u/Pirat6662001

I am extremely confused by the veto for the decider.

You have Cache, Dust and Mirage left. FUT is elite on Mirage at 71% (magic is barely okay at 57% against much weaker opposition). FUT is bad on Dust2 and does not play Cache at all so far. Magic is mediocre on Dust and good on Cache.

So why in the world would Magic veto Cache (that they are at least decent on) to effectively guarantee Mirage?

This is easily the opponent's best map out of 3 remaining. You are an underdog already, why in the world would you give them such a huge advantage. Force them to play Cache. They literally never played it competitively and even if they are gods on it in practice real game is a very different test.

Or if they pick Dust then you both suck on it and you hope that you happen to shoot harder. The odds would be significantly better than vs their good Mirage.

I keep wanting to believe in this team because of the IGL and coach, but they then go against basic math to actively kneecap themselves. It doesn't even matter if they somehow Magically come back here on some clutches. The decision making is extremely suspect and shouldn't be happening at this level.

The format was probably set with 128 teams in mind, but for 64 just a simple double elim bracket would have been the best choice instead of GSL groups and then single elimination 32 bracket. 122 games vs 95 current system isn't a dramatic difference considering the shown ability to run so many games at the same time.

The single elimination top 32 with random draw might produce some cinema matchups, but is terrible for actually getting top 4 teams determined.

Or just do single elim for round of 64 (only 1 upset) and then double elim from 32 onwards if the goal is to keep the number of games down.

With two Mongolian players on the team already and Major deadline being so late in the season it will be super tempting for the org to switch regions if they are hovering around rank 30-50 or so by October (which is realistic based on their Lan plan). They could at that point get Blitz over as an IGL (If mongols fall apart completely) or replace electronic with any rifler if simple allows it.

For the Asia region you literally just have to be in the top 50 VRS and you should easily make it, so points wise it's super easy. In fact Arcred from CIS with 2 Central Asian players could have made the major if they found a 3rd and switched region for Cologne.

Such an embarrassing exit in a tournament where the final should have been a reasonable expectation and semifinal a bare minimum has to spur some changes in the team. Refusal to do so will either show a lack of ambition to stay in the top 10 or not accepting roster reality by management.

The team has a core of 3 players that are a joy to watch and then 2 players that cannot perform at top level for multiple Lan playoffs in a row.

Zorte - he is unable to perform on stage even to his normal unimpressive level. He was not good on stage in Atlanta (though most of the team was bad also), in the major he flopped against Aurora, here he flopped against Faze. His floor aren't good enough as it is, but lack of mental strength is unforgivable for such an old player. He is a below 1.00 AWPer, which you can't have if you are a serious team. They need to either figure out visa problems and bring ArtFrost back or get someone else.

S1ren - might be the worst non-igl rifler on a top 10 roster with no upside. He has posted 0.88 over the last 3 months in 23 maps. Which is especially frustrating considering how much rifling talent the CIS scene has. Even without VP jail players, get syph0 for goodness sakes or any other young talent. Kl1m actually would work well as a rifler if he is willing to play bad roles and has a visa figured out.

Those two can help many CIS tier 2-3 teams with their experience, but they do not belong anywhere close to a top 15 team. Both are a bit of flat track bullies and can help many teams grind VRS through weaker opposition.

BetBoom are skipping Bounty so this is a perfect time to make a roster change before an extremely important EWC event.

I (as I am sure many) can only watch VODs of tournaments due to work and sleep schedule. Kick VODs through their Apple TV app have a consistent desync between the audio and video, which leads to a super jarring watching experience. Not sure if other places/apps have the same issue. Any tournaments that are kick exclusive like XSE right now become extremely difficult to watch. For a platform that wants to compete with twitch and YouTube they have to figure out their VODs as CS audience is older and not all are able to watch things as they happen.

Everyone is caught up in the moment of Niko's and Falcon's victory and celebrations, community has not taken proper time to grieve for everything that we have lost. The basic foundation of fandom. Everyone has a minor hollow feeling in their soul and they don't know why. It is the hole left by dozens of memes that have raised a generation of fans that are now gone:

- Choko now has a title and performed undeniably well in the final

- One more superstar strategy for Falcons has joined Man City and PSG for working eventually with enough transfers. They did in fact need just 1 more.

- "Nice, Ilya" and "Nice, Maxim" is major winning coaching

- zonic no longer paycheck stealing

- Monesy 2nd place streak broken, so close to double digits

This is just to name a few. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

I always found it frustrating where teams that do extremely might face the other super strong team early because they happen to flub group stages.

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Luckily GSL had an interesting concept for StarCraft back in the day that I am sad is not more wildly used - high seeds in the Top half get to draft their opponents in the standings order from the lower half.

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How it would work is:

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Top 2 seeds that go 3-0 are on opposite sides of the bracket by default and go in their strandings order picking their opponents from the bottom 4.

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Then seed 3 picks from the remaining two, but the match up is not yet placed in the bracket.

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Seed 4 doesn't have a choice and is forced to play the remaining team, BUT they get to choose which side of the bracket they want their match up to be on. Seed 3 match goes in the remaining spot.

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Effectively seed 3 gets to chose their first round opponent. While seed 4 gets to choose who they want to face in the semi-final.

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This makes every spot in the standings very meaningful and also would create a cool little side event when teams are drafting on Media day after stage 3. Similar to bounty, but high seeds instead of low being the ones selecting.

Almost complete list of teams is now out, with only 1 slot still open. A lot of teams I expected to see and was excited for are not there.

https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/DraculaN/Season\_7

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This should be a great opportunity for a bunch of tier 2 teams to go to an event with a large prizepool that has very generous distribution instead of just paying out to the winner or top 3. Instead it looks like they are down to VRS 70 if not further. Anyone in true top tier or going to China T1 lan obviously can't really attend, but that left plenty of good teams available still.

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I am happy to see K27 there for example, but other CIS teams that struggle to get any Lan VRS points are skipping. Teams like Magic have previously gotten visas and surely would benefit from more experience prior to EWC, same goes for CYBERSHOKE, TDK, Nemiga, Hotu and Nuclear TigeRES who don't have any invites and outside of Hotu terrible Lan points. Hard to believe that none of them could make it .

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Then you have EU teams like Gentle Mates and 100 T that are also somehow not there when this would be a perfect event for them.

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Overall as a scene it would be great to have more serious T2 lans in 100-200k range as they would provide a significant VRS springboard to break into that top 20 for teams that do well. It sucks that it seems like this event might fall flat. The XSE having so many T2 teams probably syphoned more big names from that tier than they expected. Next time they should aim for the window that ESL is happening or something where it's just true top 16 that's not available and everyone else is able to attend.

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We are already hearing how orgs are seeing less from the sales, it seems like expanding the pool of stickers to other popular figures on teams would help with that. Some of the coaches are very popular within the community and would absolutely be able to sell a decent amount. For example, Dastan is very popular within Kazakhstan (and has some big fans within the greater community). For me specifically, if Eyeballers ever make it I would totally get their coaches sticker cause he is so entertaining to watch during his teams matches.

Additionally, Jab Jabich would sell a ton of stickers if Valve was more nimble and quick to capitalize on viral moments within the community. This would be something unique and fun that plenty of people would want to have. (HLTV gets it with their coach page)

Every major there is always a discourse how Stage 1 isn't the real major and people aren't interested in watching low level teams and so on. It feels like every time there are excellent story lines and many amazing games that create memories/break records. It also played in important role in showcasing players for upcoming transfer window.

Just this major we saw:

IGL as the highest rated person of the stage (Boombl4) willing his team to next stage while facing visa and health issues on the team

Kl1m/Fl4mus both got make a case for themselves on loan to hopefully get a good transfer offer so they aren't stuck on the bench

Tyloo coming back from 0-2

FlyQuest run after being most picked 0-3 team

Liquid less than solid run.

And of course.. BIG getting the most epic comeback in major history/NA adding to it's storied tradition of choking.

Next stage will feel a lot more serious and Stage 1 is just an amazing way to start a tournament that has the highest stakes.

I see a lot of confusing discussions in Major casts and even analyst talk shows over BetBoom's roster. Wanted to break it down based on what i have heard Russian casters say about them and their plans (plus things like Spirit Vlogs).

Unmovable Core:

Boombl4 - much improved IGL from prior years. Interestingly he does very little theory planning for an experienced IGL (thats mostly the coach) and instead is more of Chief Morale officer that keeps everyone working together. He has been especially instrumental in dealing with all the roster uncertainty and unhappiness. Has really good fragging capacity for an IGL.

Magnojez - Easily considered the best player on the roster. Within Russian CS he is viewed as someone who would slot into any top 10 team as an upgrade besides Spirit and Vitality based on raw skill (ignore the language barrier). If BB go into stage 3 this is the guy who will steal rounds even against top teams. Recent Thorin Video suggested him as a transfer to Parivision for Nota, but i dont see a world where BB parts with him except for crazy money.

AWP:

ArtFr0st / zorte - BB as a team grinded through tier 2 with ArtFr0st, but ran into an issue when they had to go to lans in EU. This should be very clear - the only reason zorte is playing on BB and not TDK is due to ArtFr0st having visa problems. If those ever get resolved expect them to trade places between TDK and BB again. Zorte is still referred to as a stand in when they talk about it in interviews even though its been more than 2 months at this point since the switch happened. This will happen regardless of how zorte performs unless he levels up to something he never shown before (unlikely at 28). Organization sees them as having similar floors, but ArtFr0st has significantly higher ceiling and can steal rounds by himself (especially vs lower opposition).

Riflers:

d1Ledez - people didnt see him during their major push due to visa problems and his spots were taken by Fl4mus. It was treated like Fl4mus is an obvious upgrade, but thats not the view of most of Russian CS (at least for those roles). d1Ledez is an extremely solid anchor who can succeed with minimal resources and good at clutching late, he is a star player while being in bad roles, basically think Heavygod. He is viewed as the 2nd best player on the roster after Magnojez.

Important note - He is playing through extreme pain currently due to neck nerve compression and is only here due to S1ren situation below and Valve not allowing more than 1 sub.

S1ren - ex-Spirit product with a very solid floor. He is used for trading and entry together with another player. Could be better at utility and aim sometimes has off days. Was really good vs bad teams during the grind, but has taken the biggest step back vs good T1.5/T1 teams out of the whole roster during recent games. Confirmed to miss the whole major. https://x.com/TheCSTimes/status/2061805666654728578

Fl4mus - loan from VP bench where he has 3 more years on a contract. Was brought in due to d1Ledez visa issues and took a lot of unfamiliar spots. Very talented and VP move unfortunately torpedoed a player that should always be in a top 15 team based on skill and impact. He has been performing very well within the spots given and has been extremely flexible (suddenly he is replacing S1ren and not d1Ledez within the core roster). Very motivated to show what he got, which sometimes leads to "show off" moments. BB has been adamant that they are not looking to buy him and he is purely there due to visa issues of main players.

BB squad for the major has potentially higher firepower with FL4mus instead of S1ren, but their roles and planning are completely messed up based on interviews. They need to go 3-0 ideally to get an extra day of practice if possible as they are coming up with things on the fly currently.

Now that they lost over 400k due to missing 2 events and ESL major removing 1 free skip (kinda bs) and it will take until 2027 to even start being eligible it might make sense for Spirit to treat ESL as a lower priority TO. There are enough tight tournament windows coming up that Spirit might just prioritize PGL and Blast as their primary events and only go to Krakow/Cologne + if something happens to be convenient.

It would be especially interesting if they do become a number 1 team and then ESL will be in a pickle considering Spirit are already one of the most popular teams and absolutely drive viewership numbers. If they are number 1 and not attending suddenly your events start to have an asterisk next to them.

Low key hoping something like that happens so that the restrictions are challenged to be changed (Blast is already removing theirs).

Currently we have about a dozen teams that are invited to every lan and that group takes a long time to change as attending T1 lan gives so much points even after 1 win, you truly have to go full VP to fall out of the invite range. Even after Faze didn't make the major they still had a major bounce back just from 1 T1 tournament they did well at. Generally the pack stays stable for a season after the initial few lans.

The upcoming few years it looks like a good number of S tier and A tier events 100K and over will overlap, this should lead to the scene expanding from a dozen teams being regular big lan attendees to closer to 20. That should give an excellent opportunity for the overall scene to grow as EU dominance is smaller once you leave the top 12 (3 AM teams in the 13-20 range as of right now vs 2 non EU teams in 1-12 range) and hopefully spreads the T1 money a little more globally.

The one caveat I would say is that the events really should try to be in different timezones like Astana and Atlanta were. Doubling up in one region is a good way to undermine the stability and profitability of tournaments, which no one should want.

Additionally, tournaments really should experiment with formats to make sure experience doesn't become stale and to differentiate themselves. For example - still a big fan of doing what StarCraft in Korea did with top seeds picking which players to face live, led to some excellent banter and plot lines (reverse bounty basically). Blast especially should be continuing to do that as they look to become a little brother to the other 2.

Further insights from the vlog:

Organizational pressure to be a stable T1 team after the investment while showing improvement, no expectations of winning BUT the unsaid part is "make playoffs"

Dastan after a loss to go 1-2 : Go to your rooms, chill/relax and forget about this game, we are moving on

PV team knows how to put good music in the video

Dastan " I don't want to say everything is good and then suddenly player is kicked"

Dastan" We will take our vengeance in China, Jame and I will prepare and change what's needed. No need to dwell, no need to be negative, cry today/tomorrow, after that we are preparing"

Significantly less harsh and almost a zen interview from him. Interesting tid bits:

Specifically focuses on certain players lacking game sense and not developing it in situations that weren't practiced and are unique. Especially not being able to identify when they are in a good/correct position.

Players "waiting for kick" instead of trying to improve (as I understand it he would like to not kick anyone, but needs to see something changing positively)

As everyone predicted Nota/Belchenok are the primary two in danger.

Less theory more game practice for CAC since they just need to shoot hard to do well.

Rooting for Molodoy, Monesy, Donk to do well in playoffs

Sending some loud SOS signals, somebody save him