Into the playoffs at Elisa Masters Espoo, and there was as good a turnout as the Major!

In some areas, actually, it looked even more full. GZ, Finland!

When we left you on Thursday, Astralis had made it to playoffs despite humiliation at the hands of 500, and they continued their redemption arc with a 2:1 win over ENCE in the quarters.

ENCE were one of the few teams in the event with their full roster, so losing to MistR and kristou’s Astralis can’t feel good, even if it was in a 3-map brawl that included 41 kills from a now entry-pack blameF in overtime on the decider.

On the other half of the bracket, BIG ended 500’s fairytale run before also knocking Sprout — who had coach BERRY stand in on map one — out in the semis.

No more blameF heroics on the other half of the bracket, as fnatic would eliminate Astralis to setup a stand-in showdown with BIG.

Who would win? fnatic without KRIMZ or BIG without syrsoN?

Short answer: fnatic. Shorter answer: The VODs of the two maps, both of them absolute stomps.

mezii, whose clutches helped fnatic even qualify for playoffs dropped a 1.61 rating in the final to carry his fnatic side to their first trophy since DH Malmo 2019. All it took was to add a little bit of UK, eh? No, not you. Or you.

Seriously, though, this fnatic team is a lot of fun. Peppzor performed well standing in for KRIMZ, mezii roeJ and fashr continue to look like a solid rifling core. nicoodoz hasn’t even turned to Twitter Blue yet, it’s going so well.

After a top eight at the Major and a legit LAN victory under their belts, it’s going pretty well for a “rebuild phase,” if you ask us.

Final standing:

1st 🇪🇺 fnatic - $100.000

2nd 🇩🇪 BIG - $28.000

3-4th 🇩🇰 Astralis - $14.000

3-4th 🇩🇰 Sprout - $14.000

5-6th 🇪🇺 ENCE - $10.000

5-6th 🇧🇬 500 - $10.000

7-8th 🇺🇸 Complexity - $4.000

7-8th 🇫🇷 HEET - $4.000

9-10th 🇽🇰 Bad News Eagles - $4.000

9-10th 🇪🇺 GamerLegion - $4.000

11-12th 🇵🇹 SAW - $4.000

11-12th 🇫🇮 HAVU $4.000

Rejoice, everyone that isn’t 45 years old or too dim to play maps with any tactical depth!

Dust 2 is out once more, with it being the least played map in the pool at the Rio Major, and the objectively (subjectively) worst map in the game, we’re not surprised. Indeed, we’re quite happy.

It offers very similar play patterns, with little room for innovation round-to-round, and it’s avoided largely by top teams due its upset potential. It’s not totally random, but it’s hardly the pinnacle of skill either.

Though it has it’s dissenters, they are all either too old, too French or too ginger to hold any weight in this ideological debate. In some cases, more than one of those.

Change keeps the game alive, and there’s no bigger change than replacing Dust 2 with Anubis. Yes, Anubis. Get YouTube open and hunt down some smokes, stat. Learn some angles, jump in a prac server and remember what it was like to start playing the game all those years ago.

Is Anubis any good? We’ll find out in due time, is the truth. It’s going to have some teething problems, but every map was at some point flawed. Most of them still are.

Anyway. Glad that update is covered. Did we miss anything?

Oh, yeah. The AWP has been nerfed and the A1-S is back to being worse than the A4. Nothing much.

The AWP has had it’s magazine clipped to a measly five bullets (which for those of you with hands, doesn’t mean much. Just don’t miss) while the A1-S has had its range cut pretty severely.

It’s back to being a five hit kill outside of pretty close range (think any further than long apts on Inferno as being outside of the range), making the A4 a faster kill at range and the A1-S cheaper, with a faster kill up close.

Which… sounds fair? The proof of the pudding will, as always, come in the eating, but we’re ready to eat a whole lot of pudding. Wait, what were we talking about?

Oh, yeah. Pudding. We mean the A1-S.

You now have a choice to make, but the A4 is probably back to being the default choice. The larger magazine and versatility make it better for the most part, but you will have to relearn the spray pattern. The skill gap is back!

RIP to all the IGLs whose CT side rating was carried by the easy mode rifle, though.

🏜️ Anubis’ sandy quirks

• mithR’s done the work for you already, figuring out some of the important timings on Anubis. We will probably just learn them the hard way, but still thanks.
• We and our limited knowledge of the map, aren’t the only victims of the new map. Anubis, The god of death doth not discriminate - not even against chickens.
• No no no you don’t get it, the invisible wall blocking your nade is just part of the magic!

✨ A speck of light in an otherwise dark world

• Mustache Masters is back - even featuring some of our own - so make sure to check them out and support them any way you can!
• Really, support them. Just for this content alone. Who doesn’t want to see Ryan get f*cked in a clown costume? Not that he needs the costume.

📊 Stats we didn’t know we needed

• Apparently, only 10% of you AWPers out there even take more than five shots per round. We wonder how much accuracy that 10% has.
• Big news: rain’s been on FaZe/G2/Kinguin since the beginning. Shocker.