Episode 20 – All The Moves This Summer!

Banks: Hello, everyone. Once again, we're back fast and furious with another episode. And we've hit that magic 20 number. It's actually not that magic. Maybe when we get to 100, I can say that's some some real magic in there. But I'll get this out of the way for everyone. As always, it's the 16th of July 2025. It is 205 for me here in Ukraine. And it is 105 for devil over there in Sweden. It's still hot outside. I've got aircon on. He doesn't have aircon so unlucky. I have all the windows open instead of windows open. You got water outside. So you got some fresh air coming in for sure. Right. You're you're you're in a nice spot. We're definitely lives actually really nice when he takes a video and shows you the outside. You go. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes. He's kind of cooking with it all. And obviously for everyone to watch Apex episode by now. I hope you enjoyed it. It was such a special and a very memorable one. We learned so much from all of that. But now we got to get into the season because it started and again, we really spoke to Apex about this. It does seem, I don't know, maybe we just take this every season, but it seems like this one's come round even quicker.

Devilwalk: Yeah, it felt like we barely went on break and then we started recording again and then, you know, you know, you make like holiday plans and we have to kind of, okay, how the hell are we going to work this out schedule-wise? Because you're traveling.

Banks: Yeah, but I have a traveling setup. You don't have this luxury. Yours is very different. Like, you're just traveling within Sweden and you were like, not sure I'm gonna be able to do this. So we'll see how it goes.

Devilwalk: But we'll make something work.

Banks: I need to tell everyone on the podcast this, because the ones that follow your football journey with this. This guy, I nearly swore, this guy right here is going to go and see Man United play as a Spurs fan. Are you going to wear your Spurs t-shirt? Yes, I'm going to wear it. I'm going to wear it. I'm going to wear it.

Devilwalk: A hundred percent.

Banks: Are you? Okay, you can get away with that in Sweden. In Sweden I can get away, but I'm not doing it in London or something. Go up to Manchester at a Spurs top when they're not playing Spurs. And goodbye, devil. I love you, but that'll be the end of you.

Devilwalk: I don't think there's going to be that many hostile people against Spurs, so unite. Maybe, because we won the trophy. I didn't think about all the possibilities.

Banks: I need to see an Instagram story of you in the Spurs shirt while you're gonna be at the Man United side. Do you still do that when it's like a game?

Devilwalk: So I think we're seated. So it's going to be like the main United side on the short side, right? And we're sitting like on the long side, but closer to the United side.

Banks: Okay, and that's because your girlfriend is a United fan? Yes. Very smart woman, see?

Devilwalk: Maybe one day she'll educate you. We have some rules when it comes to watching football together.

Banks:

Devilwalk: Yeah.

Banks: Go ahead.

Devilwalk: Because I can be a little bit of an annoying prick with my smirk and everything.

Banks:

Devilwalk: So...

Banks: Yeah.

Devilwalk:

Banks: Yeah, there's some house rules. Back in the B&E days, it was the football score chat as someone who supports whatever team, like, what, Synopsi was an Arsenal fan.

Devilwalk: Well, yeah, Synopsi was Arsenal fan, and we had Flatrow, he was a Chelsea fan, and I was Spurs fan, so there was a lot of banter. Obviously, GXX or Gans, he was a Bayern Munich fan as well. So we had a bit of difference. And there was some banter going around, obviously Bayern bought like Harry Kane from Spurs. So there was some, you know, mingling about that as well.

Banks: I remember the scores, chats being put in there, like you would be watching a game or seeing a game and watching one of their teams lose and you'd be like, oh, not the greatest, not a good moment in there. It is a good bit of fun. But what we're going to start with here for episode 20 of the podcast is looking at Rostermania. And I'll just say this, because of how well Vitality did, I expected there to be maybe a crazier Rostermania. I was expecting this maybe to be the best Rostermania ever. There wasn't, like, there was the Kiyosuki move, the Falcons, we already talked about that on episode 18, but like, the Navi one's kinda big, shoutout Navi one time, but I wasn't wowed by some of these moves. I can't say it's a crazy one.

Devilwalk: I agree because I think some teams, I look at them and I feel like they maybe needed two changes, but they've made one change. There is some, you know, some things because of the new system and how the VRS points work. It does make it so that people can't make these massive roster overhauls anymore. So there's some limitations because you want to keep the core for the VRS points. So maybe there is some some line of thinking where you have to change it. Okay, if you want to change three, maybe you change one now. And then you see where the business opens after half a year, compared to maybe, you know, a couple seasons back, it would be completely different where you would like, okay, we can get all these three, we're going to get them straight in. But now you have to be a little bit more careful. I think I feel like that's kind of the consequence we're seeing on the market as well that people want to take these kind of overhauls in multiple steps and they make the most secure one first.

Banks: Well, I want to talk about the Na'vi one first. We're going to start with that because obviously, I was the, I'm not a leaker, but I was the one just saying it's not going to be Imma. Yeah, because I knew that for a fact. I knew what was happening. And I'm going to start with this a lot of people saying like, JL didn't bench himself. He's just saying that it's all like some publicity stunt. It's not a publicity stunt. Like, JL's this kind of guy. Yes, there was a decision and a conversation around benching him, maybe benching him, I spoke about it, potential of wonderful going as well, which I'll talk about later, which didn't end up happening. But this was definitely a mutual decision. Because this suits JL, like with what he wants to do. People by now should have watched the video should have seen this all go down. And because he will take a lot of JL's roles, there'll be some small changes in there. But that it's a situation now where we both said we thought Navi would make two moves. I thought Navi were going to take two moves. I thought Wonderful was going to be the one that would also go. Wasn't sure if Simple was coming back. I never heard anything to do with that. I think it'd be very hard to bring Simple back into that team. But it's also maybe what you've just said, this has made me think is that they were playing it safe some more. It's still not going to be a move where I see this makes Navi a team that can beat Vitality was going to be like a huge improvement. It's gonna take some time to get because the adjusted to it. I'm thinking because he's a very good player. But like, I don't look at him right now. And say that I'm 100% confident he's going to be to be found even 100% confident kiyosuki is going to hit the ground running. It's very hard like donk was a wondering what he did. He will think he's going to be the next one to do that. But I think it's still going to be hard for Makazi to jump into this system. And do you know what's interesting for Na'vi now is they don't have this Na'vi Junior, right? The main Na'vi Junior that grew up throughout the Rankins, they being on the X Na'vi Junior. Yeah. So when it comes to next season, if they do want to make another change of what Na'vi wants to do, I guess they want to look at what options and who might be available. Maybe there was no other good options of what they wanted available.

Devilwalk: Yeah, but I feel like it's also it's it's one of these things where obviously they've had some internal like discussion problems that just, you know, haven't been resolved to the degree where everyone is happy and and can, you know, perform at their best, you know, just as we talked about, you know, with with Apex in the last episode that you you do when you feel like the good the team is good, then you have a good bond and chemistry and things are fun outside and inside the game. you do perform better and it feels like they kind of hit a wall in that and couldn't really resolve it and i don't know who like what the clashes were or anything but in my experience and watching people kind of revamp lineups to kind of fix that problem it usually ends up being that you kind of have to reset the team in a boat crossing the water here.

Banks: It's like that is an aggressive Hoover, though it's a boat. That's where he's living, boys.

Devilwalk: But essentially like kind of changing that or resetting the kind of team chemistry in some sense where you can start over a little bit more. You usually need like two people to kind of change that vibe. I do think Macasa will be easier to kind of lean into it because obviously been in the organization. That way you it's not like you get full access to the main team that way. But at least there's a it's way easier to kind of incorporate them a little bit earlier or prepare them if they if this was a reasonable or a fourth out like way before it's released, obviously, so you'll have some more time to kind of get along with the strat book and how they want to approach things and get more more in tuned with that faster, but I'm not sure it will just solve the issues for me. It still looks like, okay, this is the first step. We're going to see if this works with Macasa and probably by the end of the year, if things don't work out, we're going to be happy to change even more.

Banks: Yeah, exactly. And Dale said all of what you're saying as well about like team chemistry. We spoke about it before in a podcast at the same time where obviously they've been together for so long, some things weren't working. Some people were not happy. This is why some of these decisions get made. But one thing I was going to touch on at the end here for JL particular is, I think it is hard if you go a year away, and then you try to come back. But I think if he does what he keeps mentioning the six months and then come back to another team. I heard there was other teams that had offers they put on the table for him for this season. There was interest from other teams. I'm not sure of any I don't as far as I know, there was no like buyout conversation about this. There was no like, or potentially he'd actually do it. But there's definitely interest in him. And I think he'll be still making some great content, still playing some face and stuff along the way and then doing all this other like real life stuff that's going to give him the mental break he needs and happiness. He can come back the start of 2026 end of 2025 into a new team and he can hit the ground running. So I really hope it's not the end we see for him. Because I think he's a great personality. He's the kind of player we need for the game. I don't care about the hate he's getting. He's a friend of mine. He's a good person. But I do think he's more than a capable player as well. And yeah.

Devilwalk: And I agree with you like six months, that's fair. I think when it turns into being a content creator for a year or one and a half years, you're starting to get real trouble with kind of jumping into the pro side of things again. But six months could be a blessing while I think a year would be detrimental for a player.

Banks: Definitely. Now, from here, we've got to look at G2, because these are all rumors we spoke about before, right? We knew that Hunter was potentially going to take over the IGL, Snax gets benched, Taz was already gone, some pious and sore coming in, they're all things we discussed. But what a last thing we heard of was that they were going to try and get X Kaspersky to come into the team. But then they get Matty's from Fnatic. Now, it's not a- Yeah, most definitely. We'll bring your picture off if you haven't seen it. The mousepad that Matty's has is god-awful. And if he ever loses it, he's so screwed.

Devilwalk: Comparishable or comparable to my old chair.

Banks: Yes. Yeah, dude, that's actually accurate. I got a picture up right here, and I just had to remind myself of it because it's awful. It's some mousepad he's had for years, and he loves how it feels. It's all, like, tattered and kind of... It's coming up. So mousepad lays flat. Normally, it's coming up at the sides. He players in it. Now, I look at Mattys as a player. We've in Fnatic, yeah, he's done okay, but Fnatic haven't done anything. He's been on Fnatic for quite some time now, since 2003. He went from Slack inside Sampy into Fnatic and he has good individual skill. He has good ratings. I'm not going to knock him as a player. He's 23. He's not like some super new young talent coming up. I'm not saying 23 is not young, but you're comparing it to the 16, 17, 18 year olds we keep talking about. Yeah, I can see this as being a good move for G2, but like. There's Malbs, and then the rest of the, like, we don't have any more of G2 having this star power name. Oh, I mean. And are they going to go, is this turning into like a Na'Vi star way? Is this maybe what Soar's said that he wanted to see? Maybe Soar was a big voice in getting Matties?

Devilwalk: Yeah, it could be. I'm sure that, you know, he's gotten what he thinks fit his team and can make them better. So I have no doubt that, you know, the scout is not just a random player they picked up and so has to work with. I think he's deeply involved in that kind of discussion. But, I don't know, like it's hard to kind of judge someone's performance, especially when... First of all, Fnatic haven't really been relevant enough to the point where you're watching all their games and seeing the performances. So, I've seen a couple of games of him, but I haven't seen anything recent because there's been so much Counter-Strike. We've been watching all the big tournaments that, you know, the first thing when the big tournaments ends is not me picking up, you know, one of the random online cups and putting it on. So in that sense, it's been, it's hard. But it's also like, when you're in that sort of team that just can't find a consistent way of winning, and grinding their way up to this point, it's hard to judge a player as well, he could be trapped in, you know, saying Fnatic is a dysfunctional team, but in a dysfunctional place where, you know, he might be standing out, he's playing hard roles, and you're playing hard roles in a team where it's not really working, it can be detrimental to the stats, so to say.

Banks: Yeah. And at least on his own, he's he's held it. And I will say that fanatic needed money from what we last heard, right, was they were struggling with the what they were doing with players, they were buying some players out from passion, which actually some of them weren't cheap. Their biggest buy ever was Jambo at 600k. That was the rumor. But just now finally get to recoup some of that money. Yeah, it is crazy, right? fanatic is such a big org. God knows, they probably spent millions in a terrible game like League of Legends. But they're for a team that was at the top of CS since the 1.6 days from when you were on it has fallen so far that it's managed so badly. And every time I love Khan, by the way, I've known Khan since maybe 2007 when I first met him. And I know you got a lot of time and love for him. But there are some significant flaws in everything we've heard and seen from how they run the Counter-Strike division. And it's not a top tier fighting team for a long time. And it's just been a constant down downhill spiral. I'll just, it's rough for them. They are building a full Ukrainian team right now though, so maybe I'll start donning a Fnatic jersey, you know, that could be the next thing. But I'll wait to see what happens with Fnatic. I want to say a little bit more on Snax, because Snax got the most, I think, unfair hated treatment as an IGL. And yet, people go, oh, he had these games where he was negative KD, like, what? When my tweet, my tweet, like, there was people saying Smacks has zero events of positive KD for his time in G2. Do you think this is acceptable nowadays? Now, he still lifted two trophies. Remember, this is the time he had Nico, Manasi, Malves on the team. I'm not looking for him to go positive in every game. Obviously, it's very nice if your IGL is playing well. But if I compare the stats, there's a guy who compared his stats. This is what I do love, by the way. Some Twitter fans actually are legit in how they go into all of this, right? So they were saying about other players who had like specific ratings and stuff as well. And there you go snacks even with standings made 55% win rate on T side. Now he at times wasn't the most capable player. He can definitely be a good leader. But when you lose Nico and Manasi, what do you expect them to do? He still bought two trophies to G2. And now you're going to give it to Hunter who had said to me before and has said publicly that he didn't want to be IGL. Now he's taking it on. Now it's his time in his eyes. And I respect him for going at it and trying. But I'm not blaming all of the bad things that happened in G2 on Snax. Like, I think he had to deal with so much crap, so much bad team management. And he's just being gone now because obviously Snax, Taz has gone as well. So the kind of duo. Is removed from it, but I'm not going to, I'm not, I'm not going to look back at this and go, Snax was like the worst IGL G2 I've ever had. And this is a terrible move. Like, yeah, I do think it would have been better if they just kept Hooksy. But Hooksy needed a break. Well, let's just say the G-

Devilwalk: Two fan base should definitely treat the ring game leaders a little bit better. Let's just point that out. Let's see what they do. This ain't the first time we go through this. But in general, I think there are things where you consider, like, let's remove all the chaos behind the scenes and stuff like that. I still think having Nico Monnessy and Malbs in the same team. I'm not sure those... Was it two trophies?

Banks: Yep.

Devilwalk: Two trophies, just for me, isn't enough for it to be like a good kind of face for G2. But if you and I think most people judge him and the performance without looking at the kind of back stuff, the chaos surrounding players wanting to leave or will leave or look at this.

Banks: If you're the in-game leader, you're trying to build for the future, and Nico literally was going to leave the Falcons, then G2 pay him some more money so he stays, right? They agree this whatever. And then he still goes to Falcons afterwards. The uncertainty and the shit you have to deal with as a leader, as the rest of the team and the mental struggles, that's something I'm going to factor into why he wasn't able to do so well. I'm not scapegoating him with this and saying like, you're not, but he's not like the reason they were losing these events.

Devilwalk: No, but I also think, like, I think people don't really understand the amount of work it takes to replace a piece like Niko. It's not only like, you know, you go through things and things are working, especially like city side and stuff like that, where Niko was calling. If he didn't have a call himself, Niko could cover him and make sure there was a call that made sense. So all of these aspects when you're like building a team and coaching a team is something you get used to, and then when it's not there, you have to replace it and give people separate things out of this package that you lost and give people more responsibilities and different responsibilities to each person. And that's not always going to work. Some of the things you give to people, okay, they start to work fine. Okay, this is good. But it's like you're trying to make the best out of a bad deal in every single department and eventually it's just, it's way too many percentages you're going to drop down. And trying to figure that out while changing your tactic books where some of the things, you know, you just can't put that player into Niko's position in this tactic because you're not going to get the same result or you're not going to understand the situations in the same way. So you kind of have to like almost scrap your entire playbook. Make things that are new, that aren't even as good. But you have to kind of like, you know, you have this duct tape and you're just trying to piece everything together. Like, oh, my God, this is about to break, you know, and some more. While a season is going on, it's incredibly tough and going through all the new stuff, because essentially, if you change like two players, you can start over. And you start building, if you change one player, then one player, then one player, all you're doing is okay, we're going to keep the old stuff and just put him in there, you know? Yeah. And just take this into it. But it takes time for that person to come to the point where you guys were, right? So let's say it takes like two weeks. If two weeks in your break time, like even people now are going into a tournament, they have two weeks to practice. That's when they're adding new stuff with a new roster, right? Continuously. But if your two weeks is just, okay, let's get you up to par where we were. You're already like two weeks behind everyone else in terms of strategy, everything. So you're like, like way in the bottom of where you should be. You're going to practice against people. People have already seen all your stuff, all of that stuff. So it's, it's really hard to play catch up in Counter Strike while the season is going because you can't magically, you know, here, you have two weeks, you can't take more weeks, everyone is taking as much time as they can to do the best they can. So eventually just going to burn yourself out trying to catch up other teams. It's also a bad situation just becomes this spiral of really bad things. So there are things when you look at snacks, it wasn't terrible if you consider all these things and what they had to deal with, but it's still not a great part of the G2 era.

Banks: Definitely not. And John, one thing I just want to say about Matty's before we come away from this is that, um, so a lot of these roster moves were leaked because the, um, Cologne player lists, the roster, I am clone roster announcement came out. Yeah. Uh, on the 11th of July. And obviously Fanatic had already announced he's gone, but like G2 still haven't announced him. They're still trying to cook the fucking video up or whatever else and trying to make it happen. So, yeah, there's a lot of these ones which come out before maybe they should. of. But that's just part of it. Next, we can look at spirit because we already spoke about magics would be potentially going from the team. That's who I had heard loads of people trying to tell me chopper and other stuff, but I had a magic will go. They signs way we spoke about that, you know, we spoke about the rumor of it. So we have kind of covered a lot of this. But I do think that I'm still going to stand on this that Zwei mentally will be a great fit for the team. Emotionally, it's going to change a lot because of the happiness and the type of person that Magix brings. And I think that's going to be something that's going to take longer than what spirit might want or accept. So maybe in game things click pretty good. But in these harder moments, these darker moments, you know, where you need someone like Magix who's a very positive character. It's going to take some time now. And I'm interested to see what Zwei can do. This is a big opportunity for I think individually, he's ready. And he should fit very nicely into this system. Like, I honestly feel like the one the one thing

Devilwalk: The one thing that is like, how are they going to sort this out? Because I think Sway and Sontix and Magix, they kind of shared spots in a different way. So there's gonna have to be some kind of shift for Sontix and Sway, either one of them, to like, one of them needs to be more on the aggressive side than they have in the past. And it's not sure who it's gonna be, but probably Sontix, they probably want to give the new guy kind of like, okay, this, if this is something you're comfortable with, you know, do that. And Sontix can maybe even even wants to be a little bit more aggressive than he's been in the past. So it's gonna be interesting to see how they make that fit with him. But yeah, he definitely looks like really sharp. He's kind of a creative anchor in some way. Seems to always get those multi-kills, great on the CT side. So yeah, it's going to be interesting to see, but yeah, Spirit needs someone that has a consistent performance alongside Shiro and Dong. And if Sway can do the numbers that he did in Amiga, then they probably have that. They probably have that little bit extra edge to challenge for another spot in the world ranking, at least.

Banks: Yeah. Uh, another interesting one here. Go on to heroic next. So Toby's is going to be the new coach of the team. He comes from ours, NXT. So he's worked with a lot of young players. He's going to have a hard job in his hand because obviously the previous coach was sore and we know how sore can be, but Toby's now has a point to prove himself on a, a big team with some pretty good players. And I think this makes it very interesting for him. They're already in action. Um, at this Fissure playground. They lost a big 2-1 on just yesterday. Today they're playing up against Betboom. Um, but they bring in, they actually become, Heroic's a Swedish team now, Neville. Nilo, Youngster and L&Z, with then two Belorussians alongside it. But Nilo came back. We spoke about this for a long time, about what was going on, when we're going to see him back. But will it happen? Video, by the way, Heroic, you're still killing it in that sense. Um, with the whole him building himself. Yeah. This is brilliant, but I just hope now he's back and ready to play and he can flourish because we were all told so many great things about this young player and his individual skill and what he could be. Um, can he, can he get to work now? Can he be used in the right way? I think it'll take some time, but this is probably a good warmup event for him. Is it a move you get excited about? Do you, are you happy that you see the heroic are moving in a more Swedish way?

Devilwalk: I mean, yes, of course. I would be lying if I said I didn't. But I also think what brings it more exciting is Nylo has been hyped up for a long time and just when he made that step to the upper tier, he kind of, yeah, he just disappeared. So it's kind of a delayed hype in some way. It's weird. But, you know, he's someone that's been highlighted by I think the Vice even in the top 20 list of someone who could make it in the next year's top 20. Didn't really get that chance for that year. But he's been hyped up by quite a lot of players, big game players, you know. So I have high hopes for him. He's like one of these players that still make me see. Maybe there's a future for Swedish Counter-Strike. Maybe he's one of those guys, probably alongside the Melo9. So yeah, I have, I'm hyped to see him. I want to see more of him on a kind of see how he how he does on the on the top echelons of Counter-Strike.

Banks: So I like the move. I think it's a great move. Not too much more need to be said on them. We're going to come to FURIA next because we already spoke how much we love this Molador and Yakinder move to FURIA. Even though at the time when it was first announced it was a bit of a wild one. It was a bit crazy. I'll say this, Yakinder baited the fuck out of me, man. He tweeted big changes are coming. Just want to thank FURIA for believing in me and giving me a chance to grow. So grateful for the past ready for the next chapter. And then FURIA released the fucking post all in Portuguese. Yeah, and it was in black and white. So I thought like this is going to be the end then after you have to watch it and translate it and he's staying and like cool. Everyone's happy for that. We don't need to waste too much time on it. But I mean that was an actual very well done bait. I even dm'd your kinder and he even blanked me until after the announcement came out. So I couldn't get any extra insight.

Devilwalk: No, but it's a great move. I think everyone in the whole communities were shocked with how good FURIA became with Molodya and Jikinder joining. So I think it's just exciting to get them kind of have a few weeks of practice in the off-season to kind of get on par instead of doing it mid-season. So yeah, great for Jikinder, great for FURIA. I think it's great for Counter-Strike. It's a good move, makes more competitive teams. In the top. So yeah, exciting to see them.

Banks: I'm linking you this as well because I don't know if you saw it yet, but, um, this is, this is amazing. You see this pin? They released a pin. His face pushed up against a monitor. You just see his hair and his head in a monitor with your kid. Oh my God. That's actually great. Like just embracing the meme straight away. For teams, any of you guys doing stuff like this, I'll actually buy it. I'll take that. That's, that's epic.

Devilwalk: Great one.

Banks: That's such a good thing, man. Give me that all day long. Every interview or content piece I'll do if you can, I'm just going to bring that pin with me, just to make him laugh and smile at the beginning of it. I just get my hands on it, man. We're going to, I'm going to quickly dust over some of the other ones going on in the Brazilian scene. So imperial decency goes to the bench. They signed Cello, who was obviously inferior before. I thought decency is not bad. I see this is kind of like a just a lateral move. And then they get SHR from saw. So they bring in Portuguese player, obviously speaks the same language. But for Imperial, I just feel like this is an attempt to do something different and mix something up. Not too wild about that in any ways. Am I?

Devilwalk: It's still like, I think it's still an upgrade to some degree for Imperial. They needed a switch. They were kind of stuck. And maybe, you know, Cello can bring some new ideas, even though it didn't really work out in Furia. Maybe this is like the type of team that's where he can shine and doesn't have as much pressure on him. To some degree, or to some extent, like compared to Furia. So hopefully he has a little bit of a resurgence and we can get the Imperial a little bit higher in the rankings. I still see this move as positive.

Banks: In the events they've played locally to done, um, with this lineup, the, um, SHR and Cello played, they came first in this funder pick event South America series, and they came first to fourth, which I guess just qualifying in Cirque, Uito, Fergie, the esports. So it's not bad, but after their major performance, especially with the fact they lost the legacy, they probably thought, yeah, we needed to, but I was not going to say decency was a terrible player, maybe it's something else in the like, that just didn't work out for him. MIBR, obviously, Lucauzi went to Fluxo, he actually benched himself, he was just unhappy in the way he was being used. He'd made that very clear. They were never finding the way he he was never using the same way he was on his past teams. So he's going to Fluxo. And they signed Nyx. Nyx, by the way, I got no info and I don't know this guy at all. I'm gonna have to just even HLT them up right now. So Nyx came from Fluxo. So there's like a trade basically by the looks of it and how they want to do it. Playing a lot of South American events. He's in Fissure right now. They got beaten quite heavily by Astralis yesterday. We'll have to watch and see what he can do to develop himself. Then nothing, nothing else too interesting on there. So let's go from there to Europe and let's start with the big one. FaZe Clan. Oh my. Now, I've got two ways of approaching this. I want to ask you. Simple was the Hail Mary, right? Super excited. By the way, have you even seen FaZe's YouTube channel? They're doing tons of content still pumped out. They did with Simple, so they're getting their money's worth for how this all worked out, how this all came together. By the way, Na'Vi may not have sold Simple, but they definitely made bank from him while he was being loaned out to Falcons and now to FaZe and just playing around enjoying himself. But Brokey comes back to the team. So we're back to where we were before. The only thing I'm looking at with this devil walk is that maybe Brokey needed a break and they just haven't said this. And maybe they also want to just kick him a little bit and say, yo, snap out of it, get into it. Let's see the god tier Brokey back to this. Could this be a positive? Because I'm not sure now I'm sound the fence like I personally don't see much of an excitement for them coming into Cologne.

Devilwalk: I don't think there's like that much excitement, but there's definitely, you know, a point with what you're saying, like having a couple of extra months to kind of figure yourself out, reset yourself mentally, and come back into because I mean, if you look at it, it's like, summer break, they have like two weeks off. That's it. And then they just go on the grind again, having like, one, two, maybe even three months break. For Broki is definitely going to help. Okay.

Banks: He last played in May 4th. So yeah, a few months break.

Devilwalk:

Banks:

Devilwalk: Yeah.

Banks: It's a few months break.

Devilwalk: And as you say, like, okay, it's my last chance. I have to shape up now or, you know, I already know what's going to happen. I think having that kind of fire burn in your bum to some extent can be really helpful.

Banks: Why have you said that? Why have you said that? Why have you said that? Why have you said that? Why have you said that?

Devilwalk: Swedish, I think.

Banks: Thank you.

Devilwalk:

Banks:

Devilwalk: We say fire, fire in the back.

Banks: Yeah, we say fire up your ass, not fire burning your bum sounds like it sounds a lot worse.

Devilwalk: Just like you start moving ahead more fast. Either way, I think that can, you know, reignite something. But at the same time, it doesn't really look like face only needs that. I think hopefully they gain some energy from playing with simple and like new ways to approach things or change things up because I think judging face project with simple was still a success considering the time they had to do things. They didn't have much time and they did have a resurgence. I felt like they were better than they were with Broki. So hopefully some of that stays with the rest of the teams and bringing him in with a little bit more rest can do something. But it's not like you can get super excited. This is something if the individuals have taken the responsibilities to get there, it can happen. But there's nothing really saying it will.

Banks: Yeah. Yeah. I believe so much in what Karrigan do. I think frozen is playing very well. It did seem like a leaf was playing better. Rain, obviously, I wouldn't I don't want to see rain go anywhere. But that's just a bit of bias because of his longevity in the team, the type of person he is just, he is like, such a good teammate and such a good person. But I also wonder he's just waiting for his 10 years of phase. And then he goes, you know, get that legendary 10 years and one team will go anywhere been the pillar of the team in every way, no matter what changes. So yeah, it's I'm waiting to see now I think what could happen because they can't have another season like they did last time. And I don't want to listen to the same excuses from Kerrigan if they do, you know, I even think if it gets bad that I need to see like a a mid season change before the major if it still doesn't improve enough. I will say that.

Devilwalk: OK, but that is still like the wrong wrong way to do things. In that case, I agree.

Banks: If it's, yeah, yeah, but if it's, say it comes back and they've bought this belief that it's going to work out, but it doesn't, would you say a team like FaZe would say, fuck it, we're going to go again, but make the change you're going to stick to, not like a Hail Mary, make like, it's gone bad, we did bad at Cologne, we did bad at the next PGL or the next blast, blah, blah, blah. And then I mean, I think. I'm going to.

Devilwalk: They continue like they did, like, let's say they have in the first two months, say by, what is it, October or something, or September, by September, if things aren't good by then. And we've seen like them actually competing and consistently getting into playoff spots and like making things close. I say, you know, screw it.

Banks: Oh, yeah, I'm with you on that. All right, from here, we can look at a bit of og. Because og, I wouldn't say has been the most exciting team, but we've seen some glimpses of positivity coming out from them. The major right was good in the first stage, absolutely dominant, right? They only lost to bait. Um, then they did very badly in stage two, you know, losing to VP the way they did losing to M 80 and they're losing to Falcons, maybe competitive against Falcons, but it's not something we should like actually pushing around talking. So Buzz goes, obviously was known for his time on the straws before that, and they bring Adam Behan from Metasport. Firepower wise, this will be an upgrade. you .

Devilwalk: I think so too. I think a lot of people probably judge Adam and met the sports performances, but like they were so incredibly bad that no good player complained that team and like post good numbers. I feel like like at the end when they came to the major and like a month before they looked like pretty terrible. To be honest, so I think it's not you shouldn't judge him as a player based on on those two months. So I think it's it's an upgrade. I think he's he's always been kind of like up and coming good and and stable in in the Swedish scene. So, you know, hopefully he can he can kind of get going in an OG which I was very impressed with, even though they kind of crashed out in the end. They did a really good major and I think, you know, they have something to build on for sure.

Banks: Another one we can look at actually. This is, I would say, it's a team we're following. It's more interesting because of how it happened. So Nip and Ents swap. Yeah. So basically, Nip, Bench, Aradossa. Obviously, he was very good when it came to that saw lineup. Things obviously were not working out for what they wanted from Nip with them. But they get ex-Caspa who G2 was supposedly wanting before Matty's. Yep. So that's a change up like Nip were able to, we obviously don't know the ins and outs. But if Nip were able to get a player more in a better way than what G2 has, that's crazy. He is on loan. So it's a trial run. And then ends to promote their academy player to fill the main squad for now. So I guess it's a testing ground for both NiP and for XKapurski as well. But he was like, wasn't he the MVP for that at least the Masters one?

Devilwalk: Oh, maybe. But I mean, in general, it's a good move. I think, like, it didn't really work out for, like, this Portuguese side of NIP that well, or not as much as it did in like, Saw, you know, they were really, really both, like good players, but one of them had to go. And there's also was the one that he was away for a bit, right? Yeah, well, like didn't play with the main lineup in the beginning or something like that.

Banks: Okay, so I'll tell a lie. There was no MVP for this event. I just remember him doing well. Okay.

Devilwalk:

Banks:

Devilwalk: But either way, this was. This is a good move from NIP. I think they've actually just started to get going. I think they are further ahead if you look at these like teams that are in the top 30 ish. NIP is probably one of the better ones in that category where they can actually fight against top teams to get a map or, or make it close. And so making this change. It's great timing for them to kind of grind up the VRS points and actually probably become a little bit more relevant in the tier one scene by the end of the year.

Banks: Finally get into a good event, right? Because obviously they got the PGL event, but they're going to clone is going to be huge. So, yeah, now we get to really test them against some good and capable teams and they've been working so hard for this. So it looks like NIP.

Devilwalk: He is making the right moves.

Banks: Yes, slowly but surely they're doing it, even though people shit on them because of the org name and what they've done in the past. It's actually, it's actually pretty legit. Next one, we like Game of Legion, we've got a lot of love for Game of Legion. Slend, who obviously couldn't make the major because of visa problems, had not been performing as well, despite at times being like, for me, Slend had moments of greatness and then a lot of down as well. They bring in Kersey, 23 year old French guy who's only played on French teams previously. I will say this, Ash and his analyst make some of the best decisions on these young players coming up. I see this as a win move, like because of where Slend was, I don't know what Slend's actual rating was over the time. Yeah, he had really good rating in game religion. Slend was 0.86 last three months.

Devilwalk: But he didn't even play last like three months.

Banks: We played a star in Melbourne in the qualifiers. Okay. Call for us, yeah.

Devilwalk: But like overall in this entire team period, 1.06.

Banks: Let's just look at 2025, for example. 2025, he was 0.99 all of this year.

Devilwalk: That's not good for an author.

Banks: Yeah, that's not good for Orpa. Now, for Kurzy, this is a great opportunity for him to come in super young and motivated as well. You know, he's gonna have that hunger behind him. Probably sad for Slending considering the Budapest majors coming up, but Ash ain't looking to waste any time with players that can't perform, especially considering how their situation is, you know, they're having to play Fissure now to get enough VRS points and put themselves in a better position. They kept getting screwed by that. But I'm still a big fan and believer of what Game of Legion can do. And if this guy can add just a little bit extra they need, they were already close to challenging very good teams.

Devilwalk:

Banks: I'm getting wins over some of them as well. So I see this is quite a huge win.

Devilwalk: I think it's a it's a great win. I don't know much about him. But it's kind of like a blind trust to what Ash is coming up with at this point. Any analytical, he gets a lot of credit. So I think I looked him up a little bit and he seemed to be like, very, very capable offer. And, you know, been grinding it out for a few years and a few few teams. So it's probably a lot of good things to come. So, yeah, I think, you know, Gamer Legion, they got to that point where they were once again, in some way, the surprise of the season. But at the end, they've been consistently going like, especially in the Swiss stages, 0-3. And there's something that they definitely need to kind of fix, need to be better in these stages, comparably to the best of threes and the double elimination ones. So yeah, I think hopefully they can kind of get that resurgence, which they had in the beginning of the year where they were in big events, consistently play off. I think they were ranked like 9th, 10th or something like that one point. Maybe they're in similar position now. I don't actually know. Let me check.

Banks: They've dropped down quite a bit.

Devilwalk: So like 11th and 14th.

Banks: Steam VRS.

Devilwalk: Eleven.

Banks: Eleven VRS, OK.

Devilwalk: So they're still in a really good position where they can, you know, they're like 20 points from G2, 40 points from FURIA, even 50, 60 points from NAVI. So it's not like they're that far away from getting into this like, spots where they get direct invites. So, yeah, they they can do well in one or two events.

Banks: That'll be all.

Devilwalk: There.

Banks: Now, next, I want to just go on to Paravision quickly, because it's quite an interesting one. So Kickout gets benched. Obviously, Jame and Kickout were together back on the avant garde days, you know, the time they won the major together on VP. And then it gets benched. He's benched again here on Paravision. But they sign a W from Amkau. And Jame now is going to be IGL returns to IGL duty. So he wasn't IGLing before. So Jame, IGL, I guess he's still AWPing, right? IGL AWP mode. See what weapons he's using. Yeah, so IGL AWP mode back. Yeah.

Devilwalk: I had a fan writing me on Twitter like a long dm. Oh, he's a Swedish guy who loves Jame and wanted us to get him as a guest on the podcast. Oh, bro. It's like the biggest Jame fanboy I guess to some degree.

Banks: Last guy, but I will try. I promise you I will try. I got all I can say.

Devilwalk: But essentially, this is like, yeah, finally, why the hell did you even leave being in-game leader with your, like, incredibly annoying style of playing Counter-Strike? Yes. He didn't like...

Banks: Keep going into CS2.

Devilwalk: Yeah. It's not as easy to play his style in CS2 is probably near the break. But I think it's like, he had the mind for it. So it was kind of weird to see him not do it. And it obviously haven't really worked out to the extent where you know, he's had young talents and been like, top five. Yeah, even, you know, in the very, very top of of CS with this like young Russian squads. Yeah. And now he, I don't even know if I've seen a game from him this entire year. So it's nice to see him back. I think everyone wants a little bit of jametime back.

Banks: Who doesn't in some way? I'll say this, it's quite interesting that obviously pyro match or whoever they are sponsor Amkal and pyro vision is obviously the pyro match team. So I guess there wasn't even a transfer in this deal. Like this was just an easy decision, easy win to make. Probably one of those kind of moves as well. So just makes sense from everyone's side of things. I was surprised Amkal still had a team to be fair, because that was kind of up in the air. But yeah, just it's one to keep an eye off. And my hot take is that Jamie at some point, we'll find a way to bypass with whatever team of players he has to bypass Virtus Pro in some way. Actually, we need to talk about Virtus Pro because we were there when we heard the perfecto announcement. Yeah, remember, we recorded extra recorded extra parts of the episode. But we never spoke about this. So we can actually talk about the fact that perfecto has played. So perfecto has now played a game, they lost to Tyloo had a standard. Just to be clear, Tyloo didn't have G, they had their coach playing zoking, and they still lost to zero. They lost let's go. So they lost 39 on Inferno and then lost 1614 on Anubis. I'm not going to blame perfecto for this, by the way, I'm just going to come back to I've made a tweet. Where is it? I made a tweet not long ago, about how people by the way hated on me for this like I just hate vertical because they're Russian. That's not true. Actually, I like some of the players on vertical. I have a good relationship with these guys. Where is this? How do I search my own tweet? Search? I need to search the word lamas. I'm not Twitter.

Devilwalk: But, yeah, it's not a great sign to lose against someone who uses their coach, even though the coach put on some decent numbers. It's actually not even the worst performer in his team.

Banks:

Devilwalk:

Banks: That's kind of crazy, huh? He was back seating the whole time. He's telling everyone what to do.

Devilwalk: Yes, it is. But I think, I don't know, it's, I think it's the only thing I can say about Virtus.pro is like, oh, nice, I say had a really good consistent performance. He seems to be on the up from where he was some time ago, where he was almost consistently like one of the worst performers in VP and now he seems to be getting up there and consistently being the best. So I think that's a good thing. But otherwise, I don't really know where to put this move and if it's that exciting.

Banks: Perfect. I had a year off, which we don't like anyway, right? Years, a lot of time off. He said he was ready for it. Yes, he's reunited with electronic. But I got hated on by Russian or VP fans because I said dumbass move from VP back when they benched Norbert and then they signed flammus. And I said, I'm fine with this flammus move as long as they use him in the right way. Give him a chance to shine, like Ash did how game religion used him. And guess what they didn't, they forced him into anchor roles. They forced him to be nothing like he was. And the poor kid was just going every interview, trying his best discount to be like, Yeah, I'm doing what the team needs. And no one helped him. So whoever, because from what I heard, I've asked electronic on live interviews, like, what is going on? Can you talk about it? He's like, it's not just me, it's like the team that makes this decision. So the organization is the management, right? They are making dumb moves, because there was even that rumor, obviously, it came from overdrive. But that finger was flit or fame wanting to leave the team, you know, and perfector comes back, he's a major winner, he's got so much skill, he's one of the best anchors we had. In the game, but he's had all this time off. I'm not expecting to hit the ground running, but I still think there's a lot of floor problems with this and electronic still the IGL as well for all of this at the same time. He obviously seemingly wants to continue with this but I don't see positive moves coming out from VP. I don't see positive moves about, wow, this is a VP to get excited about still, I'm just not, I don't see it at all.

Devilwalk: No, I'm not like, I think it depends on how you view it. I think it's not like VP is going to drop down that much on like the rankings or anything, they'll probably stay around the same, but it doesn't really feel like an improvement. It's kind of like, are we back to, I mean, in context of this Tyloo game even, are we back to like consistently getting disappointed by them in a way? Because you kind of want to see this VP at least be up there in the top six, seven slots in the world and not be hovering around like top 15. Yeah. So I think it's from that context of will they reach that with this lineup change? And I don't see that. I see this as being something that may be within a four month period. So they could maybe flinch a spot or two, but I don't see them skyrocketing.

Banks: Yeah.

Devilwalk:

Banks: Yeah. From here, I want to look at just a couple more teams to go through. Aurora, it's not on our list of work. So I'm just going to read it out to you. Because it's not a player change. Now, we have Aurora. Obviously, when they were eternal fire, they didn't have the money, they didn't have the back end, they didn't have the support. This was just five players and the coach doing the best they can. They're very capable manager as well, trying to make this team have success. And they rose up the rankings, they prove themselves that they can be one of the teams at the very top. making consistent playoffs. But I saw this news, and I honestly just felt happy for them. Today, we welcome two new pieces of our team. Ga Gandhi, the analyst and Snagito, the performance coach. These are two roles they've needed and not had. This takes a lot of pressure off the team from the analyst side, a lot of pressure from Madja and from Faba, if they can create some good synergy and work together here. I don't know anything about these two people. But then just having a performance coach and having analysts for this team is just a huge buff. This is only positive.

Devilwalk: Yeah, I mean, you can, if we look at Aurora, you know, they consistently come to playoffs, but they consistently break down in playoff games. Some of the most important things for a performance coach is trying to get them into that headspace. Okay, what changes when they go into a stage? What is the mentality? Do you get nervous? And to be able to deal with that, and maybe we'll find some solutions for that so they can still performs, even if it's a crowd or is a high pressure game. I think that's what they're lacking. And maybe we'll be able to see them, you know, even lift a couple of more trophies by the end of the year because they're going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Banks: Well, the first trophy. First trophy.

Devilwalk: Even against like, you know, vitalities or whoever you want to put them against, they make it close and they consistently make it. It's a dangerous team to play against. Especially, well, the one nerf they have gotten, we haven't gotten to that is the Anubis being removed from the map, which is detrimental to them. Thank you for watching

Banks: Yeah, yeah. We'll come to that a little bit later on.

Devilwalk: Yeah. Well, yeah, we'll come to that. But it's still, it's a perfect change for them. As you say, I think it's great. It matches up with what they're having difficulties in, you know.

Banks: And just because you're here and because it's eyeball as an alliance, a bit of a Swedish shuffle going on, just give me your thoughts on that because I'm well out.

Devilwalk: There's a lot of like kind of switching between teams like so the big ones are obviously Eyeballers, Alliance, Metisports and Johnny Speeds in Sweden and they've all made kind of a shuffle I think Johnny Speeds announced as we are recording this just like a minute ago I can see it 37 minutes ago they're picking up a Swedish player called Mainz. He's a stand-in at this point, 16 years old and looks a bit like a brawler. Yeah, he does.

Banks: New year old, no name, his Twitter says.

Devilwalk: But he's kind of like, you know, he's been playing with this kind of, there's like the elite series in Swedish Counter Strike, where, you know, he's been doing good in that he's kind of played from my understanding in a team that kind of just our friends and play for fun. So he's making a little bit extra step up in that the thing is he obviously wants to complete school and stuff like that as far as I've been told. So yeah, so he's kind of like in that semi all in position. He can't do it like mega full time.

Banks: And so who, who have these teams has a chance to make, who's met his port before? Like we looked last year when they had ZTR. Yeah, so excited about minus. Yes.

Devilwalk: And no, that's Alliance, sorry. They got PoI. But Metisports, they had HAMPUS and they had ADAMB, right? And they got Male09 and Jakinyu. So...

Banks: I bought.

Devilwalk:

Banks:

Devilwalk: Who do you think you're kinder with now? Give me it.

Banks: Who's the most exciting one now if you're looking at this full Swedish team, excluding this new heroic who's not full Swedish? Who has the chance?

Devilwalk: So for me, I'm going to pick Metisports because yeah, because Male09, I think he, he has like incredible potential. So I think they will will rise a little bit in rankings and hopefully he can be able to shine in that team and do good. And hopefully we can get a little bit of resurgence from people like Isaac, Klopsky. So I'd probably put it on them, even though. Yeah, it's mostly the front runners. I'll say it mainly because my alumni.

Banks: All right, let's look at some of the rest of the world as well. We've got a few more to go through here. Quickly, we'll do FlyQuest because this is just an instant upgrade. It was rumored that JKS would be joining FlyQuest. Lias is the one that will depart. Lias has been, wow, Lias must have been with the team for a long time. Yeah. Lias. Lias. Lias. Lias.

Devilwalk: But he always was so hyped up as like one of the best prodigies coming out of Australia. And honestly, I don't know, I'm not sure he ever delivered on that. There was moments and that was about it. There was moments and that was about it. But I think this is a great move for FlyQuest to get some of that experience in. And JKS, no matter where he's been, has been able to perform.

Banks: I just need to see from JKS now. People say he's too quiet or whatever. I don't care about that. I just need to see him go a bit more aussie, a bit more aggressive, not in the game, but out of the game at his teammates. Yeah. Give everything because even like Netik and Regali are the more fresher players to like the Counter-Strike scene. Then Vex types himself hasn't had that much experience in obviously the most experience alongside JKS. But JKS's experience is like huge in comparison to the rest of them, yeah? He needs to be, when they're making mistakes, say in a nice way, but be on their ass telling him like, do this, we need to make this better. I want to see him push.

Devilwalk:

Banks: Who's his last name? Yeah, B Savage. Exactly. The whole way. I want to I want to see like a new style JKS, even if this is behind closed doors. I don't need to see on the server, stay the same JKS on the server, but. Push these guys to break barriers and to break where they've been, because they've always been just on the edge of having these chances, right? And I think it was super disappointing for them to lose to Namiga and Tyler at stage one. Like that, that's that probably crushed them.

Devilwalk: Yeah.

Banks: Who are you going to understand I'm losing against?

Devilwalk: I mean, if you put it into like perspective, JKS is probably the greatest Australian player of all time. Yep. Him joining a team with Australians, I think that's a huge boost like for everyone in that team, you know. I think the hope and like where they want to reach just goes like way higher just by his presence alone. So I think at least in the short term that is going to be completely automatic. I think there's a completely different set of expectations on the team with him joining. So I assume that will be the case.

Banks: I'm excited for it. This is just a move that is going to be positive. There's obviously going to need to be some positional changes within the team. It's not going to be an easy fit in. But I just think that this can work so well in many ways. Like, I'm just I'm happy to see it. It's good for the scene. We touched already on the wildcard one last time around. We didn't agree with like Fosy and Stanislaw being the ones that would go. I think that's awesome.

Devilwalk: Honestly, I think it's a terrible move. I'll tell you why. I think Wildcard did something amazing to create that team and basically qualify for the major like as soon as they could. With a squad that's still so recently put together is a massive achievement for a North American team. Massive achievement. And I think going from that step to this, and then it feels like almost a panic thing where like, okay, we need to start making changes to the next step and the next step. And it's too early. I think it's way too early to be started thinking in these kind of terms for a team like wildcard. So a little bit disappointed that it feels like a little bit of a panic move.

Banks: Yeah, personally. Yeah. I don't agree with it at all. M 80. They signed hexed to replace rec. They actually also I think they just did it right. They qualified for ESL Pro League. Am I right? Yeah, MIT secure ESL Pro League spot. This is a great run from them from from MIT. That honestly was probably the most boring team to look at even at the major just was lackluster and disappointing to then come through the North American qualifier. I know it's not the toughest qualifier out there, but they they still won with a new player change in there. So look how well hex played during that. So he went this is just a quick rating check 1.15 rating across that. He should farm in these events, but I think this is a positive move. That's a step up for them. I think.

Devilwalk: Something needed to happen. I think for me, they were almost a certain, you know, zero free. That didn't happen, but...

Banks: Yep. They got away with that for me.

Devilwalk: I was surprised they got a win. And that's not where you want to be as a team. So something needs to change and they've made at least one of them. So hopefully that's going to be a resurgence for the team.

Banks: Complexity really quick, because they're adding Miffar as a temporary coach, as far as we know, and what the understanding for the outside world is that Complexity don't have a lot of money as an organization to put into the CS team, right, especially with the state of North American Counter-Strike. So obviously, Miffar didn't have a role after leaving Liquid, being able to be a temporary stand-in is going to be positive for both sides. Maybe it can be something that comes to a head in the end. They needed a coach, they didn't have anyone, but their manager the whole time. They were, they were lacking everything. Yeah. So I think, yeah, that's good for them. Yeah, we don't need to go too much on that. The big one here though, is Liquid. I have a lot to say on this because they've taken the old Navi analyst Flashy. Now, Apex spoke about it on the podcast. He was right. Flashy is the type of person who always wanted to be a head coach. I'll tell you now, this guy is ready. This coach, he as an analyst, he was amazing for Navi. What he does, his work rate, the time he puts in, I'm sure by the way, this all these analysts put so much time in. But it's the way he was working, working smart as well as hard. The details, he was able to bring out the time and the way he could help individual players. He was able to work with Blade in a very difficult system, which is unlike anything else other teams have. Flashy knows good counter strike. The crazy thing is, so I'm just gonna, so for Flashy, he went from, look at this, he was coaching FlyQuest Red, the female team, then into Liquid now. And before that, he was analyst for Na'Vi. But these are big jump ups. And that that's proven to his work. And I said when this came out, this is a bigger loss for Na'Vi than it is a gain for Liquid because Liquid then Joker Steve came out and said, Liquid aren't making any more changes, which means NAF staying. I'm sorry, that's a terrible I don't know what the hell's going on, but it's awful. Like so you're going to tell me they're going to play out the rest of the season with NAF, NERTS, TWIST, Zhuhai and Ultima. And guess what they played in the ESL Pro League qualifier, they now need to play Europe, Europe closed qualifier, they lost to Sashi 2-1 in the opening game. Now I'm not saying...

Devilwalk: Good.

Banks: I'm not saying Flashy had time to change anything or work on anything like that. But you come straight off your break into losing that and then you're going to clone stage one. I don't care if NAF individually might have performed well or something. It's for me a change needed to happen within Liquid and just adding a coach isn't it.

Devilwalk: It just feels like it's not really only NAF, it's like the team doesn't really look that exciting. Maybe it would look, it looked way more exciting like a year ago if this was going to be a team.

Banks: You mean before shoe hay, right?

Devilwalk: Yeah, but like if this was a team a year ago, I think it would have been really exciting to watch and I'm starting to lose a little bit on them because they haven't really showed anything to be honest.

Banks: I have a better understanding of what is going on because I believe their performance coach, Edwin, he's also left. So they don't keep him anymore. And everyone I spoke to, like, I'm talking personally to the players, not just like talking on an interview where they probably always have to say, yeah, he's great. I haven't heard negative stuff about him.

Devilwalk: Yeah.

Banks: Like he's one of the performance coaches that are doing good work, not just yapping and taking a lot of credit for things. So they obviously believe in this, but I'm not sure if all players believe in this personally. And there's going to have to be a lot of changes, a lot of work to be done. They're going to, they need to prove us wrong. They need to prove. They seem to be.

Devilwalk: We're in a similar boat where face is where everyone needs to step up a little bit. It's not just one player. I think there's multiple players that needs to do a few percentages better for them to start kicking it's gear. Yeah, it is what it is. I still think, yes, you know, I'm a naff believer. I'm a naffer. You are.

Banks: You are an effort.

Devilwalk: So, uh, yeah, I, I hope they can kind of get the resurgence. Maybe this was way too early, you know, a couple of days cracks and straight into official, but Thank you very much

Banks: You're finding a way into positive thinking on this.

Devilwalk: Yeah, and maybe, you know, Flashy kind of joining in gives them that kind of way. Okay, we've had this loss. What didn't work? What went wrong? How can we fix it? And because even, you know, you can look at Vitality, the first tournament that they played with the bounty on LAN didn't go that well. New addition. Takes some time to sell things in, but hopefully they did the same as Vitality and just sit in the back room and make sure that everyone watches and everyone is in tuned and hyped to make this a good thing.

Banks: I'll make a judgment after Cologne, I think. He might even be too soon, but just because you didn't change players, you only changed coach. Yeah, I think that's fair.

Devilwalk: I think that's fair.

Banks: We'll come on to it. The last thing in Rostermania. It's one final goodbye to our boys. Bad News Eagles is done. It says here on the post, a chapter closes after many unforgettable years together. This time has come for our team to part ways. From the very beginning, we set out with a dream to compete at the highest level to push our limits and to leave a mark on the Counter-Strike scene. They 100% did that and you were a big part of that as well, my friend DW. Together, we qualified for three majors broke barriers and made history in the Albanian Counter-Strike community. We're incredibly proud of everything we've achieved, not just the victories, but the friendships that grind and the memories that will stay of us forever. I have so many good memories from this as well. I was just a manager. These past few months were tough, but we couldn't find us improving as a team. None of this would have been possible without the incredible support from our fans, friends and the CS community, not only in Albania, but around the world and trust me, they have fans from around the world. Your belief in us, your cheers, your messages, they've meant everything. Though the team is disbanding the spirit and legacy and the passion for the game live on, this is not goodbye. It's simply the end of one chapter and the beginning of many new ones. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our last answer will take place at ISF. They went to ISF. It was in Kosovo. It was a great crowd there. A great little mini arena, I would call it. Sadly, they did only come fifth to eighth. They had a great chance to beat Lithuania or at least get themselves another map. They went to overtime on Ancient. We eventually won the event. Yeah, Lithuania went on to win the event, but they beat Czech Republic, they beat Denmark. They had Krabini from Na'vi Jr. Not, not Rigan because of the nationality thing, has to be all from Kosovo. But I will just say there is so many memories I have. I've never been a manager, never wanted to be a manager. I just wanted to help the guys and some things I definitely fucking failed at miserably as a manager, but I did some very good things. Found in Devilwalk, helped them get through some very tough events, mentally supporting them on the whole run we had. It was back at the Antwerp major, for example, when I was working and then coming to the practice room every single day because they just didn't have anything. Right. And that was the story of the team when you were there. No money, no support, no nothing. And it was just I think everyone was tired, even by the time they did get signed to Guild. You know, it already got, I mean, it already had got too I'll be all right.

Devilwalk: To be honest, they were really, really tired when I joined. Like, incredibly tired. And, I mean, everything from, so you have to understand, like some of these players, they had like blackouts where, you know, they would just like literally, you know, pass out from stress and exhaustion during, you know, both before me coming and after. Where, you know, it's one thing playing and trying to keep up on the on the very top of the world, but it's another thing doing that and planning trips, going to like planning boot camps, practice, everything. You know, we were, you know, everything from I remember us going to Melbourne playing that tournament on the flight to Sweden, I was planning a boot camp at the Godson office to, you know, booking flights, like everything, hotels paying out of our own pockets. It's expensive living in hotels for a long period of time. So I what they've done is unbelievable. And I have so many good memories and I'll cherish the friendship and the bond I've created with them forever.

Banks: Some of the nicest people as well. Like as someone when I crazy, but.

Devilwalk: They're incredibly nice.

Banks: Very crazy, very fun. But like, I remember when I spoke with Rig on and I sat down and I said like, you have nothing. He's like, no, it's just us five players. And at the time it was stickler coaching. And I was like, Okay, you sound like you get screwed in your foot. Like they were about to sign a contract there. Someone was trying to screw him over. I told him don't sign a contract no matter what. And I remember I think it's a Rio major. Stunner I don't know why just for he was trying to throw some jabs my way and was like, so what does banks do for you if you guys are still having to like book stuff and things yourself, like, I was the one invoicing everything. I was on having every meeting and conversation with organization. I was looking over contracts, by the way, I have someone look over my own contracts. Yeah, I don't look over my own contracts. I have an agent for that. But these guys had nothing. So we between us, we all took responsibilities to do a bit of everything. And remember, because the players are paying it all for themselves. Like, you could find hotels for someone, but someone started to go through and book it all and put the money in and split that between the five of them. It was a group effort from everyone involved. And it was good for us to get an organization at the end. But I also feel like the organization didn't understand you guys as players or what we wanted. And then when I was out of it, because obviously, I wasn't gonna stay on and be manager. I want to be a talent, right? It was getting you guys the org. They didn't really have managers that were capable of looking after the guys and you guys in the right way. And in kind of effort became it just got undone, then it was a bit sad. But I think they left they left a mark on Counter-Strike history and what they achieved as the group of players and people they were from a country that's heavily underrepresented, but loves Counter-Strike and is very skilled. you

Devilwalk: Yeah, I mean, it's one of these things we talk about Navi and how long, you know, they stuck together and they have some internal issues. It doesn't mean they, you know, it's exhausting. It doesn't even matter if it's your best friend or not. It's exhausting spending that much time together, constantly being, you know, with each other and the pressure. It's hard to put pressure on friends in the same way as a colleague. So there's a lot of different things, but they've they've, they've left a mark. They're an incredible bunch. I know they love each other. And, you know, I love them. They are incredible. I'm just thankful. I was part of the journey to be honest. And yeah, follow him in this. Thank you. Thank you.

Banks: It was so funny when I came to you. We were working at Lisa Masters. And I'm south side. I spoke to you and I was like, would you be up for coaching the team that can't speak even Swedish? They just can't even speak English fully. And it'll be a test. But I said they need something better. We need an improvement on it. And they really wanted you. And I said, you're my friend. And we had the conversation then what over a weekend decision was made.

Devilwalk: Yeah, and we went out parking the same night.

Banks: Yeah. And we go cooking. Yeah.

Devilwalk: I think honestly, for the Paris Major, I think we were playing really, really well just before that. And it was sad we didn't get the trophy in Malta, where we came second because of our Niniad teams. But I still like incredible memories for them. They deserve the best and I'm sure everything will work out fine for everyone.

Banks: Oh, good times. Very good times. We now need to do our cologne preview. And look at that as well. There's some other things in here like, as you maybe we'll just touch on this quickly star ladder Budapest Lang group stage replaced with online qualifier there to avoid clashes or regional calls and land group stages are replaced with a single closed EU online qualifier. And it's not great. It's not great at all. Now. It's not for the it's not for the major, which is positive, right? Yeah, that's what this effect in the major thing. But it is something that affects the VRS rankings, because they're not land matches now. And I'm going to just we're going to bring up Messiosos tweet because Messioso by the way, not only is he a manager of complexity, but he's so knowledgeable on all the VRS stuff. And he may talk a lot of negative about VRS, but he just wants it better for the whole scene. It's not just for himself. And he says, needless to say, this is a fucking joke, because they don't want to compete for teams with fissure event on the same date. By the way, we're not obviously covering fissure because we had holiday time. And also, it's not got so many great teams there. Normally, we cover as many events as possible. But like, this, this doesn't meet minimum requirements for it. I'll just say this. I know, with the fissure events that I'd heard, some organizations are pushing that people don't attend the fissure events. I think people can work out why. And fissure is going to find themselves, I guess, in a similar situation, but probably worse than what PGL does. The only teams that will attend these events are teams who desperately want to make some extra VRS points on it. But so like, because they don't want to compete for teams with fissure event on the same day, that's kind of crazy on its own, because different tos they're in competition. So why would you move that? So now 12 ish teams lose out on a full line event, especially teams from non easy regions, tears and our event announced events a year in advance teams plan around x amount of events to cancel or greatly modify the event formats to the detriment of teams expecting to be able to play them or gain a certain amount of value from them. This one being extremely egregious as two events at the same time means the invite depth was pretty extensive. Counter Strike, how can you allow this? How is this still a tier one event? All these changes, they've clearly missed the additional info deadline for a tier one event with many core changes to the event two months out. And I agree. As much as I love Star Ladder and all the things they did moving me here to Ukraine. This isn't it. I don't know if it's a Valve thing. I don't know if it's a Star Ladder thing. I don't know why this is happening. But it is a crazy decision to happen so soon. When teams are already making out their whole plans for the rest of the season what they want to do. Yeah, it's not great at all.

Devilwalk: No, it's not. I mean, I understand them because it's like, it's so like you're going to decline other invites because you're focusing on this and then things get fucked up for them, where they probably could have attended some instead of this. And yeah, it's it's a mess. And you Thank you for watching

Banks:

Devilwalk:

Banks:

Devilwalk:

Banks: Maybe a shape.

Devilwalk: Right now.

Banks: Do you know, remember I mentioned this guy before, udknund. I don't know, where's he from? We follow each other. I want to look where he's from with that kind of name. Denmark, Denmark. This guy, by the way, Jesper, I don't know if you listen to the podcast, buddy. But you're so smart. He says, how does tier one LAN events compare in terms of factors that impact the VRS race to star LAN a Major? So Fissure, VRS impacted for Major invite 85% from pure VRS impact at tournaments. This format is very good with 27 matches for 16 teams. All matches have maximum event weight. But the problem here, right, is that even though they have maximum event weight, it's the teams, the level of teams there, which obviously has a much lower level. Yeah, it drops drops down a bit. A top two finish here is probably major secured for any team in the tournament only downside is that by October 6 VRS rating from the event will have decayed about 66%. But especially for the ranking gained in bounty collected an opponent network that is made up more for the event weighted by of a one compared to land wins one on a low event. So he's about 85% impact cologne has 95% because cologne will distribute many points to many teams even if a stage one is lowest event way, it is still land wins for 12 out of 16 teams and those advantage for many will gain many points. Main stage and playoffs are of huge, of course, huge points with max event weight and many land wins for many teams. Only slight negative is the VRS ranking will have about, will decay to about 75% by October. Blast Bounty, remember we spoke about this going online, he says the impact on VRS is only 20%. So I don't, one thing I look at, right, this is what's kind of crazy and sad because it's online.

Devilwalk: I want to add a mathematician. Mathematician.

Banks: Yeah, or just hire this guy, but everyone just uses this guy. I like the word.

Devilwalk: Mathamagician. Mathamagician.

Banks: We'll start using that. So he says with stage one of last bounty being online and no prize pool, it is bad for VRS points as it gets. Still, it is worth the chance for the lower ranked teams due to the what if scenario. They also won't lose the amount of points if beaten by a high ranked team. The odds of advancing to LAN are pretty low for those teams, top seeded teams will have a bad risk rewards scenario for VRS game, but they can afford to lose some VRS points, which most likely will since they gain very little from winning against lower event, lower ranked teams and lose up to 30 points from being upset. They can only lose one game, though, and financial incentives are probably more important for those teams. Last bounty is worse for the teams in the middle seeding, which actually need their various points to qualify for the major, they can easily lose points here. In fact, they most likely will, unless they make an eternal firewall bet boom result from last bounty, obviously, where they made playoffs. Only then you will come out of this with any meaningful VRS points, only four teams will even win a land match enough said. So that's obviously hugely bad, right? Now, the crazy thing is, and this is what we really have to speak about where I talk about fissure fissure to the most impactful event for major qualification due to the format and schedule. It has best best format offering at least three max event weights land games per team in the Swiss best of three stage. That's like three lottery tickets for the low rank teams here. Remember the max event weight is only ever a positive thing you don't risk more in maximum event weight, but you have a chance of gaining a lot if you manage to win. If you win a lot, we need to get this guy on the show to explain some of this. I'm gonna have to DM. The joke is a lot of information. Yes, the joker here is that fissure two conflicts with star series Budapest, which opens up many perspectives. But it'd be worth it for low rank teams officials to decline fissure and go for star series, usually getting better odds of going deep. I pick fissure to any day, though, from a pure VRS perspective, especially if some top teams will also consider star series over fissure too. But that's what I was saying. I heard from the very top organizations that they're pushing to people don't attend fissure to they did this with PGL. Remember some of these other orgs. So if lots of top two teams decline fissure to continue to do like they don't want to go there, that obviously has an impact. Because even if he's getting a lot of impact in the VRS points they gain, if you don't have top teams there, there's less points to get at the same time. So we're in a wild, like this whole thing is a wild, wild, wild West, man. Yeah. And obviously with Star Series going online as well, I need to talk about this as well. We'll talk about it when we get to clone at the same time, is that we are still in this moment that I think Chaz spoke about it on HLTV confirmed as well, that it will correct itself, but tournament organizers across the board, except for PGL, because PGL is a family run company, right? Everyone from blast to ESL to fissure, they're all taking budget cuts in some aspects. So they're all like lowering down spending. Yeah. Which means teams get hit talent gets hit people like we're in this point just because of the time of the world and economy. I believe it will always correct itself because counterstruck has always bounced back. But I think hopefully by 2026 2027 we'll see back to land of games in the right place. But I know we spent a lot of time this I've been reading out so much information, right? But I do think it's it's it's unacceptable what we're seeing here. Like, if it was supposed to be on land, they should have kept it on land. Changing it like now is where teams already made their decisions declined other events. So they're going to this

Devilwalk: They shouldn't be able to just change it like this because they're obviously like gaining some kind of status by announcing it one year ahead. This is what's going to happen. And then to come like a month or so like one month or two before, say like, it's a completely different event now. It's kind of messed up.

Banks: Yeah. I'm not, I'm not a fan of it. Um, I'd love to know the reasoning for it. Maybe we'll find out later on as well. I personally don't know, but, um, that'll bring us on to just before we talk about clone, the most recent update Dev walk. Yes. And it's a big update. I gave it a lot of thumbs up, right? So I put it into these categories. I'm going to not talk about a map just yet, but MP9 gets nerfed again. I gave three out of five thumbs up for that because I think this is going to be greatly positive.

Devilwalk: So I saw like some actual stats on it on Reddit beforehand, and it was like, pretty much jumping accuracy in Earth to being one of the worst SMGs in terms of jumping accuracy, which was obviously a huge problem. I think everyone is just kind of had a jumping SMG clear corner, where you're sitting and just get completely. I was the one doing that. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a big one. I also think the economy one is a big one, where CTs receive a $50 team award for each team terrorist eliminated in the round.

Banks: So let me stop you there, because I said economy changes one thumbs up because I need to see how it plays out. But you've got some numbers on there.

Devilwalk: I think it is huge. I think it will. So like, obviously, first gun round, second gun round is some of the most important rounds in Counter-Strike. So I tried to just make some quick calculations, just like 10 minutes before we started. So I'll give a few examples. So you kind of get, maybe we'll put this on the screen, actually, for people so it doesn't confuse them when we're reading this up. But essentially, I'll paint you a scenario. Like, you are CT side, you lose pistol, you kill four terrorists, right? Then you go a full eco, kill four terrorists. Your average money then would be another $480 per teammates, right? Okay. So it's almost 2.5k extra. Almost. 2.4, maybe. Something along those lines. So, if you would, the same scenario would be 4700 on third round, pre-update. Now, a little bit more of a, like, scenario which we see in pro games. People will kill four people on, like, a full eco. It happens, but it's not very likely. So let's say you would do the pistol lost, you kill four, you force buy, like, for 2k, kill four people, but lose the round. Maybe a third round eco, you would have $6,520 for that round. So there's, like, because you have both the increase in, uh, in, uh, you know, the round loss bonus, but then you have the extra of these accumulated rounds of 4k.

Banks: For me to understand would be, for the example you gave, you play pistol round. Yeah. And there's only one T surviving, but you lose the round. You get 240.

Devilwalk: $40 by average for each player for no wait 200 200 200 and for the kills you get 240 and for the so previously would get 240 and now you get 440 extra money for the kills.

Banks: How positive do you see this? Obviously we've not played it, but it's happened just last night.

Devilwalk: In rounds where you have like 4.3 or 4.5k and you're forced to a buy round. Imagine every single player on your team being able to afford a Molotov on city side. So that's the change, essentially. It's a little bit less than that, but that's the change. So instead of just having a smoke and full armor and an M4, you could add double flash or a Molotov or maybe HE flash. So having that extra pair of nades is actually a huge deal on some maps, especially like infernos and well, essentially every map, but you see where I'm going with it. And the longer has about running across the river. I don't know how loud that is for you guys, but yeah, sorry about that.

Banks: No.

Devilwalk: But essentially you'll get a lot for each round it's like imagine like $200 extra per round is still could be massive so I think it's a good change because it'll make this like awkward buys where like oh we have to buy and then we have 4.3 someone has 3.9 you will at least get some utility added to it so over the course of a game it's not going to be like you're able to afford an extra couple of orbs or anything like that but it's going to be these first couple of rounds if you actually make it close you're actually rewarded with a few extra nades on on your first and second gun rounds

Banks: That's big. That's really big. And then on top of that, the incision grenade is also going to have its fire spread more rapidly. Yeah, so

Devilwalk: For this one, I'm assuming it's only the CT one.

Banks: Yeah, only, because otherwise it would say model tough.

Devilwalk: Yeah. So I think that's great. I think sometimes you just throw the model and you see a terrorist just run straight past it and you do nothing. I don't. So look at this.

Banks:

Devilwalk:

Banks: If I see a T molly go down, I'm not running for it. It's too much. I'm taking too much damage, but when the CTs do it, I disrespect that like a motherfucker.

Devilwalk:

Banks: I think.

Devilwalk:

Banks: That's so hard.

Devilwalk: Well, sometimes I feel like CTs have to throw it so early that there's essentially no dangers just because you want it to spread. That's especially true on like Inferno Banana. I feel like you just throw it.

Banks: You know, like when you go to jump into cave, you say, if you don't have the first spawn, you're not passing it. And then they barrage you with a grenade on top of it. Overwards. I've died so many times that I'm like, Oh my God.

Devilwalk: I think it's a big change and I think it's a good change for CTs because team meta is like it's way overpowered at the moment. Or like at least where we want it to be. Nothing is overpowered in a game that's balanced in this way. But I feel like essentially I want to have people have great CT sites. And I don't want that to be like an oh my god moment. They could post five rounds on, on service.

Banks: Well, you're talking about great CT size. Well, the most T sided map in a new bus has gone. Yeah. Overpass is back the map that you have a famous moment on well your team has a favorite moment on for the boosting time. Maybe they'll break something in it, but I'm very happy overpass is back having it swapped over for a new business. Great. And guess what? It has been confirmed by both ESL and blast that cologne will use overpass because remember, it's VRS it's the competitive pool. It's following what valve one. So teams what a base came back to practice two days ago. Now they can be practicing overpass by looks of it. I don't know how long ago was.

Devilwalk: Passover pass in.

Banks: Oh, when did overpass get removed? Let's have a look.

Devilwalk: Because I feel like a lot of the zoomers didn't play that much Overpass. This is going to be a boomer map for sure.

Banks: That's good for us. So after over a year away, it was over a year away.

Devilwalk: Okay. But it was away one more time before that as well.

Banks: Anubis was introduced November 2022. Comes over pass. So yeah, exciting to see them.

Devilwalk: Either way, I feel like it's one of those things where a lot of new players, they love Anubis. They think it's like, I've seen a lot of comments, it's my favorite map, like why are they removing it? And I actually didn't think it was that terrible of a map, even though I personally hated playing it. I didn't think it was a terrible map. But Overpass has always been one of my favorite maps, especially to call, as you can play it in so many different ways. At least in CS go, that might be completely different in in CS two in that aspect, but I always liked it. I think you can play fast, you can be slow, you can play map control, you can play execute based. It's a tough map to play map control. That's a very fun one. I think cities have a lot of options. So I think there's like on both sides, you can have both dominant city size and dominant T sides. I like the map overall. And it's gonna be fun to see it back in the game.

Banks: Now, the only thing I'll say, Valve, thank you, because you're much better at announcing maps changing over. Yeah, I liked when the timing of was train. But if we ended the major and you said a new business gone, that would be way better. That would have been the win. So if you want to do this again, valve, please, from all of us, all players, all talent, everyone involved in the game, it would be better if at the end of the major, you said cool. That's the last time you see in these maps. This maps going this maps coming in.

Devilwalk: Imagine this. Imagine Vitality is lifting the trophy and everyone's sharing. And before everyone leaves, there's like a ceremony at the very end where you see like a fucking, imagine like opening a box and you like a CSGO box and it's just different maps to be added. And it just lands on Overpass and you see, okay, minus Anubis plus Overpass for the next season. Let's go, you know, more people be in the arena sharing on, you know, the win. More people will be coming back to play as well.

Banks: Hello.

Devilwalk: There'll be.

Banks: Yeah. That as well. Okay.

Devilwalk: And then having a little bit of a ceremony at the end of a major, I think that would be so incredibly sick.

Banks: Well, we're going to make a clip of this. We're going to ship this and I want to send it to Valve and DM it on Twitter and send that through. But yeah, that would be the way we would perfect this. All the skin dudes would love unboxing the new map. Yep, they'd just be happy, wouldn't they? No problem at all there. All right, well, we've got the updates coming in. We've gone through Roster Bay now. I hope everyone is enjoying the episode so far. Let's get on to our Cologne preview. So I am Cologne, obviously, one of the biggest events of the year, one of the most legendary and legacy we know it's going to be the first major of 2026 as well after the Budapest one. That's what it will be back again. So this is the last normal clone for the moment. 1.25 million dollar prize pool in there. $400,000 for the first place team $60,000 club share a club share I kind of like to see this is this is what I'm happy with when you look at it like that. We start with stage 116 teams, then eight of those teams will advance into the main clone the main event, right? This is basically like a, they used to call it the plans now it's called stage one, whatever, they're mixing it up. I'll say this as well because I got asked a lot on stream, I won't be a clone this year. I wasn't invited to come. I spoke about the eSports lack of money and stuff. I was told by ASL that like there's gonna be less talent at clone this year than what we had for previous clones. It's all due to budget things. So I would love to be there. It's it honestly sucks, especially where Katowice, colognes, the majors are the biggest events, the ones you dream of working as a talent, but hopefully be back for the major one. Hopefully they just need some time to save some money. But I'm interested to see where else they're going to save money on the broadcast at the same time. But this is just part of business. You can't be angry at it. At least they were honest and told told me about it. So no clone this time, I might try and make an appearance. I might try and come for playoffs or something. I'll see. But you know, it does mean I'm going on holiday with my son. I'm leaving tomorrow. Go to Turkey, I'll be not even watching. I won't watch. I probably won't watch any of stage one, I'll be honest, I might just see some highlights from it. And then I'll watch a bit after that. So I'm going to hold them when I can. That's gonna be fun. Let's look at the teams that are here. First of all, what's crazy is FaZe being the highest ranked team to not make it through on that first stage FaZe are going to be in stage one. So I guess it's quite good warm up for Brokey on paper.

Devilwalk: It could be a blessing for them if they do well.

Banks: Well, of course.

Devilwalk:

Banks: Could be.

Devilwalk: I could also be detrimental for them if they actually drop out in stage one.

Banks: Yeah. There's also that to it as well. Um, who else is here? We got Furia, Pain, Astralis, Astralis with Hooksy. I'm liking this. VP, Gamer Legion, 3D Max, Liquid. We said this is the event. We're going to give them as their chance to prove us, you know. Uh, Swedish Heroic now. MIBR, Bait, the Ukrainian team. I need to check this actually. Let me look at MPL's event history. Did he ever do a clone? Oh, he never did clone. So when he was on main Nava, he never did clone. So this is going to be his first cologne. And he's gonna be leading the team. Tyloo is going to be there with G. Shout out G one time. Complexity, big NIP. And last place is FlyQuest. Obviously, if you get invited to cologne, you're not saying no, that's just the fact cologne is is an event everyone wants to attend. Everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to just be involved in it. It's one of the best arenas we have. So this is this is crazy. Let's go through some of our thoughts. We talked about FaZe already. We talked about FURIA. Pain after that major run. I'm expecting good things. I'm putting them as a team I'm expecting to see go through to the next stage.

Devilwalk: I think so, too. I think, do you want to run through the actual team list fully and then go through the opening game? So do you want to go talk?

Banks: We'll do this first stage and we'll just talk. Oh yeah, you want to do our predictions you mean?

Devilwalk: Yeah, and we can talk about the teams like as we play the games.

Banks: All right. Well, let's do the first one then. So our first predictions here for the All About Counter-Strike podcast. We're back on Eventgrind. It's FaZe versus Big will be the first matchup. Big, obviously, we spoke about FaZe, right? So we can just touch on Big. Does that make sense? Yes. Yes, it does.

Devilwalk: Yep.

Banks: Big. Ultimately, didn't look like they were in a good position last year. Missed the major as well. It's been sad, sad times for these guys. But I will say that they've had a lot more time to grind. They played almost with the full team in the ISF event and they're currently playing Fissure. They beat Heroic 2-1. This is a team where on the right moment, they can have a chance of making it through to the next stage, but I'm not going to be super positive about them being able to do it. They changed coach as well. Yeah, Scrunk, we spoke about that a few episodes back. Yeah, so it's the same players. QB, Hyped, Crimbo, Tabs and JDC. Can they win up against a phase which isn't on its strongest form?

Devilwalk: I think there's there's a possibility of that, but I would still not really like I think they can make it close because like this is a phase there's a little bit of unknowns. I think they had a little bit of a resurgence, but new season coming in big probably. I mean, if I were big, I would probably take a few days extra. Into the probably had vacation during the major instead of. Doing it in the sense of. A normal tier one team holiday. So they probably have a few more extra reps in them. Going into this game. So that's where I could see them actually upsetting. This is like the perfect time in. In a world of being in that tier two, tier three sense where you plan. Okay. We got this spot. We're going to do our best. We're going to practice early. We tried to get, you know, one step ahead of these top teams, which could eventually, you know, launch into a great position throughout the year. So this is a very, very big game for big, like really important. I didn't even mean to do that. You fell for the trap. Yeah, that's fine. It's a really important game for them. Like for the rest of their season. I think if they do good here in Cologne, it's also, you know, a German event. They want to do good in that. There's a lot of things that's pointing towards them being very motivated going into this. But I'll still say FaZe will win, but we'll probably make it close.

Banks: But you see what was interesting here is that if they were not at fissure, I would say big would be a team that comes in very well prepared for overpass, but they're already at fissure and it's going to be very hard to do all of that and get ready. So they might not even be able to surprise FaZe there because FaZe will keep their perma banners train and run it that way. I'm still predicting FaZe to win this one. Um, even if Brokey's not at his full strength or playing his best, um, that's the team I believe in. I think they're the ones who should be able to win it. We've got liquid taking on pain as the second game. I spoke about liquid already. So we'd have to go into more detail on it. Um, this is the, this is where they need to prove themselves to the world of what's going on with this team pain for me, have them beat the major, what we've seen from pain developing as a team and getting more experience, um, even winning a game on stage as well. Obviously it was against Furia, but it was a crazy one. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm sold on the pain lineup as being a one that's going to actually continue to improve.

Devilwalk: Yeah, I think they're in a great spot. I think they have more time to kind of fix those language issues to some extent to make sure everyone's comfortable and before the major didn't have that much time with the full lineup. So I'm expecting a little bit of improvement from from pain even going into this. And yeah, I, I see them winning straight up as well.

Banks:

Devilwalk:

Banks: Next game would be 3D Max taking on MIBR. Whoo! Oof! Oh, this is fun.

Devilwalk:

Banks: This, oh, this, this becomes, this becomes harder for me because I don't put 3D Max in the greatest place, but I still think the individuals can be capable. 3D Max haven't made any changes coming into this season. MIBR have made some changes, but we don't know enough about Nyx. And I think B.R. Edison isn't like, he isn't a solid player. I see way too many mistakes from him. I feel like this could be a three map, a bit of a coin flip mode, but I'm still going to give the edge to 3D Max just from the experience of this team. And they're more improving than what we've seen from MIBR in any recent time.

Devilwalk: Okay, now I'm just following your line 3D Max, so I'll have to take the next game, because otherwise I'm looking like some kind of fraud over here. Just following your...

Banks: Fraud coach confirmed.

Devilwalk:

Banks:

Devilwalk: No, I agree with that. I think 3D Max in a much more stable place, MIBR, I think Lekowski was a really good player for them, even though, especially at the major, he had some moments where it was really important. And I think it's tough to incorporate a new guy in important positions to do that well. They lost their opening game to Astralis as well, in Fissure, I think. And they got pretty much demolished, if I remember correctly. But I'll give the edge to 3D Max as well. I think it's one of those games where that's where 3D Max actually pick up their points, pick up their wins. It's against teams like this. So I see 3D Max actually winning this game. But going into the next one. NiP versus Heroic. This one is super interesting to me. I think Heroic with Nylaw, Teener and like the Swedish core. NiP kind of making the debut with xCuperski. With no Swedes. No Swedish. I have to actually give NiP the edge on this one. I actually think they are going to win this. I think it's going to be a close game. But for me, I feel like NiP is better than their ranking suggests. And they're much closer to each other's world ranking than 26th and 18th. So I don't think heroic actually has like that much of an edge. I think it's very, very close, but this additional firepower and performance, if expert expert. I can't even say his name, but that guy, if that guy has has, you know, the amount of. Numbers that he's been posting previously, and he can convert some of that. NIP is actually looking like a really dangerous squad and yeah, I see them winning it.

Banks: So I'm on the same lines as you. So I'm just going to copy you. I think Nip will win against heroic, but my reasons a little bit different. I think heroic you're going to be now trailing downwards while Nips going upwards. So you said right like Nips closer to heroic swing, but I think we're going to fall quite a bit before they grow again because of losing Saw and for now implementing Nilo. I think what this team has to do also and Griggs as well, but Nilo has been out in the game for a time. Griggs has at least warmed up into it. I just think the change for heroic is going to take some more time to see any results. It might not even come back, but I have to wait and see. But NIP for now, like they've got this perfect balance of young talent, your wrinkle, ex-Kapurski, Udryx, and then Snappy and Shush with the experience. Even Udryx has good experience as well by this point. So, yeah, I'm on the NIP train to win that. Then we got Gamer Legion taking on Complexity. Oh, I'm going to give the edge to Gamer Legion. I'll say Gamer Legion as well.

Devilwalk: Okay. It's not the Swiss stage. That's my reasoning.

Banks: I was going to say that, but yeah, the Swiss stages, you keep saying they don't do good. So here they're going to have six.

Devilwalk: I promised I'll follow this line with Game Legion. I don't know what episode it was, but a couple I have-

Banks: Yeah, yeah.

Devilwalk: Maybe, because we won the trophy

Banks: So I'll miss last PGL event, or maybe the may even a major. But yeah, I, I would just say for gamer Legion is right now complexity. They had that one event that looked better. Obviously, they didn't have halls playing for them at the major, which obviously a huge loss. I'm not even taking their major results into like that big of a fashion. But I could be wrong depending on how well we see them play across the rest of fissure. Both of these teams are at fissure. So maybe they match up against each other there. But we haven't we haven't seen that. I'll just right now believe in game legion ash mentality and the way forward on it. Yeah. All right. Tyloo versus VP.

Devilwalk: This one is tough. This one is incredibly tough. But like, I actually I have a little bit I'm actually picking Tyloo. I think VP they have the moments where they can be an incredibly good team. But there's, it's far too up and down for me to feel like, okay, they're going to be there this time and feel secure in that position. So I think a lot of it is in VP's hands. But I'm not sure I will be able to see that VP who can be dominant and push forward. And I feel like I lose on the up. They were incredibly like nice and fun to see at the major. So I'm forward to seeing them while I'm looking at VP and I'm like, eh. So yeah, I'm picking Tyloo. I still think it's going to be a close game and I don't think Tyloo is going to destroy VP or anything. But I think if there's any upset, so to speak, I think Tyloo wants to do it.

Banks: Okay, well, I'm gonna agree with you on Tyloo. Tyloo already beat VP when they didn't know their full team. G will be there by then. And I love G. G loves ice cream. G loves Counter Strike and G loves all of us. So yeah, VP could maybe improve a bit during this fissure moment. Maybe that loss they had to Tyloo was just because of the first game. But I just think Tyloo is a better, more together team on the same page, fighting the same way. I believe in them. Yep. Now the next one could be hard, though, because we're agreeing we should have the whole way. Astralis taking on bait.

Devilwalk: Do you want to like say your prediction on one? You want me to go first? Oh, okay. Okay.

Banks: One, two, three, base. Astralis. That's good. Very easily apart. That's fine. Yeah, go on then. Astralis, obviously mega looking better with Hooksy. I'm not doubting that. Okay, here we go.

Devilwalk: Yeah, but I think just Huxi coming in, they look like a team that, you know, is on the way back to the top again. Okay. I think they showed an incredible event at Astana and that was just like a quick stand in from Huxi. Didn't have much time to change things, had to change things at the event and on the spot, essentially. I think them having a little bit more time. They had an earlier break than some of the other teams like the major. So I think they've been able to kind of watch the major, have a little bit of a vacation and reinvigorate themselves and come back and do the hard work with, you know, full of ideas. So I actually think Astralis could be a really good team going into this half of the season. And half of the year because, yeah, I really rate Hooksy as an in-game leader. You could see how much impact he had joining them. So giving them, you know, a few extra weeks probably in practice. I don't, it's just guesstimations. I have no idea. But my guess is at least that they came back a little bit earlier to prepare and revamp their style into a style that suits Hooksy and the players and that they get a bigger understanding of what he's doing. So I think Astralis might be a force to be reckoned with.

Banks: Yeah, so I agree with what you're saying about Australia's. I feel like what this comes down to in the matchup is going to be more on the support. State is not an easy opponent. I'll tell you that like they're really, really good. And your stairs and your yabi, depending on how well they do in that game will make the difference. But I feel like bait as a full unit in a team of belief and knowing how they want to play each other. They will have a shotless beat for the moment. But I do believe this is shots will go higher than any shots we've seen in like the past year, two years, maybe. But that's what I do believe for the long term. I just think bait at the moment like this will be a two one matchup. They have the opportunity if all their players are on. And it's going to come down to like the little differences, you're staring yabi can make versus your essentially our Lincoln's or for example, you know what what performance they have, that will be the difference maker here. And then there's one more game. fly quest his first game with JKS going up against furious, which have looked also dominant or do it on three again. Yep. 123. Yeah. Yeah, I think that was an obvious one, because even with JKS, he's not a one man army. He's not some simple as I were mad man. It's going to take time and furious keep on improving. I'm expecting to do very well, maybe even be the eventual winners or in the grand final of fissure. It may have not started off the way they wanted to, but they won the second game. I think they absolutely dominated in it. So what happened? They lost the sword to zero and then beat wildcard to zero. So they're not perfect, that's for sure. But they should be able to beat a team like FlyQuest.

Devilwalk: Yeah, I think there's nothing really pointing to FlyQuest being able to beat Furia. I think yes, JK is coming in, but it's early days for them. They still need some time to kind of figure things out. I think they're a much better team FlyQuest and they're not like a team that you just roll over in any sense. But I think Furia show that they are incredibly strong, even patching this lineup up in a short amount of time, giving them some more time. I can't see any reason why they would not improve or why they would even get worse when they get more time. So for me, it's it's an easy choice, Furia, and they looked incredible. They're exciting to watch. I think we haven't even seen half of what they're capable of. So I think for that reason, Furia is in the top of, you know, they're in that space of tier one CS while thigh quest, they try to break into that tier.

Banks: Yeah. Yep. All right. What we can do here, though, is we look at the main event where you got Vitality, G2, Falcons, Mongols, Maus, Na'Vi, Aurora and Spirit waiting for the other teams to qualify. Now, we won't do an episode between stage one and the main stage. We will do our episode before playoffs because there's only a one day break, which means filming, editing, getting out in time isn't possible for us to be that quick. Like, it doesn't make sense. We've done that. We tried to do it before. It's just It's not a good way to do it. What we will do though, Devvok, is we will try and make a prediction on who will think will go through to playoffs. Not who will win, just who will go to playoffs. In stage one still. No, we're doing the whole thing going into playoffs. So six teams only will make it there. I'll give you my six. Vitality, Maus, Mongols, Falcons. Now it gets harder.

Devilwalk: But now you're only picking from the ones already qualified from the...

Banks: That doesn't mean, this doesn't mean it's not possible. You can pick from the stage one teams if you want, some teams from stage one. Do you think any of them are capable of doing it?

Devilwalk: I think Furio is capable of doing it. Good. I think Astralis is capable.

Banks: All right. I haven't finished yet. I've got two more spots. So my next one was going to be Astralis. Did I say Spirit? Now I've lost count. You made me lose count. Vitality, Mouth, Bongos, Falcons, Astralis and Na'Vi. That's the six I think will make it through two playoffs.

Devilwalk: Okay, I'll do Vitality, Mongols. I'll do Spirit. I'll do Mouse. And then I will wait. Vitality, Falcons, Mongols. Spirit, Mouse. And I'll take... You didn't say Falcons? I did say Falcons. Vitality, Falcons, Mongols. Yup. Mouse, Spirit. Okay, one more. One more. And I'll pick Furia, but I think Astralis have a chance. You don't think Navi? you

Banks: Oh, wow. I don't mean G2 or Aurora or Spirit will make it through.

Devilwalk: That's my six. I think it's too early to tell, but G2, I mean, Aurora, obviously, playoff merchants in that sense, like we get the playoff. Group stage merchants, maybe you would say. But yeah, I feel like some teams are going to have a break, some teams are going to be a little bit more, you know, pumped up to get there. I think there's going to be more upsets than what we're looking at on paper right now, because it always doesn't matter what your counter-strike. Tier one teams, they have always for the first event, a shorter amount of time of practice compared to people are chasing them trying to catch up into tier one. There's always between these breaks, doesn't matter what your counter-strike, if it's a, you know, July match, it's going to be more random than a October one.

Banks: Yeah. All right. Well, let's see what happens. We'll come back to this and look over we went through it all. We have one Q&A question for us here. You ready for this as we get towards the end of the episode? Yeah. From a guy called Mars with a Z question for you, Banks and devil. What are some of the most wasted talents in the tier one scene? I'm thinking of someone like you who could have kept playing for a few more years, but instead went to GTA RP. I know you went to GTA RP. Grand Theft Auto to play the role-playing stuff or or oboe who although had other challenges and I definitely feel for him but he did just abandon what arguably was a top five team during the 2018 call. Thanks for reading guys and keep up great work. Well thank you very much Miles for your question. Wasted talents. Wasted talent in tier one. Oh that's a tough question man that needs some thought. But my problem is I don't remember names.

Devilwalk: No, I think they fade away pretty quickly.

Banks:

Devilwalk:

Banks: Yeah, he's on point with the oboe one, but that was like, obviously he had some health issues as well, which we can like that. That just sucks. That's really good. Just disappeared. Some players who are really good. I need that like free transfer list again.

Devilwalk: Where's this free transfer list? Three, eight.

Banks: Gents, this. See you.

Devilwalk: Yes.

Banks: Who's, um, who's Yimfat's brother?

Devilwalk:

Banks: Sergo. Sergo. Yeah, I think he... Would he ca-

Devilwalk: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He 100% counts. He was one of the best, like, one of the best Finnish players in history.

Banks: On ends from 2018 to 2021, two trophies during that time as well. I just remember how good he was, how chill he was, and so skilled. And then I thought, oh, he's actually a player because his English was good. He could go to an international team and have success. And then he went to what, gorillas? Yeah, went to European gorillas team, and then we never saw him again.

Devilwalk:

Banks:

Devilwalk:

Banks: Yeah. Yeah. So gay for me. So gay. So gay for me.

Devilwalk: Great choice. I'm trying to look through this. He was on the free.

Banks: New transfer list either. They must put them in retirement mode, I'm guessing. Doesn't say retired on this page on TV page. Jerry Salo. Sergei. Who else? I wonder why he chose his name as Sergei. Even as an MVP. Yeah, Star Series MVP. What a beast. I wonder why he chose Star Series.

Devilwalk: I mean, to some extent I would even put sunny there, but he was in the top.

Banks: Time.

Devilwalk:

Banks: Yeah, he stayed. Because I think it has to be someone that came and then faded, you know?

Devilwalk: Esperanto is one name that you could say. Oh yeah.

Banks: Yeah. Yeah.

Devilwalk: I think he was really good, but I mean. He just felt like he didn't care that much or.

Banks: Yeah. Like it wasn't a big focus for him. Yeah. I heard, I heard he came from like a well off family. So like the money was not even enough to like motivate him to push him forward.

Devilwalk: Yeah, I don't know too much, but it felt like I remember watching, like even going to, he was playing in what was the team? Crazy? Overlives? Yeah, crazy. When he was playing in crazy, when I was in godsend, we played a lot of similar events, we were in like, kind of the same tier. And I remember always when we were, we played them a lot as well, but he would always, this isn't proof of anything, I want to say that's clear first. But it felt like when I came there, everyone else was checking demos and doing deathmatch and stuff like that. And he would just be like asleep on his chair. And the game is starting in like an hour. So I always got the impression at least that maybe he was a little bit lazy or didn't care that much. But that is all like, it's just from a visual point of view. I don't know if he was. I don't want to judge him in that sense, but I got the impression that he didn't care as much as other people did.

Banks:

Devilwalk: No.

Banks: All degree.

Devilwalk: So I'll say Esperant and Sergey are good choices. I'm sure there's many more, but it depends what area of current the strike you want to go through.

Banks: The Kiyoshima went to play GTA role play. I was Kiyoshima. That's kind of funny. Yeah, Kiyo, Kiyoshima, GTA role play. For DevWalk, episode 20 is done. Thank you, as always, for everyone for listening and watching from around the world. If you're on YouTube comments as well, you've got this far. Tell us what country you're watching from. I'm always interested to know what countries you guys are watching from. Give us the feedback as well. This should be sweet for sure. Definitely with you making an appearance on the podcast, that should be possible. An appearance? It's not me saying any Brits. OK, with your face and name being a host on the podcast, should definitely be Brits as well. But yeah, let us know in the comments where you're watching or listening from. It's interesting for us as well. Again, we can't thank you enough for all the support and just the constant love and how much we enjoyed doing this and seeing all the feedback. There was someone who left a comment before about he didn't want like the coming up throughout the episode trailer in there. We removed that. We got rid of that. And we're listening to all your feedback. Yeah. So taking it in. So give us more feedback because we don't take it personally. If you think there was more boring and you needs to be more high for more energy than I tend to drink 10 coffees. Or if you say Banks doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. He's a dumb cunt. Then like, just tell us, give us the feedback. Be constructive with your criticism. You don't have to be that.

Devilwalk: That's harsh. You can say it in a nice way.

Banks: Okay. All right. Okay. So Banks doesn't always talk about it clearly doesn't burn a counter-strike, something like that. And just, just say, we need more of this. We need, or anything, maybe you're missing the devil walkthroughs, whatever it is, give us some feedback. We're always open to it. We also good feedback. Don't forget.

Devilwalk: Forget about the good feedback.

Banks: New feedback. We always get that though. It's always nice. But we're an adjusting, evolving podcast. We're not going to stay in one place. We're not just going to be the same rinse and repeat over and over again. We're going to have specials, we're going to have different moments in there. Like for this year, I want to do our own top 20 before HLTV do theirs because if we put that out, like in our own perspective, we're also going to work on what they've said about the ratings for positions and how it should be. Look at that as things for the future. But for you guys to know, we won't now won't do another episode. And tell clone playoffs. So we will have the episode out next one before clone playoffs and give you another preview of that and anything else that's been going on. I'm going to hold it with my son for 11 days to Turkey, I come back, I'm going to film the episode with everyone. And then maybe I'll go to clone. If I go to clone is just a fan, I'll be taking as many pictures spent time with fans as much as possible and seeing people because when I'm working, it's so hard to do. But this way, I give back to people who support I'll be watching

Devilwalk: Watching your favorite team.

Banks: And devil will be going to watch Man United probably lose another game. But that's just the way it is. That's just life. Stay safe out there. Thank you very much for watching. Peace and love to you all wherever you are around the world. And we'll see you on the next episode. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Peace. Peace Peace. Peace.