Yeah, yeah, yeah. S. E. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to first touch. We are back for another episode season six Episode five. Woo-hoo-hoo. It's Dazz and it's Dizz. Dizz, how we doing today? Hey, man, I'm chilling, man. It's another day to talk about Rocket League. Yeah, man, that's about it, bro. Like, I ain't got nothing else for you, man. What the? Dizz, what's going on, man? You sound sad. Yeah, bro. My partner's going. So it's just the energy is kind of a little sucked out right now, that pause. but like my partner is just, he's just, yo, don't laugh at that. Yo, yo, yo, yo, man, come, come back. I need you to finish this show, man. Come on. Come on. Hey, let's restart. Let's restart. Let's restart. We are here right now guys to talk all things RLCS. It's a beautiful day. I hope you guys are doing good this Thursday. Listen, more rocket leak action going to happen over the course of the weekend. We had Rocket League action last week where rebellion ended up taking in a open five and to start off the show. We've got rebellion themselves, Kofur and coach violent and gentlemen. Welcome to the show. It's so great to see you guys. Great to see you too. Thanks bro. I don't know. Yeah. Thank you. Of course. Of course. Listen, we got to talk to you guys. I mean, last time you won a regional was in the first open all the way around the Copenhagen kickoff land. Now you've won your second one here halfway through the season VP. I mean talk to me what's it been like? It's been great man like winning this kind of confirms the way we've been feeling the last three weeks three four weeks already like that we've been going in the right direction and uh yeah like this is kind of like the nail in the coffin and I think we're just gonna keep going from this you know feels great. I mean call for anything to add here we got highlights between you guys and foot here I mean what's it been like what's your journey been I mean, honestly, it's just been like feeling good, like especially like the team, like we're all like just like linked them together. Like it's just been like guys like really, really fun. It's enjoyable to play with them. Yeah, it seems like it. Now, I mean, kind of kind of run me through this regional event for you guys. I mean, you guys ended up having a pretty solid run. I'd say you guys went through groups just fine and then you go into the bracket, you lose to this foot team and they're able to kind of bounce back here and face me in the finals to just completely dominate was was there any like What happened between that Saturday and Sunday? I mean my opinion I think it was like a mindset thing like we just like weren't like fully like in there But like we like talks to the team like the neck like as soon as we lost and we decided like tomorrow Like yeah, like we got a player best if you want to win this like and we should be winning it Like that's like the standard like we have said like it's not it's not even anything special in regional But we should be winning them. So we knew like we had to like, like lock ourselves in. Yeah, that's true. And then, of course, like the competition has kind of been rising a little bit. You've had NRG being a little inconsistent. But then on the other side of things, this foot team's been giving you results. You've got SSG who won the last open before you guys. I mean, what has the state of North American rock? It would have been like, honestly, like, I mean, like, like you're saying energy, energy's been like kind of regressing. like they've definitely been getting like I don't know worse but like there's been other players like for example foot like they've improved so much more so I think like I know there's like there are some teams have been improving a lot and then some teams I just haven't been so like energy hasn't been improving fuzz been improving and I mean there's will show it we've been improving too while the teams are like I think we improved faster than the teams honestly so I think like that's like that's where we have the advantage like we're able to adapt faster even though even though you guys kind of like made the grand finals look easy. I kind of want to know who was your toughest comp in the weekend. We had to be SSG, I guess, that we ran into. But I mean, I think they play great against energy, but I think energy kind of lost themselves against FUT, to be honest. I think energy is just having a little bit of a rut, you know, but I am confident, and they shall already show that before, that they'll be able to bounce back. I don't know if for the next region or for the major. But I know they can play better and they'll be back again. But I do think it was energy more so losing to themselves to FUT than FUT winning in my opinion. They play great, don't get me wrong, but I think energy can play at a higher standard. And for us the same thing, like I think SHG was kind of the hardest team we ran into. Okay, now I mean you guys definitely, I would say started the season off pretty hot, But then when it came to international competition, there were a couple of hiccups here in terms of, I guess, probably results that you might have wanted. Like you talk about the loss of Copenhagen's Karmicorp, then you go on to the major, the loss against Falcons. What have you guys learned from those international losses that you've applied to this split? I don't, the thing is, I don't think we've learned anything specific in terms of like what what we lost to them, but we improved the team as a team a lot. We changed our whole playstyle, not going to go into depth with that, but we changed our playstyle the way we think of the game. We've been working hard on it as a team, and ever since the start of the split, it's been feeling really good. Even though the first regional, or the fourth one, let's just say, we didn't perform still. We already knew in scrims, we were playing really well, and everything was feeling really good. It was just a mental thing like Hofer said earlier. And once we got that mental thing in order, you know, it started feeling a lot better on the Sunday and we finally performed like how we've been doing in scrims. But it's not so, so to say learning from those specific series, it's just we took the game in a different approach. And that's what we've been doing now and it's been feeling really good. That's fair. That's fair. VP talked to me about coaching this team. You've definitely had, I mean, you've been a rocker for so long. You play with a lot of different players. You've coached a lot of different players. What makes the squad so special? Man, Kofir, he'd be moving out there, you know. Stepping up as a leader recently, like, FKs, FK, you know, like great player. And LJ, as you can see, he can dominate the field if you want to, like, these guys are all insane, individually, and right now, it's clicking as a team. So that's all we need. And we just got to keep it going. Yeah. Can you check at that? Kofir, like, what's been, how's the chemistry like with the team? Honestly it's been like it's been pretty like really really good recently especially like I mean is this like to have like like like I don't know how to like wear this but there's like certain things like even like the smallest thing can like just like get a super like good chemistry like one person does something that they don't even know they're doing that's wrong but if they just switch it like it's like a route for like a lot of problems and just like like we did something like that and we just click like that like like it's like yeah okay Okay, let's talk international here for a second. Kofi, I heard you've been watching a lot of Mina. It's been pretty crazy over there. I want to get your thoughts on the state of Mina, especially, you know, twisted mines, sweeping rate in that last open finals. What's Mina looking like to you? I'll say, I think just in mines, like looks like the best team, like a really like top container for like landwinds, like they can easily win a land. I've like, I have a lot of confidence in that team. Yeah. How many teams do you think Mina has? Like, do you think it's a three team region now, four or five? Um, I think it's, I mean, I think it's three, but like the ones that, like that could win is just a month, I think right now. Like actually when like tournaments, like the important ones, you know, that's good. That's interesting. You don't think Falcons in that conversation anymore? Well, not right now. Like the way they're looking, like they haven't been like looking like at their peaks out, like, like, I can't say it confidently. Like, you know, I mean, that's fair. That's fair. Man. We got to see if they'll even make pairs before we can put them in the car. Yeah. We'll talk more about it later on the show. On the other side, we got Europe kicking off open five tomorrow. Violet Panda. Europe's been pretty everywhere recently. I think the major champs, gentlemen, they have like two points currently. GK has one. Well, I think they, they all might have technically one more point because they made Friday. But what have you been like, how's your been looking to you? Man, fatalities looking really good, let's just say, like the Zen to me and the fatality last year and started this year as well, they've always been a team to me like, if they can just figure it out, they'll be really good, you know, and they just didn't until this year. They've been looking really good as a team together and they've been figuring shit out. So yeah, I do think fatality might be the best team in the EU right now. But I think Gentlemates, even though they bummed out last regional, I think it's just a one-off thing. I think they looked really good in the qualifier just now, and they'll be back. I think EU just took a little bit of hit last regional, but I think everything will smoothen out over the next two. No mention of Carmencourt there. Are they not the third they used to be? They are really good. Don't get me wrong. But I think they might have to figure some stuff out. I'm not sure what it is from the like the last major and stuff. Obviously they're really good. It's Carmine Corp, but they aren't looking as dominant as they did before. And I think they still can. They just need to figure it out. When you say Gentleman is back or will be back, they'll be back to form. Do you think it's top two? Do you expect to see him in the grand finals this weekend? Well, in the EU, you mean? I think so. Yeah. I think so. OK, OK. Lastly for me, where are you guys expectations wise for the rest of the season? So this next open and then you look toward the next major world championship, like where are your sites set? Good. Go for. I guess our site sets on just like, I mean, giving our best, obviously, we want to win land and stuff like that, but I mean, we just have to like to keep continuing grinding. Like it's kind of like that question is kind of hard because like right now, like we're kind of like taking it day by day. Like it's like a whole buildup. So like we don't want to just like insane, like personally, like like future tournaments, right? So like for me, like that's kind of hard, like hard question to answer. But I think like obviously I would want to win lands. Like when my first name with my team, like, and I think with this team, like I'm pretty confident that we can. We've been talking now after the regionals as well, that we cannot change the way you've been thinking, you know, like even after a regional win, like we have been working harder the last month or maybe even longer than a month. And everything's been feeling great to be figuring stuff out. We can't just slack off after a regional win, you know, like this is where we got to, you know, we rose up there and now we got to stay there. So we got to level things out. We got to keep consistent with what we've been working on and not slack off. Yeah. I love it. I love to hear it. I love to hear it. Big congratulations. I'm very happy for your guys success over at Shopify Rebellion. And gentlemen, you know, we're gonna not take up too much of your time. We're gonna let you guys go But very much appreciate you guys taking the time for the interview. Thank you. Appreciate you guys. Thank you for having us Of course there's We have a rebellion on the show me. What do you what do you think about it? What do you think about what we just heard? I mean, it seems like they're locked in the kind of focus on the future I think it's It's looking at North America. It's kind of clear to see with NRG looking so iffy. You don't know what kind of energy you're gonna get out of them. Shopify has kind of taken the clear number one spot. It's clear because of how good they look in the grand finals, but you still got teams like SSG who's kind of sitting there. They look spectacular the first open. So kind of waiting to see what they do in the third. And even NRG, we're still waiting for a bounce back. So that if I do that tough comp, but they look good man. I like how you kind of alluded to that, not really being sure who number one is in a, now listen, I know we don't got base here on a show, but I found two very qualified yappers that thank you, fill in the space. Let's bring them in. We got Jordy's and the cheese joining the show. Ladies and gentlemen, how we doing? After you, I exist. I'm good, thank you. Are you guys sat in for the interview? I mean, what do you think hearing that stuff from Shopify smart from VP? He gets it been around a long time wins lots. You can win. That's great But I've also been there when we lose we don't have time to stop correct mindset. Well done. Yeah I feel like it's just good to see them them gel right as well. Like we've all seen them be a little shaky throughout the first split few splits regional story, but they've really like proved themselves this regional, I think anyway, I mean, they stomped fought in the ground. So that's all they have to do to prove it now. Yeah, that's true. That's true. All right, let's get right into it. World is do you know or do you don't know? Who is number one in North America? You said you had a shop at one, but do you need to see it again? I'm Mr. T-Bates on this one. I need to see it again. Oh, they didn't give us no information on that play style. We already expected that coming through. We'd ask them, they'd be like, you know, we can't really go into depth in that area of topic. So I already expected that coming out. Top five They did play foot in the grand files. I want to see him against top for comp. They did play space station But wait, hold on. Yeah, yeah, they play space. Okay. Okay. Okay. I might be misremembering But and then on top of that, I just I just need to play I need them to play energy really like that That's simply it and I need energy to be on that. That's it. That's so we're not one then small task that's it. If you need them to play in our G to take number one, I mean, there's a reason why the number one's up for grabs. How about that one? You're not going to give them one. You're going to get that clear one, but I just can't because if they if they're going into a land event, I'm still favorite NRG to be successful. I agree, but I just can't I can't put energy below them. I don't I don't I feel it's a comfort pick though to say that What about everyone everyone because energy right they're consistent, but we've seen them this regional, you know Not making it to grand's, you know It was like what the first time in a split where they haven't won two regionals Or something like that. It's a bit. Oh, that's new I feel like it's a comfort pick to say that you'd always back energy along to do good and not another team It's a comfort pick cuz it's one of the greatest teams of all time You're bringing up a stat that they didn't win two great. No, they didn't make two grip. I was in a row in two years Top four top four right am I crazy So the only reason they don't make it a grand final is One series which I believe in both what didn't they lose the eventual tournament winner? No, they lost the foot, right? In the finals I think I think it's pretty valid for it to be a comfort big No, that's fine. I'm just saying it's a comfort pick. That's why that's the only thing I was putting out there Okay, then who do you put it? Yeah, who do you say you do? Who do you put it? Well? I mean, I Don't know if this is too obvious But whoever's number one seed has to be the best right and so you know you've got Shopify and space space station tied for points In this split in this whole other regional playmate. What if it's a next one? And how to have a point for that? Let's go there. Well, I think if they win, it depends on who makes. Let's let's if you when you get 18 points, if you're fine, it's going to be a tie. What's two? What's for second place? Twelve. Well, OK, so the six point difference. Yes, it would be a tie between. Let's say they play a station and we're trying to find the grand final. They would tie and then the tie breakers. What? Oh, I don't know. Can't be head to head. If we know I'm the message, D right? So if we win next regional, they have to be number one by default. Even if the tiebreaker doesn't necessarily give it to them, right? Because they tied in points at that point, right? I'm giving it to them. I don't care. They're going to be number one if they win next week. You can't tell me they not. I agree. I think what if they what if they come out, they be shot by next week? It's not comforting no more hundred ease Well, why are you making this like it's not? Because I'm not wrong everyone goes out For any teams go to land everyone's go on energy is gonna do the best which granted they usually do But based off of the last split, you know energy Not winning that as they usually do which is expected. Mm-hmm. I feel like the I feel like it switched up a little bit It's fair. I'm I'm I'm cause for conversation. Okay. Right. I think that I think that that's very that's a kind of valid point and a conversation. The narrative, I should say, could change on a week to week basis. It really depends on how the last open looks. Right now it's a it's a pretty open race. I like it. I like it. Now, one thing I don't like is something that happened last week. Let's let's just roll the clip. Can we just roll the clip? That's a that's a that's a that's a B tier team. I gotta see it. Why is it foot at B? Move foot to C F should be C. Let's see. I says G B. There you go. Put him right there. That's a G P. That's a G B. I like him right there Now hold on a minute He's ready. I'm holding FTSE tier. The basis for that. Let's start with the basis. I need the context of that tier list. That looked like an international tier list of what? OK, that was that was who do you think is good on an international scale? What was that tier list? I feel I feel like that was it. Now, keep in mind, we always make this mistake wrong. We never actually we always need to provide full context with these things, especially when they say something. And we need to provide full context and sometimes we get lost in the sauce and then we make the mistake. But we're all corrected from wrong. I feel like this is a tier list that has to do with the skill level of teams on an international level. Okay. Yeah. Pretty much. Okay. If that's correct, I think C tier, believe it or not, is bang on the money. Oh my God. Why? Why do I think that? C tier bang on the money because for the very specific reason you look at who else was in C tier Jen Gen G dignitas power And then they put foot in there, right? So it's like those are all teams with maybe a puncher's chance in an international group stage to make a top eight, right? You're not going to really feel super good about them making it but on the right day They can make a top eight. Are they going to win? no Are they going to make it a fight for anybody? Absolutely. But what have they done since they made the switch? They had Sosa and Frosty. They get cut after Boston Major. They pick up Chronic and Justin. What do they do? They smash people's face three oh through the Swiss stage in the first in the Boston Major or in the Paris Major open one and then two oh through the groups and then they four oh strictly business and then they lose to space station who went on to win the tournament. They come into open five. Okay, you got to see it. Fine. Well, boy, did you 3-0 in the Swiss stage, 3-2 next to new, 3-0, LOB, 4-2 vs. Rebellion in the upper playoffs, 4-1 vs. NRG, and then you lose to Shopify Rebellion in the grand final. Congratulations, foot. You showed you got the chops to beat North America in a region. Do I care if you make it to an international final? Absolutely not. Those guys are good in North America are they really gonna be Mina one Mina two EU two EU one NRG on land no chance bro no chance C tier bang on maybe give them B tier if you like them which to be fair I do but C tier felt pretty good for last week you had to see it again well you got it now your only test is how high do you want to push them up. Hey, hey, that man burning over there. Hey, hey, cheese on fire right now, boy. I don't hear his opinion, though. He's kind of on the money with it, especially if you're going to put thought in comparison to an international setting, even though thoughts obviously done really well as regional. If you like, like what you said, if you put them up against EU second seed or EU first seed, the similar way you put up against any first seed, they're not gonna, they're gonna get stoned just as hard. I mean, they're good players, no doubt, like Justin's World Champion. Cheese is, you know, one of the regionals here. They're put on some decent shows on land. Chronix, one major is Chronix, one major bro. I think how much good rocket league can you squeeze from the vine? Right? Like. Oh, no, I don't think they're going. I think they're starting off. I think they're getting it going. You can walk all along like those. The roster swaps great novelty effect. Love it. Clearly you found something that works, but you have to prove you can stay on top. Right hard. Look at energy it took two years for them to have people even think that maybe they're not number one That's dedication. That's the three best players in North America working hard man. I like that part is That really in the cards for foot. Are they good? Yes. Can they really ratchet it up and keep going? I don't know man. I don't know. Oh Oh, what's the peak? Where did the cap international land they make pairs where they stop? I think they get bounced out by anyone they play top eight. Hmm. Anyone? Anyone? There's a thing they beat in top eight. I'm trying to think who would make top eight in the first place. Seeing the split so far. Me to one, me to two. Yeah, probably. Energy. Energy will make it. I Thought on a good day like the way they bet on our energy that we can if they play like that I think they have the potential to push a top six on an international one. I Think they could get that a little bit further than topic The limit plows ready no they have an upper and then they have like a longer lower in pairs Oh, okay. Yeah. So three teams get out of groups. Yeah. Three teams get out of groups in Paris. Okay. So on a good day, maybe top six, maybe you start to lose me pretty quick though. I mean, you lose me when you say top six anyways, because who remembers top six? That's the thing. That's crazy. Even if they made top six, we don't talk about it. It's like, who cares? That's crazy. I mean they were having a crazy upset, but even in this like Look, take last year twisted minds. They upset Kami corp made it pretty far, but that was that's it I'm gonna forget about that in a year or two. I might forget about it in six months The power how this twist of mine does our course pick for the Boston major and they got bounced out One two, that's the new team shocked brother. I'm talking about the old team. What a topic with a K. Oh, no Oh, right? Who's in it? Hey, oh my God. So I mean, but, you know, OK, but that being said, B tier, C tier, we did a poll and an Iraqi twist chat. I think B tier one that pulled by a hefty margin with only like one person putting the ass and one person putting D. So I think we're kind of C, B tier singular polarized levels. And it's not to say that we're not fans of the team. I think if they do any other performance, You're very happy for them. You're like, wow, I didn't think they could do this. They did it But I think that that opens up, you know, we're talking about that international placement that opens up another conversation After rebellion one last weekend in an open five There was an interview with LJ and he had a very interesting answer I want us all to listen to here. Can we roll the clip? Well, I wanted to ask you I you obviously got a glimpse of what the rest of North America is looks like this weekend more in particular, not just foot but NRG's performance. Do you feel like that was just something that was a little inconsistent or maybe a new play style that isn't quite working out in comparison to what teams like you and Foot are bringing to the table now? I mean, I think they just had an inconsistent weekend. I mean, they're the world's chance of the reason. I think they'll be back. I mean, I think Ana is like in a really strong region. I think we're gonna do great against you at the land. He said, what, you saw my face during that role? LJ said, I didn't. I don't clearly this is how you get, I mean, this is, you're getting my early take on this topic, but do you think NA top four can make an impact internationally? LJ seems to think so, but I got to ask the panel here. I mean, maybe like two of them, like NRG, I feel like even though I said they're a comfort pick, it's true. They do make some, they are already using them in their argument. No, listen, listen, they, they still make an impact. You can't deny that. However, they've all like, when it comes to North America going internationally, it's always, it's always just NRG and those other teams are just trying to hide now with how the other these teams are coming through like shop thought and SSG I maybe know all of them but I do think maybe one of those teams can extend their performance internationally and kind of follow all of that behind NRG if not parallel to them. Well I don't hate that but I'm going to ask one question what does impact mean is that like top four is that impactful is top eight impactful or is getting bounced out three two in like swiss impactful like where's the line for acceptable i think the base store what i'm hearing i could be misinterpreting and that's fine but i think he's expecting na to have more teams in the top eighth in europe yeah i think that's what it means anyway because like how many times have we seen North America and only one teams made it to top it or like they made it to top it but they haven't got it they haven't got it past top eight yeah that's why everybody argues about two is like if whoever's region has more teams in the top eight that that's the region that's the best like that's why everybody argues so even boston as well boston all five european teams came out to the playoffs and there was only only two. Two and a shop and energy. Yeah. I said he was in a group of death. And then but they also play that and then various when I as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of hype around them to absolutely around them as well. So there's your expectations for in a three and four, you know, that's it. Can in a top four make an impact currently? Absolutely So if you roll the dice and pull up another two teams that aren't NRG and Shopify, are they going to do anything? My money's on milk. Hey, listen, but I low key I low key do have expectations for SSG though. I just I low key do like I just think with that coming back, I think that they're actually going to click especially at land. They all have land experience at this point. I genuinely believe they're going to go into this land and actually take it to some of these teams that maybe they were a little bit a little bit nervous or the pressure of being at a land for the first time gets to you so I think they're going to be a lot more comfortable going into it. I think there's three. I think there could be three N-18s. Hey listen. Hey, well listen, we just said we might, Foot's Peak is the top of your Foot Peak. Yeah, and Foot's Peak is the top of your foot. That's all. If I pick, I mean, let's say it's going to be great. I got four teams. Oh, wow. That'd be cinema. The day that happens, all four NA teams make it the top eight, man. The talks would be crazy. Any best region. Each of you might see me. You might see me cry on the Paris floor. OK. And then break it down in tears, flag wrapped around my body. Oh, my goodness. But yeah, no, I don't think it's happening. I think we might get I think we'll probably get to. Well, it's very much a proof it depends on the groups in the bracket. The groups in the bracket can make a possible, to be honest, because with the three teams getting out, depends on those matchups and those low rounds, maybe, but yeah, I got to I got to. Two fields, respectable, acceptable even and anything less than that. We're also used to, so right. We're restarting your energy again, as far as they can fighting. I mean, listen, shot did good, but then they they ended up losing the Falcons in Boston. It was not a bad showing, but they might not have to worry about that problem based on how things have been going in Mina. Let's go over to the Middle East. Mina has been chaotic as twisted minds has sweep the rate in the open five final achieves. I mean, how do you feel about Mina? Twisted Mines the best team they got right now? You know, I think that all you're seeing here is that first, you know, shake up in parody for Mina. There was a very brief stint, right? Where Falcons just could not be beat by anybody else in their region. And this is finally showing that after a little bit of time, Mina has really developed strong contenders, like, you know, throughout the top four, I'll say. So is Falcons winning everything? No. Is that necessarily an indicator that they're not the best? I'm still not certain of that. I know Twisted Mind is looking good and I love to see that, but at the same time, I still give credit to the Falcons in making top fours in both, just like NRG. It's tough to unseat the team that's been at the top of the region for so long, just because it's a small downturn. Hey man, listen to us, listen to cheese. I sat here and I watched multiple series, the hype ones, the ones that mattered when it comes to having conversations of first touch in mean of this, the past couple of opens they played. I've seen Falcons get smacked twice by this rate team. And then I've seen this rate team also beat twisted minds. Going into this, I thought rate was the best team in the region because they have consistently beaten the top two. And then I realized that there's somebody in this region that is a two-time world champion. And when he's on, you can't pass the ball by him, and he just dominates the midfield and makes it feel like you're just never getting a touch on the ball. And that's Monkey Moon. He's pretty good. And I will never doubt that guy again. To a certain mind, it depends even that region. If you saw any inkling of what I watched during that grand finals, Ray Esports could not touch the ball. They couldn't get it past the midfield line. They couldn't get it past it. Monkey Moon was not allowing it. Monkey Moon playing like that, he's going to go into this major. He's going to obliterate teams. If he plays like that, nobody can get the ball by him. It was peak Monkey Moon. It was peak Monkey Moon. I feel like I went out of back in the past. This guy was everywhere. I never doubt him again. The twist of mine is the best team in the region. I'm sorry. The same question. What if you get Falcons versus Swiss mines in the final regional and Falcons win? That monkey moon was injured or something. No one's beating that monkey. But I'm sorry. Like no one is beating him. He was peaking. That was prime monkey. I watched that Grand Finals as well, and it was insane how well Monkeman was playing. It was literally a 1v3, but I feel like even without the Monkeman glaze in that team, there's still a really good team. The way they got there to begin with, they swept Falcons for top 4, they beat DOS in the semi-finals, and then swept R8 right after, obviously with the help of Monkeman just being the best player in the entire world. I think Twisted Minds is definitely going to be the one of the top ones in Mina. I think RA is close because they're the only ones that seem to be dominating over Falcons the most this split. They went to game five of Falcons to make the finals, but they bet them multiple times now. It's been close though, I mean Falcons could have bounced them out, I mean they lost game six and seven and the most recent one to all right. So they went to game seven against Stallions as well before that. What's up? One can it was close. That series I watched it was very close. Stallions looked so solid, but Falcons just were able to pull it back at the end. I guess so. So what's that tell you Falcons built one heck of a region? I think that's what that tells you. They were so good that everybody else had to get that good real quick to figure it out. And good. They guy. Let's take a look at the mean open five bracket here. Falcons loss and top four of me to open five. Michael, what does this mean for the Falcons? Now they are behind in the points standings after taking a loss in seven games to rate e-sports. Is it rate or is it RA? I feel I always get this one confused. Let me know in the comments that being said, um, yeah, this is not the point standing is not good for Falcons right now and on the road to Paris. There's a chance that they could miss out. I believe they're sitting at 16 points. Ray has 30 twisted minds as 26 and stallions is ahead of them by 18. We don't have the official scenario yet, but it's not looking good. Michael. Yeah, it's definitely a tough draw here for the final one. You need to have a good performance. Obviously, you are correctly are at 16 points and are it with 30 and Twisted Minds with 26. It's definitely a big uphill battle. You definitely need, I think, at least a little bit of help because you only have two slots, right? That's what makes it really brutal. So what does that tell you? It tells you that they're a team battling the demons right now, Brother Man. They've got some work to do, but if any team's shown that they're up to the task, they've done it before, and I have no doubt they're gonna go ahead and give it their best go in regional three. Of that, I'm sure. I was going to say is it not like we're going to talk about the scenario because I thought I knew the scenario already but if you're going to say it's not go for it. Oh, I'm pretty sure that for Falcons to at least take one spot for Mina they have to they have to win, obviously, but they also need twisted mines to go out top. They can't let twisted mines make it to finals and I don't know about you guys but I I don't think twisted minds are going to miss that ground finals. I mean, it depends on how the bracket shakes out, right? Because you achieve it's monkey moon. But if you have like what if you have twist? You didn't watch the universe. You didn't watch the series. Great. I didn't see that one. I wanted to see what Falcons was doing. It was about Falcons. I was watching their games. What can I say? But I mean, I think they're out at this point. What are you talking about? They were like the segment was about Falcons. I watch. But if you want to see like, uh, like it depends on the bracket works out, right? Because there is a very real possibility that some top eight shenanigans happens and you wind up with like a R eight versus twisted minds in a top eight or a semi-final and things just work out perfectly with the Valgans. You never know. How does all this all this copium? You do need help. Absolutely. You need help. Yeah. You need help and you need to help in a region that doesn't feel like giving you help. They're not very generous. That's for sure. Right. That'll lead us to our next topic. Does Mina have five major contending teams? It seems like, especially in that bracket, you look, you obviously RA, you see twisted minds, you see stallions, Falcons. There's a team called DOS that looks like they've been looking pretty good here as well. Uh, I mean, where, how, where do we see it? Kofir answered the question earlier, said he sees Mina having three teams. I want to know what the panel thinks. Jordy's, I'm putting you up first. I have to agree with Kofir. I don't think there's five, five's too much. I mean, Mina's being a one team region for God knows how long and then twisted mind comes in, they run Falcons for their money a little bit. They have their changes. Not twisted minds arguably are sitting higher than Falcons and then you have all right come in they're messing up Falcons run to you could maybe say stallions also But if you put them on a major I wouldn't see any team other than Falcons and twisted minds getting further There You want to say rate would pop off on land what did everyone think Virtus Pro was gonna do on land There we go, there we go, there we go, there we go. It doesn't matter though, it doesn't matter though. They're looking. They're looking. Oh my god. You have no idea what you're going to get until you get them there. They're going to do until they were on rule one and get top fours. That's dangerous. That's dangerous. But that's the point. They're from Mina. This region breeds competency when it comes to land. I love that. They go into land and it means something to them. I don't know what it is but they just want it more. one and more. They go to the lands and this rate team, I'm telling you Abdullah is about the ball on some people. Yeah, hey, hey, when we get to land and you say and you see our eastwards up there, just watch out for the name Abdullah. He's about the ball on people. Abdullah, bro. I'm telling you. The teams that have to come up against you're saying the RA are going to come up against Vitality or Casey and beat I was okay. I didn't know that I am because they're worth the glaze, but you brought up two top three teams to top 14 in the world. Okay, let's let's go through a top eight scenario. Let's say we get Vitality, NRG, Shopify rebellion, Falcons, Twisted Minds, R8 is already six teams. So who are the two teams that they could reasonably because I don't think you're going to pick our eight over any of those six. I mean, I think our eight could beat Shopify. I think our eight could be. He's checking the list. There's no next. I got it. I got it. Wait. Do they fear you? Do they beat fear? Yes, they can be. They can be fear. They can be fear. They can be. They can be falcons. They've done it multiple times. They can be twisted minds. They've done it already. What about energy? It always comes back. It always does. Let me just take a sip. I don't know about energy. I don't know about energy. Could they be any Europe team? Oh, for sure. Oh, for sure. Europe 2? Um, I look with the way Carmine, well, who you consider Europe 2? Is it Carmine? Yeah, I guess. I don't know if they can make it this or vitality or gentlemades. I don't know if they can make it either. Okay, but, okay. Let me, let me present this is a big point. I want to expand on this point because there actually is a very interesting point about this twisted minds last Boston major was in a group of death, which considered team vitality, Karmicorp and SSG, they weren't. Now, if a media team is, if those teams, which those teams could arguably be in those same seats and potentially be in those same groups of groups work that way this time, there's a possibility that one of these media teams does not make it out of groups. Yeah. No, I think Twisted Mines is better. I think they were, they were, they were. Yeah, what in the first split? Yeah, I got a train coming. I think they were Because they were what one and two in that group stage. Yeah, and then that's only because what because Falcons aren't making grand finals No, that's because I watched them play I've seen monkey moon Like I've seen that monkey movie for any one world championship So if that guy's gonna show a play like that at the majors, I'm not taking many teams above them Get a lie, but you only played in like that in the grand finals So did you play like that in the semis in the upper bracket core finals or you know? Is this like a one-in-sign a blue moon kind of motion Group C arguably group of death. All right, we'll give them that it was hard But if you're gonna say like twist of mind is easy beats all of them But you have Paris come up in the group settings again. Well, I mean, it's three out, don't they? So it's a bit harder to say if it was to get out this time instead of three, would twist the minds make out the same if they were in the same group? I would take them over. Carmine, Carmine's a good system. Yeah. And I'd probably take them over space station, too. If they were in the same group. Yeah, I would take them over space station. I would say there's a second team in that group behind Vitality. the way they're playing it's about twisted right yeah yeah but that's also assuming that Carmen core doesn't look better and space station kind of it doesn't look better in this next region too and monkey one doesn't get injured yeah hi ankle sprayer out for six days monkey was got over a month until pairs you think you can keep it up for a month. He's the belt man. You can definitely do that. I cannot wait till next week when we have that last mean open is going to be great. It is going to be great for sure. Now we got a lot of teams are going to be qualifying for Mina. The Canterbury Bulldogs might be one of them qualifying in OCE. Let's shift the topic here a little bit. Let's go. Let's go to OCE. Can we get the OCE globe? If you noticed OCE globe actually it's upside down. I lied. I just lied. Here we go. Here's the Paris major open five playoff bracken OCE. You look at the CB bulldog canabary bulldogs beat power in the upper swath them then went to top four plate nerve easy work and then play it wild card in the finals after wild card went seven against power and beat them in six. What is going on with canabary bulldogs? Can we take a look at the points. Where's OC currently standing after open five? What do you know it? The Bulldogs and power are tied for first place and wild card is right behind them achieves a second or you really want to bet against the OCE goat? Torso's they get one team, bro. That That guy, that guy, he does not miss lands. Wild card, I don't know, 24 points, only a two-point gap. He missed the last land. Well, I shut up, that's the good one. Don't do that to me. No, it's fair, I know the king's reign must end. But at the same time, I don't know, it's a tight race, can't have very bold eyes. You're looking great. Who is it, Caleb Cocker and Hunter? Oh yeah, okay, that actually makes sense. That's just pretty good. Do they win though again? I guess they could. There's no reason they can't. They're already proven they're at the top. Why not? Yeah. I'll be honest. I don't want to sit here and lie, but I don't have I haven't really watched Oceana too much. It's one of like 6 AM for me, and I'm not up at that time watching my video. But all I know is that Power Wealth are the two top dogs of Oceana. CB Bulldogs come in. I mean from what I could see from the bracket alone from how they played these seem pretty solid Yeah, um, will they take the spot though? I Don't know I'm picking with the cheese. I think power can I feel like power my lock-in last last second Snatch it When you see gust above this we see him again, we ever see him actually that's a great question all about ever see him, but he has to make this land and maybe even another one. I keep saying that he has to be of every single land just to ensure that I might be there at one. So Gus has to win. He just has to. I got power. They got to win. teammates fiber super lucky. He's definitely got it for sure. And they're leading. They're leading the split. So I got my faith in Gus, man. Listen, I big five fiber. That's my dog. I'm feeling I'm getting hot. I think I'm getting a fever. Yeah, bring back towards us. Maybe give me a wild card. Do I feel like wild cards just for the good of the region. They're the team. And if there's any team that can go to an international event and do something wild cards, proving that they can do something. So I need them to show up and show out. Everybody else is still getting their land reps in it. It might take it might take some time before you before power get more comfortable puts the tosses wild card though They've shown that they can do it No, new blood You know what's funny world is last week we asked for some dogs and literally we got some dogs the bulldog We can't even get behind them. We can't even get behind the dogs, man. That's messed up, man. That is messed up. Oh, man. But you know what's messed up? The fact that EU right now is so crazy. And our former major champions got two points. I mean, who's under the most pressure here in Europe? Let's go around the world. EU Open 5 starts this weekend. Here's the current point standings. Where is, okay. Okay, gentlemen. So on the other side, right, that's the GK for 2013. Meanwhile, you got Vitality 18, NIP at 12, Man City at 8, Karmicorp at 8, Synergy at 6. Remember, everybody watching at home. Top five from Europe, go to the Paris major. Things have to change here at Europe. But I want to know from the panel who you think is under the most pressure to perform it is vitality staying consistent or is it on mates and GK to really kind of turn things around here? It's got to be mates and GK two and one points it has to be because you know if you have a bad tournament again you're done it doesn't matter what happens in the next one the gap may indeed be too wide if you're one and two and you get bounced out in groups. Yeah I agree it's I feel like Vitality, you know, they've won their regional, you know, Zen's probably happy about that, because he hasn't actually won a regional in a good minute now, right? I think I saw a statistic about how like the last time you won a regional was with Radosin and Alpha, which was a while ago, but I think there's probably less pressure on them. And like what you said, there's probably more pressure on general mates and GK because, you know, we've got such little points and with how the bright especially open for and the groups forward this weekend. There's so many different opportunities for anyone to make top it. I think that's what makes it even more stressful. The groups are kind of, the groups are definitely interesting. I don't, I don't think we have an image that we can put up right now, but like for group A, you got that upper bracket, gentlemen's and synergy a first round and getting goods in GK. So winner of those two will meet up. Then you have like, I think WIP and PCS strike, KDOP Corp and Magnifico to be the bottom half of group A. That's a good topic for KDOP Corp. They go to the other side and the other side is pretty simple. I think like it's main city, probably main city, KDOP Corp meeting in the upper bracket semis and the Vitality NIP meeting in the other upper bracket semis pending potential disaster. You know, sometimes there's a lot of upsets in EU. I believe the team Toad in the Hole was inner circle roster. They are releasing. Yeah, the English people would come up with a name like Toad in the Hole. It's a great name. It's great dinner actually You guys don't know what the whole is It's not to it. Don't worry, and there's no hole, but it is it's like it's like a pot like a pastry pie with sausages in it Why is it going to hold? Just know it's buying in the gravy in that, you know, I put a picture in a picture in the live chat. What is that? It's good. It's good. It's mashed potato sausages in a pie pastry pie. Speaking of my tone the whole, they probably ain't going to get that top six. Group B looks so normal. Group B looks normal. And then group A, this is what happened last open. They had a group where there was one side of the bracket in a group where there was no major contending team, meaning that a new team could make top six. And it's happened again this time too. There's a whip, whip eSports, PCS, Stride, KDOP, Corp, and Magnifico all in one bracket, meaning one of those teams get top six, which obviously for the likes of GK and Gentlemates when they're put in the same bracket, they're fighting for that top six too. It's like they're fighting a little bit harder for that top six Against each other and the other teams on the other group as opposed to this particular graph Bracket so group is the Mickey Mouse half is what I'm here It's not Mickey. I didn't say that it's simple, you know, you've got Carmine in one bit Manchester same one bit Vitality and nip they're all they're all gonna meet in the semi finals and the same with the likes of gentlemen and GK, they're going to meet in the semis as well. Obviously, if that is how it plays out with, with this one bracket, you got with PCS KDOPCorp Magnifico. Where's the major team? You know, it's like, it's a little, it's a, it's a nicer run for them. They don't have to worry about any. Yeah. Major teams KDOPCorp. That's the major team. That's the major team. Okay. We have, I don't know why we're not putting respect on KDOPCorp here in his bracket. I already They're making the major this is gonna be a good run for them. All I gotta do is get past Magnifico I see a little bit real round. I'm worried about because Magnifico probably is gonna want that revenge, you know Uju was playing with Radosa and mitzer before they picked up go 54 So now they're gonna want to try to you know get their bounce back, you know use your Tommy Nico I'll be the first round matchup to watch on Friday But I mean outside that's gonna be a good top eight. That's me. It's good top eight for KDOP court. Oh wait Yeah, that's me. I mean, yeah, that's a that's a top six pretty juicy. Yeah, that's a top six. And then, you know what happens wrong if they win that top six, but the seven. Give me a little run back. Give me a. Oh, who do I want? Who do I want? I think I want to NIP KDOP for upper quarterfinal. Oh, if I if I can, it'll be kind of hard. You'd sacrifice my goat, CRR. Listen, I see CRR being your goat, but my goat, go 54. or Diego is going to have to take down CRR. OK, he's going to actually have. My heart does. But listen, get the upset. You'll be in the top six spot. I think it'll be great. I mean, listen, we'll get off topic, there's a little more pressure right now. Who is under the most pressure? I'm sorry. I kind of derail this. Jordy's called me off guard. I'm sorry. I apologize. The tone the whole got us off. The tone. No, it's not. I'm still trying to figure out what that is. But definitely the team under the most pressure is gentlemen. It's like you're major champions, you should be performing way better. And the biggest reason why that group is looking the way it is is because those two teams and gentlemen from GK didn't beat who they were supposed to last time around. So now they're struggling in this bracket where they're both trying to compete for this one spot while Alpha 54 is getting his break. And if he beats everyone he's supposed to beat, Alpha 54 after retiring for 10 years is coming back and making a top six, which is crazy. And it took, and we talked about Zen not winning since Alpha has been in the league. That's crazy. He comes back in the league and Zen's actually winning again. Maybe all he needed was the spirit of 54. So I think it's gentleman's man, it's generational. GK at one point, what do they need at minimum? Because the first place is what was it? 18 points for a win. Yes. Right. Yeah. OK. So and that may and second place was 12, which makes. Remember, they're trying to get the top five. The top four is eight points, right? Yes. OK. So they get eight points. That puts them at nine for GK. And it's a battle. I think if they get eight points, I think they need eight points at one, at least GK's got to make a top four. Yeah, they got to make the top four. And honestly, you would think that they would want help, but the way the bracket is set up, I don't think I don't think they're going to get the help. Who are you trying to knock out? That's the thing is like, everyone, literally, yeah, I mean, literally everyone. But I think you're looking at synergy. You want to knock synergy out of that spot? because they're going to be in that round. So you're kind of open for synergy win. And then I think anyone above them, it doesn't matter. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm not in a man city or like, yeah, they'll want months. So you knocked out the most just because of the overall ranking for points for eight points. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, synergy. All right. I told the whole there at six, you never know. That's what I'm saying. It's anyone's game. Is this whole too deep for GK to climb out of this? If you don't get top four, yeah, if you don't get top four, yeah, I think it's a real tough. Well, they just got to perform there, don't they? I mean, I'm trying to say as unbiasedly as possible here. OK, because I feel like that's the perfect place to be bias. Actually, all right. OK, so, yeah, I don't think you can close to Dave. I mean, the way the brackets set out, you've got so many teams where there are such so close in points that anyone can take those last three spots because I think with Vitaly and Nip anyway, although maybe Nip you could argue not, they're going to be running away a little bit in points whereas you've got Man City, Karmine, Synergy sat on 8 points, 8.6 points and then the rest is like 6.4 points. As long as you perform better than them in the second, for this regional, sorry, open five, you could jump up so high and then you have one more regional after that to work on it too. You do have a lot of runway. Yeah, and with like, I'm going back to the bracket talk as well, with the brackets and how open it is, if you are performing well, you can you can scrape by really easily because of how the brackets are set up, it's more difficult for the major teams because they have to play against each other. So you're guaranteed major teams to drop down into top eight and have to fight early on in the playoffs as opposed to they're all kind of comfortably making their way through. So what's the strat? Just like, I don't even worry about Gritty Goose and I specifically prep to beat Gentlemates in the upper bracket semifinals. No, I don't think you're going to do it. And get into it that I qualify? No, you got to do one step at a time, Achieve. That's a winner's mentality, right? You got one step at a time. Gritty Goose is still a good team. That's Razir's team, right? Razir's talks and Bababa. I'd still rate them as a good team. A hard team to beat. because it's a best of five. A best of five can go either way, right? Because it's so small. It's such a short series. So you still got focus on round one, then round two, then qualify and then worry about siren. You can't drop the gun. But if you got a lower bracket, you're going to have to go through either Magnifico or K-Dub corp. I don't want to face either of those guys and get bounced out. Especially not K-Dub corp. Yeah. No, I'm not putting a dampener on the other teams. I say like because major teams are expected to perform well and they usually do so that's why it's an upset when they don't right With the likes of general mates and GK Whereas these other teams they don't have that pressure to keep performance up And that's why they cannot be a little bit more dangerous But you shouldn't take away from the fact that you still need to focus on being those specific teams to progress Yeah, Europeans always have your random banana peels out of nowhere That's the worst part. Yeah, just pretty goose out there gonna like watching GK meme watching GK tomorrow I'm still gonna be swen to all heavens watching them play really goose as I will be if they potentially play gentlemen so I that one change that's fair I think it's gotta be top minimal gotta be time for okay we'll see if they can make the top four. All right, to close the show, let's get thoughts. Who's looking the best right now? Who do you have winning? Do you have the vitality back to back? Do you have the K-Corp bounce back? Do you have the maids bounce back? Is GK going all the ways? The buy is taking over. Michael, start us off, man. I think it's K-Corp bounce back time. I believe the tier has been the prince for too long. You gotta be the king one time again. Get it back on top. I want KC to show that they're still them. OK, rough. Oh, I know, Jordy, you go ahead. I thought it was my turn. I'm sorry. I'm just thinking I'm thinking alone. I think VP said this earlier. Ryan Pan said this earlier. He said that everything will smooth out and I agree with him on that. I think everything will kind of fall back into how it should have done. expectably with the previous regional Can I go in all over the place? I think the team to win though. I mean, I'm just gonna say GK like I don't know why I'm here for it. Well in the first split they went our top 12 and then they went they went into the grand finals the next regional after So it's possible. It's global. It's a global this Uh, I really want to see a car my core bounce back I really do because I predicted them to be the best team in this region and They're disappointing me. I can't lie With that being said Gentleman's has also been disappointing. So I'm gonna stick with My court Good shout though. That's it. It's a good show. But I thought you would go I have to stick with my guns, man. But Tira has to, I agree with the Gs, like. He's been balling, bro. He's been balling for so long, like, it's only right. Like, he has to go to the other side. Like, he has to tap off the backboard, where he flipped the backwards way and, like, scored it in the back post. I was like, what in the world, how does your brain even think that fast? And I don't know, dude, that guy's just, he's so irritated that he's not winning stuff. He's got to have to. Listen, last time we got on first touch, we asked for some dogs. I think we're going to see some this weekend starting with that man for tear. I'm going to Carmen Corp here again, because I get, I just feel like you can't keep a great team down as full of great players like that because there's just anybody who's as hungry to get a win. It is a player like for tear. It is a player like I tell big juice is going to feel that when he's in there extra, the way he was staring at me when he won. Hope Hagan, like you see me, I'm here. I'm gonna keep beating all your teams. I know extra ones those wins. I know he wants to get another stair down because he doesn't like where he's at. This car me corp team, we cannot get them out of that conversation for the number one spot. It's not, it's not the right time. It's not the right place. That would be something where I would have to say, I have to see it again. And until I see it again, I'm going car me corp again. I was gonna have more passion, but I rolled this to me off. I was going to go vitality. You had two people pick Casey before you're stuck. Yeah. My man. My man. Why would you think of no vitality? Because the way you came on here last week to talk about how much they elevated and how they were a step ahead of the competition, I'm thinking, oh, OK, vitality must be number one. You're definitively. Yeah. But not. Yeah, but like, OK, but like they are elevated, but I still love them. I feel like people are power-breaking them number one in the world. They should. They should. No. How do I do not power-rank number one? Who should be power-ranking them? Listen, I understand. OK, OK. Yes, sure. You can power-rank them at number one. It's fine. It's Reese Seabias is whatever. But it doesn't sit right with my spirit. You know, like, from watching the games, I know, and you know, that if you run that EU regional back, you get a different result. Cause Carve Corp is one of those teams that's going to give you that different result. The black is going to be different. Everything is going to be different. Then Vitality make grand finals at Boston. Who cares? That was literally the last line prior to the last regional. It just happened. This is what they don't want to bring down. This is what they don't want to bring down at all. This is Recency, guys. This is Recency. You're not doing that again. You're not even going to do that again. Carve Corp is going to make grand finals and then they may win a regional. It looks pretty good. I just know it. I just know it. I feel it. I feel it. If Vitality win, I'll come on this show next week and say I was wrong. Okay. Hey, I picked Casey too. You're all right. I'll fully admit I was wrong. But for right now, I cannot, I can't, I can't quit against Carmen Cormier. I think they're the best team you get. I think they're going to show us next weekend. That being said, ladies and gentlemen, this has been First Touch. Thank you so much to everybody who's been on the show today. a big shout outs to Kofir and Violet Panda for chatting with us about their run their experiences and of course wish them the best of luck and everything moving forward. Michael, thank you for being on show man. I appreciate you. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. Jordy's first time on first touch. Any closing thoughts as we get ready to wrap up? No, I'm good. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I enjoyed. I love the Rhyme Blind Pie. That was really fun and stressful. Yeah. I hope you divide me back on or not. I don't mind. Come back, Dronis. Right. Oh, this. This. Get ready to close out. Yeah, man. Let's close out, man. Hey, again, like last week, we saw some dogs, literally the bulldogs ball out. I need to see more dogs, man. And there's been a lot of talk. So, Especially from the EU region. Hey, show me show me please show me please. Yeah, I can't wait to see it Be sure to keep it locked in Jordy's where are you gonna be this weekend? Are you gonna be streaming from your own channel GK watch party? What's going on with you? I'm doing team stream for GK tomorrow, and then I'm watch part in for the rest of weekend So there you go. All right. There you go That being said keep alive locked in on all of us Michael what you got going on soon? Hey, bro. I'm here to watch you you regional five tomorrow, brother. What are you talking about? All right, you're into the broadcast. No, no, no, I'm not gonna be on it. I'm just gonna watch it Enjoying the show. All right, cool cool cool. Just keep it locked in with us wherever you can find us as well as tune in The twitch.tv slash rocket leak tomorrow to find all follow all the action for EU open five and of course the rest of the opens across the world think apex is playing a pack We had cash on either last week or a couple of weeks ago. We'll see if Kenneth Rupp can do that, but his ticket to Paris, as well as, like I said, more inter-regional competition. I think Sam Plays this week could be wrong. I think they do. But yeah, more rockin'ly, we'll cover it all next week here on First Touch. But big shout out to our guests being here today. Big shout out to all of the staff making this possible, as well as all the support we get from Epic Scionics and Blast. So thank you guys so much for all the help as well. That's gonna be it for us. We'll be back next week with first touch at 5pm Eastern. One, two, see you in a little, we'll see ya. You