Episode 14 – Austin Major Stage 1 Deep Dive

It's the 30th of May, 2025, and we're back with another episode.

We're pumping out episodes non-stop, like back to back.

Devilwalk is just like, what the hell, I'm having to yap so much.

You're going to yap more than Hooksy this week.

Well, it's not only about yapping.

I mean, it's about doing some research, you know, making sure that we can actually talk about the subjects that we have on the show, so...

Wait a second, you just destroyed this for all the viewers.

This doesn't just sit in your mind.

You actually need to read and prepare and research.

Oh my God.

Well, not for everything, but there's definitely like when you look at these like a little bit lower tier teams, which it doesn't, you know, go to all the big events.

That's when you kind of have to step into the research part.

Yeah.

Oh, yes, that's what does happen.

But it is episode 14 we're on right now.

Our Hooksy interview is out.

Make sure you check that out.

It was a hugely in-depth one.

We finally, just literally before we film this episode, got the announcement from Blast for the Major talent.

Yes, everyone has been asking in Twitch chat.

Everyone's been commenting on the videos.

Will I be going to the Major?

I have known for a while, but Blast make us not say anything.

So shock, I'm going to the Major.

I won't be on stage.

It's going to be Stunner on stage, American in America, doesn't make sense.

But I will be doing desk hosting, which I'm not a big fan of desk hosting.

I prefer to just do my interview, but I do get to do the interviews as well, especially when we get to the arena.

So back to what I love at the end, either way, first Major back in America since, what one was it?

It was not Atlanta.

Did I have no clue?

Boston, Boston.

Boston.

Boston, that was it.

I always get the two mixed up.

You know what Boston was, Cloud 9 won it.

So if American Major history continues to go crazy like that, then Complexity are winning the Major, right?

That's where we're going to start with this whole show today.

I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh at them.

They're in a rough spot.

They're in a good spot, Complexity though.

One last tournament was Melbourne.

We're going to come into that later.

We can't even go this far into it.

You can't burn them like that when they just had a great event.

I can burn them and I will burn them, but we'll come into that later.

This episode, guys, is specifically for the Blast TV Austin Major Stage 1.

There is multiple stages.

I'm going to take my equipment with me to the hotel.

I will probably force Devilwalk to be awake at times that he should not want to be awake.

But that's what our filming schedule is going to be because he's stuck in Sweden.

I'm in Ukraine right now.

It is 14-14, but Devilwalk, it is 13-14.

So any news that comes out after this show, if we missed it, that's the reason why.

That's why I always give you guys the timing on it.

Let's start with just going through some of the new stuff before we get into the major things.

Krakow, we spoke about this on the podcast.

We told you guys this would be happening.

I'm going to lower my monitor brightness as well, because my monitor is turned up like I'm playing Counter-Strike and flash banging me in real life.

I'm sure people get that quite often.

ESL have finally moved it.

Obviously, it was rumored they started to call it the Winter Championship, even though it's basically in spring at the beginning of the year.

It's going after so long, so much history, so much legacy.

You won this as a coach in 2015.

You won Katowice.

You've been there.

You've seen it.

That's right.

I mean, it's special.

Yeah, it's a super special kind of event, especially I think for the kind of the old guard of Counter-Strike, eSports and CSGO, because I think that's when you kind of started to feel like eSports was a real thing.

It was when the Katowice came in, the Cologne came in, and we started doing it in big arenas, and everyone was shocked that we're actually filling the places.

Can I ask you what it was like back in 2015 on that stage for you guys?

Because obviously, I first went in 2018, I think, and that was my first one off the top of my memory.

I'm pretty sure the 2015 one was at half the arena.

Like they had like the...

Oh, you were split, like another game on the other side.

I think we have split it.

I might be misremembering.

It might have been 2014 that was like that.

But if my memory serves me right...

I'm looking at HLTV photos.

By the way, HLTV's legacy in photos and showing us all this is amazing.

Yeah, but it's a special feeling, you know, it was, I think, the first time we really started to experience, you know, big crowds.

You know, it was just you.

It was just you as Counter-Strike on both screens.

By the looks of it, this looks like the same setup we have today.

It looks exactly the same.

All right.

So you had a full arena, bro.

It was unbelievable.

I think it's one of the most powerful memories I have is going up on that stage.

I remember that the actual like...

You had your suit jacket on as well.

Suit jacket coach Devilwalk.

We're going to bring up some of these photos.

It was a special, special thing because it was so loud.

You could like literally feel the roar.

The mustache from Devilwalk as well.

Goatee into the beard.

Oh.

And yeah, it was incredible.

Yeah, it's not really possible to explain how you feel when you end up on an arena like that because you're both hyper focused for the game.

So you always have something to kind of focus on.

You don't lose yourself in the environment, but it's a powerful moment.

It's definitely like thinking back like cry-worthy, like how beautiful of a moment it is to see e-sports kind of grew from what was two years prior, considered a dead game to them filling arenas was a pretty, you know, mighty kind of swing of it.

Yeah, and this was crazy what you were explaining there, right?

Obviously, I have never played on a stage like that, but I am the one hosting.

And I remember, for example, when Symbol won the Major in 2021, it was my first time ever doing stage hosting.

PGL, for some reason, gave it to me to, from interviewer to stage host on the first one back.

It was a packed out Swedish arena or Stockholm.

I went there.

And it was insane because it was the first event back after COVID.

I remember when Sasha won, he grabbed me and we're jumping around on stage because it's like the unbelievable moment that it finally happened for him.

And like, I had tears in my eyes.

I'm trying to fucking host and talk about what's going on.

And I see how happy they are.

So just how happy players are.

I almost cried as well when Carrigan won it because, oh, this is a crazy story.

So, and I think it was Twiss and Rain's wife were stuck by the security.

They wouldn't let him through.

And obviously the players didn't know what to do.

So I went forward, told the security, like, no, you can let these people on.

And then they all got to have their moment with their girlfriends and wives.

And bro, I was sat there.

I just left the stage.

I was like, this is, obviously it's their moment, right?

I've done my bit, I've done all the interview.

But I was like, oh my God, look at you.

And it was just magical.

Yeah, the Stockholm one was also crazy.

I mean, wasn't there like, the proposal happened then with the boomage and...

Yep, I'm not doing well with proposals on stages.

I'm just going to say again for everyone out there, if I am the stage host, maybe if I'm even working the event, don't ask the person you love to marry you, especially if I have anything to do with it, because it won't work out well for you.

It is a bad decision, it is a bad idea.

You're a homewrecker, is that what you're saying?

Yeah, basically, it is all my fault.

We don't want to do that at all.

Now, I will say, it's obviously the history, the legacy is sad.

I've seen many people complaining.

Some people, by the way, even said about ESL, like, oh, they just want money.

It's a business.

We really spoke on this podcast, like why they're using less talent, they need to cut costs and save more money.

Most likely, I don't know the details, but in a lot of cases, a city or a country will pay an organizer to have the event there for the benefit of having the event there, bringing fans in, tourism, selling hotels, all these things.

You know, it's a good thing for some of these cities.

And also, if you don't remember, people might not remember who are new to the scene.

2017, this very arena, we had the PGL Crack Ow Major, a 360 stage.

That arena is great.

I was there.

Back then, I was a journalist, not even a talent.

I was just doing like news reports for Unicorn, a German based company.

Oh yeah, I remember them.

Yeah.

And it was a great event.

And that's going to have more seats in.

It's going to be more accessible for people to get to.

It's a more modern city as well.

Like, it is a win.

I think all credit to Katowice as an arena and city in, you know, kind of the e-sports history books.

But if we're honest, it was a place kind of weird to get to.

Not a lot of stuff in that city.

It basically had the arena and that's kind of what I know about it.

Yeah.

I think it's also a good time for e-sports to level up in a way.

And going to Krakow, as you say, it's going to be easier finding both hotels, like places to eat.

Logistically, it's just better.

Like, it's, yeah, all of it's improving if you go to Krakow, right?

So I think it is time to do that.

We've had a good run with Katowice.

It will be missed.

Yeah.

But I think in some way also, it's kind of good for the people that have won it.

Vitality got the last one.

Vitality got the last one.

You've got one.

Na'Vi got a few.

It's a lot of history.

It's a lot of legacy.

And I feel like every good thing has to come to an end and move on.

Maybe eventually they'll move on from clone.

You never know.

This is what you can see ESL have done with the naming.

ESL Winter Championship and Summer Championship of how they've given themselves so they're not tied to a location.

You know?

Yeah.

And I don't think we ever should be.

The thing I always loved and what's beautiful about Counter-Strike and PGL probably are the best.

I think it's PGL and then Blast who are the best two.

ESL a little bit less because they stick to the venues and places up until recently.

It's where we've gone to new locations.

Blast took us to Singapore.

PGL took us to Astana.

Yeah.

Look at this.

We're going to new places where we haven't been.

There are Counter-Strike fans there.

Singapore was epic.

Astana was brilliant.

Like this is what I want to see for our game.

For the growth of the game and the fans.

That is esports in a naturalist inclusivity.

And that should be represented in how we actually put events out on the map as well.

It shouldn't be every event in Europe, every event like even in the early days of CSGO, you had like the EMS events and stuff.

And every single event was in Cologne, Germany.

I think I have still to this day, like if there's one place I've visited the absolute most in my life, it's Cologne, Germany.

You know, like there's no other place on earth that can compete with it.

It was in the offices back then as well, right?

Yeah, it was the...

Was it Turtle Studios?

Yes.

Yeah, Turtle Entertainment Studios.

Yeah.

It was so much, man.

Well, I think we're overly positive about it.

I know other people are a bit sad from it.

It is memories, it is history, but these things always change.

It's the same, right?

When a home team gets a new football stadium.

Yeah, sometimes I think it can be considered to the same thing as that.

And this is not a negative in my eyes.

But I don't want to focus too much on this.

We're going to quickly go through the news.

There's one other news item, Devilwalk, that we have to do, because I know you're so happy when you saw this.

Just last night, Valve came out and said, we're releasing Souvenir Charms, Devilwalk's most favorite item in the game.

He loves charms, right, Chat?

No, I hate charms.

I absolutely despise them.

I think they're annoying.

I pick up a weapon with a charm.

I see a regular AK, I'd rather have that.

You look like a default skin.

You can hate charms, but let me read this out to you.

So everyone understands, right?

They've called this Capture the Moment.

The Blast TV Austin Major is fast approaching.

Activate your Austin 2025 Viewer Pass and set your pickups before the first matches start.

And you'll be well on your way to upgrading your Challenge Coin and earning souvenir tokens.

Speaking of which, I love how Valve write this, by the way.

They're very creative.

Souvenir highlight packages.

Just like previous majors who have the opportunity to claim a momentum from the match of your choice.

But this time, if you choose a playoff match, you'll receive an all new souvenir highlight package available exclusively for playoff stage matches.

Souvenir highlight packages contain a souvenir weapon with an attached charm that features, this is crazy, a video highlight from the playoff map you selected.

Your weapon's description will include information about the highlights, and you can view the attached clip in your CS2 inventory, in Steam or while spectating a teammate in match.

We're excited for everyone to get their chance to pick up a playoff exclusive souvenir highlight package, but they will take some time to put together.

So stay tuned.

Souvenir highlight packages will be redeemable shortly after the major closes.

They never give us a date and time.

They are saying, just be careful on it.

So even though I have, you know, maxed out the hatred towards charms, I actually think this is a cool idea.

I love the fact that, you know, you kind of immortalize highlights into the game instead of external websites.

Are you okay?

Are you ill?

Ill?

Yeah, are you sick?

No, but this makes sense.

But it makes sense.

I think it's a cool idea.

I think it's a really, really cool idea.

It makes from having zero use charms to actually having, you know, some value in it.

Yeah.

Because I think, in that sense, I don't know how it will be used.

Maybe you could like inspect someone's AK and then look at the highlight or something.

I don't know the application of it, but it would be kind of cool.

Like, oh, he has the donk, yeah, as we see on the picture, donk, double kill, highlight, bursted vitality.

I think that's a cool idea.

Donk, 1v4, ace for the round highlight as your souvenir.

It's like you get that like the latest, like gym pad 1v5 versus vitality, you know, like that's cool.

That's cool as hell.

I think souvenir skins now are going to go up when you have this.

I'll also say this doesn't benefit me as a talent, but I would love if this highlight also includes the commentary, because for the commentators to be immortalized in the game, they deserve it.

They are the voices that deliver these epic moments for us.

Please, like Valve, if you can do that.

Don't just pop us into a loading screen, into a demo, and then just like bugs out the entire game and we're viewing it from that perspective.

I'm imagining how it will be, is like it's taken from the in-game, if you watch CSGO, right?

So CS2 you watch in, and you can watch live in the browser.

I guess you'll see it like that, not from the broadcast perspective, but...

And I think the broadcast should...

You can have audio, it can have audio.

Yeah.

They have that technology in Dota, I think.

Exactly.

So it is possible.

And I'm just saying, we are already at this Major, moving a step closer to talents lines being in, then we can go to other talent.

But for now, put our commentators in, I'm happy.

This is fucking brilliant.

Yeah, I think it's a great thing.

I think, yeah, I'm excited to actually look at it and see how it actually is applied.

Yeah.

And it's going to be a huge kind of like collector's item where people start collecting the highlights.

Oh, I have these highlights, trading highlights, all of that stuff.

This is another thing, right?

No one should be under any false pretence here.

Valve are looking to make money, because remember, you can buy additional souvenir packages, and people are going to want to get the dongs and the Zywos and their favorite players, right?

And so everyone is going to be buying so many of these souvenir packages.

Valve are going to make more bank from this as well.

So let's just be clear.

It's a great business decision from them at the same time.

As always, they are smart cookies over in the Valve offices.

You can't hate on this, man.

No one can hate on this.

This is, I love it.

It's good.

Even you couldn't hate on it.

It's a charm.

I mean, I hate charms, but I mean, for me, it just adds something to the charms.

I'm not getting any normal charms.

I'm getting only souvenir charms.

Let me be clear about that.

That's why I expect to see every skin of yours like that.

And that's what I'm expecting.

That is what I demand from you now going forward.

All right, let's get into it, though.

It is the Blast TV Austin Major 2025 Stage 1, the first major of the year.

We're going to Austin, Texas, Austin 316.

Can I get a hell yeah?

I don't know.

Do you have any, you know any wrestling references there?

No, I have not watched much wrestling.

OK, well, it's a Stone Cold Steve Austin reference, but I'm fucking I'm so I'm so happy to go to Austin.

It's going to be epic.

We'll quickly go over the format.

Most people should know the format, but for anyone that is unaware, 16-team Swiss system from the 3rd of June to the 6th of June, rounds 2 to 5 are seeded using the Buchholz system and teams initial seeds, elimination and advancement matches are best of three.

All other matches are best of one.

We do hate that.

We do wish it was all best of three.

They still have this kind of weird seeding system with one to nine.

Yeah, it's not a great seeding system.

That's true.

I mean, debatably, it makes being a good seed bad.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

It's not a positive seeding system.

It's not like one to 16, for example, which would have been made more sense.

Yeah.

Anyway, the top eight teams proceed to stage two.

Bottom eight teams are eliminated.

There's a lot of counter-strike that will come your way.

What we're going to do here is kind of start with going over the favorites.

Then give us some of the dark horses, not likely to succeed.

Then we're going to go into each and every team and give our thoughts on them.

I've spoke to some of the teams and players.

Devilwalk's done a lot of research on it.

Take this podcast episode as your ultimate guide to what to expect, what could happen, what could go wrong.

And then even we're going to bring you a tier list.

We've never done a tier list, but we're bringing you a tier list because people love that.

People actually love tier lists.

So that's what we're doing, Devilwalk.

That is what we're doing.

Let's look at the favorites in here.

Yeah.

I want to pick just three favorites, and yours can be different to mine.

My favorite is to do very well in this.

And that for me is heroic, bait, and complexity.

I think that's fair.

I think, I mean, I essentially agree.

Heroic, complexity, bait, they're good picks.

I also want to kind of like throw in maybe an OG there.

I think they can be a little bit unexpected, especially in this stage one.

Some people have a go 3-0, by the way.

Yeah.

So I think they could be strong.

I did, obviously, last night, I sat for a couple of hours, kind of researched all the teams to see, you know, where they're at and some of the, I'd say presumption when I did the pick-ems that I had for some of these teams were definitely wrong.

Yeah.

Medisport.

Medisport is one.

We'll come to that later.

But even like Tai Lu, Linvishen, some of the Asian teams, some of the Brazilian teams done really, really well in the region, wouldn't necessarily put them as a favorite just because of the kind of unknown entity of playing in a region where I don't watch many games and you probably don't watch many games.

Very few.

So it's hard to know where the competitive level is in those specific regions for us.

But there's definitely, you know, clear favorites in Heroic, OG, Bait and Complexity.

I think Wildcard could also be thrown in there as kind of a wild card to that favorite list.

But I would agree with the favorites.

And then some Dark Horse's choice in there.

So these are teams with the potential to upset and do well.

I feel like Tyloo, a lot of people have going through because of what we saw from them at EPL, but I feel like there's still a Dark Horse in this because pressure has been known to get to them and that's when they can struggle.

I feel like another Dark Horse is someone like Namiga because result wise, they don't look great.

Some individuals can look strong.

Pressure is another thing they're not used to experiencing and just the level of opposition they can even lose to sometimes is a bit crazy, but I feel like they have some of the right pieces where they can do damage.

And then this one you might not expect, right?

Because they were probably going to be like a 0-3 for me is NRG.

And the only reason I'm saying NRG is just because they are American.

Yeah, they could have some magic in there.

There is Bro, he's got some European magic they can add to it, but like...

They have a very experienced in-game leader.

Yeah.

I think that's definitely something that can kind of push them in the right direction.

I think also if you look at from that angle, you could potentially also put Fluxo in the Dark Horse space.

Just because of Art being in the team, he has a lot of young, hungry guys with him.

And I think if I remember the ratings correctly, I think they had four players over 115 rating, which is pretty insane no matter what region you're in.

Just to have four consistent players at that kind of level.

So there are definitely, it's a wild stage by the way.

It's kind of wild.

There's a lot of things that could go right or wrong, especially with the format as we mentioned, it's the book whole system, but some teams are going to be super proficient in the best of one series.

Like they're just going to be really good, be able to get a map they're good on and be able to veto out a lot of their weaknesses from the start.

Because some of these teams don't have a map pool at all, but they're probably going to be really, really good in the best of ones.

But once they get to that best of freeze, it's all depending on how the start goes.

If they go too up and have like three chances to make it through in the best of free, they could make it.

But if they're going into the bracket in a 2-2 sense, it's going to be really difficult for them.

Then coming on to our, what do I call it?

Not likely category and not likely to succeed.

This is a harsh one because I'm going to just throw your boys Medisport in there.

I'm sorry.

I agree on that.

Okay.

Okay.

I agree on that.

It looks rough for these guys right now.

They've lost a lot of the star power.

There's some individuals in there, some names you'll know.

Hampus, Plopski, Isaac, right?

But I feel like they're so far away from the Medisport that people remember doing well, and they've dropped down so much that it's very worrying for them coming into the Major.

Yeah.

I agree.

They've been struggling on forum recently a lot.

They don't really have a deep map pool.

They are just...

It's not like...

When we get to the negatives, I think I wrote the most negatives out of any team on Medisports compared to all teams.

That's great.

Now, the next one is what teams most people have is their 0-3, Chinggis Warriors.

Yes, they are from Mongolia.

Yes, they've got some individually skilled players in there, but I don't expect them to fare well against this level of competition.

Even if they come up against a Medisport or someone like that, they might be able to get a map.

But I don't think that this is not their time to shine at the Major.

They just don't have the experience or the caliber.

Yeah, I mean, maybe they'll get some coaching from their Mongolian buddies in the Mongols.

They did play a lot against them when they were at Blast, both together.

Yeah, but they probably are like practice partners to some extent as well.

And they're probably giving each other tips kind of.

The problem the other Mongolian teams have is the Mongols are never in Mongolia.

And when they are in Mongolia, they're spending time with family.

So that transition doesn't work so well.

So that does become harder for them.

And my next not likely to succeed, and I know I'm going to get some hate for this.

And I actually want to see this team succeed is FlyQuest.

FlyQuest actually, look at ranking.

Look at sometimes they can do some damage at international events.

Yes, I'm a big positive person around Bregali.

But I don't think when they changed Dexter out, it was the right time to do so.

I don't feel like this team has a chance of making it the way I would have believed if Dexter was there.

But I'm happy to be proven wrong.

You might not even agree with me this is my wild not likely to succeed.

The one thing speaking for them is when they added this Nethic guy, they didn't have many days or weeks to practice with him before going into their first couple of events.

So they now had, I think he joined like two months ago or two and a half months ago or something like along those lines.

So they've definitely had more times to kind of both get new in-game leading kind of up to par, and him kind of incorporated into the lineup a lot more.

So that are the things that could speak for them, but it's hard, it's just guesstimation at that point.

It's nothing that we can see through events or see through matches that actually have happened.

Okay, now, this is where things get hard, because we're going to go in to some details.

This was our little idea of like, we might make it through the Dark Horses, what could happen here at the Major.

But now we're going to give you some details on each of the teams and our thoughts on it for you guys to get a bit of insight overall on what could be happening.

So the first one is complexity.

Now, at the beginning of the podcast, I said, I'm not so positive about this situation from right now.

You said result-wise, right?

It's looking okay.

This day should be fine for them.

If they get the full five-man team to America, then I believe complexity can 3-0.

If they have Junior and Halls Oaks not coming, which still isn't announced, by the way, all that Messi Oso, who's the general manager, said was, I just got it here.

We have five eligible players in USA, so we can play this Major.

But the last information was that that was going to be Junior standing in, he is registered as the sub, yeah?

And so it's not guaranteed that Halls Oaks going to play because he has some visa issues.

That's a worrying sign.

Junior is not doing the same kind of things as what Halls Oaks would do.

Yeah, I think the one thing that is really, really sad for them is obviously that that whole circle last event, he was amazing.

We saw a couple of clutches, some like really high elite tier one level plays from him.

Yep.

And losing him.

Less angry as well?

Yeah, less angry.

He had that mouse pad from PGL he probably wanted to travel with as well.

Took everywhere with him.

I love that by the way.

Yeah.

So, there's definitely a downgrade, so to speak, for them.

But at the same time, they did very well at Melbourne.

They did get a top four placing.

No, wait.

Yes, I am on the right team.

Top four placing at Melbourne.

They have Train as their first pick, which can be kind of...

It's a double edged sword, because a lot of the teams are going to have that as a first veto.

People who don't feel like they're ready to take on a new map.

Especially at this level as well.

A lot of Instagramers.

At this level, I think it's a good thing if you go into the...

into the best of freeze against good teams.

I think it can be really, really nice.

That's what they've been able to have success with, you know.

But going into like a best of one stage, it's very unlikely they're ever going to be able to play it.

Even in the best of freeze scenarios to qualify, it would be unlikely for them to play it depending on which teams they're obviously up against and what their veto is.

But a lot of the teams, the majority of teams have have trained as they're out of veto.

So, but they do have, you know, two very, very solid maps in Train and Anubis, which are, you know, one of the win conditions for them.

They posted a 78.3% win rate in the last three months.

It's one of the highest out of any teams in this stage.

But yeah, the cons, I did say Train being their first pick is a little bit of a question mark, but it's also been like over a month since we last seen them play.

So, and I look at just giving you a little bit of their map win statistics in the last three months.

Train, 90%, Anubis 85.7%, Nuke 80%, Ancient 66.7%, Inferno 50%, and Dust 2 33.3%.

But the one thing is obviously even if they're in NA, they're not really an NA region team, right?

They're playing tier one oppositions a lot of the times.

They're obviously doing some qualifiers and stuff for the NA.

But in general, they have a lot of reps against good teams in EU and having a 78.3 win rate with being at this kind of tier one, tier one and a half, tier two events.

Yeah.

That's really impressive.

So it's cementing that they are one of the favorites going into the stage, looking at the stats, how they played.

But the big question, Mark, as you say, is Holzerk vs Jr.

How is it going to fit in?

Yeah.

And how is that dynamic going to change?

The most impressive part I've seen from Complexity over this recent times was where JT changed himself to back to some more active positions.

Sixxy was able to step up.

Nixx is performing reasonably well.

But whatever change has happened, obviously, Elise growing out from Complexity was actually a positive for Grim.

He's just gone further up.

But like JT and Grim have seen the most improvements.

Sixxy has been good.

And then Halzerk just not raging as much.

I felt like they've just hit that stride of having like a good formula, where you can work with it after being, by the way, beaten down at the beginning when they lost the league.

There's so many events.

They came back.

And then it's now like, I'm not a junior hater, but you're still not Halzerk.

You're still not going to be on that level.

And you have been farming NA teams, which might be fine at this stage.

But how much is him coming in and change their game, the way he plays in comparison?

I think one of the biggest things or criticisms or whatever you want to say about Junior is, he is incredibly good when he gets a little bit extra time where he's not punished as efficiently.

But once it came into like, so he could probably do really well in this stage one event and actually progress them through.

But once you get into the bigger teams, if he would face like a heroic or OG or someone like that in this stage, he's probably going to struggle a little bit more because he would always get punished, would get a kill, he would miss the most obvious shots, and he would be crazy in this kind of chaotic scenarios.

That's kind of how I remember Junior and I haven't watched him, to be honest, since he was in the tier one scene.

He was very young at that point, so I'm sure he was had reflections and tried to improve himself, but that's kind of up in the air.

So I hope the best for him.

He's a good guy, good kid.

I just want to know who I'm going to be seeing on Media Day, man.

Yeah, I want to know.

I just want to know.

We will know when you know, I guess.

Yeah, I've messaged Grim.

He didn't tell me.

I've messaged some other people.

I'm trying to find out what's going on.

I think this is like a really tightly kept secret because they're trying to every last thing they can do to get him into the country.

I don't know, maybe they're trying to even smuggle him in, you know, borders are pretty lax in America.

They just take him to Mexico and drive him across the border and see if they can smuggle him in.

By the way, that's not an idea or advice at all.

That would be a terrible thing to do.

Don't do that.

Don't break international laws.

I'm just saying it is a major and if it's possible.

Yeah.

All right.

Next team, let's get ourselves on to Legacy because Legacy are in a weird spot, man.

Legacy didn't know they were going to be at the major.

They took Bestia's Place.

Is that the same?

Bestia.

Bestia.

So they took Bestia's Place.

I kept calling them Besita before, by the way.

Sorry, guys.

They took Bestia's Place.

There's a lot of drama around this.

I know Lux and Nissim pretty well.

Dumal has been a player that everyone was very hyped about.

He hasn't been able to kind of live up to the levels of what was expected of him.

I think it's good that he's now on a team where Lux.

Lux was a second caller in pain.

Lux is a big voice.

They had, I guess, a little run, a little bit of a chance when they were playing back at Dallas.

Getting a map from 3D Max is, I guess, respectable.

Getting dominated by Vitality is expected.

But they were a competitive team.

And I think at this point, they should have known they were going to the major as well, right?

So this is a situation now for Legacy, where you're opening games against LinVision.

You have nothing to lose because you didn't expect to be there.

And you even got stickers in the game.

Yeah.

I think one of the things when I looked at them was, they looked super solid in the Brazilian teams.

They have a strong map pool both for best of one and best of three.

Because they have like four kind of strong maps.

They have Mirage on 78%, Inferno on 75%, Nuke on 71% and Ancient on 71%.

So if you have four maps that are kind of strong, you're going to be set for either like, yeah, best of one or best of three.

You're probably going to get two good maps for a best of three and definitely get a good map for best of one.

So they also have a lot of strong players where like they have like one guy on one rating, the rest are like full green, doing really consistently well.

So they have a lot of potential for like star players, but obviously they have Dumão, Lato, which we know from God Sentes, Brazilian taco lineup there.

And now they've grown up a little bit more.

They were super young back then.

Dumão is also a big gym guy.

He loves his food.

Every event we go to when I'm with Dumão, he's asked me for recommendations of food.

He knows a lot of my food.

I'm sending to different places.

I've been ordering stuff from him.

Also, he's a player.

So some people were saying that maybe like all the drama around them would mentally affect this team.

I can't speak about the rest of them, but Dumão is not fazed by any of this.

Dumão plays CS, does what he does, and he's just happy.

I've never seen this guy like out of his out of his form.

But also if you look at it like they're going into an event, they shouldn't have been that they replaced the team.

They don't have any pressure on them.

So I think that, you know, when we talk even about the the Hooksy episode, where Hooksy was referencing good pressure versus bad pressure, I think these guys just come in with only good pressure.

They can't really disappoint anyone.

So I think that is an advantage for them.

They're also very, you know, young team, hungry team, but they have like kind of young players with experience when Dumão and Lato can kind of share that with them.

So there are actually a lot of like strong points going for Legacy.

They do have some reps against EU teams as well.

They won against NRG and Wildcard just recently, which is something that's going in their favorite favor, you know, going into games against them.

They have that mental kind of advantage.

So yeah, there's a lot of positives for Legacy, actually.

And they were competitive against Vitality and Dust2, for example, recently.

Yeah, that was at least like a positive line in there that you didn't get completely run over.

You lost 2-1, but what, 13-11?

Yeah, and they also played a 2-1 map, lost 2-1 against 3D Max, which was like overtime win and 13-11 win for 3D Max.

So they were definitely close to gripping that in the IAM Dallas as well.

So it's not all, you know, for Legacy.

Yeah.

From Legacy, we'll go to Namiga.

Now, Namiga is such an anomaly for me.

I already touched on this of like the potential Dark Horse, because first of all, Zoe is someone everyone's been positive about.

When he first came on, everyone from the CIS region were saying, this player can be pretty good.

He has shown potential, but it's the rest of the team I'm still not sure about.

I'll say they do have two of the best team name player names in here.

Zoe, you could be like, this is the Zoe, you know, rather than this is the way.

And then they've got Risky Bob.

Risky Bob.

Risky Bob is a great name for an entry player.

Oh, God.

Imagine that running up banana, getting killed by Risky Bob, hoping for a smoke.

I'd be tilted just being just seeing the name, just knowing I died to Risky Bob.

Like, damn it.

How did he get me?

Of all people.

Can you be mad if he makes like a really stupid play?

Well, he did warn me with his name.

Yeah, I should have known the Risky Bob play was coming.

Yeah.

Now, it's so strange with this team for me because there was a time, like I said, I was hearing good things, we were hyped about them, but they have been struggling.

Like, there's not much positivity from this team coming into the Major.

And admittedly, they've even been playing just a few days ago.

They played against Sinners and lost 2-0.

Yeah.

One was over to both over crazy overtime games.

So it's not like they got completely bombed out.

But if they're on boot camp, if they're still playing tournaments, they're not in a great spot right now.

And then they're going to come to America.

Yeah.

I think the biggest thing about the Amiga is inconsistent.

They are extremely inconsistent.

They're one of the weaker teams in terms of win rate as well.

They have 3 really weak maps and then they have 3 really good maps.

But is that good enough?

I think they're probably going to struggle in both stages to some degree.

I think it's very dependent on the other teams because if we just look at the format really quickly for the best of ones, it's, you know, team A, which is the higher seed, they will ban 2 maps.

Well, no, actually the higher seed will choose.

So most people will probably pick team B, maybe.

Depends on the scenario.

But in the scenario with the Amiga, team A will ban 2 maps, team B will ban 3 maps, team A will ban 1 map, team B picks a side for the remaining map.

With the Amiga having...

Yeah, I think so.

But I think against like an Amiga, for example, just choosing the last map could be key, because they have 3 strong maps and they have 3 really weak ones.

So just kind of deciding which one is the last one out of the 2 could be potential, you know, good.

But most people are probably going to ban their Dust 2 Train and Inferno, which are all on around 70% win rate.

And then they're left with their 4th best map Anubis for 46%.

So they are not suited for this format.

They're inconsistent.

They have an inexperienced squad.

There's not a lot actually going for them when looking at the kind of numbers and research.

I think the one thing you can say is, you know, if they can get that kind of good pressure in, they can kind of exceed expectations, going on momentum.

They probably play a little bit random, which could be an advantage, especially in this kind of major stages where people get, if they play very aggressive and random, that they may be in a gimmicky way they could make it through.

But not a lot of things are speaking for an Amiga to make it.

Yeah, it's done looking great for them.

We won't touch too much more on them because it kind of paints the picture already, I think.

Next up, going over to our first time of seeing this North American side have their chance at the major.

NRG is back.

It's been a long time since NRG have had been at a major rafing of the organization side of things.

I still want to be positive about them when I see the names.

I like Nitro.

I remember, obviously, Hex had his moments on EG, even so did George.

Bro, obviously from the Astralis, he kind of got a bit screwed over in the Astralis days.

Making a major for these guys is obviously a hugely positive step.

Daps is also the coach.

Daps has a lot of knowledge, was an in-game leader himself at the highest level, got into this coach role.

I have coached him as well.

Oh, have you?

Yes.

Was that the Optic days?

Yeah.

Ah, what do you think of Daps then?

Go on, give me some info on the Devilwalk opinion of Daps.

I love Daps, man.

Me and Daps, we had a lot of fun.

We shared room together.

We spoke Counter-Strike.

I think, you know, he's got quite a dry sense of humor.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I love that.

Yeah.

Perfect for you.

So I really, really like Daps.

I think he's a smart guy as well.

I think he's, you know, capable of building structure.

And in I think it's, you know, great having him as a coach there.

But I think he's good for the vibes as well.

It's not only tactical.

I think he has both.

People wouldn't think that of him, by the way.

People would look at him and hear his interviews and talk to him and think, God, this guy is not the vibes guy.

But from what you're saying, I think this can work.

And he's with a lot of North Americans as well.

That's going to help him at the same time.

The problem I have with this team is I'm ignoring their Dallas results.

I'm not looking at Dallas because they played Falcons and Aurora.

I don't expect much from them.

But like, they couldn't be legacy in Thunderpick, for example.

They're winning against North American opposition, but they're not going to face so much North American opposition here.

I'm so confused of what we're going to see from them, of like, they need to perform better than they've ever shown from what we can look at.

So, I wrote the pros for them is they are consistent in NA.

They're posting a 69% win rate in the last three months.

They have a really experienced in-game leader in Nitro.

They also have the access to coach, right?

A lot of experience coming through there.

They do have some experienced players as well.

You know, with OC, Bro, played in Astralis for a bit.

So, and Hex, as you said, and George from the EG.

Hex is a yeller.

He's a loud lover.

Yeah.

Loud mouth.

They do have a decent map pool.

They should be proficient both in best of ones and best of threes.

But the one thing is once they hit kind of an extra level of competition, it looks like they get completely stomped.

So that's kind of what...

But this competition isn't exactly an extra level of competition.

It's a bit harder than what they normally face in North America.

There is things, you know, going for them.

They could definitely be in that kind of dark horse place where you put them, where they could make it through because...

And home soil.

Home soil.

But is that good or bad pressure?

I don't know, but we'll see.

But I don't think everyone is expecting them to make it through.

But I definitely think they have a great chance just because of all of that experience and that they've been consistent against similar opponents.

We also saw them almost beating NIP in that Fragadelfia, I think it was, where they probably could have won the event if they beat NIP, which they lost in overtime to them on the last map, if I remember correctly.

So there is...

I think there's a big problem for him here, is that they faced Tyloo first game.

They're not used to facing this kind of team.

Yeah.

I think, just looking at the veto, you can correct me if you're wrong, because you're much better at this than I am.

Dust2 is the best map for NRG, but that's the permaban from Tyloo.

Both of them like Anubis, but Tyloo, we saw them play a lot of Anubis against good teams at EPL that time.

If they handshake on that, there's no way in hell NRG are winning the best of all.

There's just...

They're in problems.

Yeah.

I mean, the best map is probably Inferno and Train, if they could get to that.

But I still think...

Yeah, it's a lot of ifs, but we're definitely not selling NRG as a 3-0 or 3-1 team.

I think if they're gonna make it, they're gonna make it with a little bit of bumps on the road.

Yep.

I would say that after that, right, for NRG, if you can get away with a 1-1 on the first day, there is a chance.

Yeah.

But I think also, just to like reference, this is an incredibly hard stage to predict because there is so many teams.

We have like a couple of favorites, but then the rest, they're pretty close to each other in level.

It's not like there's huge gaps between one or the other.

So a lot of things can happen, and especially with practice, you know, amongst practice, how efficient are people going to take it?

How much work have they done?

Motivation can be a key thing as well, where some people and teams can be extremely down during periods of times when they're just grinding these online cups.

And then all of a sudden, they get this chance and they're just putting their entire life into it.

So there's a lot of these like small aspects that the data is not going to be able to, you know, tell us how they are responding to getting this ticket to Dreamland in some way.

So a lot of things and unexpected things always happen in these stages at Majors.

So there's always a chance for people.

All right, from there, we've got to look at your favorite team of all time, Metisport.

So I obviously wasn't so positive about Metisport when we did our pickings all that time ago.

And you've now done some more research that I believe has made you think slightly differently.

I feel like this team has got the problem of losing Nilo, struggling to adapt, losing obviously ZTR all that time ago, Susp as well.

And then the building after that has not come together correctly.

And it is tough at all these online matches for sure.

But like there are games and there are teams I see them facing and they still are not beating them or not looking as competitive.

It's a very confusing situation to find yourself in.

And especially like Isaac, Plobsky, Ampus, like maybe they've got too many of these more experienced players, not enough of the young skilled talent to help them fire things out of this, you know?

Yeah, I think the one thing going for them, I think is the best of one thing.

But the only thing is that they don't really have a home map.

They pick very different maps all the time.

So that could be like hard to prep for, for teams.

So that's like an advantage they have.

But overall, they are 52.8% win rate.

I think it's the lowest in the entire tournament going into it.

They have a weak map pool, I would say.

They're not really good.

They're like consistently inconsistent across the board.

So they don't have a home map.

Like even though they pick maybe Nuke like 30% of the time, they keep picking other maps.

And they're probably doing that based on an opponent trying to counterpick rather than having that kind of a fortress as a map to always win, which I think in general is probably the better idea.

So it's looking like Metisports is one of the absolute weakest teams in this stage.

And there's not a lot to, you know, argue.

The only thing you can argue is obviously they have Hampus, Lopski and Isaac who have all played on a very high level in Counter-Strike.

And I think this is also a team where motivation and all that stuff hopefully have kicked in and they can kind of return to that form as individuals and players and do the best work they've ever done because, you know, even in Sweden, they're not even considered one of the top teams.

They're considered one of the top teams for sure, but they're not consistently, you know, the top team.

They're in that pool of like three teams that is fighting for being the best.

Yeah.

So yeah, it's a weird team to research.

They can pick up big wins against big teams, but they can also lose against anyone.

Would you put them as a potential zero three now?

I would probably put them as a potential zero three now.

Oh, that's a big change.

That's a big change.

Yeah.

Their performance is what's telling me that, but I also know they do have a lot of, you know, good individual players.

So I hope, you know, in a weird way, that this has just been, you know, they don't give a fuck about anything but this tournament and they're grinding it out and going into it.

You know, everything from the memes of saving strats and grinding their way out, finding new ways to play and doing a lot of hard prep and putting in a lot of work, kind of turn this around.

But, yeah, it's hard to make that case for them.

It's crazy how much like there was a rise of Metasport.

They lost their players.

They went to big organizations and the fall off has now been a struggle to pick back up on.

But we've got to give a fair evaluation of them.

From Sweden, we're going to China.

It's Tai Lu time.

And I'm very hyped about this team.

I've got some Chinese commentator friends.

That I actually hit up to get the extra information on here to see how things are going.

And they said that like right now, Tai Lu is the best team in China.

That's without a doubt.

Yeah.

They won this ex-SE Pro League in Chengdu, beat Rare Atom, obviously Rare Atom and LinVision, probably their biggest competition.

But the most important one is the Hero Esports Asian Championship League because FlyQuest, Rare Atom and LinVision were there.

And they only dropped the map to FlyQuest.

They played FlyQuest again and then 2-0 them afterwards.

This has been dominance from Tyloo.

One of the things he noted was that right now, G is a big boost of the mood to the team, even when things are going badly.

He's quite emotional.

We've seen that on the interviews he was doing with Stunner back on Pro League.

But he wears his heart on his sleeve.

He understands how much it means to them to do well and perform.

And I guess part of them have seen, or the Mongols have done, and now they want to do that for Chinese Counter-Strike, which after the Shanghai Major, and even just after COVID, by the way, the audience and the fans and just the love for Counter-Strike increased so much.

People thought Valorant would go out there and the Chinese people would be wanting to play Valorant all the time and they'd go away from CS, because obviously the CS scene was kind of in a bad spot.

But CS is on the rise.

It is majorly loved.

And watch, the fandom is crazy out there.

The Shanghai Major and what Perfect World did was incredible for that.

And now a team like Tyloo is back on the rise.

I literally, I have zero concerns about this team going through to stage two.

I am so confident with them.

It's incredible.

I've never been this confident for Tyloo either.

They look like a beast right now.

Obviously, there's a lot of teams in this competition that they're consistently beating.

And they are still in, you know, like kind of, you know, it's FlyQuest, it's LinVision.

Like you said, they're dominating.

But we've also seen them do well when they have gone to big events like the Pro League and stuff.

They can surprise big teams and play well and push them to the limit, which shows that they have a consistent play style.

I don't think they're really running that much gimmicks and stuff like that.

It's more about them being good rather than, you know, maybe when you play a face it game and people are just strafing out mid, killing you all the time.

I think that they're a smart team.

They're consistent in Asia.

They played top teams in March.

The only con is most games have been in the Asia region, but they've been the top dog there.

I can't really.

They have a good map pool.

They're well suited for this format.

So there's a lot of positives going in for Tylow.

There's very few negatives.

It's crazy how little negatives there are for them.

Did you have any?

Did you come up with some?

The only negative I had was most games were in the Asian region.

That's not even something they can control.

No, no.

It's kind of like a very weak con to put in there, if I'm honest.

You needed to give them something.

I needed to put something in the column, you know?

But yeah, it's an incredibly strong team, and definitely after doing research, looking at them, they're probably one of the favorites in this stage.

Now, the next team, mate, it's a love-hate relationship I have with them.

Bet Boom.

Because the start of the year at Blast Bounty, they qualified for playoffs.

Okay, they played online at the beginning.

Then two players couldn't get visas, so they played with stand-ins, so you couldn't really take what happened there afterwards as a big fault.

But I thought, you've got Boomage, major winner.

You've got Axle, incredibly dominant individual player.

But Zortek can still do some magic.

Magnet.js is pretty good as well.

Siren, I have the biggest questions about.

I actually think if they just change him, they can improve this team a lot, but it still hasn't happened.

I'm sat with them right now though, where they're not living up to my expectations.

And I believe the Boomage can fix many of the problems.

I believe a boot camp or whatever else is needed, that they can find success, but something doesn't seem to be clicking.

And I'm a little bit nervous for them.

I think they should go through, but I don't have a huge confidence.

I'm not like I wasn't tired about these guys.

It's completely different.

So if we actually look at them, they have a 64% win rate last three months.

They have two very strong maps in Train and Anubis.

They're pretty decent on all maps, like hovering around 50-55% in that regard on most maps.

And as you mentioned, they have an experienced in-game leader and experienced majority of players.

Most of them has been around.

And even if they've been up and comers, they've played LANs and big tournaments, et cetera.

But they have a poor map pool for best of ones.

I think all of their good maps are just going to be gone straight away.

So they're going to be in that kind of a coin flip mark of 50% mappers for the best of one.

And they have incredibly poor recent form.

In the last six best of threes, they've only managed to win one.

That's rough.

There's a lot of red when you look down their profile.

Yeah.

And it's, I mean, it's the same argument.

They've probably been a little bit demotivated being in that, coming from being considered a lot of these players to be big up and comers, top players in top tier teams, to being at this level where they have to play European Cups, where everyone's playing random.

It's hard to know what the hell is going on.

I've been there.

It is.

It's absolutely the toughest.

Because you're playing like 20 to 50 different teams all the time.

But yeah, they do have everyone being experienced going for them, and hopefully this will give them a boost to kind of regain themselves into it.

But yeah, they're on the lower side of win rate in the last three months in the group.

But the thing is, they're obviously playing in the EU region, stronger region.

So win rate is still acceptable, you know.

Are you worried that they've got an Amiga first game and they've also played in the qualifier for the Major as well?

I think everyone who gets an Amiga should be a little bit worried because they're so inconsistent.

I think it depends.

When I looked at their maps, they could have like 13-5 wins and next map, they play the same map like lost 13-2.

So it's like they're very back and forth.

So it depends on what mode they wake up in, I guess.

I don't know really how to explain it.

Yeah.

And it's also like one of these games where, since they're both from like East European region, it's kind of a derby match where there's probably a lot more pride going into it, which I tend should favor the lesser team, which would be in the Amiga in this case, where Betboom, they probably do not, to any extent, want to even make this game close.

That will make them a little bit nervous, I think.

Yeah.

And pressure is probably more on Betboom.

Yeah.

And just the name of the players and what they've got, right?

And also, we need to talk about this.

Axel, when are you coming back to play the CS?

When you come...

I know he struggled to adapt to CS 2, but I need Axel that was what, fourth in the world for 2022?

I feel like they have to change the game for Axel to come back to his best, because he was a fucking turret man.

He was so good at standing still and playing positionally well and picking at the right timing.

It's not the same game.

You can't even play like that.

It's impossible.

They literally nerfed him to the ground.

Valve said, you know what, Axel?

Fuck your plan.

Axel, this is not fair.

We're just going to make this game specifically to screw you.

It's kind of like that.

Everything about this game literally makes him worse.

Oh, no.

Well, we've seen it.

That definitely has been seen.

So that is the slight problem.

Still a very capable player, even with all these nerves.

Yes, that's what I mean.

So just like activate 10% more and that could be the difference maker.

The Major, that has to be where you are the difference maker.

They need the...

Oh, it's so rough for them.

All right, we got to keep going for these teams.

We still got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine more teams to go.

So we're just approaching soon the halfway mark.

So let's get on to Fluxo.

We're going over to Brazil.

And Tacitus, by the way, used to be a Furia coach at one point.

R obviously was on Furia.

Zevi was someone people were very positive about.

The interesting one for me here was Kai.

He had a chance when he came up from Furia Academy onto the main team and he was godawful.

Like he did not have a chance to adjust, but whatever art's doing with him, he's playing so much better.

But I think also to be a little bit of the devil's advocate for Kai, I don't think he got a lot of time to kind of jump into that role.

It wasn't like, oh, you're joining.

And he basically joined and just wasn't it like emergency standing first?

And just going thrown into the mix and all of a sudden you're playing the best teams in the world.

You have no idea.

So many new different things to handle.

So I'm sure he's taken, you know, a little bit time to slowly approach that mark instead of.

But what I actually like about this team though, right, is that art is getting the most out of some players that people were not super hyping or talking about.

Zebby's certainly a name people were positive about.

But on other players, like art is getting more out of them than what is expected, I would say.

Like the performance is better than...

And people think this team is going to go 0-3.

You think with art style of calling, that this team won't win one best of one at least?

I think this is a potential like dark horse of this stage, because they are super consistent in the Brazilian South American scene.

They have like 74.4% win rate, really high win rate on their home map Nuke, which is a great map to have a home map as, because it takes a lot of theory to be good at it.

So if you get to pick that in like a best of free, you're most certainly going to win it.

Most of the case, if it is your home map.

So super well suited for best of frees.

And they have the experience leader of art.

They have a really good map pool.

Their worst map is Dust 2 with a 65% win rate.

But they really are just playing against South American competition, yeah?

Yes, so that's the negative.

Is they don't have that many reps against like any European squads.

They have a lot of inexperienced players, young players that are like up and coming in the Brazilian scene.

So there is, those are the kind of cons.

But if you actually just look at the stats and things, they're looking like purely if we ignored regions, they would look like one of the strongest teams in the actual stage.

Okay.

Well, I think they can cause a bit of an upset.

I don't expect them to qualify, but I am excited to see what they can do and get this.

This is a good experience for them.

This is a good run for them.

It's nice to see Art back.

I can't wait to talk to him again.

It's been so long.

I was there just before he got removed from the team and I knew what was going on and what he was going for.

Super nice guy.

We're going to go on to the next team.

OG.

Now this OG, bro, what they have been through is crazy.

This was a team, by the way, that had like one Danish player, two Danish players at a time, and they would always boot camp in Denmark back in COVID times.

They have rebuilt more successfully than I think their rank shows for them.

They lost a lot of good players.

They lost Heavy God, they lost Flames, they lost Valdi, Alexey, like the rebuild, they lost Degster.

The rebuild that this team has to go through is crazy.

Most of their players, other than like Keto, Regali and Nexius, have gone up to other teams.

Then, I'll say this, Nikodos, me and him know each other very well.

At one point, I even called him a fraud orper because his rifle was so much better.

He was rifling sometimes like a beast.

But within this Danish team, he is doing so good.

Buzz has found form again.

Fiku actually looks better than he's ever looked.

And I don't know much about Krizzin.

I've only spoke to him twice.

But all I hear from other people is that like, he's a really good in-game leader.

He's super solid.

He's got a good understanding of the game.

He works well with his teammates.

Like, the positivity I hear from this team, by the way, is ranked 40th on the HLTV ranking, 38th on Valve ranking.

Yeah.

And this is a team that I think are going to do well.

And I'm surprised to be saying it.

But like, you can look at their results.

You can see some problems.

But they're beating some teams that they should be doing well against.

Yeah.

And they're struggling against other teams similar to this stage of the Major.

But they've been grinding.

They've been on boot camp.

Have you seen the content?

They've been pumping out as well?

No, I haven't actually.

But I definitely agree with you.

I think they're looking like one of the strongest teams in the actual stage.

They have a 72.2% win rate in the last three months.

And they're competing in the EU.

Like we looked at Bethesda at 62-64.

And that's respectable, but 72% win rate and only competing in EU.

They have a super strong tree of map pool, Nuke and Ubi's Ancient, so they're well suited for like Bethesda 1s and Bethesda 3s.

They're in good form.

They went 3-0 in the qualifiers to qualify for this.

The only negative I could really find on them is they are inconsistent on Mirage and Dust 2.

So that could be potential punish picks for other teams, but other teams are not going to get those maps in Bethesda 1s, only in Bethesda 3s, right?

So everything to the format, to the maps, to their form is looking on the app for them.

So there's nothing really saying they wouldn't make it through.

Well, let's see what happens.

I'm excited to see what they can do.

It's a team that I think will surprise some people for sure, who have maybe not been looking at their game.

Next, we come on to the Australian boys with Regali of FlyQuest.

And I already said as a team that might not have a chance of making it, you obviously already said that the fact that like Netix has more time on the team right now.

I didn't agree with Dexter Kicking for an example, but this has to be where they show up.

Yeah, it has to be.

And it's weird because I think the only two positive things they have going for them really is that their losses are against, you know, really good teams.

And they had, you know, a lot of reps in this kind of tier one, tier two events.

And now they have more time for, is it in-game leader now?

Yes.

And bringing in net-deck rights.

But if you actually look at just the stats and how they're doing without that context, they're looking like one of the weakest teams in the tournament.

They have a 50% win rate in the last three months.

They have an extremely weak map pool.

There's like, they have three maps above 50% and one of them is their first ban.

So they essentially have two maps above 50% and it's on 53% and 60%.

It's kind of rough.

I didn't see that.

It's looking really bad from the actual stats page perspective and that.

But it's only stats.

It doesn't paint the full picture.

It doesn't paint the full picture.

They had, obviously, when they played with Nethic, they were, they just thrown them in recently.

They changed the in-game leader.

So a lot of that will be kind of skewed because of those moments.

And they do have, they shouldn't be like one of the weakest teams.

But this is purely like based on looking at their page and the stats.

That's the only thing.

And there's not a lot to actually say.

They haven't really played that much since that kind of opening tournament with Nethic and incest in-game leader.

So it's going to be very interesting to see if they've cooked something up.

I'm interested about that boot camp, for example, because they used to change their map a lot in Serbia.

Yeah.

Regali was doing his visa problem, like getting his visa to America, because it's different for Romanians compared to most Europeans.

So they still need to apply for one.

It did get approved, Regali will be there.

But now for me, it comes down to how much time were they able to boot camp in Europe before, like sneaky boot camps, when did they come over to America, how do they get ready?

And I want to pinpoint Liaz a little bit.

Liaz at one point was such a phenomenal player, and I need to see him be able to just deliver a bit more towards that level, if I want to see them succeed again.

Because we're looking at Regali as the star of all, right?

Vexa has had some incredible moments, Nethic is supposed to perform better now, In is now taking over leadership, he's going to dip down anyway.

But Liaz, I want to see a higher level of output, because I know what he could do.

I know what he can do, should I say.

But the only thing is, they don't have that many maps against, like weaker opponents, so to speak, so.

So it's hard to judge it.

So it's hard to judge their consistency, because obviously against better teams, they are inconsistent.

They're not consistently winning against them.

I think it's one of the things we're just going to learn about.

We'll learn when we see.

A lot is unknown, because if they are keeping like the same map pool, as an example, as they have right now, I think they're going to struggle.

I think they kind of have two maps they need to veto out, in every scenario, because their nuke is zero and five.

So it's not looking good for them in that regard.

So I hope that there's been some shifts, and they've actually, you know, kind of either added or removed some maps to make it fit them a little bit better with the new player.

So a lot of unknowns for FlyQuest in my book, and a lot is going to be how did they prep for this tournament?

What did they change and what their approach is?

Yeah.

Now, going on to who a lot of people put as their zero three is the Mongolian side of Chinggis or Warriors.

For these guys, I feel like individually, they can be sharp.

It's still quite an unknown team.

Their practice is going to be very limited.

Like they're not playing in Europe, for example, right?

They can struggle sometimes against the Asian teams they go up against.

Tyloo is not a team they beat.

They went obviously to the Mesa Nomadic Masters, which was in Mongolia, that Heroic ended up winning.

They beat Saw, which is a fair win.

They did get top four in that tournament.

Yeah, but they only beat Saw and Eruption.

I think Eruption is another Mongolian side.

Yes, it is.

And then you lose to Bait, Heroic, and you can't stand up against this level of teams.

Both of them are in the same stage as them.

So I think it's understandable why people don't expect much of them.

How much do you have to say about them?

Because this is a team I don't have great knowledge on.

No, I think, I mean, we kind of like look at BetBoom with the 64% and here they have 65% win rate and most of their games are in the Asian region.

It doesn't tend to be, you know, a great sign.

I still put it as a pro because it's a good win rate.

And, but they should have a strong enough map pool for a best of one scenario where they can kind of get into a decent map for them.

The one thing is like, they seem to have two out of ethos depending on opponents, which could be smart in some way.

So they have dust to in mirage.

That's kind of where they mix up which one, but they mostly beat the dust to and the mirage is on 16.7% win rate.

And that's a mirage that you'd expect.

Yeah, so I don't know if they're kind of experimenting having a seven map pool squad, but I don't think that's necessarily what's going to push you through.

That's something that's a great tool to have in playoffs, etc.

To be able to shift the map and kind of trick your opponent into what you want to prep and surprise them with.

So for this stage, that doesn't really apply.

I think it just makes them a little bit weaker going into it.

So I think there's a lot of potential punish picks for best of three, but if they're going to shine anywhere, it's in the best of one stages in the opening games.

Yeah, that's what they're going to need to rely on.

Let's see, maybe there's something they can change up.

Maybe they got to go to America a bit earlier and do some extra work there as well.

That's also I think something that could factor in, but it's still going to be very tough for this team.

They are one of the lower down ones for sure.

Going back to Brazil though, we're going into Imperials territory here.

Imperials is a team that I can never hate on because it's got Vinny.

I have a soft spot for Vinferno.

Vinny is just a guy who has completely redeveloped his career.

He's now the leader of the team.

He is still always happy even in the saddest moments.

Look at the journey they went on during the Shanghai Major with this team.

They're still not qualifying to many big events.

We just are not seeing them outside of Major.

They should have been going to Astana, but they lost out to Odic, which was a huge upset in a best of five final.

They did win this Fire League.

Bruno Aérez beat 9Z and Sharks, but I would expect you to beat those teams.

Try someone that we're very positive about overall.

A strong offer.

If you hear and see from this kid.

It's like they have the pieces, and they can do well.

This is a team, I think, of my own personal pick'ems.

I think I had them going through, bro.

I think I have this belief that even if you got bait in the first game, this is a team that individually has what it takes to make it through.

Did you see that when you were researching them?

I think in terms of like map pool and form, they have a good form, 72% last three months.

Obviously, most of that is in South America, America's region.

And I think in general for them, it's another case of being really, really strong in best of ones, but it's going to struggle once they get to that best of three stage, because they have four really, really capable maps in Anubis, Mirage, Dust 2 and Nuke.

But then if you look at the fifth and sixth map, they have a 0% win rate and 37% win rate.

So they have big punish picks that will go through in the best of three.

But I think they can do really well in the opening games.

I think if they put themselves in a position where they maybe go 2-0 and have a couple of chances to kind of fumble in the best of threes.

I think there's a chance that they could go through, but they really, really need to do good in the best of one series for that to be the case.

But as you said, they have Vinny, they have a strong operator in Tri.

So there are definitely the individuals are there for them.

And if they can be a little bit lucky with the opponent and Vito and stuff like that, they can definitely make it through.

And I also want to give a little shout out to Zack, their coach, because this guy has been grinding with so many young players.

I'm glad you said he's a great coach, because obviously me just saying it doesn't hold the same weight as if you say it with your experience.

I know the guy.

He's been bringing up these young players for a long time.

I remember one major, they were not even competing in the major.

I think it was Stockholm, and they were bootcamping in Inferno Online, just so they would get extra practice against good teams going into the rest of the next season.

Yeah.

I mean, he's consistently brought, like, as you say, these talents and these, like, weaker teams put together and made some...

Because wasn't he...

He was the coach of that original 9Z lineup?

Yeah, for a long time.

A long, long time.

And they kind of came out of nowhere.

Sakas, the coach, brought them up.

So there's a lot of...

Nearly three years on that team.

Yeah.

Two years, two years.

I definitely respect the Sakas, the coach, and that is definitely a pro for Imperial.

Yeah, massively.

All right, next we go on to a team of more Europeans than anything else.

Stanislaw, Sonic, Fozy, Susp and Jaber.

Obviously people question Mark around this team of how they got here and what they're doing, but this is a very capable team.

Wildcard is gonna get a bit of North American love for sure.

They're facing Medisport, which means we get Susp and Adam B, who are twins, going up against each other in the opening game.

I don't know if that's a conflict of interest in any way.

Probably not, but it's an interesting one.

I feel like Wildcard did so well at the Shanghai Major.

Stanislaw said in an interview that, okay, they made it to stage three last time, but now it's about going to the playoffs.

Like for him, especially with this crowd, he'd love that.

Jaber is such an individually skilled talent.

I think the fact that this team, as the organization, they invested into having a team house in Poland.

So obviously, I think it's Sonic, Jaber and Stanislaw go there, while Soscomfosi probably at home, playing from Sweden with no problems.

And this is a team where Stanislaw gets to play the way he knows best, where he's most comfortable and these players are listening to him.

Yeah.

And if we just look at some of the things, they have a 65% win rates last three months, but they also have a lot of reps against good EU teams.

They have played in a lot of these good tournaments.

They have picked up a few wins, a few close matches, so they're definitely experienced in that point.

They also have a very strong map pool for this format.

So in both best of threes and best of ones, they should be picking up a very strong map for them because they have four very strong ones, Ancient, Nuke, Inferno and Train, all about 65% win rates.

So in that sense, they should probably be cruising out of this stage.

The only con I really have is they haven't really played that many officials.

They've only really been at these tournaments and haven't really grinded like online cups and stuff like that.

They've been more in prep mode.

So there's always a little bit extra of unknowns when you get to that point.

It's similar to like FlyQuest.

They're in these tournaments, but you don't really see them outside of it.

They're not grinding regional cups of any sense.

I guess for Stannisor's way of doing things as well, he's one high-talk, very prep-heavy, bootcamp-ready and adjusting things.

I feel like this is the perfect situation for him to be in, you know.

Not played in the official for a while, been able to cook some things up, change some things, and make the adjustments that teams won't be able to prepare for and be ready for, which will give him a leg up in this.

It's probably the case because I think, if I remember correctly, I think he was talking about Dust2 and his playbook on Dust2, that he was going to throw it all away or something in a while back.

So there's probably been some time where they have shifted a lot of the strategies and approaches on some maps.

It's going to be interesting to see how that kind of turns out, but in general, they post a really good map pool.

And I actually see them as one of the strongest teams in this stage.

I'm looking forward to seeing them play again for sure.

Going back to China, it's the other Chinese team out here, representing China very well after all the success Mongols has made.

It helps them get some extra spots in here for the Major.

It's LinVision.

Now, for LinVision, I was able to get a bit of information.

Obviously, they went to Dallas and it wasn't pretty.

They got rolled over by G2 and then they lost to Fury as well.

I thought they might have been able to take a map from Fury, but obviously, Fury did start to improve and impress.

I'm sure that's what they could do with Molodoy and Yakinda now in.

What I did find out from speaking to my friends Seraph and Reborn from the Chinese community, both commentators, LinVision have stayed in America after Dallas and have just been bootcamping and playing nonstop.

So as soon as they exited Dallas, they have stayed.

They're not going back home.

They're getting as much practice in here as possible.

One of the shrimps here for LinVision right now, he wrote that they are in a position where the coach is really dictating a lot of things and pushing them to do this extra grind, putting the importance on obviously the major.

And it seems like all the players are obviously behind it, but also believing in it.

And Guns is also someone who can do good English interviews as well, which is great.

So we get a good amount of insight from this team overall.

They still are not the best team in China.

They're not the best team in Asia by far.

Dallas was obviously a good chance for them to test themselves.

That probably would have helped them learn some things.

But I will say that I don't see them in a position to go through unless this bootcamp was hugely amazing for them.

Okay.

It's going to take a lot.

I agree with you.

But if we actually look at some of the things that are on their like pages and how they've done, they actually have a 78% win rate in the last three months, which is actually quite impressive, no matter what region you're in.

They're extremely hard to beat in the Asian region.

It's probably just losing to Tailu over and over.

They have three star players, so to speak, three high performers that can have that X factor and push them through.

They have a really good map pool for best of three, so they should be able to get a really strong map, and they're pretty average and above average on most of them.

Should be able to veto out their weaknesses.

But as you mentioned, most games are from Asia region.

They did get stomped by the EU teams once they got to play them.

But hopefully, as you say, they do pick up some lessons from that.

And that's essentially it for Linnvision.

You know, they are that, I don't know if they're considered second or third best Asian team, but they're definitely in the top three.

So it's all about how they take in the lessons they've gotten so far, because they have some good players, they have some like X factors in there.

So at this stage, anything can happen.

And, you know, I think it's just good we get to see more Asian teams, and hopefully they'll be able to perform.

Fingers crossed.

It's going to be a tough test for them.

We're getting on to our last two teams, though, as we're going to keep running through this.

Bait, who obviously, full Ukrainian line up.

MPL, obviously coming out from Na'Vi.

Hetrick had a chance on NIP, was a Na'Vi junior player as well.

This team has been grinding, and they've been grinding a lot and doing very well online.

Ken Zazor is a player I met two years ago.

I can't remember the tweet.

I made a tweet about it, and he told me back when he was on...

Oh, what was the name of the team he was on?

It was quite a small team.

Let me see.

I remember this.

It was IKLA.

IKLA Ukraine.

So that was back in 2023.

And I was back to Kiev even when the war was going on, and I just was going there and I met up with them.

I was staying in the Na'Vi offices and they were bootcamping there.

And I was watching this kid play and he is sharp.

He is individually very good.

I just questioned his motivation and I sat down with him and said, like, if you really want to like utilize your talent, you need to now play really hard.

And I think him being on this team is the best situation for him, because these players love to grind.

They've been on bootcamp.

They've been putting out some content.

They've been making sure they can be in the best shape possible.

They don't want to end up in a situation like they did in Shanghai, if you remember, where they didn't qualify.

And yet they were one of the teams.

By the way, that's the only thing I'm worried about for them, is they're one of the teams that came into Shanghai and everyone thought they would at least make it for a stage.

And then they, I can't remember, where did they go out?

Was it 0-3?

I don't want to say 0.

Yeah, it was 0-3, bro.

They went 0-3.

They lost to Spirit, which is a tough one, then Aurora, then Astralis.

And that was Astralis, by the way, without Device.

So for Bait, they are one of the most consistent teams in this stage.

They have 72.4% win rate last three months.

They practically never lose against teams that are lower than themselves.

People are in similar rankings.

That's where, you know, they play tight games.

They could find a loss, but they are very consistent.

They have the ability to upset big teams.

So it's not that they are far away from like making an extra jump up to the next tier.

They have a well-rounded squad.

They have two very, very strong maps in Ancient and Mirage.

They are strong in Best of Three, so they are always going to get one of the good maps and, you know, get a decent map for them to kind of grind out the victory.

The one con I actually have for them is in the best of one scenarios, they could find themselves in a little bit of trouble because they only have two really strong maps.

So they are going to get into that stage of maybe getting a 55% to 50% win rate map, where they're not as consistent.

So they've been consistent, obviously, a lot of tournaments are playing best of three formats and not a lot of best of ones.

So this is where they could find themselves in a little bit of a moment where they're not as used to playing in this format and be able to get punished picked or surprised by how good a team is in a best of one.

That's really the only worry I have for them.

Otherwise, they look super solid, super consistent.

As you mentioned with the players, they have some really, really good talents.

Yeah, they're looking like one of the strongest teams in the tournament.

I feel like this change of Kenz is all coming in and the fact they went through what they went through during the Shanghai Major is only going to help them here.

I don't know if they have a mental coach or anything.

I was messaging MPL to just see how things were going.

And if they can just have that extra level or extra understanding of what to do in these tough situations, then they should not have a problem of going through.

I put my 3-8-0 on my personal.

I think it's definitely possible, especially with the teams are going up against here.

And it's only if they went up against Heroic, that then it'd probably be a bit of a struggle.

All right, from there, the last team of our rundown, it's Heroic.

And do you know what?

I have only positive things to say about Heroic overall, because this is a team who took a Sangal call.

They took that teneer we saw from the Gun5 team that's owned by Buster the streamer, or Booster as they call him.

And it's actually impressive that they're having that four players and then having Son Pius as made them once again jump up the Valve rankings.

They're thirteenth in the world right now.

And they've done that with Saw, obviously, who is an amazing coach at helping these young players get the most out of themselves.

LNZ was written off from his ninjas days.

X-Lab was like a player that would obviously maybe fall off from where he was.

They are in good position right now.

They have a lot of confidence.

They have a lot to say.

They won the global finals in CCT.

They won the Mesa Nomadic Masters on LAN, which is impressive as well.

They've beaten a lot of the teams that are here.

Bet Boom, Fate, Wild Cards, Chingiz Warriors.

They've even beaten Aurora.

They've beaten FaZe.

And then obviously they won't even face these guys.

This is a team that look like on paper, they're going to do so well.

And the only negative I have for them is you're losing some Pius and Saw.

It's confirmed.

It's been said in a like, it's now not a rumor.

They're going to G2.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But that's anything that takes pressure off them.

It's like, fuck it, guys.

This is our one shot to go really far and do our best because things are changing after this.

And if there's anyone, I think, that can keep them together and then not break.

For these guys, some of them is their first Majors, you know?

They're not going to come in and be like, oh, we're losing our players.

Let's be sad and cry about it.

No, they're going to come through.

They're going to come with some energy.

They're going to come with some grit and some anger.

And they're going to do what they're supposed to do.

Yeah.

I think, as you mentioned, it was really hard to find negatives about Heroic going into this stage one.

As you mentioned, it's probably that some pious and saw are going after the event.

But other than that...

It is confirmed.

Other than that, the con and pro is they are the absolute favorite.

They are the top dog on the favorite list.

I think there's no doubt.

I don't think you can argue that anyone else would be a higher favorite.

So it posted a 72% win rate in the last three months, which has included a lot of these like tier one, tier two, tier one and a half events.

So they're posting a really strong, you know, there was this video where Simple with Heroic, the bots and all of that.

He was joking.

They obviously beat FaZe.

And they look absolutely unbeatable online.

They look super consistent.

They have a really strong map pool for very, very strong maps that are suited for both best of frees and best of ones.

Who's going to get one of those good maps?

They have Saw as a coach.

And I actually didn't even write any negatives down because I didn't even think about this.

They made it.

They have some pious and saw thing.

They're the only team I haven't been able to figure out a negative looking at the stats and doing the research.

It's so impressive.

They will make it through.

That's it.

100% sure.

I agree.

If they didn't, I'll be so shocked.

I'll be completely lost.

I couldn't imagine it.

I think the only thing if we think about right now is that the expectation that everyone has of them going through is the only thing that could break their man.

But this is an organization, the team that has money, has all support stuff, has what they need to get through that stuff.

I'm not worried for them.

I'm not worried for them.

So yeah, they are actually a good spot.

All right.

So from here, Devilwalk, we've given everyone our thoughts on the teams.

We've given a rundown on everything.

We've given our opinions on favorites, dark horses, not likely to succeed.

We're going to do now before we get into predictions, because again, I'm now soon flying.

I'm flying tomorrow to Austin, so I have a lot I still need to do.

We're doing our tier list.

So I'm going to share my screen with you.

We've never done a tier list, but we're doing a tier list.

S tier, heroic.

Heroic.

Oh, mind blown, huge surprise.

I don't think we need to expand on that.

I think they're...

No, we kind of just did it.

Yeah.

Bait.

A, X, or A?

I think they are S tier for this stage.

We have to also remember for the viewers, we're not talking about S tier compared to the rest of the world.

It's in this specific stage.

Yep.

Okay.

Now, Namiga.

I would put them in either the C tier or what the fuck, but I'll put them in C for now.

C, yeah, I'm with you.

Genghis is going in what the fuck.

Yeah.

Because we don't know what the fuck is going to happen with him.

I think FlyQuest is kind of in that boat as well, because I wouldn't put them in C tier as a team, but I think there's a lot of unknowns, and considering how few games they've played and how low the win rate is, there's a lot of question marks that needs to be answered to be able to put them in a tier, but they should be on paper, and the events are going to be one of the stronger teams, but the stats and the research tells another story.

Yep.

Now, Wildcard, I'm feeling like an A.

A tier, for sure.

Yeah.

They are...

Now, so the problem here is, Betboom of name value, I would love to put in A tier, based on what we've seen, B tier.

I think they're a B tier.

Oh, yeah.

Complexity.

Complexity, I think, is, I think, a stronger A tier than Wildcard, if that makes sense.

Okay, so we'll put them above.

Yeah, we'll put them ahead of Wildcard.

Yeah.

I'm with that.

NRG.

NRG.

I wouldn't even put them in C tier.

I'd probably put them in B tier.

I think there's...

There's still some things that...

Yeah, we can edit towards the end.

Yeah.

Tailou, I think A tier.

Oh, yeah.

Let's go.

Let's go.

LinVision, C tier.

Yep.

OG is A tier.

Good.

Imperial.

Imperial.

B tier, maybe.

Yeah.

B tier ahead of NRG.

Flux, so this is...

I'm leaning C or B, but...

I'm thinking C or Wtf because R is a Wtf-type player.

Yeah, that is very true.

We can add them to the Wtf and kind of experiment where we're going with them.

I see.

I think MetaSports has to be in the low point of C tier.

You know, I don't think there's a lot of Wtf aspects to it.

Legacy.

This one could be interesting.

They're hovering around that.

Put them in the top of C tier.

Okay.

So this is where we're sat right now.

The only one I'm not sure about here is when you look at this, yeah, I'd want to put NRG like here now personally, but then the NA buff could come in.

But the NA buff could come in.

So the lowest point of B to the highest point of C tier is fine.

Yeah.

And then I almost think because like, OG we've been very positive about.

Yeah.

They know what they can say to it.

No, I'm not going to bomb them.

I can't.

I can't bomb them up across this.

I'd maybe change this around.

I'd put it in a second place maybe even.

Yeah?

Okay.

Okay.

I think that looks pretty good.

Yeah, that looks pretty good.

All right.

Well, there we have it.

There is our first ever tier list done.

Ta-da for stage one.

We'll be doing another one for stage two as well.

It has to be quick because be as always, push for time, podcast mode.

Doesn't really work in that sense.

All right.

Next, we got to get ourselves doing the other magic in here.

This is coming on to the last point.

It's our predictions for the best of ones.

So we can quickly go that for the opening matches.

We can actually play simulator.

Let me actually go back to recording.

I'm going to play simulator and I'll share my screen with you again, Devilwalk.

All right.

All right.

We can do simulator of our games the whole way through and we'll just see what we do.

So let's try and do this kind of quickly.

All right.

Heroic.

Complexity OG.

This one is a tough one, but I actually think OG.

Cool.

Bait Imperial.

Bait.

Bait.

Namiga Bat Boom.

I'll say Bat Boom, but I'm not sure.

Cool.

Tai Lu.

Tai Lu.

Legacy or Alien Vision?

I think Legacy.

Okay.

I think Wild Card.

Wild Card.

And I quest Fluxo.

I think this one is up in the air.

I kind of want to give it to Fluxo.

Okay.

I don't know.

I'm going to go home with you on this.

So these are pretty good.

Okay, Heroic again.

Heroic again, yep.

Bait again.

Bait.

I'd say OG.

I'd say, ooh, this one is tough.

It's the best of one.

Where are you leaning?

I was leaning towards Tai Lu.

Let's pick Tai Lu then.

All right.

Complexity, Metasport.

I think Complexity.

NRG, LynVision.

I'll say NRG.

Really?

Yeah.

Namigo or FlyQuest?

Namigo?

I think FlyQuest actually.

Okay.

Chingis Imperial.

Imperial.

Yeah.

Okay.

So three O's.

Heroic, Bait, Heroic.

Heroic.

Best of three.

Tai Lu, OG.

OG probably.

Okay.

Fluxo, Legacy.

This one is so random.

Legacy.

Yeah, we can take Legacy.

Complexity over FlyQuest.

Yeah.

Bait, NRG, BB Team, NRG.

I probably pick the best boom here.

Yeah.

Wildcard, Imperial.

Wildcard.

Chingus, Metasport.

Metasport.

Yeah, probably.

That's the best of three.

Linvision, Namiga.

I'll take Namiga.

Okay.

Bait, Wildcard.

Bait.

I'll say Bait.

Tylu, Legacy.

Tylu.

Tylu.

Complexity.

Complexity, Bait, Boom, Complexity.

Namiga, Flexo.

Yeah, I'll probably pick Flexo in the best of three.

Okay.

Metasport, FlyQuest.

FlyQuest.

Imperial, NRG.

Wow.

This one is tough, actually.

I personally would go Imperial.

And then let's take him.

Last matchups.

Wildcard, FlyQuest.

Probably Bet Boom.

Legacy, Imperial.

Legacy.

I'll take Legacy.

I would pick Imperial, but I'll let him have Legacy here.

All right.

There's our simulator there.

That's all our predictions done.

Imagine if it works this way.

It probably never will because there's always some craziness to happen.

But we also pick some random ones in there as well, Devilwalk.

Yeah.

Oh my God.

I love the fact we can do Swiss simulator like that.

Thank you very much, Mr.

HLTV, for making that possible.

It is appreciated.

So that was a speed run of our predictions.

We already spoke so much about them all anyway.

So I guess the only thing to say is strap yourselves in and get ready for the major.

You're excited?

I'm excited.

I've been looking forward to this since we started our podcast essentially.

I just wanted the major to begin and be able to see like Vitality and all of these teams going up in the next stages.

And obviously, there's always a new kind of team coming out when you see majors.

We've seen it time and time again.

It's always shocking results.

There's always something unexpected happening.

So there's a lot of storylines and yeah, just looking forward to it.

And just remember, even though the run up to this major, as in no RMRs, these shitty online qualifiers with no LANs and not seeing the enjoyment and the emotions and the tears of the players who qualified and didn't qualify has gone.

This is now where it begins for us.

This is where we get those feelings again.

This is what Counter-Strike and the Majors are about, being the most important event in the world to the players.

This is what they've worked their whole lives, whole careers for.

And this is what it all boils down to.

We're going back to America.

It's the first time since Boston in 2018.

It's a long time coming.

The American fans are for sure going to want to just enjoy every moment of it.

Players are going to want to step up.

We're still in the early days of CS2.

Some dreams will be made to come true.

Others will be crushed.

There will be tears.

There will be excitement.

There will be hype.

And it is going to be amazing.

And for us, we can't tell you when we're going to film the next episode.

There is no day break in between stage one and two.

And we're still going to try and film an episode of the podcast somehow.

And Devilwalk's in Sweden and I'll be in America.

So I'm going to get wrecked.

So sadly, you have to be because I'm working.

I have to wreck you.

Last time I got wrecked in the start up because I was hours ahead of you.

So that's true.

So you have one up on me.

All right, Devilwalk, that is it.

The episode is done.

Episode 14 already.

Thank you as always to everyone for watching and supporting.

I hope you're enjoying the Hooksy interview as well.

The All About Hooksy special.

We're going to try and bring you some more of that as well.

We've got some big plans and ideas going forward.

We're changing up the way we're doing things.

You saw now we had a tier list.

Devilwalk, any closing words?

No, I think I hope you guys enjoyed this content.

I think for us, it's a little bit special one to make it a podcast format, but very enjoyable to kind of research and go through the teams and seeing.

Because it's learning experience for us as well, because we don't know that much about this team.

So it was a pleasant experience for us.

So I hope you enjoy.

Definitely was.

All right, we'll see you on the next episode.

It will be episode 15 coming at you live from Austin, my side, and Sweden for Devilwalk as always.

Peace.