Falcons are bloody awful

We have a couple of different writers at TLDR (I know, shocking), and depending on which writer you get on which story, it can completely change the article. For example, if this was being written by our Portuguese fanatic shoko, this would be all about SAW winning.

Alas, that is not the case. Let’s talk about s1mple.

A few years ago s1mple wouldn’t be seen dead at an event like this. You’d have to bribe him with the opportunity to punch npl in the stomach every time he lost a round or something. Now, he’s not only at this event, he’s stinking it up.

Well, not him specifically.

Falcons have been pretty terrible since… well, inception, but they can’t even win a map right now. It’s not even s1mple’s fault - he’s been pretty good (albeit not that good by his standards) - but Falcons are dire.

Snappi can’t frag, Magisk is dropping 0.8s after a career of reliable 1.1s, dupreeh is inconsistent and Maden is even more inconsistent. Falcons once more went out of an event without winning a map.

Alright, they did only lose to SAW and Eternal Fire; but npl, s1mple’s punching bag, managed to sneak past Eternal Fire into the playoffs, so what’s the excuse?

That’s right, B8 made it into playoffs – and actually, all the way to the final. They were the better team against paiN, who are perennially disappointing, but were absolutely nowhere near a rampant SAW in the grand final.

For those who were worried that arrozdoce being replaced by Ag1l would make them worse… well, it’s not conclusive. But there’s some evidence to suggest this team can still be solid. More than solid – very good.

roman, one of the old heads, was the standout player, and it turns out that Mr Rice Pudding (edit: arrozdoce) wasn’t the only good player on SAW.

Who knew?

Get Paid and Get Out

They picked up a paycheck, and now they're heading out.

The ex-BLEED core is splitting up, just one event after adopting the UNPAID name. kassad announced the decision to split on Saturday. In the same post, he explained that some players had offers, and it seems they're heading in separate ways.

It's not clear who the players with offers are.

But VLDN has stated he's taking a break, while nexa openly said he's still a free agent. If we believe them, that leaves CYHPER and jkeam from the BLEED roster. That isn't concrete proof, but it sure does seem interesting. We make no claims.

That does still leave kassad himself.

In the aforementioned post, he went on to say he's still deciding. Leaving the door open for GM, coach, and analyst roles.

If this was a few months ago, were not sure we'd believe he'd get another chance. But with all the mitigating circumstances, and the relative success at RES, it feels different now.

Hopefully wherever these guys end up, they actually get paid.

The Final Countdown

Here we are. After 57 different BLAST qualifiers, we’ve reached the main event.

The BLAST Premier World Final kicks off this Wednesday.

EU crew, get ready to mess up your sleep schedule - the tournament will take place in Singapore. It’ll be worth it though, as the team lineup is absolutely stacked.

Group A’s opening round features NAVI taking on Astralis, and FaZe going up against their academy squad, also known as MOUZ.

Honestly, this group is shaping up to be a walk in the park for NAVI. Don’t quote us on that. As for FaZe, what better way to scout your future IGL than by playing against him?

Over in Group B, we’ve got G2 facing Liquid while Vitality take on Spirit.

jks will be squaring off against his former team, so we wouldn’t be surprised if he drops 50.

Meanwhile, JACKZ makes a return to the competitive stage as Vitality’s stand-in, since king mezzi has become a dad. Congratulations to the Royal Family. Despite the change, we’re not feeling too optimistic about Spirit’s chances, as they’ve been looking shaky, to say the least.

On a separate note, BLAST has banned “noise makers” from the venue - no drums, bullhorns, flags, or banners. Where’s the fun in that?

The last S-tier tournament before the RMRs should be an interesting one, giving us a glimpse into each team’s form. Definitely worth a watch.

😔 It’s not that s1mple anymore…

👌 Production quality

⚽🏀 Traditional sports watch out, here comes CS2

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

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