Here comes the money

UNPAID they are no longer! Even if they did lose the final. Money, money, money, money.

In their first event since becoming orgless, the UNPAID boys (ex. BLEED) did about as well as anyone could’ve hoped.

Well okay, except for winning the whole thing. A clearly energised team showed up to RES with something to prove, and despite losing to fnatic in groups, they did just that. They managed to make it all the way to the finals where, unfortunately for kassad’s men, they lost to Nemiga.

The good news is, they still walked away with a cool $50K for the team to plug the whole of missing salaries from their previous org.

They didn’t even have to wait long. According to kassad they got paid before they were back in their rooms. Though it feels a bit like it's rubbing it in the face of their former org. Rightfully so.

You do have to wonder, would BLEED have been more successful without this cloud above their heads? If, buts, and maybes… we shall see.

The death of open qualifiers

Do you like fairytales?

There’s something magical about watching David beat Goliath. When the minnows upset the applecart, when the elite get their little bubble popped by a bunch of jumped-up yappers, or when the Bad News Eagles eliminate FaZe, or the sharks of Vega Squadron smack NIP.

Sadly, if you agree with us, you’re not going to like some of the changes coming to the Counter-Strike circuit.

Do you know what isn’t magical? Numbers and rankings, which is how most of the events next year will decide its invitees. Great if you’re a big name, a death sentence if you’re not.

If nearly every event is decided by rankings, you’re going to struggle to get meaningful rankings points because you’re not at any bloody events.

Therein lies the problem; past performance is an okay predictor of future success, but the world of Counter-Strike changes very quickly. HEROIC were terrible, like, two weeks ago.

Open qualifiers gives everyone the chance – no matter your reputation or standing – to make it to a big event and show what you’re about. Open qualifiers have made careers: chopper getting to a Major via the open qualifiers, Boombl4 making a Major, The MongolZ getting to a Major.

If you get invited on reputation, and not by beating the teams you’re supposed to be better than, how can we know you’re better than them this time around?

It’s just really quite sad.

We’re sure there’s some justification and actually, it’s ‘all going to be okay!’ for the tier 2 teams. But at this rate we’ll never see a story like Into The Breach in Paris ever again, and we think that’s a damn shame.

At least we’ll see MIBR 0-2 Vitality at every event.

EZ4ENCE

After a few missteps in their rebuilding journey, it seems ENCE are finally back on track. And what a way to show it.

In a statement display on home soil, ENCE dominated HEROIC with a commanding 3-1 victory to claim the Elisa Masters Espoo 2024 trophy.

This was the first big stage for ENCE’s youngsters - podi, Neityu and xKacpersky – and they proved they can handle the pressure.

The real standout though? gla1ve.

The legend rolled back the years and finished the series with a 1.29 rating and the Grand Final MVP title. Take a look Astralis, this one might be a good fit.

The finalists traded blows in the first two maps, with HEROIC taking Ancient and ENCE answering back with a Nuke win. Both maps were very contested, featuring key rounds from kyxsan and podi that propelled their teams to victory.

Now, if you’ve had to endure what followed, we’re terribly sorry.

The crowd and viewers at home were subjected to an excruciating new form of torture: triple overtime on Vertigo. Can ESIC look into this?

Let’s be fair, it wasn’t all bad. We got to witness this banger of an ace from sdy that secured ENCE’s victory, just when HEROIC was on the brink of a comeback.

Dust 2 told a similar tale, with ENCE taking control in the first half before beginning to falter in the second. Ultimately, their lead was too strong to lose, and ENCE closed it out on the back of gla1ve’s 1.89 monster performance.

We can finally say it again. EZ4ENCE. 

Final standings at Elisa Masters Espoo:

1st 🇪🇺 ENCE – $100.000
2nd 🇪🇺 HEROIC – $40.000
3-4th 🇺🇦 B8 – $15.000
3-4th 🇲🇳 The MongolZ – $15.000
5-6th 🏳️ 9z – $10.000
5-6th 🇫🇮 JANO – $10.000

😂 It’s a rat eat rat world

🗣️ A desk that’s good at yapping, to say the least…

🕑 Time is s1mply a forsaken thing

This TL;DR was written by aizyesque, shoko, Horizzon and napz.
Welshy coded the email and Crash_ copy edited.

How did you like this edition?
Help us improve by clicking a smiley below.

Give your friend the tl;dr