We’ve seen the script

PGL Cluj-Napoca may not be the most high-profile event, as it lacks several top-5 teams like Spirit, NAVI, and G2, which inevitably impacts its overall quality. However, that doesn't mean we didn't witness some juicy games, particularly among the teams in the 2-0 group.

FaZe faced off against their academy team in the first match. Torszi and the boys started strong on Ancient, leading 9-3 in the first half, with the AWPer setting a high tempo right from the start. Unfortunately for them, their opponents were FaZe, and against FaZe, even a 12-0 lead isn’t safe. And guess what? MOUZ only scraped 2 rounds on the T side, and FaZe ultimately took the map 13-11. At this point, it happens so often that we're starting to wonder if we can still call it ‘FaZe magic’.

Mirage told a different story, with FaZe quickly building a 10-2 lead. MOUZ rallied, securing 5 straight rounds on their own CT side, but it wasn’t enough, as FaZe closed out the map 13-7, thanks in large part to a monster performance from EliGE. Even frozen couldn’t believe they managed to go undefeated in the group stage.

In the second 2-0 matchup, the battle between Brazil and Mongolia turned out to be one of the most exciting series of the tournament.

Inferno was tightly contested, with paiN and The MongolZ trading rounds, but despite nqz’s heroics in overtime, it was bLitz and Senzu who stepped up, sealing the map for their squad. Dust 2 played out in a similar fashion, with the teams trading blows in OT, but this time biguzera’s defensive dominance proved too much to handle.

The Mirage decider was more of a breeze for The MongolZ. Despite losing the T side 8-4, they put on a flawless CT performance in the second half, going 9-0 to secure a 13-8 win, on the back of Senzu’s 1.59 rating performance and game-winning 4K.

Ultimately, based on what we've seen so far, Cluj feels like FaZe’s tournament to lose. However, it’ll be interesting to see if The MongolZ can put up a fight in the Grand Final.

Yes, we’ve seen the script - just not the final result.

Falcons yet to impress

Nothing gets the blood pumping like some 2-1 and 1-2 matchups. The stakes have never been this medium.

The 1-2 teams at least have the jeopardy of elimination. Wildcard vs. BIG and Complexity vs. SAW do have real stakes. The winners might not win much, but the losers going home in an event that’s as winnable as Cluj is far from ideal. Especially for someone like BIG, who is supposed to come to life in these semi-tier 2 events.

If you thought we forgot about Astralis vs. MIBR, we didn’t. We just refuse to acknowledge that either of these teams plays Counter-Strike.

The 2-1 games are a spectacle of perfectly adequate CS teams, headlined by the yet-to-impress Falcons showing off against the perfectly competent MOUZ. Joking aside, this should be a fun watch. MOUZ has been solid, just coming short against the top teams, and fortunately for them, Falcons isn’t one of those.

We would have been more worried for MOUZ if they played Eternal Fire, like 3DMAX is.

For them, adding body doesn’t convince us they’re going to be able to beat a XANTARES peek, especially since EF has continued to look like a real threat that might win this event if they get a favorable draw.

Virtus.Pro is, in that regard, the inverse of Eternal Fire. Yes, they’ve looked good, but we don't believe this team could win an event. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

First, VP is playing paiN for their 2-1 game, and we kind of hope to see paiN win. Since adding dav1deuS, and to some extent snow, paiN has been a lot of fun to watch. They’re making the most of their VRS position, and at least competing in most of their events. Even if it’s getting a little stale seeing the same teams over and over again.

At the end of the day, the real losers are anyone who goes 2-2, there’s nothing worse than being mid.

It’s been a quiet weekend, Cluj aside.

As people who spend their free time watching and writing about Counter-Strike for free, most of our weekends are quiet.

You’ll notice the other three stories are about PGL Cluj-Napoca, and that’s not because it’s an event you have to know every detail of…

It’s because these are the other stories from the weekend 🙃:

– @MACHINE

Complexity finally win (just ignore who they played)

And so, with Imperial’s male team now being ranked higher than their female team, the Valkryies’ presence in tier one events may have come to a close after they’ve gone 0-3 at PGL Cluj-Napoca.

Well, just until they get to farm another Impact event, anyway.

It’s been a… run. It began with a hopeful showing on Ancient against NAVI, but everything after that has been rather unfortunate and the most (only) entertaining part of their games was seeing how many more kills twenty3 would get than the rest of her team.

Their time in tier one came to an end in abysmal fashion. If you thought making BIG look good at Katowice was bad enough, just wait until you realise they got battered by Complexity. Yes, the same Complexity that convincingly lost 10 maps in a row prior to that game.

A drubbing in which nicx finally got to play players around his level, he had a blinder on the first map with a 2.10 rating, and there’s definitely a joke in there somewhere about the use of the term “blinder” - but we’ve had enough fun already.

The other stinker - sorry, 0-2 game - was fought between SAW and FlyQuest. Given that SAW’s team has recently fallen apart (again), the fact that they won this game is probably quite embarrassing for FlyQuest.

The Aussies put up a fight, they actually won a map unlike most other games they play, but in the end it was the might of story and Shr that won the series for the Portuguese.

Probably makes it a bit of shame that Shr is one of the players they’re set to lose then.

Honestly, we’re tired of talking about FlyQuest, even INS isn’t particularly fun to watch anymore and they lost a lot of their soul once AliStair lost his place on the team.

If only the rest of the team could lose their place, then we’d never have to talk about them again.

Hopefully.

🐶 Barking up the wrong tree

✋ Illegal substances

🤔 Cheating so you look good, or so good you look like you’re cheating?

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

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