacking side. I mean, you go back to round seven. We had a 3v5, right? Lawyer
was able to get two kills, but they were within the first two minutes and all seemed
a little bit haphazard, particularly that kill over on Lobin outside of snow or
inside a snow door. Obviously it was quite nice,
but it didn't really necessarily seem part of some like,
coherent overall strategy, right?
Found a good opportunity, but it was an isolated one at that.
Then you have that round and like you pointed out, Oli,
I mean, on the small big position, we have an entry,
we have a plan to acquire control,
but to keep it, to hold the crosses
and to make sure your players are covered,
that's where Fury elected it just gave Fluxer W7M
an immediate and easy avenue back into the round
and just continue stacking on top of their victory
so far, four in a row, two on the attacking side and two on the defense.
And if they win their third choice site on, well, on the defense,
it'll be five in a row, and they'll be one round away from sending us tonight, Haven.
I said at the start of the series, you look at the balance of the maps,
you look at the way that the veto played out,
you look at the evidence, both of these teams, past performances,
things that we've seen recently only last week,
but like a free map from the start
is that timeout gonna be enough from Furious point of view
to get it done in two
still a chance for a 7-5
I was the scoreline on Fortress
equally, there's a chance for a 7-3
but so haven't shown any signs of letting up on the defense
nice thorn
that's just never gonna get found
ooh, the one as well
I like changing them to that because you kind of run from one point before you know it, you've had to push it all the way up to what awesome thing you can do.
Well, then we're hoping to like play on the piano for a second or two.
Well, also just kind of human nature generally indicates, you know, that you're going to cover a lot of areas horizontally.
So if you hit one in that area, your first instinct is going to be there's probably not another one over here.
Yeah, exactly.
Surely there's not another.
Yeah, sure, no, exactly. You think surely there's not another.
the same logic of when you see somebody spawn peek and they evade, you're like
surely they're not gonna do it again. And most of the time it's correct but when
you see kind of these little those little bits like that take advantage of
that human reasoning it can be quite difficult. Not saying those razor
blooms will like literally define the round but is an interesting little thing
to note. Hertz by the way is on very low HP already to start. He's got some
important utility he'll bank off the corner but I was about to say if
somebody gets a nice vertical angle, Hollywood or even Dodes might have a
shot at taking him down early. He'll force the acre out of position but
Just rotate over to pallets as next to Goyo
Tracked by the death mark and her it's needing to perform double duty not only apply pressure
But also worry about the player on his white window
As flexor W7m are facing a lot of heat but not really taking any damage dots hops out of the window gets herds in the process
A nice clean one-for-one on a player who already seemed marked for death
It really felt like that's what fury we're trying to pay out that it would try to help over reaction
and they are getting a serious reaction right now.
Loebing gonna drop down right into Lawyer's lap.
Beside Dan Repel at the moment for Bock.
Gonna be on that reading door.
Big advantage right now for Furia.
Not only in the time, but also in the man count.
Collins, just no business being in that position
with that gun looking in that direction.
Punishment is severe right now.
period just kind of let them undo themselves in a lot of ways the plant
now starting to go down parley we've seen him perform miracles already
tonight there's no room for another notice last remaining player the diffuser
did get stopped from going down but there's nothing likely that's gonna stop
it this time say again box there is gonna come off just for a brief time
why is this diffuser not been put down I mean there's still 30 seconds there's
still plenty of time, but every second it takes by, it's a little bit of opportunity the stun is going to miss.
Surely it doesn't pick up all three right now.
Now, just the one for the moment. Just the one and impactless frag as Fiora win an important round and break Fluxo W7M's streak.
As you pointed out, just looking to bait out some reactions from the defense and they are more than willing to oblige.
Very understandable jump out on the white window side. See people do that all the time.
No worries, even though you die to a claymore, that's just kind of the risk you take in that position.
You take out the sledge in the process, he was applying some pressure on the cocktail window.
So it's all a normal beginning of the round.
But then you see Lora creep into pillar with that doka b call and you're thinking, well surely he's not going to run into the site.
It's much too early for that. And no, he's not.
He's able to throw that doka b call and that is what kind of signals to the defense, oh, we need to fall back.
It's about half the round, they're applying more and more pressure to cocktail.
I need to drop them in the pillar to make sure that I can get back to the site safely
It's a very logical human reaction
But by working himself into that position while clearly lobin was expecting it in some way
I think spotted him as he was falling
Lobin's able to get that care or lawyer excuse me. He's able to get that kill and just a mid-round call by fury
It works out perfectly again taking an advantage of kind of what Flux of W7m are used to with the rhythm of these rounds
early pressure, mid-round retreat, hold out in the late round. By realizing that
pattern and kind of taking advantage and breaking it, Furia get a very important
round to at least narrow Fluxor W7M's lead.
Well the only trail by one now, that's to feel very doable. Fluxor W7M don't watch it,
they continue to overreact and continue to overagress. Furia are a team that
don't need a lot of the clock to be able to operate in. They're not going to be too worried about spending a little bit of the
round just trying to bait out something from the defense. Pay that time for the
possibility of reward. The reward definitely paid off in round nine. Time will tell
if it pays off here in round number ten cons. You can be downstairs just playing
on red. Cautious of somebody maybe trying a bit of a walk up. What gonna be
happening on this cocktail side once again lobin taking down volts DMR's they
pack a serious punch with lobin down I should be piano fairly easy to take but
you look into all that as army to really hold that ground play inside a pixel
seeing a lot of utility burn as well this could be quite a quick move right
now from fury after they've got that opening before stota is to move a
little bit but is able to withstand the explosiveness of that frag grenade loses a lot of health but
that dmr packs enough of a punch that might be able to make up for the lost hp the pulse down
below relaying this information to him but the courterist has a bit more active intel or at least
a better ability to capitalize off of it so what thoughts can relay the cons it's still a 5v3 for
fury off spotting another cons letting his shin show for just a second punishing so much of
to the attack at the moment, taking another fight at it.
Cons looking to get aggressive.
One more, going for the prone as well.
Fluxer W7M know they need to bring this main count back,
but with Foxxerra going down,
I think the pressure's off them a little bit.
You know the two players are offside at the moment,
and you know that two players are downstairs.
Cons, Dots, trying to play in and around this white window.
Flux is just there to capitalize on this.
Herds has dropped off the window,
but the pressure is equally being applied from above
made that's surely going to send at least one of them down there but Herds has moved elsewhere.
Prowling finds a kill on Topalu and comes and dots now. We've given up that white stairs position
playing on 90. Is he able to find sufficient frags? He's able to find the one and the next two
lasers on to Herds. Doesn't exactly have two 1v1s isolated but until the diffuser goes down
He's only DS on the cover will send an eight round the corner impact goes out, but oh he walks into it. Oh
I got a feel bad for cons there of the indicator was barely even on his screen
Possibly the worst timing you could possibly have as a result. It completely ties the game
It just goes to show how important that secondary utility can be throwing the nade just to zone off the area
Just so that if somebody pushes through they're either going to take damage or die
It just it's just another thing like it's not that you don't count or back yourself in the gunfight
It's just double security. So I'm just gonna make this even easier for myself. I've got a nade left over
I know I'm gonna throw it toward the direction that they're coming from because they've got one job and that is to swing me
If you kill the guy planting and I miss him then I'm the one that's left with egg on my chin
I think it was bugzera that was playing on the line
I think that was playing online so Vulps is made quite possibly to close that last one
but we got a brilliant round from Furia 2 in a row and they now let the carries.
Two maps starts to become quite a real pod head and stairs to the basement and of course
been here before. Last round, looks like some of you said they're on there.
I don't know where Hertz got an open pick again, but always those open picks converted on.
I think there's a big dot 3k to really seal the deal and pull it out of the bag, but this
time it looks a lot more certain, doesn't it? We've got a very solid lineup, soft breach,
times two. Ridlock always a good pick in the Monty to really pivot it all around.
It can be quite good to march through that first floor. I mean we often see it
moving up that white hallway. I imagine you can see folks contemplating that
position later on in the round as they will weigh their options over the
course of the first minute and a half. Stunned a little bit at the beginning
on a whole lot to worry about just yet as Fury opening up the castle
barricades ascertaining the nature of flux of W7M's defense and it's pretty
standard so far as we can tell from the operator lineup. There will be a full hold
of the bottom floor spread out to white stairs in the code check position.
Castle barricades will deny some visibility, will deny some angles, but the nature of the site will allow
everybody to hop in through that top floor. No ram will mean that the
vertical destruction will be a bit more tedious as you mentioned. Two options,
but no boogie drones. Requires it to be a little more manual, thankfully for them.
Only one C4 in the process, but still something to consider you can't just throw the boogie drones and walk away
It'll be we have to be a bit more work
There's required attention active attention from fury up
And while I agree I think you can be a little bit more pinpoint with the skeleton key and the sledge
So if you know that you've got key angles to get rather than just a long strip
Maybe can be a good position to be in currently fury or try dial in on this player down inside of VIP
instead it's going to be Godas first in that firing line. Mission successful then in getting
that opening pick and now just wait for the Monty to push down and really open this up a little bit
and shoot out a lot of that soft wall. Do you still have a player inside of Christmas
and a couple of players at the bottom of Red or maybe even Longbar, Zotto Canister?
Gonna slow things down a bit but you can't help but feel that Dox's moments are numbered
in his current position. Time is going to be a factor though and it's going to be the hand
pressing on the backs of Furia forcing them to push down these white stairs.
They have to move at some point. They feel their impetus, feel the wind at their backs. They'll
have to start making progress, especially only 30 seconds to go. A lot of secondary utility to
rely on. Pholps has made his way into the site. Never dealt with dots though, but most
importantly dots still has that C4. If he can rotate around and find the right position,
could have massive impact.
Volts shielding the defuse plant
as the guns behind them go alive.
Boxer are good for one.
Volts somehow making it through.
Flawless for Furia.
Completely lethal on the execute.
Just march their way in
and the defuse plant is merely a bait
for an inevitable outcome.
They have no business being that well coordinated
when they've been together for as long as they have.
They look like a team that has been together
for years at this stage.
Well, everything seems to be clicking beautifully to get the open and pick they're able to push themselves into side
There's a bit of a diffuser juggle and there's a plan to get a plant down behind the Monty as soon as that plan
Changes it's not that it fails. The objectives just changes a little bit
It's like oh, we now know where two people are Monty can call out all of that information
And the rest of the team is in such a brilliant position to collapse
You can go through the match replay and watch the POV for every one of these
Furia players for that last round and it just like a synchronized dance with how
in touch and how linked up they were with one another. A real fine display of
attacking onto Bakery and a fine display of attacking overall on
Catherine with the way that some of these rounds have transpired. Matching
series point now for Furia. The guaranteed overtime here if they aren't
able to convert it in this round. Got chances, Lynx.
They've got chances, specifically one right now. There's one round of Plexo W7M need to
win to bring us to OT to get another shot at this. It's the same Razor Blooms we observed
before from Loven. These dual layers that the attack might have to walk through should
they choose to repel in through the Christmas window.
Cousin Barricades also present the Vulcan Packs placed on the door, who, but an early kill by Loira, no active utility loss but is an important presence.
It's the Loira to go down next as already almost to the Red Hallway, getting very quick with things, either out of step the rest of the attacker, maybe just trying to latch onto a gap.
Make things and even trade early on in, any bit of momentum Fury could have acquired from that will likely be halted a little bit by the loss of the Ash.
They continue looking forward as they know that the thorn is below new hatch. No nades for
vulps to deal with her. It does our deathmark tracker to fill a similar purpose. Crossfire
on the skylight as well as the thorn goes down immediately the moment that deathmark begins
buzzing around her head. Oh, bug's error there. Explaining a little bit of trigger discipline,
but also jumping the gun at the same time, herds. It's trademark angle. We've seen
him upside down repellent why it's so many times so far cons now the next
target for that deathmark players on the side of fluxo left with not really too
much to hold on to on this top floor we do have a player tucked into cocktail
still birds really best attempt to bait in things out there is now gonna get
himself upside down on that reading door they're a dangerous position for
bolts to find himself in.
He'll have Vendetta in the middle of a brilliant pre-fire
through the wall.
Thodes will fall in the process, but it leaves the advantage
firmly with Furia.
Only for the moment, though, is Fluxor W7M
able to cut him down for a moment,
but now it all lands on cons.
They qualify in a few more rounds
over where they fall to the lower bracket right here.
Spotted around the corner, trying
to land the pre-fire of the pistol, only has so much ammo.
12 rounds apiece, but only two maps necessary.
team to qualify to Salt Lake
City. You can see just exactly
what that means to this team.
Team built with the sole purpose
of achieving majors at their
first opportunity. They will be
headed to Salt Lake City.
Guaranteeing themselves some SI
points as well. And if that
wasn't a surprise, they have
we do have it. Fioria are locked and loaded. They're going to Salt Lake City as the second
representative from the SAL region. The way it all came down to though Leo was beautiful to witness
because at some point it looked like it would slip away from them. Yeah, I think we all had doubts
at the moment where they switched to attack. I think it's really the moment where we were all
wondering is there really a chance for these guys to go into attack on different sided map
and show us something else than just the Relentless Aggression.
Is there something else in that team? And I think we saw it today because
they showed that, no, it's not just purely skill. There is cohesion, there is team play.
That last round, you know, the demo striker on Lobin who's playing Shaiiko that creates movement.
At the same time, we have a rappel heaven to punish him. At the same time,
then the most used is that pressure to go in. You know, those are preset plays.
Yes from outside the map but like step-by-step takes you know that that's like full on coordinated full room clear
Attacks that are fundamentally at the highest level of what you can get
On on on products on on on cafe, you know
So I'm looking at a team that does not solely rely rely on the visual play
It's very easy to dismiss fury as it has this big TDM team
Well, I think they just showed us today that they had more in them
They absolutely did, they absolutely didn't. We saw, like even from Fluxo, the attempts that
Aura that was brought in, walking down certain locations that they might want to play with,
the Silent Snake or Silent Snake, sorry, that was brought in multiple rounds from both teams,
abusing the FAMAS all the way to the edge. Falu who played a game out of his mind also,
but all of that is still not enough. And I want to bring everybody back to the start of
kickoff where the conversation around free area was how the hell do you make a
team like this work you're bringing players from all of the world and yes
you have herds there in the center but you're bringing back the Brazilians that
went abroad had experienced in other teams and other regions you put them
together and you're always asking can this actually function or not and it
does it does it just takes a bit of time but beating fluxo and the way
that they have in this game. After Fluxo played an excellent game against FaZe earlier in the
bracket, I think that if anything solidifies Furia as despite the fact that they are not the same
Furia that we knew a couple months ago, they are still a team to be reckoned with and the legacy
of the organization that is Furia continues on even though there is a brand new roster,
a brand-new set of cavalry that are representing it.
Yeah, I just saw the round 11 again.
That was just one more example that Basement take,
that was a flawless round with Volbs leading the charge with the Monsi,
and all of his teammates playing the right way,
having the right vertical play and the angles to punish anyone moving.
Thanks to Volbs getting into the bomb site.
Those are the layers of strategy depth that I was, I guess,
I don't think many people were expecting from a team like this.
It goes to show that in a very similar to G2,
It's not because you have big gunners on a team that necessarily you can't have strategic depth.
You can see that these guys also know how to play fundamentally well.
It's just that sometimes they're just ready to take more risk than others.
And that makes them a very, very scary team because Fiora is one of the only teams that
can change that pace pretty quickly. From a heavy rush with full on fire power,
getting super aggressive with herds, for example, who jumps out or a buck
who jumped out in the last game, to a full on direct take that is step by step and
way closer to a default tech, but really well executed as well, it is very surprising I think
for many teams to see a liner that was composed of five different players, come in and in a span
of a few weeks already reach a level of cohesion that defeats a team that has just beaten FaZe for
example. Keep in mind neither FaZe nor Team Liquid and Alienware are yet to be confirmed for
No, no, literally the top three.
Oh my god.
This just shows you that the up and comers in this region can on good days, definitely
hang with the best.
This is not cut and dry.
This is not, I guess, your Spanish football league, where you know where the top two are
going to be pretty much all the time, or your top three.
It's not the case.
This is the Premier League of Siege, where you have no idea of the equivalent of a
crystal palace is going to make it into a final someday somehow. That's the beauty of
SAEL is it's always in constant movement and in constant manner of reinventing itself
with fresh blood with different rosters that in theory shouldn't work and yet they do.
That's what I love about watching this region and being a fan of Brazilian teams for all those
year 10 years plus now going on it every time they never cease to blow my mind
with what they do however one that has done quite a bit is the man of the hour
Diaz Lucas joining us on the call all the way from Brazil representing
FURIA Diaz congratulations you've made it to Salt Lake City how you feel it
I'm feeling great feeling great it's been a while I see a smile I see a smile
Finally, I've been seeing focused up Diaz for all of these weeks and now he's happy, he's proud.
Yep, yeah, I'm happy.
Last time I qualified for a major was Atlanta.
Last LAN I played was reload, before that was Boston Invite, so it's been away from international events for quite some time and I'm happy to be back.
Happy to be back.
Speaking about this for you, I was just looking at your stats from kickoff and I was thinking
it feels like when you're on liquid you're already one of the standout players alongside
my eye statistically, you know, despite being on the back line.
I feel like with this new roster though, you reach a whole new level where one that
I did not see on the OXG, I just feel like you keep on progressing, do you feel
I feel like you're in this roster specifically, you get really strong in the role you're in
because I feel like I've never seen you that consistent with an roster.
Yeah, the roster plays a big part in it.
I feel like every roster I played for I improved a little bit
and this one by far is the one I've improved the most.
But mainly, I feel like the main thing was coming to Brazil.
The level here is just on another level.
Every team here is good, the scrims are very good, and it just forces you to improve, you know.
And when you have nasty teammates surrounding you, a crazy staff, it's a perfect environment, it's almost impossible to not improve in 60.
Speaking of that competition in Brazil, I was feeling the same thing and I was like, you guys just got like five different roles.
a few weeks ago to build this project, you had to wait till after I say basically to rebuild everything.
And in the most competitive region in the world, you get at least guaranteed top two of SAL when teams like FaZe,
like the former Fiori, Iros, Turing, now Team Liquid, you know, like Fluxor W7M now that you've sent to the low bracket.
All three of these teams who have been together for much longer than you guys are sent to the lower bracket and will be lower seed than you guys.
Did you expect that? How do you explain that that you managed to get there in just a couple of weeks compared to these teams?
Yeah, I definitely did expect that before even before our first
Practice I knew that we're gonna do good, you know, it's impossible to not too good with with the lineup with all these names and
Our practice is perfect. Everyone is good in their roles
Like it's I don't know it's almost impossible to not succeed in this in this roster
Well, yes, you're talking about the kind of the success of the roster, but there's I feel like with every team
There's always the one person on it
That is the glue that keeps everybody together and keeps them motivated and set and focused on their goal
Who is that for you on furia?
Oh
It definitely has to be our coach reduct. He uh
Yeah, he's very good at being a leader inside and outside of the cyber and all the personalities
and game styles all mesh very well so then everyone plays their part in their own kind
of way.
Makes a lot of sense, Redacted.
Of course, a person that has been in and around the scene in Brazil for what, eight
years at this point since the very beginning of the Brazilian siege that
push internationally so good to hear here but
Diaz with your victory like I said you solidified Salt Lake City you're going
there
anything like to say to the furia fans and the Diaz fans out there
rooting for you
the MVP of this matchup
as well
and
what do you'd like to say to NIP before your match up against them
I honestly didn't understand anything, you said everything's freezing.
I think he's out.
Well, I'm gonna repeat it for you.
Can you hear us now?
We can now.
No.
You're gone, you're all robotic.
I would say just congratulate you.
They called me a bot, but yeah.
Yeah, we'll leave it at that.
You have another match to play.
Go rest up, DS, go rest up.
These are MVP in the matchup.
Corez now my friend, 114 APS, 19-3 MVP of the matchup, great to see from DS who's obviously
told us a bit about his story and how he got to this point and the experiences he's had
all over the different rosters in the past, the events he's been to and now Leo is adding
yet another one.
He's gone to more international events than you have.
Yeah, yeah, probably.
probably. I would be surprised to be honest. I mean, he competed for longer than I did.
And honestly, has been on better teams than I've ever been to, I think. I mean, he's a
better player overall, but I have to compare myself to him. I think, really, I think the
growth from the player that we saw start in NA to where he's been here in Brazil
is actually impressive. Because I thought that was he was a stand up player in NA,
but he was amongst the top few teams. And it's not really like, what's not like,
that superstar player in NA, right? I think when you reached Liquid, you started really being seen
as like that layer of backline that is always so consistent alongside Maya, even in a roster that
did not work well. And I think that now with Furia, around all of kickoff, he's been the most
consistent player alongside Ropes, but on very different roles. Like, you know, he plays most
of the flex support one. So if you need a balance between a team that is overly aggressive
and inconsistent results, then you need a back line that can pull rounds off when they've lost
a bad advantage. Because the entry line is going to take risk. You need the back line to be good
enough to be able to save rounds. And I think that's why I think he really shines in his roster.
I think overall, like, he's also in a position where he knows he needs to frag at some point,
because they will be at a managed advantage, and he does it consistently.
Leo, you broke her stats. The scoreboard is dead just because of how exciting
Well, Mega Mind, thank you very much for our first two matchups and our night is not done
yet.
I'd like to take a look at our bracket, I guess the second to last time, of today because
unlike the usual that we have here.
What?
You're not going to break it?
No, no, no.
No, you're not.
You know who already broke the bracket?
It's our two finalists, NIP and Furia because look at what's happening in the semis.
So W7M, Team Liquid Alienware, Faceplan, and Lost. All four of the teams, but really the first three.
Only two of them are gonna make it to Salt Lake City, and only one of them is gonna play in Phase 2.
The other one is gonna have to trudge through the swamp of Phase 1 before qualifying to the actual,
I guess, group stage that leads you into the main event. That is Insane Leo.
SAL always finding ways to top itself from stage to stage.
Yeah, and that I think is another statement of just how good this region is, you know, they have so much talent that if you put them all together in five different roasters like the roster mania created, then you get an opportunity where I stated at the beginning.
there's only four spots for the major for SAO. Yet you have NIP, Team Liquid, FURIA,
Fluxor WCNM, and FaZe. One of them will have to miss it. And the problem is, with the fact that
Fluxor WCNM defeated FaZe, we're now in a scenario where either Team Liquid, either FaZe is
going to miss it. And these two were not, well, they were amongst probably the first and second
seed of SAO in everyone's mind. And that will be a huge, huge disappointment to whoever
doesn't make it on the one side. Two-time SI hammers, SI champions, another one,
Furia, the one team that had the biggest after-phase. One of these two, the streak stops here.
Well, well, if anything, do you mind thinking because FANDA doesn't really get to watch
CL that often, it may be the best opportunity for NAL and EML to really telling you it is not
not getting easier with MLP and fear to qualify, not with the quality of games that we've seen
out of anything that just promises that Salt Lake City a super fun major to win. We're not
even done with teams from SAL or from NAL from CNL and APL. So cannot wait to see the final results
will be make sure you're grabbing your tickets if especially you're in North America who like to
to be part of Siege history.
But, Leo, we just have two teams that just played their game.
So we're gonna give them a little break.
Now when we get back, so we're gonna be like
around 40 or so minutes when we get back,
we'll prepare you for the pre-match,
the grand final of SAL's upper bracket story.
Fiora versus Ninjas and Pajamas after the break.
I
I'ma keep it going, I'ma keep it going, I'ma keep it going, so I won't let you go.
I
Oh
I
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to, you know, a quick break, we're needed to reset
before we go into our final match for Grand Final that is here in the upper bracket.
This is NIP vs. Syria.
If you all have at the beginning of the three minutes during the page, this would be our
final win.
I don't think there are many people that will be able to do this.
At least the NIP part.
Syria was a very different beat back then.
Now with a completely different period, they're doing great.
NIP, they're doing great.
It's a hell of a situation for these fighters.
That's what happened when you put the most competitive region in the world into a massive
vs Romania and somehow 5 super teams come out of it and you only have 4 spots for a major.
You arrive in a situation where, you know what, both 2DG and FACEC are in the lower
bracket and we're in the gap with this upper final that was closer to the degree
unexpected. A team that was made of five players that went from five different
rosters has managed to do a better job as some of the most consistent teams in
the world. Welcome to SAEL. This is Siege Esports.
Are you alright? I'm alright. I feel great. I feel amazing right now. I'm happy to hear, you know.
We should always be wanting things for our friends and this makes me really happy Leo
There I be for dear yet is a big big matchup. I'm gonna have to talk about it here
Yeah, we'll bite to all the new coming gear
Context of what happened in the matchup prior to this one here. I play fuck so Debbie's have an M
They looked
Very good despite how tough the game was
1. Aferia on the individual level, on the teamwork, on the strategy, knowing from the
ice story, individual players on drone, and they're on the attack, knowing what operators
to bring to really intense all that resistance and to spot that completely at the moment.
It was a beautiful win. W7M certainly gets the best Kudos to Paolo on that, but it
was not enough.
Yeah, and honestly if you look at Furia, I think you have a core that basically creates
the core playstyle and that is Hertz and alongside him you put Loira and you put Volps and in
that scenario you have three of the most aggressive players in the world creating the most relentless
chaotic playstyle you could think of.
Now many things we think that or many people would have thought that that would be the
only label to that team, the only playstyle they would be able to play and I think
proved everyone wrong. Like we said, just a few rounds before Serena
match before they just played, there's more to that team. There's more to that
team with the back line supported by Dias, by Buxia playing the shields, by a
team that is able to play fundamentals really well. It's a team that is
somewhat complete and like I said, as soon as I saw the team on paper, I knew
we were going to perform even before starting the scrims and I think so far
they threw it on the other side while looking at NIP. NIP was being consistent throughout the whole year
who've, you know, they had waited one year and a half to go back to the international tournament.
They had it really back deep after winning C-Tational. They were struggling to really make it back to
the top international level and it found their solution last year. However, they did not
perform like they wanted to. No semi-final, no grand final for these guys and it was just not
And like Pino said in his interview, he feels that with that team, with Bassetto as the lead now,
after Constip, the barter, they feel like they're ready for another year of not only making every international event,
but this time actually going further and for all the fans maybe attending a new Grand Final.
And I think they would start today by storing things and winning SAL.
That is such a strong statement to going to the Major and doing so by being the best team out of the best region.
Fancy putting up numbers alongside Wizard, Hades has been kind of this underground pick that we're seeing really rise in the right moments and actually snatch MVP positions quite often, more often than one would even think.
And one person that Pino specifically talked about in multiple interviews, but especially our last one that we had, Bassetto is really playing it up here on the team and providing a lot of backline support to give this team some support.
this team successful rounds and really help them achieve those spots.
Yeah, he's the one that plays games and I think he proved today especially that he could only play
the shields and lead this team in a different way than Bones did, but also took the shots because
he was for the first time ever the best really player on one of the maps in that tier three.
And I think one of those staple players that made them win their game against a very tough
opponent I mean it's no no huge no small feature to literally send some
liquid and you count on top of it that Bessetto entering in this position
and IP being I guess having this breath of fresh air put back into them getting
to the grand final position that they're already qualified to Salt Lake
City right that applies in the same way to their opponents in fury but winning
here puts you as number one the top dog that everybody's gonna look at in
SAO as high points of plenty cash money at the end of it and a higher seed going into Salt Lake City
That is really big and I would say the most important part would be the morale the momentum of the bragging rights
And you say hey you underestimated us for so long and look at us now
The main thing has to be the SA points though
Like it has to be that like I mean if you're top two right now if you lose this you you've got a hundred seventy five
If you win 240, that is massive, that is way too much math for me, 25 plus 40, 65 SAI points.
I'm able to do that math, 65 SAI points that you win more than the 7th one, so very important one.
And then also 4,000 USD more than the top two.
Looking at this, I'm very interested to look at the maps.
I think that both of these teams have invaded a lot of things.
I think for Furia especially, they were going through SAO with such a massive advantage
because they were a brand new team, no one really knew what their map pool was.
They've been able to abuse it as much as possible.
We saw it today on Fortress for example.
So, can I get interested to see Milo's where we're headed at right now?
Yeah, let's bring on the map, Vito. Why not?
We'll see what we get out of this one here.
What do we have for this BO3?
three chalet consulate night haven and club removed bank is gonna be the first
and for dirt way way way way way way way we're getting some repeats here and we
go to border I okay I know it's past midnight for myself and my wife is
probably gonna hate me for saying my life but I hope to God
How do we see a border in this series?
And we see it, Minash, we see it.
And that will be honesty.
Honesty, if we go all the way through, it will be a banger of a map.
But before that, we have to go through bank.
We have to go through Fortress.
Two maps that we saw today, bank, we've not seen it played by Furia yet.
A brand new team, like I said, they will be able to surprise, however it was a map
that I heard Sloth to play, but yeah, like we said, it is a map that has banned
a lot so far so pretty low priority however we did see an IP a bit lost on it
during the playoffs they were really confident on it not a big surprise to see
them pick it fortress we've just seen it play today by an IP as well I found
a mistake and load a lot also won it 7-5 during the playoffs oh period lost
one in the game yeah close matchup yeah 7-5 between them and then if we go to
border honestly will be about burner because you have such big fighters on
both sides I just want to see fantasy play concerns I think in terms of
explosiveness and like an aggression think we'll reach something that is
really cool this is a proper test for both of these lineups we already said
it ahead of the semi-finals of the upper bracket this final here is gonna be
studied very very closely by every team that's going into Salt Lake City
preparing for these two monsters once they get to the major. But we're here, we're chatting about
what maps we can get. I want to say hi and chat to our casters for today. Please, on our grand final,
it's Lynx and Interil. Lynx, welcome back, Interil. Hey, welcome to SAL, my friend. How you doing?
Thanks. I picked a great day for Leo to be high energy. It would seem. I enjoyed the
the Borat reference. I was supposed to work SAL weeks ago, but Emmy had like a, I don't
know, something. So now here I am. And I get to work with Lynx again, which is always delightful.
So it should be a good day and we got, we got a grand final. Well, upper bracket final
to go through, I suppose.
That is the grand final.
Why did we speak in the constant of grand final? I mean, like, it's, you know, it's
the two, like based on the leaderboards, like the best teams, they're not going
to the lower bracket after this. Like, it doesn't really matter. It's like, it's,
grand final we can ignore the labels I mean I'm sorry it says upper bracket finals
not grand finals I think we have the lawyer and the pedant how do you say
that's called the lawyers that's the same thing you said the links is not a
lawyer yet that is true I am at some point the whole two years well look
great look both of you have guitars only one of you has a cat so I'm giving this
over to a part did you just change classes
gaslighting me anyways it's magic man and well magic man what do you think of
this here going into it were you expecting nip fury with the all the
roster changes and all to be the grand final the region if you were just
looking at kickoff without any context of matches?
I mean, in all seriousness, Nip, no, Furia, sure.
I think that the Furia team on paper is quite scary,
and I think that their potential is very, very high.
I mean, the one thing you'll see from the Flux
at W7M game, particularly the Fortress game,
is that there's ample mistakes
that both of these teams are going to commit, right?
And it's all about punishing that.
I think Nip maintained and kept their core identity.
They look like they're a little bit better.
They had a great run through stage two last year,
if you recall.
But I think for Furia,
I think the potential is still even higher than what we've seen them achieve so far.
I could have seen them making the grand final.
I'm a little surprised that FaZe isn't there.
I'm a little surprised that Team Liquid Alienware isn't there, but I mean, we'll see them
in action tomorrow.
Those two teams in particular, so.
That's going to be a sick game, and, well, that might be a grand final quality on its
own.
However, we have our grand final right here.
Two have earned their positions.
We start off with our first map on Bank, Fira, NIP.
Time to catch it in.
Interl, inlinks.
Have fun.
I'll thank you so so very much.
Lynx will be joining me to do some color commentary.
It's been quite a while since we last worked together.
I think we worked Brazil together last time.
I can't remember the last time we actually did cast together,
but this will be good.
Bank is a great map for Brazil.
These are some strong teams,
and I expect to see some fireworks here.
And not only is it a great map for Brazil,
I think it's just a great map in general.
One of my personal favorite maps in the whole pool.
I don't know if it's like number one.
I think that might go to Shele.
But I love bank in general, but I agree that I think for Brazil in particular
This is a really really really strong map of course we saw and I P play earlier and it was exceptionally good quality
It was an 8-6 victory for NIP against team liquid Alienware in the map that I'm still think is probably the most impactful of the day
Necessitating a team liquid Alienware and phase match in the lower bracket
At least for now with our two qualified teams to the Salt Lake City Major
We'll have a read you a bank for one of them starting off on the first site
We will have a defense of basement as a typically the case and a bit of an extension into the open area position
As you can see a bit of a looser set up
This will not surprise anybody's paying attention to my pee today
See on that visual is going to be the player who usually will go for any kind of solo roam
He's got a bit of a fortress he can fall back to maybe not necessarily in terms of you know
Strong utility like Castle Barricades, but a bit of a looser setup and he's dead because he hopped out of the map at the start
So I'm just to hand it over to you
I mean everybody knows that the best way to use a vigil ability is to hop off the top rope and engage it outside the building
I've always said that I've always said that you said that so many times
I want to say that you are a trendsetter. You are always ahead of the curve. I really am quite something. What can I say?
Well, you really are quite something but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a compliment
Um, well, I like to think so. I mean, you know, if Josh Lyman says something, it's got to be positive
To go to any start for fantasy nips identity adding to set out of this roster has changed things around quite a bit
And it's also made them a little bit less reliant on fantasy
I recall the staff that we brought up frequently from SI and and the competing matches before that was that so goes fantasy
So goes this nip team if fantasy dies early
Usually this team's chances are in the mud. This nip is a bit more well-rounded this time
You see guys like hates putting in better performances
Pino's even had some better numbers than we're used to so they will have their hands full against a feria team that is
Bangin' on all cylinders they'll trade things back with Pino getting down Loira with half the round to go
We're at a 4v4
Matt was trying to probe for some more more control around the garage position
But given that Diaz Lucas is on such low HP
It's got to be careful how hard he presses that advantage. It'll be volks with an X kill, 4v3 acquired for Phyria.
Especially good timing to use that soliton scanner. You've got pretty much most of the defenders
forced back towards the site.
So if you're on the same level as if you're gonna be able to figure out a lot of these late-round positions that odds are,
NIP simply do not have the like the bandwidth or the time to move outside of.
Even then you still have a minute to reset, find these drones.
We've got three nades and two flashbangs for Fyria as well only issue. I could see is with the lack of smokes
There's gonna be a lot of difficulty getting that glass
Properly activated to like look through an angle and well with wizard getting aggressive like that
It's like NAP stole some fight left in them. I mean you're right looking through an angle
That's a hell of a shot from wizard Fyria will regain the lead they gunned down fantasy much earlier on and then these teams drawing blows
I believe Furia in a 3v2 and there was good patience from Hates that we saw as he was watching the cross into the bomb site
He had to reposition as his besetto to smoke canisters in pocket for besetto as well
So we can blanket whatever entry point Hates actually hasn't moved links still holding in the same position watching
Over towards stairs and watching over towards garage
Furia all the while go for a plant in the back of the site
Nehates gets down so besetto left to do it all himself. They managed to pull off the plant
Right in front of Bissetto's very eyes, and he will have no choice but to get hates up. All right
I like what they're cooking here 30 seconds left on that diffuse kit. Volts and herds are both hurt
They'll allow Bissetto to take from upstairs
Just got to make sure they play this clock so effectively
Can't cook the nades you just keep it in hand
Yep, struggling on this clock there goes Bissetto watch from Volts could coverage from Furia hates back from the dead
He's still got time against the soft wall. He'll attempt it. Oh
Hurry to get the final kill inferior takes the round I
Think we got a credit to deus Lucas there
And I mean talk about a I said that you ought to be careful not to press that advantage too far because of the low HP
And if there's a player you want to make the cautious decision
It's got to be deus Lucas out of everybody in this lobby probably one of the most patient players
I think we generally see in the SAO and when he was in North America
He had a similar reputation the downside of that you can you can often find yourselves in unwinnable 1v3 and 1v4 positions
But in cases like that when you want somebody just to passively hold an angle and more so focus on the
Passive pressure applied rather than actively taking any fights
that's the exact kind of position that Diaz Lucas thrives in and that he's really good at calculating in and
Obviously in that round as you saw not only does he get the first pick
But once the smokes fall back he understands that the best position is to kind of hold passive and firm and while he ended up losing that fight to
Hates, I think you have to understand that even though he might have not gotten a lot of kills, the fact that that garage angle was such a
constant threat makes the defense a lot more hesitant to move and forces them to take a fight in the process and as you can see
Hates got softened up enough that the setter had to take time to go revive him
It affected the retake in the late round and there's a lot of work done just by DS Lucas holding one position
There was some finger pointing at Diaz Lucas when he was picked up by this Furious Squad
because, well, he was a good player in North America and he was fine on Team Liquid before
they were on a Steam Liquid Alienware, of course.
But I do think there was some commentary about what he could provide for this roster
given some of the heavy hitters.
Everybody knows Volps, everybody knows Herds, you know, you see a guy like Loira and
what he was able to accomplish on that G2 roster even before he went across to
Europe.
Lucas might be the odd man out here, so it's good to see him being able to compete with some real heavyweights.
Fantasy now finding himself in familiar territory.
There were 30 seconds into this second round.
This was the window that if you recall, he jumped out of in the previous round and died almost immediately.
He watched as some of those barricades went in front of him and was prepped in nitro cell.
Just in case this Furia team decided to get a bit aggressive, but they will hold right now.
A little bit patient on that window repel looking into this top floor bomb site.
Oh, I mean, doesn't get more standard of prefire than that.
It'll be a one-for-one trade though, and all things considered probably one that actually favors NIP
The setter's already placed a lot of his HP and you're not really relying on him to be a heavy hitter
Not only is Heard's one of the main players you want to open up, you know
Lurks or gaps and exploit them. He also is bringing those five grimby's very active utility kind of an odd position to see Heard's in
Normally we see him on operators like IQ where the utility is a bit more passive
Not necessarily as like super impactful execute utility. So that one-for-one trade
It's a nice prefire from Furia, but it probably ends up cutting against them because the player and utility lost
They still have the ying and the glass can see through those smokes
But not having that trifecta, especially the intel gathering capabilities of herds will be a bit of a problem
And as they look to gear up for their push in through square a lot will need to come down to these smokes and these
Candelas, but specifically these smokes to get DS activated
Oh, there was another one from Furia.
Nip, full-core press now towards that skylight, well, part of this map.
Gates is looking for some more.
Now Diaz taking some damage and he's been dropped in the midst of his own smoke.
Furia coming up almost empty-handed.
If it wasn't for that Becedo kill earlier, this would be a devastating round for Furia.
Still salvageable, though not a ton of time for them to work with.
The perks of having Becedo dead is that he gets to watch all of the cameras that
Nip has strewn about this map in particular.
Osyokai drones.
Good patience by Louris.
Fantasy gets a bit too aggressive.
He's gunned down.
There's very limited time with now
for this Furia squad to work with.
They don't have any hard destruction,
so they're just going to have to go through
what soft destruction has been done
using what limited gadgetry they have
at their disposal candle is to go out
and now Loura will follow in a death mark.
Furia sweeping through this site.
It's all up to Pino in a 1v3.
Things were looking mighty good for Nip.
You know, finds one turns towards the other, but Diaz, who was involved earlier downed, but still not dead, picked up to be the saviour for Feria.
That's the name of your podcast, right? Down but still not dead?
That is spot on. You are so good. How do you do this?
So the really, the really, the thing that I really loved in that round that Feria did, obviously you have the initial loss and a bit of a mist round down in archives, you know, those things happen, but it's definitely something that Feria will want to keep an eye on.
Making sure that, ironic considering I'm talking about that, the T-Fence doesn't end up finding a gap and hitting a flank.
Something Furia are quite well known for on their defensive side.
But as they get that 3v3 with Fancy potentially getting a little too aggressive as, I mean, he would have known the attack was in square,
maybe just betting that they were already committing to the janitor push and fortunately the timing doesn't go his way.
You still see Furia take that time to reset and fully use all of their utility.
You can see him works in experienced team,
they'd be getting a bit disconnected,
not making full use of the candles or the glass,
but no, Fury, pause in the 3D3, use all of that,
and also activate the Daemons by pushing him up,
vending machine to get a completely different angle
of the situation.
So just a really well thought out late round
that came together really fast.
There is a reason why Fury made it to the finals,
same with Nipple, it's not.
Count them out by any stretch of the imagination,
but I mean, both of these teams are here
for good reason and we expect them
show off their dominance. Fury has ability to pivot and for what looked like a devastating
round so you so succinctly just put into words there is exactly why this team could very easily
top SA-L and let's not kid ourselves. I know that we trip over ourselves all the time to
say oh you know SA-L is the most competitive region, it's the most, oh it's the strongest
region if we want to be completely honest. Sorry.
I said you're tripping right now.
You disagree? You think that there's a better region than SAO?
No, I was just trying to make a joke.
Trying to make a joke for you?
Oh my god!
Yeah well, Boxer's going to lava that nitro cell. I'll give him a little bit of tickle.
That was funny, see? Because he didn't die. He only got tickled with it.
I just offened out the window just a little bit of damage, not too much too much not not a whole lot to write home about
But to your point
There was a lot of talk that people talk about s.d. All being the best team in the region
But I think even what we've seen in the finals so far
I mean might at least based off these first three rounds here
I certainly making a good run at the best in the league title to an arel and Laura might just have a good angle on
The site itself. Oh cuts wizards head clean off inside of the small office. And what do you know? That's the site
The set-o surviving by a hair finished off by herds from above, and now Lara has control.
Pino finds himself on an island. Half of the round is still to go.
Nip don't want to be too static inside of this map. That's why you see them being really
aggressive on the windows. Two rounds for fantasy. Hates upstairs was quite aggressive
as well, and now it really falls on these anchor players. Because if you don't succeed
from those first few outbursts and you trade off, then your anchor players, your support
players, on-site players, they're going to be feeling it.
You know, felt it in the previous round, infamiliar territory, same result, dies at the hands of Furia yet again.
And the Panthers, man, they look indomitable so far here on Bank.
And again, when you have these late-round moments when Furia have a very clear advantage in terms of man count, utility, map control, everything,
they're not throwing them away. It's a small detail to praise, just like converting a 2v1 when you've got like four candelas in your pocket.
But it's a moment in which they're not letting the small things go unnoticed again
You could easily see the player in cafeteria moving too quickly because for a brief moment there as
Pino was rotating behind the cubicle
You saw that player face check and that for the briefest moment was a 1v1 that likely could not have been traded
But Firae instead of reset pause and make use of all of their remaining utility
To win a round that was basically already gonna probably gonna go their way anyway
And that's just really good to see for three rounds in a row there are attacks and they're calling have looked really clean
They've been very well coordinated and not leaving anything unnoticed
And thank you have no choice at that point to take a tactical timeout for your NIP and also your down three to zero
Obviously not an not an ideal
Place for you to be on your own map starting of course on defense of bank
It bank is a bit of a weird one right long long considered a relatively friendly territory for the attackers because of how open it is
And if you can pull off a successful entry in your drone work and communication or our top tier, then you can easily isolate any loan roamers playing on this map.
And as you've seen from Nip, they've deployed fantasy and a few times hates depending on the site, largely by themselves with limited support.
If you're playing up against a well coordinated team with tons of Intel, you might not be long for this earth.
We seem to oscillate links between whether you go real shield heavy and you bring a lot of that cheese or whether you go real Intel heavy, right?
You get your Deimos, you get your solid snake, you get your Dokubis, you get your lions on the board.
Well, so far it's been intel for Furio. We've seen an awful lot of solid snake. We've seen
Deimos be played, and information is incredibly important. When you back it up with a ying or
a glass, that information almost always leads to somebody's untimely death. Whether it be
Baxera on that ying, whether it was Diaz on the glass for two rounds, you can use those very
effectively. And Nip, I don't know if they have an answer, right? Whether they're expecting
shields where they're expecting intel, they are playing too solo, they're getting picked
off and dead now they're in a hole and had to burn a timeout very early.
I think you could see the adjustment, the adjustment by NIP here, I mean I don't know what he just
got hit by, I think it was a DMR shot from Fancy, that is unfortunate to start.
But I think the pivot you see NIP making is they won't necessarily be all starting
on the site because you generally want to have a little bit of presence in open
area within the first minute, as you can see that right now is there I believe
One player tucked already close to the hatch and I think two others closer to elevator
If you're not trying to let this even slight bit of aggression go unpunished will force them back immediately
You've still got this double stack inside of elevator at the moment
Even somebody else on marble stairs as well. It'll spot two of them, but the third will go unnoticed
Obviously the defense will make note of that fact that maybe one of them has slipped beyond the radar
When I say about bringing cheese, how long do you think Fantasy Lab lives for here?
That long.
You are so good at your job.
I really am, you know, speaking of good at your job.
What did I say, right, about these solo robes?
These, they're playing without much help, and I have to imagine that Fantasy was
hoping to get his way out of that position and drop down the hatch into the waiting
arms of Hades.
What you've now found is two of your best fraggers are now gone. You have gained nothing. You didn't even really waste that much time all told
Really effective entry for Furia
It is a very effective Furia entry, but I also think I think it's important to note
It wasn't necessarily a solo roam as much as it was
I think just a little bit of an over commitment to the roam generally
I think they expected Furia to maybe not catch the player prone and that way you'd have somebody baiting in the fight
and that way the shotgun could get the kill.
But Fury are clearly playing very patiently.
We've seen that with the way they're converting these late rounds.
We've seen the fact that they're still running the solid snake.
I think that IP just thought maybe they could cheese a team that so far through three rounds
has proven that they are being exceptionally thorough.
And for a player on Blue Stairs in the 3D5,
I think they're going to treat him the same way.
Any spot on here?
By Bezado, lots of ones on the board.
Four kills from this nip team.
Sputtering and strategy to sputtering on offense. They'll try to waste some time now popping those goya canisters and honestly 50 seconds left
You'll be able to slow down this the juggernaut that is this furia offense
But I mean the only real damage that was done was to the blackbeard much earlier in the round
You'll have to wait through the flames and the gas as you still got those two anchor operators buying you more time
This is a full-in execute though onto that server so if you're Pino you have to rotate there
he goes he heard that somebody dropped an easy pick but he's all by himself yet
again Pino last alive three rounds in a row all three with the exact same
conclusion Furia keeping his body warm 4-0 at time out not paying off and dare I
say it that was one of the more dominant rounds we've seen so far from
Furia absolutely and arguably one of the more impressive ones in my opinion
because as we were looking with 30 seconds left it was a 2v5 but based
Just on the utility we had, it was actually very close.
You had three toxic canisters going in with about 35 seconds remaining.
You still had Vulcan Packs on the server doors.
Those are normally cleared way before then, but there was no Twitch.
There were not a whole lot of nades either left for this side or not a whole leads
brought, period, so that Fury could actually clear them.
So even though it was a 2v5, you had some of those powerful utility to burn out
with very little time remaining, but Fury just looks so sharp right now in the
way that they're calculating.
what do they do? They see all the smoke, they see the Vulcan packs, and immediately they pivot to
with somebody dropping down gold, people flooding down the main stairs, going down elevator,
and hitting the remaining two NIP players from all sides. They immediately realize the situation
and reacted and pivoted within about 10 seconds. That is clear enough evidence that Furia are
really critically and actively engaging with the situations in front of them and are just
not letting up off the gas
the teams that especially teams that feel a little bit cocky and
confident let's not get ourselves any team that volks and herds is on will
have a level of swagger that
and maybe sometime betrays them
sought on
those older teams whether it be the the old team liquid roster whether be the
old w seven m roster that volks was on sought with herds whether he was on
w seven m or fury up
Sometimes these guys get a little too cocky, right?
They get a little too ahead of themselves.
What we've seen from this FURIA team,
even with the mistakes that they did commit
in their previous matchup against Flux or W7M,
this FURIA team seems a little bit more composed
and really more business-like
and not so much as vibes-based.
And I mean, it's working out very effectively.
Good patience from them.
They're finding their frags.
They realize, what's at stake?
You know, they've qualified for the Salt Lake City Major.
You wanna be the best in Brazil?
All right, and here's your chance.
You gotta knock out Nip.
And so far, on Nip's map, a 4-0 start is pretty damn good.
All things so far for Fyria, going according to plan.
I agree with that.
I also like this roll spot we see on the attacking side.
You don't have herds bringing the Grim anymore.
Instead, he's going to the snake.
I think that lends a lot more to his play style,
a lot more of what he likes to do on the attacking side,
especially if this gets to the late round
and the defense is focused on fending off a square push,
sending him off something like marble could be really good.
Ironic, coincidentally, I guess.
The Grim will still be the first to go down despite him changing positions.
Though this time, BugZera used all that utility though,
unfortunately not acquiring a whole lot with it.
There are some new angles opened by the Fiora attack,
getting direct lines of sight onto both the CEO positions
and the broader two sites as a whole.
But they still are lacking that immediate way in.
NIP can play a bit aggressive in this position.
They've got the Castle Barricade for support.
They've got these long angles.
Hurts ready for the cutoff.
That's all well and good.
But the broader side structure is still not disrupted.
That kill, though.
That changes things with checkers now completely gone.
Gies can contemplate, maybe even realize,
a flank up spiral.
Grim position to be in now for this nip squad.
Still have some ability to buy time
with those castle barricades up
and all the gas canisters in pocket for a besetter.
That'll certainly help as well.
45 seconds left, three gas canisters.
Say 15-ish seconds on each canister.
That's not bad though, I suppose Becedo won't be using them all in the same direction.
Nice read from Diaz.
He's been getting these readies, links, and almost has another now looking over towards
conference, smoke getting targeted.
Diaz has a blind spot to his right here at the last second.
Not a lot of ammo in that Type 89, but you only need a few bullets to kill somebody
in this game.
Becedo dies at the hands of Herds.
Hey, at least it wasn't Pino the last to die.
Still same result, Pyrrhea.
rolling and they are speed-running nips map I have nothing not not to state the
obvious but this isn't even close right now this is not even a competition
obviously 5 and 0 that's very obvious for me I know right it's who could
believe it but with what Diaz was capable of on that lurk is frankly
ridiculous sure sometimes you're in the checkers position you're taking a long
angle you're gonna forget that somebody might be on the main lobby
Sure, okay, that happens. It was a particularly nice kill from DS.
But really, when you see somebody walking up the spiral side like that, I mean, doesn't even see the drone,
DS barely even had to try on that lurk.
He got all the information he wanted for free, and IP were giving opening after opening,
and a lot of it unintentional, just unaware of either the player's position or, in the second case, the intel.
The fact that DS was able to get away with so much is frankly incredible,
and very real possibility of a 6-0 start to, and I just want to make sure we're all clear on this,
NIP's pick, that they won earlier against Team Liquid Alienware and sent them to the Larbracket
could be a flawless half to start for the opposing team.
I know that it's the upper bracket finals, but for people watching this obviously the grand finals.
So you don't want to blow down the grand finals.
Nip has had some problems in these tougher matches, though, over the last year.
This is something that has plagued this organization.
I mean, Team Liquid Alienware has the same problems, and I actually can't believe they
ended up losing their best of three earlier.
I was like, man, is this organization cursed?
It's all like, say, though, if you're in this match, so congratulations to Nip.
Leo really did outline the stakes in the analyst desk about the money and the SI points
and all that jazz and how much they matter to a team like Nip, but you're not going
to make it into this match and just give up.
So you can't really say, oh, they don't really care.
It's just the, you know, the upper bracket finals.
No, this is just very a taking full advantage of Nip's weaknesses.
Nip does get the leadoff picked us.
That's excellent.
One minute off of the board and Volps is gone.
Very different from on Volps was on that Blackbeard.
You saw the damage that he did getting two kills and cracking the round wide open.
You got no blitz to contend with. Fury is actually much weaker now because of this.
Not having the main force of the attacking side, no opportunities for a trade either because of how conservative NIP are playing.
And I mean, if you want to track the trajectory of their defenses or their basement defenses over the course of this half,
it's been a story of defending less in less space as these rounds have gone on.
The first one, we got people hopping out of CEO.
The second one, we got one guy on the open area hatch, but two in the elevator.
This time, not we're cating everything. We're sitting on the bottom floor. We're playing T'Chonka, Vulcan Paks, Smoke Canisters.
They are leaning fully into one style of play, and it's working out so far. Obviously,
Vulp's died. That's not necessarily part of that strategy.
The actual part we're seeing is the fact that Fury are just now getting these hatches open and destroying some of these Vulcan Paks with a minute remaining.
They have a Twitch this time, so they can do it a lot earlier, and well,
I think just do it a lot more than they even were able to before.
But they might need to start adding another dimension and that's why you start seeing this focus on the garage side
Wizard needs to go big here if he's gonna hold this push
Oh, he's got his hands full now was
There's some smoke to obscure him, but guess what there's no glass on the board instead
He'll just play instinctively to the information. He had no real follow-up no help whatsoever tries to do it all himself
It's punished for it inferior
Levels the man count with 35 seconds left
Good time for the fire to go out. Bissetto refusing to allow herds in right into the waning arms of hate.
He will go nip with an advantage and it will continue to grow. The best look we've seen from nip.
This entire first half and it comes in round six. Yee-haw.
It's all up to Diaz down to clutch out a 1v3. It won't happen.
Nip gets on the board. A 5-1-1-1-1 for Furia is about as good as you could hope for.
Really, really damning position for Nip for the remainder of this map.
Yeah, really, really rough position for NIP at the moment.
I mean, obviously going on 5-1 isn't great, but I'm sure the desk has a lot to say,
but I feel like Furiel laughing after losing a round, says it all.
Yeah, exactly. We got smiles, Lora is all over the place, he's happy with this.
Leo, running away with this half 5-1 on the attack is a great result for Furia.
It seems like they're just keeping up that energy from having just played a game and
isolating picking off everybody from NIP.
What's happening?
Yeah, it's one of the teams with the most momentum driven plays that I feel like.
I just feel like watching Twisted Minds beating Falcons all over again yesterday in
the EML after just having played W3, just continuing keeping the same momentum.
These guys are hyped, they're warmed up, they're ready to take on another team, and you can
see it in the way they play.
It's the same things over and over again, the same place to hide the abuse of the Solis
State to try and find some opportunities.
They're splitter on the map, most of the time completely split.
If one finds a gap, then everyone collapses.
If we take an example to round three, it's exactly this.
You've got these first exchanges of firepower here at the top floor, and then Loira
uses that as a bait.
He scans with his solo snake, finds an opportunity on one of the anchor, slams these guys down
all the way as he's dropping, and then the guys up top, they use this, they know that
one is down, one just drop on open space, everyone can get aggressive onto the bomb
side.
And at this point, it's a 3v1.
Eventually they lose one of the players to Pinot, the first that got in, which
was Loyalite, that's fine.
And then, that's when you see the experience on these players, the discipline here, to
just wait, regroup, Boxer has utility, he can abuse the ying so that the gaze
flashed, the Ascensis flashes as well. Let's make sure this guy is blind and
let's play 2v1. Now that is what makes Furia so good right now. They're playing
the same way as G2 is playing for example. Very split, find the right
opportunity as soon as the gap is there you seize it. And now switching to the
defense it's a bit more of a playstyle they can play to be honest
because it's the one where they can just peel off have one or two guys
play aggressive as soon as the man advantage is there they will use the
the same discipline they showed here in attack in this 2v1, to just keep them at advantage
and secure the rounds.
Really reminds me of that old school phase with that, I guess, start-stop-start kind of
gameplay that they used to have.
We'll see if NIPVIL can bring it back on the second half of the attacking side, a
more favored on bank, we'll leave it back to Lynx and Intero, enjoy.
the ability for analysts to weigh in during these these half times that we
have and allows teams to also talk. I mean for Furia what more is there to say
they likely knew exactly how they would approach just offending half whether
they were in a hole or not they find themselves in a great place. Five rounds
through that first attacking half if you consider that usually the scoreline
for both halves on bank is 4-2, Furia just needs to basically wait it out and
if they can take this first round right here they'll be in an excellent
spot to real momentum mechanics in Rainbow Six Siege.
It's pretty much all just in your head.
And I think you pointed out perfectly,
Lynx, the fact that Feria, we're all smiles
and we're giggling after the fact.
I think that really tells you the whole story here.
So this team in great spirits looking to snipe Nip's map
away from them in only two rounds.
And this could be a very quick 2-0 shaping up
if Feria keeps things up.
That's true, but I do think, you know,
is it important to apply some good context
If you or the Royal Youth review, which
that's a specific amount of care, so earlier in the game
against NIP and Team Liquid Alienware,
NIP went down 2-4 on their defenses,
but they were able to win 4-2 on their attacking side
and then of course close out the game in OT.
So NIP are no stranger today of all days
to attackers cited banks and being
on the advantageous position in that situation.
Now, of course, we'll have to see
how that actually pans out.
as you see the bands that Furia have opted to put forth.
The shield is immediately gone, and it's something that
NIP used quite a lot of on their attacks on the bank.
A lot more of the blitzes and the blackbeards.
And this moment, actually zero shields whatsoever in NIP's lineup.
So we'll see if they're planning on changing things a little bit,
as Ying was not a factor whatsoever in the earlier game against Team Liquid Alienware,
and someone who was certainly a factor was fancy.
20 kills on that bank game against Team Liquid Alienware.
Basically, one of the reasons they even won 8-6
in that nail-biter of a game.
And amazingly, I started off this matchup
by talking about how for a long time
it was a fantasy show and Hades as well.
These are two of the lowest rated players
on this NIP team coming into this matchup.
So far more kills being spread around,
Pino and Wizard in particular,
Pino topping the charts from an EPS perspective,
which is something you haven't seen from him.
And actually quite some time.
Good to see him returning to form
and good to see Nip making these changes
after picking up Beceto.
I know that losing cons was a devastating position
for them to be in.
And at the offset, people were wondering
if Beceto was the answer.
So far, look at Mighty Good.
I mean, you don't make it to a grand finals in your region
if you made a big mistake.
So great changes for Nip here.
And now Furia finds themselves in a hole
with half the round to go.
Still quite heavily committing to a roam on the middle floor.
We've got people roaming around archives and tellers very late into the game.
One of them spotted and into that NIP are prepared to pull the pieces away on this specific kind of defense.
You've got Pino looking in later in the round. Hates also providing him support.
Fancy is the initial gun in the face of it.
You got to admire the confidence from Furia, but if they were hoping to catch NIP off guard or thought
Well, the defenses were evidence of lethargic attacks, well, they made a very sorry mistake.
Herds in a 1v4 down below on the site, actively trapped by the Deimos.
Should be it.
With a super shorty around the corner, maybe finds one?
Okay.
We'll get fancy, that's all well and good.
At least to the...
Well, in Parker, there are two of them on low HP.
I was gonna say, Bissetto just got brought back from the dead.
Pino and Bissetto are single the little way,
but they see him before birds can do any more damage far more winnable than a 1v3 would suggest.
So kudos to herds for playing that one so cool, especially with a super shorty in hand,
you know how unreliable that gun can be. The walls are closing in on him and no lethargy
there whatsoever from Nip as you pointed out. A very poignant entry for them, very strong
spot map control quickly. Bravo, Peria still hanging on for the time being, no real concerns
just yet that bottom floor bomb set has been a fruitful position for the
attackers on this bank map so now you go somewhere else somewhere you go middle
floor if nip can keep up that pace it does kind of concern me for feria this
is a map that can go quite quick and this bomb set in particular is prone
to rushes whether you go through that electrical wall whether you hop in
through the printer window whether you immediately take control from above
and have somebody drop hatch amidst candelas and smoke there's a lot of
tools here that the attackers can use. Right now though, most of those tools are absent from
Nip. This operator lineup very intel heavy and nope. I fear I spoke too soon because here
comes the Blitz and here comes the Ying. Oh no. I don't like this is going. I'm very
nervous. Blitz, Ying and then Intel Ops? I mean not only could this be like really
good for a rush, but that being got the information, I mean you're not going to
feel bad whatsoever about aborting a rush like if you throw all those
candelas and you don't get anything for them you've still got quite a lethal
lineup to just do a normal full clear of the map and also just hunt for any gaps
in the defensive setup with that stolaton scanner so I don't think we'll
see a rush based on the positions at the moment you see a lot of energy
gearing up for a full clear that still makes this lineup really dangerous I
mean the thought of candelas flying in there is a warden
Yes, Lucas could really stun to a lot of that momentum depending on what position he's playing.
This is a really scary line of men up here right now.
I think indicative of just the state that the attack is in at the moment.
They have so many tools of so many different categories,
and they want to try to replicate some of the successes they had previously
using the Deimos and the Snake to isolate both Volts and Loyra on these positions.
Well, it's actually neither of them fancy and then beset out.
I don't even know how Volts got.
Did he just swing the window?
I mean, Vulps was in this position, and Wizard knew that, right?
He was prepped and ready for it, but Vulps did not present himself through that rotate
in the wall.
Nip have completely tripped up, and Vulps now with three kills through this round.
What is going on?
Still in a very favorable position.
Wizard is on a sliver of HP.
Vulps with a quadra kill at his fingertips.
He won't get the ace though as Lawyer is on the board, and Lawyer will actually
get boats or fall us round, we'll give Theria map point on Nip's map.
I don't even know that hap- I mean like I have an idea of that happen but like I don't
know how this- how that happens. So what I believe occurred is that the Blitz with
a gun behind him did something very normal just to be clear. Runs in I think through
the square double door and tries to put pressure on the player and janitors which
again is is like a very normal thing to do
don't know how they get so wrapped around
not only can both get an angle on the bullets
but also the gun behind him and get the killed to the point is no trade what so
ever
if you want to get like there's a trade and then like
lawyer swings out from stock it's a uh...
forty three favoring feria
you know that would be unfortunate that at least be like
I would say a logical consequence of those positions and where the defenders and the attackers are respectively.
I don't even know how that went so well for Vols, but given the fact that he gets a double kill on the immediate square push and everyone else is stuck outside the building,
I don't really know what you do at that point. You just, you really just are not losing these rounds.
Uh, when you're, when you're getting modded like that, I think you just die and I think that's what happened, isn't it?
Yeah, I think I, yeah. I think I, yeah.
I don't even know what I just thought.
I mean, this has been a real drumming, Lynx.
Just a fantastic map from Furia so far.
Nip, not able to win their ones.
Furia picking them apart, doubling up on the entry,
using great tools when they were on attack,
yet the shields or the intel or both in conjunction with him.
Oh my goodness, fantasy!
Why do you win that engagement?
Kurt should have walked away with a clean kill.
He loses his head, fantasy cracks this open. Alright, Nip, I see you, I see you.
I mean, you know, you know, and I've just taken it seriously, because that was absolutely all chat worthy right there.
I mean, the fact that Fancy gets away with that is insane.
Good kill, though.
And now they have an advantage to target the rest of these looser defenders.
Volt was spotted by the Deathmark tracker, playing around the marble stairs though, so he can pretty easily fall back.
The person that's extended out the farthest, I believe, is the lawyer on the Goyo at the moment.
You can see moving around. Oh, I think it's just trapped himself inside of electrical
And I think we wear this can Bella will go out instead of finds the next kill as lawyers got a fall
But no actually escapes into open area. So if you are losing bodies progressively, I
I was gonna say ironic that the main target of the realm has fallen or has not fallen yet
But he does soon after and well Volts and Dia somehow have to figure a way out of this one
Both of these round wins for Nip on attack and I'm gonna put this one on the win
column because I just do not see a way in which Fury is able to prevail. I mean
maybe they're gonna make me look foolish here but both of them have just been
fearless entries by Nip and then a swiftness that here I was caught out
for hold on. Volts making this one winnable he just needs to survive the
blast. He'll do just that. Ten kills for Volts as he's hit the drop. He's been
spotted by the death mark.
He was hoping to catch them off guard.
If they thought he dropped,
they might push to that elevator
and end up dying his hands.
God didn't tell with a minute to go.
Looks like it'll be an A take.
So both of these members from curious,
sitting farther back now over by the elevator,
over by the B bomb site.
A default plant from Nip.
Most likely I would say 45 seconds in the round.
I mean, I would say so,
but while Nip has some good utility,
we got those yanks.
The fact that Volpz gets back alive, he can directly counter one of Wizard's main strategies
and Diaz still has so many Schumikas, instead Volpz is going for the flank, gets spotted
on a drone, he's got to make the decision playside to look through the candelars or
go for a lurk and it looks like he might choose the latter.
He's got one body upstairs, I'll go to Schumikas, you've got to use them if you're Diaz
at this point, you are running out of time, 15 seconds left on the clock, Nip might
wander into their doom, it really does hinge on this Volpz flank.
Spots at the most, down he goes, this is winnable for Fury of Volps, keeping this round intact
and he'll now head for the blue flank, all the while Diaz closing and trying to give
intel, shut off from the Rororidor, so both of them will now pivot over towards Volps.
This is bad, Diaz will have to give him an opening, Spots a sliver of a player on ninjas
and pajamas and now Diaz will have to get active.
Volps in this position, got one in server, almost jiggle peeps him, Diaz takes one
down he just needs to be wizard in a 1v1 he might be able to long this one a long arm this one
wizard attempting to shake him off Diaz now finally frees himself into the fuse kit wizard in a position
where he comes into jump and Diaz gets the job done oh my god making me look foolish nip should
have won that round but furious snag it away and win map one with ease how do you make a 2v5
Look, that uncomplicated.
I mean, it looked about the simplest protocol on the planet.
Volpz just isolates a 1v1 with a crazy flick on the player peeking through beepers.
Somehow, it makes his way back.
When you see him put the nitro cell in front of him on the hatch, you're like, oh, he's
going to blow himself up.
And this is like, this is going to be very funny.
But no, and even down to firing the guy behind the roar door, I mean Parker,
that was beyond impressive.
Incredible.
Incredible retake from Fyria.
Just, there's not enough glaze we have for this Fyria team, frankly.
I ran out. I'm depleted of the glaze.
Nip showed up to their own map, but absolutely beaten on both sides.
That looked like such a good attack. They did everything right at the beginning and then they bottled the final 25, 30 seconds.
A great read by Fury of Volps showing why he might be one of the smartest players in this region,
which then makes him one of the smartest players in the world.
Just unthinkable that Fury was able to do this.
I'm not sure really what else you can say for being honest.
I do believe we have a break coming up though, and I definitely need a break after that one
because the fact that if you're able to clutch a 2v5, I mean, I just need to go take a nap.
Everyone's talking about it.
What's up with the R6 competitive calendar?
The structure of our competitive calendar has changed a bit.
That means more tournaments, and a slightly different path to the Six Invitation.
But let's break it down.
First of all, we now have a brand new addition to Siege, the CN League, the Chinese League.
That brings us to five regions total, all following pretty much the same structure.
Now let's focus on what matters most to us.
things will work in the South America League. Before anything else, it's important to
remember that the 2026 season actually started way back with the Challenger series, where
Rising Teens fought for a shot at the top tier and secured the final two spots in the
SA-L. Then, and that's where we are right now, we have the kickoff. Think of it
It has a Stage 0 for the SA-L, shorter, faster, but still super important.
It awards 4 major spots and distributes 970 SI points.
Next up, in May, we've got the first major of the year, 20 teams, over 30,000 SI points
on the line, live from Salt Lake City, USA.
After that, between June and July, we officially kick-off Stage 1 of the SAL.
Same classic format you already know.
One group of 10 teams, round robin matches, and the top 6 advanced to the double elimination
playoffs.
This time, though, the 4 available spots are for the Esports World Cup, taking place
in Saudi Arabia.
Plus, we've got another 1,695 aside points of programs.
Speaking of that, the eSports World Cup kicks off in August, with 22 teams competing for
a $2 million prize pool.
No aside points here, but the winner gets a straight ticket to SI 2027.
Then, between September and October, we move on to Stage 2 of the SAL.
Same format again, 10 teams, round robbing, playoffs, 4 major spots, and another 1695 S-Site
points in play.
In November, we'll see the debut of the final International Event of the Year, and the
First major ever hosted in Japan, 20 teams and 13,650 SI points on the line.
Finally, closing out the calendar between December and January, we've got the last chance qualifiers in each region.
This is the final shot at making it to the biggest tournament in Siege.
And those 5 teams will join the top 14 teams from the SI Points ranking, plus the EWC champion,
making a total of 20 teams qualified for the 6th Invitational in February, the tournament
that always wraps up the season.
And by the way, it's happening right here in Brazil again, simple enough, right?
So let's get into it.
The kickoff is ready, everything set, and now it's time to sit back and enjoy the games.
Thanks for watching everyone, see you next time!
up in their own sense, because Furia, and especially that last round, my goodness, Gracious Leo,
that is a way to get your blood pumping in the middle of the night.
For us, it's 1 AM, and I can tell you that End of Round really fired it up for us here.
Beautiful performance from Furio.
We talked about it where, you know, just because they had played their best of three
right before this game, they're able to continue that momentum and that energy
straight into NIP's game, and they're starting off on bank.
That's what they're going to be comfortable in anyways.
Yeah, it was a question that we had about this team.
Obviously, they had not shown bank before with this new roster.
We all knew that the former Fury roster loved that map,
but it was going to be a question about the rest of the team.
And I think they've answered that question quite convincingly.
Obviously, I think they were in a floating state,
which stated before, when you reached 5-1 in your attacking side.
Honestly, even the last round couldn't have went their way.
It is a statement.
I think to me it's also the pacing on some of these rounds.
You know, they are always in control.
They're always proactive.
They are the one that are creating movement on a set of NIP
and punishing them.
The abuse of Vemos and Solid Snake, I don't know.
It just feels illegal to have like herds, lawyer,
all of these guys with these operators.
I'm like, surely this has to be a target ban
at some point on these guys.
And that's the problem, right?
At this moment you have a very clear meta between the Shields meta and the Anti-Rome meta.
And either get rid of all three Shields, either you're gonna be getting rid of the Soul Snake, Dukai, the Lion, Teemo's thing.
But whatever is gonna happen, you're gonna struggle to roam, especially against such a strong team.
And that's what's made this room strong.
When you start 5-1 at some point, you can only throw away so many rounds, you will close the game eventually.
Yeah, there's only so many operators, also you can ban, that Fury able to not abuse them, but play them properly, and not just as an individual operator and individual player, but all together in a cohesive team where things are making sense of why XY action are happening, blocking off isolating players on their own from NIP and then completely collapsing on them.
on them. You see multiple rounds from Furia on their attacking side where they end up with
having dismantled the rest of the team with only one player completely cornered and they're all
collapsing at the same time. This was so beautiful. It's saved that at the top. You lose this one
fight here. Wizard does a good job of it but then too late on the retreat back into server
and unfortunately the Junk is able to do it. Unfortunately for NIP that is because Furia
we're incredibly happy with that result. That is VULPS. You're saying it feels illegal.
I don't want to quote Pig Panthers in the middle of the night, but I will say it does indeed
feel illegal the way that things went down for Furia.
To me, what's even more beautiful is that the 2v5 is DS and VULPS. And I feel like a lot of
people were looking at this team and were looking at the the frag line, right? Lavera,
I heard the big names, PogZera is the rookie that came in.
But I do think that what makes this teamwork
is the back line there, it's Diaz and Volpz.
Volpz that has always had a very aggressive style
of idealing and then Diaz who's always been so successful
at playing for himself in these situations
and at, you know, in the very last one with Tachenka,
for example, once again, he just isolated the players
using the Riora at his advantage.
such a smart player. I just feel like everything clicks within the lineup and it's always gonna
be a question is it because of momentum and is it because they're rich flow state or can they
actually do that consistently? And my eyes turn toward fortress here and I do think that
it is a very good sign for them that they beat their opponent on their map pick.
What is that a good sign? Yeah, what is it tell me. Well, we've just seen Firiya win against
It's the last time we've seen an AP play that map that was all the way at SI against
Fyrex, mind you, and they lost that map to Fyrex.
So you're telling me?
Yeah, well, yeah, they had time to rework it and they have a new IGL.
But I will say this, it still favors Fyrex, I believe, especially if they can kill this
momentum.
And if we pull up the map ends here just to show them one more time you'll see map one
bank just finished that was a starting side of defense for an IP did not work out well
Fortress furious map pick they're the ones to start off on defense so wait furious map
and an IP picked attack on fortress and IP is attack yeah yeah it is I'm just checking
like the eternal sheet and yeah okay that's yeah what could be the reason
behind picking attack on Fortress let's try to analyze this between us I think
in general hold on to that question in your head in the meantime go ahead I
think in general playing against Furia in the way they're playing they're the
kings of the split theory right they love to have players in different
spots poking around there's very annoying to play against and honestly if
If you're getting bullied on that side, it might seem an impossible task to come up with
a way to problem solve this.
So what better way than to switch and go to attack yourself so that you can choose how
to best attack the map.
You can be the one proactive.
You choose on which side you attack.
Maybe you can regroup and force them into a utility-based game.
That would be the only thing, I think, because I do think that Fortress is still
the funnest side right now, overall.
Statistically, there's...
Don't quote me on this.
this I know you're gonna fact check this I'm pretty sure that is true and and that
would be my only guess it's like when you're an attack you're proactive you
choose the way the that that you're reacting to the defense and I believe
that that may be the main reason why they chose this but it is still gamble it
is it is I'd like to bring in our casters here links and entero and
chat about that has some fact-checking been done in the meantime links to
check if Leo is indeed correct? Yeah, in the STL, Fortress is Defender-Sided right now, it's about 55-56%,
which I also, you know, I think newer maps typically start Defender-Sided earlier on,
but I think to Leo's point as well, well, I do like your argument and I am kind of persuaded
by it. I think maybe just like trying to maybe set the pace and like create actively and create
the game rather than like reacting to it. I also just think that like taking chances against a team
like Furia right now is an unfortunate thing where it's at the same time kind of necessary
and also just makes me really nervous and I don't think that's MIP's fault. I think it's just Furia
making it difficult for them. Parker, your thoughts as their game is almost set. It's not
under control when we're launching it. I think just the phrase that was said very objectively
by Alfamo, which is like the last time they played this, they lost to BNX and BNK Furia X
is frankly one of the most devastating insults you could say about any team at any point.
Oh wow.
And I really think that's all that needs to be said here.
I don't even think we need to cast the game.
I think we can just stay silent for about 60 minutes.
I've closed up a lot of them.
I don't think it's going to last 60 minutes, but sure, go ahead, buddy.
Of course, I'm just kidding.
Let's kick off this second map.
What might be the penultimate map in this series, or might actually just be the ultimate
map?
one that we see get played dyspheria wrap it up in a nice bow a 2-0 victory to
claim first overall in SAO heading to Salt Lake City major for those that are
unaware of the stakes both of these teams have already qualified for the
Salt Lake City major they are the only two teams from Brazil to have done
that so far there are still four teams that are in the hunt those
matches will be tomorrow you've got fluxo w7m up against Loos and then by
my god team liquid alienware versus phase clan.
Only one of those squads makes it to the major.
It's been four years since phase failed to qualify
for a major, something crazy like that does their run.
And at the hands of the new look of team liquid alienware,
those matches will be tomorrow.
For here, SI points on the line, prize pool money
on the line, both these teams have made it to the major.
So job done, we will see them in Salt Lake next month, a dyspheria.
Win 2-0, or does Nip steal their opponent's map as Phyria just did Nip?
Let's answer that question. Well, over the course of this map, I don't have a definitive answer right now, but I do have some questions.
I refuse, actually. I like to think I set my own destiny. Oh, hello, Boxera.
He's starting to get a little bit aggressive on the initial play.
But I do have some comments to start things out.
uh... earlier when we saw if you're a play fortress uh... it's kind of interesting
that on their defenses uh... no hard breach for
uh... deniers band what's a lever against them
and they really only brought out in the latter half of the game in an
adaptation against a flexor w seven
it's been out the gate by nip so definitely i think that i think
really don't wanna
don't want to play against because it was not a core element of your strike
furious strategy
on fortress
earlier
In fact, it was kind of a lot of the stuff you would normally expect from Fury, you know.
Birds playing the Mazi, playing it a bit more loose, obviously right now, he's on the Tuber out,
but also an operator he was playing earlier on this site.
So, some NIP trying to set the kind of field they want to play against,
and Fury are playing, I think, remarkably conservative at the moment.
I mean, they are already falling back towards the site.
And if you look at the line that they have, you understand why.
You've got the Keybus to play around, but more importantly, you've got the Vulcan Packs,
Zodokanisters and Gershmoth's all to either stun, burn, or just slow down the attack through and through.
You do not need to play aggressive with this kind of lineup.
Low and steady wins the race.
Or...
...the round.
I suppose.
First kill, still something we're searching for.
Halfway through round number one on a nitrous cell, expended by Herds will not find his target.
Volps is does though, Becedo down for the count to his credit herds had done some damage beforehand
So it was a joint effort and now a swing by Volps
Sensational in the previous map. He still started things off well here
But not enough as now it's a 4v4 with a minute to go
Well, we'll trade that one right back advantage slings in favor of here. Yeah, and it will continue to grow links
They've got such a good I just matrix and trading set up right here
You'd be hard-pressed to find an NIP advantage, that is like, realistically achievable.
And I think they're doing a good job fighting back, don't get me wrong.
But because Furia fell back so quickly, the moment that players like Hades started walking in,
they were always going to have to deal with players just around the corner who could refrag,
or walking or hopping straight into a crossfire.
It's not unwinnable, though.
Was it still us two sets of Bs to find any information on these players tucked on the inside of doorways?
DS is playing a bit with his life right now, and he's got to be careful he doesn't step too far because Pino's ready for it.
Ooh! That's a big moment.
Lawyer trying to catch him on the off angle.
Pino doesn't commit, ends up getting the information,
and now it's a 2v2.
It's only 15 seconds, but maybe they can find something.
I mean, hey, we've seen crazier things already.
A 1v1 diffuser needs to get planted.
Wizard finally grabs it.
Diaz now in the homerun position.
You just need to wait that timer out.
Go, go, go, go, go!
Pass the point of no return.
Clock will give it to Furia.
Excellently played by the defenders.
Inferior keeping up just as they did on map one off to a hard start here on map two
Just not making incorrect moves on a macro level and even if you look at moments like loyera prone around the corner
Those are always gambles
You're acknowledging the possibility that it won't work out when you're literally prone in the middle of a doorway because it's an off
Angle and you think you might catch them off guard
There's the possibility that they might quick peek and check it and then you get killed
It's not necessarily a wrong thing to do made a gamble. You didn't pay off in the broader level
Fury didn't do a wrong thing whatsoever. All of it looked really, really good, and especially their strategy of falling back very quickly.
They had perfect utility to back that up and to keep MIP out and stall out time.
And every single time one of those attackers, whether it was a shield, somebody hopping in a window, whatever it was, there was an immediate answer.
C4s for the Blitz. Crossfires and trading potential galore for Fury.
Everyone was on the same page. It was a very clear intention behind their strategy in that round and it worked out really well
Because his MIP played slow and tried to push into them directly
There were no alternative angles to break that and so period just kept basically trading and swinging from every position
They had already thought of at the beginning of the round
So impressed with this furious squad as we see them improving time and time again just
Here are the weaknesses here
where are the weaknesses I already saw the box era play was clipped on the
subreddit I understand there was a bit of a head scratcher and Paul who picked up
a second ace of the day off of that play it's out please that was the first ace
today sorry my apologies I'm incapable of keeping track of when his aces were
I'd watch the game. Frankly, we've had a terrific day of matches.
This one, though, is not lived up to the billing.
You know, I was I was hopeful that our first time back in the saddle
and so long would be a competitive endeavor.
It has not been that so far. Still time.
You're on fortress.
I feel badly if we don't get a border as our third map as the analysts
talked about how much they wanted to see that.
But sometimes it's just out of our control.
One minute off the board, Furia!
Standing pat, first line of contact now will likely be Beceto on this Blackbeard, and Box Zera is in the line of fire.
Ooh, unfortunate. Smoke gets caught on the ledge there. Now it'll force out the Blackbeard.
All of Box Zera's utility used within the first minute, 20 seconds of the round.
That could be big for the attack later.
Dan's able to get the initial pick, though.
So neither clear advantage, oh!
Foxyra missing two opportunities right now, and it's traded soon after!
Alright, well my fortress certainly is not over because that was a bit of a painful start for Fioria.
Foxyra not only using all this utility, has an opportunity on the Blackbeard, misses it,
and now NIP have a full minute and 15 seconds to reset.
There's one player tucked around the corner on the second floor, you can see this right here.
Doesn't get missed drone. They're ready for it. I mean, they're doing everything right, Parker.
That nip's not making any mistakes here whatsoever. Nothing for anybody on Furia to exploit.
Diaz now, as the last man standing, does have a shot with how low on HP both Wizard and Bissetto are,
but drone work has been so good for Nip through the closing moments of this round,
they will use it effectively punishing the last two players on Furia and drawing evens
so already a significantly better start for Nip than we saw on Bank. Granted, Bank was a 5-0 start
for Furia, so literally any round in the first five rounds for Nip is a better start. But honestly,
I think it's more about confidence too. This Nip team is playing very, very well. Even in the
previous round, they're poised on their entry, they were droning effectively, they were walking
in well together. They weren't expecting the double night, double night for SL, which ultimately
blew with their chances sky high at the very beginning of round number one but
not much you can do to plan that I suppose especially if you think you have the confidence
of two separate shields running in this time around though Nip made almost no mistakes on
that round and Furia felt it so now Furia will hold out hope that this round goes a little bit
better but Nip already showing more promise and maybe just took them a map to settle down.
It's possible. It is entirely possible. I also just think that I think that particular position
I don't think was quite the winner that fury I thought it was you know it might delay time
early but especially was you know the ability to hop out the window right behind
I don't think it just had the impact that fury we're hoping for. As we go into the next round
the first four defense or a first four defense from fury up to some big adjustments by an AP and
the attacking lineup dropped the shield that they've had in the first two rounds the blitz
than the Blackbeard. Now not present whatsoever. Instead, going for probably the most standard
line you can think of. I mean we got two sources of hard breach, some vertical destruction,
some anti-Rome with the Doka V, and of course the Twitch to get some of these traps. I mean,
I don't know, really if you could get anything more basic than that. I say that in a complimentary
way. I mean, you've got all your bases covered, you should be able to do a lot.
Of course you don't have a lot of the cheese that's available. You don't have
the ying, grim, nothing like that. And as you see, there we go. More good
Johnny from NIP not letting any gaps form in their attacking strategy and now fancy who might have otherwise lurked through that position
We'll just calm that maybe we can see NIP set up for a pinch
They're swinging for the fences here fury a feeling very confident lawyer and wizard dueling against one another logic
Bond's now being used to try to pin these players down. It's used successfully unbox era down. He goes with the hands of eights
HATES!
The player manages to survive, which is really quite astounding.
Link, what do you think about how aggressive this nip push was onto him?
The player now has backup with herds not far removed.
The herds yet to get on the board through these two rounds.
He's a sleeping giant, waiting to be woken up.
Almost halfway point of this round and advantage for nip.
Looking more like round two than round number one, but right as I say that Diaz gets
active, down goes HATES, down goes the twitch, and the previous round those drones
were so integral.
Is nip going to function without that Intel?
You have to require more the network either grows or it dies with that dopedy call
Yes, he almost loses life in the process, but we'll finally hunt down loyra
Another one could go their way of alps around the corner tangling with I believe it's the ace of the setto
I'm saying needs to get aggressive in the 3d4 you can't get passive in a position like this
Especially with two attackers as we know on low HP
It could easily be a 2v2 if NIP are not careful and a triple crossfire bolt's gotta find his
way out with the flashbangs going in, and he's not long for this world.
Oh my goodness.
S-Furia team just has no answer for NIP.
This is the team that we saw here that's bonded on bank.
I don't know if we're already in fortress at this point in time.
Pino swings onto herds down, he goes, and it's a trade, but it favors NIP because they've still got bodies upright.
to lead in this series till this exact moment.
Ninjas grab a one-round lead on Furia's map.
And whereas in the first round you had a, you know, basically just everybody playing right next
to each other on or around the site with NIP not able to break it whatsoever,
since then you've seen a much stronger tendency for Furia, especially in round three,
to play a bit more spread out and I think NIP have read very well into it.
For the first, I was going to say the first rabble, I was going to say the first one on the NIP-1, so round two.
You have Box 0 playing, not super far away from the cycle, playing outside in a bit of an isolated position that
the attacker reads pretty quickly, sees he's not having a whole lot of impact, and they just decide to go elsewhere.
So this smoke we've put so much focus on, used all that utility early, doesn't end up mattering.
In round three, similar position you have with Loira on the opposite side. Does he have a defender he can join?
Yes, absolutely. But NIP are still able to get a foothold in the map and because of these constant crossfires that we're holding via the exterior angles
combined with some in the building pressure, they're not actually able to get complete.
I guess get a complete read on what NIP are doing, but more importantly, really get in a strong enough position to counter anything that's actually going on.
NIP are constantly able to communicate, constantly able to rework their setup around the defense.
And once they have an actual gaps or a bit more length and breadth in furious play,
MIP have filled it quite nicely.
So, timeout now taken.
So, Perius hoping to settle themselves down a little bit.
I don't know if they'll be able to find the answers for Nip.
And just a short period of time reminder that there will be another timeout taken in three rounds.
Once we get to the halfway point, we'll likely bring in our analysts to talk about that
show some of the more pivotal moments through those first six rounds. Nip really have been able to
move their pieces around this map and succeed, whether it be intel from the drones, whether it
be intel from the operators themselves. The shields that we saw back in round number one,
not really quite as successful as maybe Nip had hoped, but it does really follow a trend
line in links that we've seen across all regions that shields are nowhere near as oppressive
as they used to be. And if you watch the SI reveal just a couple months ago, a rumored shield
buster was confirmed. I think they're called Operation Firecracker or something like that.
It was unveiled in the video. Don't know when they'll arrive sometime later this year, but
you don't even need an operator necessarily to counter them. Outside of Blackbeard,
shields have not had the same impact that we've seen. And look at Furious Bands.
They took care of the Monty. Alright, fine. That's why we saw the operators we did
back in round number one, doubling up. With that Blitz in round one, the Blackbeard in
round number two, since then no shields present for this Nip team. Take up Intel next, and
I'll be interested to see how Nip does without Snake and Doku. He's still Damos on the board,
he's still lying on the board, so while shields are not in play here, you've still got Intel
ops and still those drone ops that Nip has been using so well.
It is going to alter probably how you end up using the Damos. You could obviously
use them to gain intel on some of those roamers and hunt them down but you also
want to consider whether or not maybe saving them to put pressure to players
in power positions directly on the site like must win fights or must win bits
the map you have to control you don't have the flexibility you do when you have
the soliton scanner or the doka be called balls to hunt down some of those
other players and you can maybe use the death marks whatever you want now
you've got to be very particular with it. Zami also still on the board as
NIP trip down the Goyo so focusing really on those site ops.
The strategy theory I seem to be going for is still spreading out, but for some, this
council barricades hopefully with a bit more protection.
And with the traps to bolster that, also maybe just catching anybody on an AP who might go
for that lurk.
In the first deathmark track of Go Out, Gains a brief fit of information, Razor Blum triggered,
but I don't think anybody really on this side of the map to hear it all that well.
So I don't know how much impact it'll have.
Beasts flooding in the museum, but finally with one player creeping up, the Grimlock
is triggered and they're aware of Fancy's behind them.
And he outlines in front of Diaz. Does he tempt fates?
Now he backs away. Allows Volps to get active.
Gallagher goes wizard. Lawyer traded right out.
One minute left. The first two minutes of this round
just blew by at this point in time.
In terms of HP, Furia with the advantage.
Bissetto debuffed by that razor bloom as he found himself
triggering the trap of the Irish operator.
No more available as Lawyer died.
Late reinforcement. I like this keep one in pocket for fury and make the job a little bit harder for nip
You see they've got no more hard breach utility available. So anything that's been used by the ace at this point finally going off
That box era line throne oh my you gotta go
How on earth is box era walk away alive?
Volts on the board as well and nip out number two to one furious need to write
out these final 15 seconds or pick up hates and beseto the last two standing
from nip that's hates jumped out on and hers and Diaz will clean up a tie game
now's the time out working effectively fury of finding their footing and no
team now with the lead no team with a lead and I think we kind of we have a
a little bit of a trend developing that is indicative of when Furia have been successful
and it's been when they've been able to, of course, like deny a lot of time for NIP,
you know, keep things really slow, don't let the attack any control, but also I think
just play more together and not actively get in their face. The opening picks when NIP
have won the round were at two minutes and a minute forty seconds respectively for Furia.
They were both below the halfway point in the round and that one, that was the
slowest one we saw, not happening until almost the minute mark. Furia were not
giving any openings whatsoever. They were playing very close to each other,
but more importantly, with a lot of utility to facilitate rotations, even if
they were playing spread out. That castle barricades to dodge behind, keep
the barriers to block off windows or doors, as opposed to playing that same
loose style without the kind of reinforcements or vision blocking utility.
This time they had it, so if they wanted to play loose, they could rotate
back effectively and still play their trades. If Furia can keep the time low when that opening
pick happens and keep that IP at bay for long enough, they are, well, so far in the two rounds,
they've won, succeeding quite well.
Pull up some of these map stats here. And I mean, they are skewed a little bit. Again,
NIP should not necessarily be the strongest team on this map. Numbers are significantly
better for Furia. What concerns me is that Furia's defender win rate on this map is very,
very high, nearing 60%. Granted they've only played 12 rounds, so it's not a huge sample
size here, but if you think that the conventional wisdom on fortress is that for the time being
it's a defender sided map as it starts to get more favorable to the attackers, then
Furia should be doing okay. But keep in mind, Furia picked this map, Nip opted to
to start on attack.
There's some theory that goes on here.
Do you start on the harder side
or do you give yourself a leg up?
I mean, I don't speak for these teams.
I wouldn't want to.
You're more the expert currently than I am,
but just based on the numbers, the underlying numbers here,
theory of, should in theory be walking away
with a minimum of three rounds?
That's within reach, but it has been a slog
for them to get these two rounds
with the exception of round number one.
So up the last two rounds,
Nip has looked mighty, mighty good.
Now just biting time plugging holes and keep a barriers waiting for the advance of nip as we get very close to the halfway point of the round
This is a good win condition for fury there was to try and delay time as much as possible
I mean we've even tacked on to the strengths we had the previous round bringing in a mirror alongside the castle and the
Azami
Oh, okay. Wow. That's his brutal for Laura the moment he tried the moment he tries to take some kind of
initiative, slapped down by Pino in brutal fashion. The broader structure is still solid,
not having the key buzz will suck, but you still have mirror windows and castle barricades,
but down a body, that's what you have to worry about. Volts with some effective fight
back, though fancy spots won very quickly around the corner, but as they win that trade,
Fiora are back in the exact position that they've won, the two rounds they've won
so far. All in arms length of each other, all in strong positions, all can play
for these trades, and NIP, and look at their lineup. Floor is twitching, ace
are not breaking through with any of that.
time of the Munich Major.
Pino will reduce this to a 3v3.
So more winnable than Nip just mere seconds ago,
but there goes Becetto.
Wizard and Pino need to get through the doors to the bomb
site.
That seems quite easy, but just like running a football, 100
yards.
It's not necessarily as easy as it looks.
It's about the defenders.
And period, their defense might be good on that round.
They regain the lead.
Not really an exciting round.
Lynx, they just were steady as she goes.
Beat them every step of the way.
Beat them to the punch.
You know, you find Fury in a position where they could presumably end this first half or two.
The issue we have is that the way Fury needs to win is by playing just stone cold boring,
just literally not doing anything in these rounds.
And I say that kind of as a bit, but actually as a very serious statement on like how they are winning these rounds.
The most action we had initiated by Fury, like initiated as in they were the ones trying to push things,
Trying to get in the face of the attack, actually trying to like create some kind of energy in the round,
was when Lawyer peeked the window and immediately died.
The moment Lawyer tried to deviate even slightly from the plan, fate was like,
no, that's not how you're gonna win this game.
And so Furio were like, okay, and they fell back on their strategy.
That mirror window separating the two sites, that had feed holes on it for half the round.
That guy was still playing the mirror window the entire time even as he was
that exposed. That is how dedicated Furia are to holding these positions and not
getting an NIP space. They are just trying to play trades, just trying to
waste time, and it's worked in all three rounds they've won so far.
this is that something else
run out from lawyer with the
the DMR ACOG
maybe soft made an announcement this week there'd be a host of mid-season changes
one of the operas we actually did see in the previous map that was Aurora but
there was some teasing about whether or not ACOGs on defense would be
revisited
or not I don't know how you feel about it but
I mean I'm of the opinion there shouldn't be any ACOGs on defense
At all I know that will anger some people and I say this is somebody used to play a cog on dock and Rook all the time
I uh, I don't know. I'm a few minds about it
I get part of the point, but also I kind of like the long-angle play you get with some a cogs on the defense
I think the bigger issues just like DMR is plus a cognitive defense can give it problematic, but
Yes, of course, so I always you know my favorite position defense love the fence
uh...
he's being offenses after you're not going out of the park in round six me
flawless round it seems like we'll have to end this half as well there's
literally zero fight from n i p at the end of that game
ironic to every single point i made up until round six
uh... you have to reacon testing basically every point of entry in around
that i think is more field like you go to anything printed out in the
strap book
pretty fair
scheduled and made it point in time out and that means
we're bringing in our beautiful analysts to talk about what they saw
well and there were so beautiful we're gonna be uh... not show
on the halfway point here at least face-wise because we've got a lot to
talk about here
fury a all looking incredibly focused up here
carrying over
the same things that we were talking about a map one bank which is playing
as a team as one
focused
unit. Yeah, I think it goes because without saying it's also because NIP are playing much better.
I think NIP are putting much more of a fight. I think the hit the reset button. As a reminder to
everyone that didn't check their semifinal earlier today, they had lost the first map
quite convincingly and went on to win the two next ones. They are a team that thrives on
momentum and they're completely able to hit that reset button when it comes to mental. They
They showed it because I do think that to a certain degree, they would have deserved to
make this a bit closer, even 33.
I do, however, believe that Furia found the right solution.
You guys highlighted it multiple times.
They figured that if they stopped losing bodies early on, they would finally just
be able to be behind the utility.
And then if you look at round five, it's basically what happens, right?
You see the utility on the lineup, 20 seconds left, Smoke, Mira, Ella, still all alive,
and play close to the bomb site and try each other.
Now why are they able to play these operators?
Because NIP for some reason that I still don't quite understand
decided to remove all world in a operators.
Kaid and Bandit.
Oh that's all good, great for you.
The reality is if you do that,
Mira, Azami, Castle, Ella, Thorn,
all will be available against you.
And so finally, Furia understood.
Let's just not try to play too aggressively.
Let's just play, set up with loads of utility,
play behind it, close to each other,
Yes, we can get aggressive, but in a position where our utility will make our gunfights more at our advantage.
And if someone loses his gunfight, the trading will happen.
Very last round, what do we see? An extension upstairs with all the traps in the castle, where a vault gets aggressive, but it has great potential behind them.
And that's how they win it.
Really good adaptation from Fiora. It's not just blanded aggression, it's also a good game plan.
Hmm? Very much so. Now we'll see the game plan of Furia on the attack where we just talked about it
percentage-wise. The defense is winning more often here in SAO during kickoff on this map.
Send it back to our casters and see how things develop from this back to our people on the ground.
For the record you have no idea if I'm levitating or not so you can't say I'm on the
ground. That's just not how it works.
Actually, in all seriousness, I was completely reclined in my chair. Nothing, nothing, no
part of my person was touching the ground, like actually. So that was, for me, literally
true. I was not on the ground. So I just want the record straight on that one.
Doted.
And for those that are keeping score, please put that in the official registry here.
Please don't put in the paper that I was on the ground.
I'm not on the ground.
Do not print in the paper that I was on the crack.
By the way, HATES hiding the clash,
as you can see out the gate.
This is a common hiding spot for people just
wanting to generally hide operators, not get them spotted.
Furia also, Leo probably, I actually
can hear them all the way from France freaking out
right now.
Furia decided to ban all the wall denial as well.
Though I will say it's more objectionable than,
or it's less objectionable than when NIP did it
Because I'm of a similar mind.
It was not a facet of Fioria strategy earlier.
And I am all for generally like, you try to make yourself
comfortable, but it was kind of strange, given the fortress
we saw earlier.
Here, though, Fioria banned both wall banile operators
earlier on fortress.
It worked out reasonably well.
Who knows if MIP played them or not.
But Fioria just recreating the bands they had earlier.
Great to have the analysis of the desk join us.
I've been enjoying it in all of the regions
that we've heard so far.
I mean, you don't get to work with Leo as often as I'd like, and with Milosh, frankly,
but I mean, I've worked with Milosh for almost a decade at this point.
Kind of locked.
Always get back.
I mean, close proximity.
Very close.
Actually, just, we used to live just across the street from each other when we were, when
you're up together.
Now, speaking of close, not just me and Milosh, Furia, to this particular bombsite,
Using in with two shields now the clash of hates as you mentioned hidden will now find
some extreme value here players looking for the jump in he sees a couple pairs of eyes
staring in his direction so fury very wisely chasing away from the position that they were
on and will now swing over towards that used to be known as the cannon side herds
getting deep by wizard you best know herds is going to be mad about that one.
i have to imagine he would be especially as i think he retained their
advantage
were also quite furious as he wants to get that barbed wire to run up the stairs
and we hit set
shotgun comes hunting down from behind
so i get to wait the s has three kills
i have no idea how this is a card the center gets the next one
i was a lawyer and bulbs entirely separate
spicy lawyer rotating around to join the monty who has been basically
locked in a dual with this class for the entire round up until this point
Oh, and it's about to get pinched from behind, I think.
That is... well, that's just unfortunate to say it'll be a bit
trade by Loire though, because we're now in the weird 1v1.
Very, very bizarre.
And I mean, Furia has gone back and forth, if I'm sure, through this round.
It's a nice spot for them to plant on.
The clash will have no choice but to get really present here.
And you gotta go quickly!
Oh my goodness!
Could you imagine Loire had bottled that one?
My God!
That's a position that everybody kind of know they clench I'm not gonna say why you clench
But you definitely clench period take the round and extend their lead off of a nail biter
Oh
When I saw how far away the clash was I was like, oh no
He's definitely gonna get this plant down great by great by Laura
Honestly all things considered just running in hot immediately hopping up on the table knows what kind of plan to make and
I don't know exactly what the right call is there because it's not like Monty where you know
The recoil is a bit lower than it is with the Clash, because if that was the Monty, you just keep backing up, you get hit, they've got to do this weird jiggle peek to get you in the shoulder.
A bit different when you're in Clash, it's not nearly as strong.
So I don't know exactly what the greatest call by the center there was, so I'm not going to claim to any kind of objective analysis in that situation.
Either way, it was awkward. It was very awkward for the back half of that round.
And Fury just continued to widen their lead off the back of it.
at NIP. Sure, did they lose? Yeah, but one of us at 1v1 and two, the clash hiding was very effective.
It was very clear that Furia were not ready for and Beceda will try to do it again.
It might very well work. Volb is bringing the Monty a second time. That stalled the push on
that side of the map for quite a long period. Furia will double down with a different kind
of shield though. And so while the Monty might face trouble, Furia won't be pigeonholed
quite like they were before. They have some flexibility with this additional shield.
Plenty of time for them to do some setup now as we're into live action here.
If the shields are working for you continue to bring them, right?
And I mean, both of these shields function differently.
Blackbeard is going to be likely more involved in the frame.
Volts is going to be more passive by giving information and with Volts being able to
give calls and the strength that he has in those calls, very advantageous spot
for him to be in.
Oxera's already got a read on Beceto.
He's hoping that somebody on the side of Nip
will reveal themselves,
but for the time being nothing yet,
Lawyer, I'm able to do what Herds could not,
and I will go with an aid to move the clash
from this position.
Lawyer finds one, out comes the sidearm,
turns around expecting a flank,
but there's nobody there.
A great opening gambit for Fury in the first minute.
I just really love Lawyer's read there.
The barbed bar is way too far away
to give any effectives.
Sound cue and the L is so focused on protecting the clash and just contesting the players in museum
That it goes very differently than it was with her
It's because there was nothing distracting that clash and what a shot by Bob. What the hell
There are no words that could do justice for that particular moment
If Diaz clutches the round and that was all for naught, then my goodness, what do you do
here?
The clash off of the shield so Becetta will get active.
I don't know if the Summel will get taken care of.
I am dumbfounded.
How did he, like, how did he even hit that?
They weren't even all lined up.
Like I literally don't care what's happening right now.
Like if Diaz clutches this 1v2, I will start caring.
I am literally stunned by how that even happened.
This should end, by the way, for NIP.
I mean, you've got the shotgun around the corner.
You have the class chasing DS.
I mean, no plan is this work, and there we go.
So how the hell did that happen?
You had a guy in front of him, a guy to his right,
and a guy all the way to the left.
Now, they weren't like completely split up, 90, 90, 90,
but like they were not on top of each other.
And he did that with one magazine.
How has he killed all of those guys?
Do we have an instant replay of it?
I don't know.
I desperately need one.
I don't even know how that's possible.
Yeah, I mean.
Attackers need to locate and diffuse as many bombs as they can.
They are the experts.
You're supposed to be the experts.
And we can't describe what happened.
Sometimes you must see plays.
Sometimes you must see plays like that
and you just kind of shake your head and you go,
okay, the stars align.
You know, seeing a miracle 3K from fantasy to completely save the round and obliterate any hopes of Fyuria going to match point
is about as unlikely as, I don't know, Fyuria clutching the final round of bank to go up 1-0 in the round or 1-0 in the series.
But I mean, we've seen the unthinkable happen.
Paul, you've got two aces today.
Two words.
We're playing out loud.
Two words.
It has been a wild day of siege.
And again, the matches that preceded this were excellent.
This one has been a bit more one-sided.
But it's still a good showing of the potential that these teams have.
Furia in particular continuing to improve their gameplay and doing it while Herds is really not having the best series so far.
So again, for these teams, depth has been terrific, Nip no longer relying on just fantasy and hates.
Whereas Furia, they're not just relying on a player like Herds, Diaz right now, leading the way it was, I believe, Volpz top-fragged back in map number one, so...
That one's not that abnormal, Volpe's is a terrific player, but me oh my.
It's been a great match. I do want all three maps at this current point in time.
It seems unlikely that we will go to border, but crazier things have happened.
Crazier things have occurred. We've seen them in the series.
And today, overall. So, it would honestly be a bit more normal, all things considered.
We're already trying to use the South Dawn scanner that is used quite effectively so far throughout this series.
Got this map as well
I don't really find any initiative from leasing that moment, but as
Volts moves over towards the central staircase trying to actually recreate some of that play from lawyer who ran through this barbed wire earlier
The big question is how focused is nip on other positions?
And are they far enough away for the for the sound cue not really to matter right here?
They're a lot closer to central stairs than lawyer was but we'll make his way up as sound goes out
I'm not quite sure that anybody knows what will put the first though as the next kill who creeps up from behind
Bulbs wants that one back Diaz has his hand and there's ten kills for Diaz on that support roll
Not too bad. They got eleven as he removes hates from the equation following up on his Selmas
They're gonna continue to tear through them wizard in a winnable position
But we'll need to overcome the two remaining players from Furia
What can Wizard do? Will he find a blind spot here sweeping through? If he's getting the
hands of Herds, Wizard making an awful lot of noise, getting ever closer. Does he have
a read on this? Does he know which door it is? Here's the F2 going through. Still got
the QB for protection. Wizard can easily win this. He just needs to pick his fights.
carefully doesn't, earns with the kill at its series point, championship point, Fyria.
And I mean, Diaz Lucas just performing extremely well in this series so far. Obviously up to 11 kills
there, but extremely lethal as a backline player. And just highlighting what Leo was talking about
earlier, Volts and Diaz on this roster have been so, so impressive. Even despite a lot of the,
I would say their name players that are there, they are still the two highest rate of players
on this map and throughout this series so far.
Lawyer is not that far behind in this map, don't get me wrong, but these a bit slower players have
been the stars of the show for Fyria in the final series of the night and Diaz in particular
really really solid performance. That round honestly is not super complicated.
It's a kind of a lot of what Fyria have been doing so far and I believe, yes, that
I know how that happened, I was hoping we could see the three kills, but we weren't able to.
We just got teased, that was so mean.
That was so mean.
Hey!
Everybody likes a good tease, maybe not like that.
Hey, but you know what I will say?
Honestly, I think it's arguably more poignant because, you know, faith is believing
in what's not readily observable, right? And for something as magical as divine as that
3k, I think you just have to like accept the fact that it happened and accept the fact
that you can't always see it. They're not always easy answers to life. So then you just
have to put, you know, faith in the grander plan. That'll all be okay.
One one said that faith is something that common sense tells you not to believe in.
Well,
Awesome. There's something different than that. I don't have to ask my mother.
I wonder what you would think about that Bessetta spawnpeek. I'm sure Interim Mom would have an abundance of thoughts.
Oh, so they have a lot of thoughts that you would immediately hop in after that point is hot.
Oh, and he does. Thankfully it has the barrier to protect him, so not completely punished for that.
We'll just trigger it and immediately back off, but it seems like they might- Oh, Bessetto!
I'm not letting Furia take anything for granted.
Arguably stays much longer than he probably should have, but continues to just play in that position fancy, surely not.
I mean, what is happening right now?
Bog's there is not having a great run of playing shields on this map today. Let's put it that way.
Sad that their follow-up Volts will die in a very similar fashion.
Excellent crossfire by Nip, and I really do like how active this defense is from them.
It's knocked Furia off of their stride, and Nip really hasn't given up all that much in the process.
8th is having a terrible day, by the way, 2 and 10 so far here on Fortress.
Fantasy gunning down her is immediately traded out.
Furia is such a sticky team and it will leave their two best players in this map as the final two to stand against Nip.
With the matchup on the line for the championship,
Loira and Diaz looking to be the best team in Brazil with the rest of Furia.
All they got to do is put away Wizard and Beceto in the next 90 seconds.
I think I was going to say with these two, these Razor Blooms remaining, there is a bit
of later on information you could gather.
Oh, the Z ping around the corner too.
It's got to be all on DS.
He's been here before and he can't pull it off, but Nip has looked like a very different
team on this map.
Their defense is much stronger than anything that they really mustered on Bank.
They're very patient, very, very patient.
Wizard's got the angle now directly to the right of Diaz and it looks like
like he might walk in that direction with his back turned,
knows now where the thorn is.
Bissetto can reposition.
He's got that C-75 in hand.
Son of a bulletproof camera that whole time, Lynx.
Yeah.
Got a read on Ella.
So for Bissetto almost gets his head.
Just needs to shoot out the camera.
Can't really do too much until he handles that.
set a repositioning.
Diaz could do it again.
A very similar position for Furia.
Diaz has been a miracle worker.
Miracles don't even always happen once.
Could it happen twice?
He's walked his way close to the bomb site,
angle being held still by this thorn.
A reposition from Wizard 15 seconds left.
Diaz going for the kill.
He fails.
Wizard coming out ahead almost two for two for Furia.
A heart-stopping round for Ninjas and Pajamas, and there stands Furia, still with the lead,
but one more round needed to see if Furia can put it away.
Uh, the fact that things still come so close there is profoundly impressive for Furia, and
not even necessarily indicative of anything wrong with NIP, it's just a show of
how strong Furia are and have felt in this matchup.
Throughout that round, I mean...
Listen.
It was not a great start for Furia, obviously.
There were quite a lot of gaps in their information.
I think the confidence and the ego starting to get to them a little bit and to be fair
when you always, when you speed things up you are always going to trade information for
time so they're inherently going to be a lot more gaps when you go for a rush like that
but it definitely happened in this case in which every place they were going to go there
was somebody from NIP routing obviously a Beceto still contesting that window you have fancy
sitting up on the opposite side of not the door I guess but the entrance where
the Monty walked through, and that was both shields taken down by rat plays right there.
So literally two cornerstones of that attacking strategy were taken down in places where just
even a little bit of information, especially on the latter kill on the Monty, would have
gone a long way.
So working out great for MIP, still two more rounds to go, and even with that rough start
for Furia, it still came down to a 1v1 that it really felt like Diaz could win.
But ultimately, these rounds that we've seen through both of these maps have been way too close for Nip.
They do look like a better team on Fortress. I mean, obviously the scoreline will tell you that right away,
but sometimes the scorelines don't tell the full story. We've seen maps that will go like 7-2 or 7-3
and still be exceptionally close where a more accurate scoreline could have been, say, 7-5 or something along those lines.
How really the case so far with this bout, the scoreline has been pretty much bang-on
and Nip will continue this full-court press as defenders.
They gun down Herds.
Herds is having a rough game, just matching HATES' contributions.
Herds is maybe a tiny bit better, but Nip hitting you with the drive-by question marks
in the chat.
Devastating stuff.
Drive-by question marks and the bot speaker.
It sounds like fancy smoked Herds, so I'm going to have a go at it.
Herds was standing there alive and then Herds was on the ground dead
Alive and then dead
One shot headshot. Oh, well, you don't need you don't need to be you don't need to be a bodyologist to know that
That's not how you want to end up
Intel ops three Intel ops for fury by the way
Yeah, they've lost the lion but there's still a demo since still a joke of the first logic bomb has gone off
still waiting for the other one to finish generating and it'll be a jiggle peak here from the mirror of
fantasy and he wins it volts missed his mark that is a tough one box error we'll trade that one right
back hates has been a bit of a target time so far in this matchup he will have very limited impact
here in this 11th round here hoping that this lead doesn't end up with them going to overtime
but it is getting increasingly likely with how strong this defense has been from ninjas of
of the jammers and nips still holding on to a number's advantage in the final minute.
Well, especially because NIP having so confident against Pyrrha, you feel the momentum slightly
starting to change, but Pyrrha keeping it competitive. They've lost the doke,
being the process, but now as they've taken the advantage, Oxera's got three deathmark
trackers and Pyrrha have a whole 50 seconds to reset. There are not enough smoke canisters in
the world to stall out the rest of this round. Utility's great, but Beceto will need to
hold these close angles with a shotgun and Pino's gotta hold the long. Something has to give for
Furia, but with these trackers in the time, surely they can divert this one. So we'll go out,
Pino, on the run, downstairs. You know that Beceto is the only one that you have to deal with,
or rather there's Boxera downstairs. On the run, now closing in. Excuse me? Can Diaz clutch out?
His vision on the final player of Beceto, obscured by the gas, thrown out just moments
before, so Diaz will wrap around 15 kills for Diaz. He came up empty-handed in his clutch just a couple
rounds ago. How does he do this time? He has to wait out the shotgun. He sees him, but Seto doesn't,
Nick doesn't again. Oh, for two for Diaz here on this map, and Nick stays alive.
And it's easy to see why, even though in the 1v1 with Bob Zara and a shotgun in such a
close quarters position, there's no bad gunfight for him to take. The only reason he couldn't
take the gunfight on the rotate was because of the track stingers, but no matter where
D.S. Lucas could peek, there was no way or with that low time remaining for him to get
in a position that would have been advantageous. Additionally, because of that low time and
how close the smoke was, there was no good option to even attempt a plant whatsoever.
I believe there was still some smoke utility as well. So Wizard, excuse me, could
even still just evade the gunfight entirely and burn 10 seconds off the utility alone.
It's not all ideas for losing these two 1DXs, and Furia might have been an advantage for
a moment, but I gotta give a lot of credit to Fancy in particular, and obviously like
Bissetto and Wizard are doing great, but Fancy has really been setting the pace
these past few rounds.
Of course getting that big double, of course getting the big triple earlier, but just
has really been the one that seemed to have dashed Furia's confidence the hardest,
has made them put in a position where they are constantly fighting from behind, even if he doesn't get the opening kick.
When alive at the right time for his team, and now Nip are either three minutes away from a longer series, or yet again,
three minutes away from being done, Furia has watched this lead that they built up over Ninjas and Pajamas evaporate.
It started with that cheese play, the rat play, to knock the shields off their stride.
And then, an incredible play in the previous round.
Diaz, the star for so much of this series
will now need to be picked up as he's bleeding out.
Yet again, Nip taking to these windows,
taking to these doors, forcing Fury to fight from behind.
I don't even know how that happened.
I mean, I can reasonably intuit,
like you said, somebody peed to the door,
but you beg to show that angle,
that seems like a kind of a weird fight to take.
MIP just not letting Fury get comfortable whatsoever.
I don't think I really expected the full-court press to work against Fury of all teams, but it really is.
The Monty of it separated from Resta's team right now.
Ooh, walking to a Gershmott as well. Hates with one.
It was that pocket. It will land in front of the Monty, so it wards him off more than actually traps him.
The rest of Fury had joined this push.
It was likely calming the presence of not only the Ella, but the Gershmott mine as well.
But again, really nothing you can do. He can trigger it then back up and now he'll push forward
But again, there's no gun behind this Monty. He's quite separate from the rest of his team
He's got to be careful in this position. But as he ADS's he domes them
Rough go of it for hates and it will continue besetto trades out lawyer of fantasy again leveling up
But he gets paid for by that besetto down now to
Furia with the numbers advantage. They've been here three times and failed to convert
How will this round go?
Wizard and Pino to clutch out.
Last round, you thought it might be over.
Their fans might have thought it was over,
but their players said completely otherwise.
Difference is though,
Lynx, there's a shield still on the board.
Box there, if he plays this one right,
you will watch all those bullets just bounce off of him.
There's not much that an Aruni and a Smoke can do,
especially a Smoke with just a single gas canister
and a minute to go.
You are hoping that those remaining Boyle canisters
are enough to slow down the advance
down the advance of this period team or else that's it for this series but
conversely on the side of the attack you've still got a smoke grenade you've
got the two flashbangs it also 39 seconds which in this position is not a
lot of time but still enough to get some good information but the Blackbeard
to speed things up I mean it's possible again this you have some good
long-range and close-quarters weapons here you have the utility that got the
manpower he doesn't take a lot to knock this house of cars over and
And there's the first domino, only one remains, wizard to clutch up.
Can he work?
Some kind of secret magic to keep his team in this?
Or will Fury of the Organization known being towards the top?
Pull this off, they manage to stop the plant, can anybody recover in time?
Heards goes for the kill, quiet most of this match, but loud when it matters.
Furyah, dominate ninjas and pajamas 2-0 and they are the best in Brazil.
I just want to say that end there was way too close for comfort.
I mean, a shotgun around the corner right as two of them walking up,
I almost fell out of my chair and got really scared for a second.
But Furia just have enough.
With Diaz getting that kill especially in a 3v1, even with the Blackout going down,
they've got the players who can move in for the trade.
It's a much closer game on Fortress, but I mean, when you have the momentum created earlier
from that dominant bank victory ending with a 2v5, it felt inevitable for Furia.
I gotta give more props to NIP, though, for really bleeding them quite heavily on Fortress.
I mean, Bank obviously was them sleepwalking through most of that matchup.
Fortress, they woke up, and they were far better.
They were better on attack, they were better on defense.
In fact, most of their defenses, especially the early rounds, were terrific.
They were able to knock Fury off-stride so many times.
But Fury are just a well-oiled machine.
And again, Lens' credibility, this matchup in particular,
to how much better Fury is getting very quickly over time.
I think the sky is the limit for this team.
And if you're going to Salt Lake City and you're looking at whether Nip or this
Furia team, you're scared to face both of them, but you're probably most scared to
face Furia. They're the best team in the region.
They win the upper bracket finals, which is the grand finals, and they will be
very happy turning their eyes now towards Utah in just a couple weeks.
Yeah, and I mean, we don't have to say much more than that.
We've got Leo and Agasson on the other side to talk about Furia now
fishly being the best in Brazil.
much entero links yes it is done and dusted furio the hell of a furious little
shot that they've done here they will to close it out against an ip despite nip's
best efforts to bring this one back here leo we almost saw an overtime but
there's this guy deus lupus who just was so activated today we heard of him
and from him in the first interview and when he smiles when he's pumped up and active
It's gonna happen and it did
Yeah, I mean 16 kills to close out the day the guest the guys are celebrating you could see it all the way
You know in there in their camps
I think it must feel really special for a team that was put together
You know only after a sign goes to show that when you put the right people together at the right rules
it sticks and it works. Very interesting to see them play at Tuta in a city against the best teams in the world.
I'll have to say this, I think in IP they had it in them. I think that if they had warmed up the same way,
if they were the ones that played the semi-final, the last ones to play the semi-final,
maybe the matchup would have been entirely different.
Despite that though, every single round was half for Peria.
Even when NID was in a heavy man advantage, Feria was almost able to bring it back every single time.
That just speaks to the sheer talent on that roster.
And as we see some of these rounds here, I think we also saw improvements from AP.
I felt like I felt a consistency from that roster that I did not see in a few stages of SCL last year.
I'm hoping that they finally get to breach that top 8, make it to main stage,
because that's something that they've been missing for a while.
Yes, they've made events consistently, but I think they've been missing this part.
And on the side of Furia, honestly, they can be really happy with themselves because they
walk away not only with the bragging rights of being the best SEL teams out of two months
of practice, but actually 240 SA points during the lead right now, and they can
even make more at the major having secured phase two of the major.
So from their standpoint right now, it only looks at the next few weeks to prepare.
even a bootcamp who knows if they will go to the USC for that but what a gamble for the
organization as a whole to come up with this roster and a gamble that so far seems to pay off.
It's not an easy set of shoes to fill that's for sure right. Aside from
for sure it is not an easy thing it reminds me if you help me make the analogy here Leo
of when Falcons picked up the old BDS roster, right, this is a big shift, of course now after
that change you had BDS now shifters that came in, big shoes to fill a big gamble to get through.
However, this is a similar one, Fiora bringing in big players that have been all over the
world at this point from Brazil, brought them all together and put in a lot of work in
the support staff and the players all between them to get to this point and have indeed been
successful. They celebrate at the end of this hard fought victory especially on map 2 against
NIP but they celebrate because they proved a point not just to themselves and to one
another as a team but to their organization as well to say hey we are a worthwhile pick
up we'll only get better from here so all the way up from this point as entero mentioned
Of course, the bragging rights to say, in our first time together, not only did we break these expectations,
but we became the number one team in SAO and what a run they had, Fiora, to get to this point.
Tough opponents that they faced. I would very much say that there have been upsets in the matches for them to get to this here point,
either in the groups where they top the group, or being able to beat Fluxed W7M and continue on
in the upper bracket tier that they had. Our match summary you'll see. DS Lucas, again MVP of the
matchup, no two ways around it here put up all the numbers. This is someone that has been very
much hyped no matter what part of the world he's been in really, but here he's really
finding his footing, he's putting it all also not just on the team all matching together but also on the support staff of
Furia for helping them get to this point and we talked to him probably won't unfortunately get to talk to him again
But he was focused on Reduct
Who is someone with a lot of experience as a player in his coach?
To pull the entire team together and get them to focus up and learn from their mistakes and you're seeing the results of that right here
Yeah, definitely an incredible match for him. I was also going to sell it by SETO because you know support player IGL
Best really won on the side of NIP and and now we have of two first teams from a sale making it
So we have six teams may making it to the major and looking forward to tomorrow
I want to see you know the schedule. I want to see what's gonna happen here
We have fluxo w7m versus loss loss being obviously right now probably the biggest
small challenger right the one that has the least expectation on himself another
team that was built entirely from scratch from players that didn't know
each other or we're coming from five different roster at the time and then
the big one that that one will be massive team liquid Alienware versus
face clan one of this team from El Clasico is gonna miss the major this
is gonna be epic I just wonder what is it gonna be the first time it's a
game. I want to know tomorrow. Look and look at the schedule, but just to confirm it for you.
But Team Liquid Alienware phase is the second matchup. So I'm telling you, Sunday night,
you do not want to miss this game. Only one of them. It's already been touted as a phase liquid
from both phase and liquid in our interviews. They're saying this is we're back to El
Classico between these two huge organizations in the sense that they're actually on equal
footing, but only one of them can make it to Subluxity, and both of them are hungry.
FaZe hate the fact that they got dropped into the lower bracket by Flux with W7M,
and they are not leaving any survivors left. We've seen in the last game they absolutely
demolished by Dragon 7171. Now against Team Liquid Alienware, that they themselves would be very
disappointed. If Team Liquid Alienware lose this match, and it's not going to be an easy
one to win regardless. I'm just gonna put it up here and say maybe the curse is
somewhere in the name or something because it just could not believe it
at that point. But if you move with Elinor or make it to the major then
face clan the world champions the back-to-back league are not there and I
know the analyst conversation is gonna be well you see whenever you win an
invitational you're gonna not qualify to the next major or if you do
you're gonna play like ass and not make it deep enough into it right
That's how it usually goes.
Well, the reality is that, you know, they would get hard punished by the format itself.
It is a three weeks long, really short, very impactful, really intense stage.
So like, you know, I wouldn't play them too hard.
They had lost one B03 against Flux of W7M.
The bracket makes it that they would have to play against Team Liquid Alienware afterwards.
Two very strong opponents.
One might say that if they had been on the other side of the bracket, they would have made it easily.
So I wouldn't blame them too much. It would be a huge, huge blow because they've been
at S tier events consistently for so many years, but at the same time, if it's a lesson
they need to learn to go and grind their way to win a third SI Hammer in a row, no one
will care at this point.
Simple as that. Then that's our day. I mean, what a day it was. I know it's late
for you and me right now and still in the morning and you have been working for like
what the past six days or so back to back to back to back to back to back so you had to
stay off but it's an off to prepare for the other day so we're gonna call it an off to
anaheutist you're in a in a in a garden reading a book but actually you were thinking about
how do you prepare something new for the show I know you will
It was pretty weird. It was pretty much it because every day we need to prep for the next day anyway
And I was doing a cell as we come Saturday and then travel to Copenhagen and then email and then back here
And then I see oh and they say oh tomorrow and
SAL tomorrow exactly you and I are back here tomorrow. We've already prepped our stuff for tomorrow
We have some fresh graphics that are being cooked up by our team just to make a few hard-hitting points
I make them really clear for everybody out there
So I want to thank you Leo for an incredible day that we've had together. I know you are completely fried
It's late. It's stuffy, but we've done an excellent
Show today. We've had an excellent day to get through these three wonderful matches which guarantees us nip and their
opponents here furia both qualified salt lake city and the top seed is
Furia they are the number one team in s.a.l. In brazil and tomorrow two games will decide
the last two teams to qualify to Salt Lake City. And then in the grand final of
the lower bracket, we'll see who actually makes it into phase one. That's a tough
sell. And then into phase two of the major. Anyways, Leo, thank you again. Thank
you to your production team and for those watching at home. I wish you a
wonderful night. We love you. Bye.
Thanks for watching guys!