After what felt like an eternity of an offseason, the Cathedral reopened its doors to host the upper echelon of Counter-Strike.

Well, except if you’re watching Complexity. Honestly, you can’t have much self-love if you willingly subject yourself to that.

But since we’re already here, let’s start with the disappointments. Or not, because to be disappointed you’d need to have expectations in the first place…

B8, MIBR, and Complexity all exited Cologne without a single win to their names.

MIBR kept up their worrying trend to the start of the season. First missing out on the FISSURE Playground 1 Playoffs, and now crashing out without even hitting double digits on a single map. Someone save insani please, poor guy.

As for B8, expectations were unclear. This was their first showing since the Major, and to be fair, there were a few flashes of promise. But ultimately, a loss to FlyQuest sealed their fate. Losing to FlyQuest in the big 2025…

Then there’s Complexity… Cxzi and nicx looked entirely out of their depth in this kind of environment, and Grim – who’s supposed to be one of their key players – was nowhere to be seen. Don’t worry guys, we’re sure you can win some games in CCT’s Play-ins.

But for every demon that darkens the Cathedral, there’s an angel that brings the light back.

FaZe, GamerLegion, and NIP have all marched into Stage 2 undefeated.

Can you spot the impostor? Yeah, it still feels strange to say NIP made it to anything other than their usual airplane ride back home. That said, they’ve shown flashes that xKacspersky might actually be the Messiah, the missing piece NIP need to finally take the next step. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, they’ve only played two BO3s so far.

broky’s also back, and apparently, the cure for being terrible is just a healthy dose of good old punishment. Please tell us more karrigan… purely for research purposes, of course.

GamerLegion were a solid pick to escape Stage 1 in their own rights, and they’ve lived up to the expectations. Shoutout to kursy, who’s clearly growing more comfortable and confident with every match.

In the middle of the pack we find teams like Liquid, FlyQuest, 3DMAX, TYLOO, Virtus.Pro, HEROIC, Astralis, and FURIA. All just one win away from punching their ticket to Stage 2.

VP got their sweet revenge on TYLOO in the opening round after a humiliating stint in Belgrade, absolutely dismantling them with NAVI Perfecto making a cameo appearance.

And just to remind us that the scriptwriters never rest, we’re set for a Liquid vs. FlyQuest showdown for a Stage 2 spot, in what could be jks’ moment of vindication.

Honestly, that’s pretty much the only reason we’d ever tune into a FlyQuest game.

Interview

Illustration by Fuffy, Source: nettik

We sat down with FlyQuest’s rifler nettik, and talked about falling for CS at seven years old, his love for caffeine, and why regali’s not making it onto the lifeboat if things go south.

Why did you start playing CS?

Because it was fun. I can't really remember how I got into it, but I remember being addicted from the start. It was a super fun game.

How old were you?

I played my first version of Counter-Strike, I think it was CS Source, probably when I was seven years old or something around that. I was really young.

If you weren't a CS pro, what job do you think you'd have?

I've got no idea, to be honest. In school and stuff, I had no idea what direction to go. I'd just been all in for Counter-Strike.

What's the strangest reaction you've ever gotten when you told someone what you do for a living?

They're all just kind of surprised and they're like: 'You make money?'. I haven't got any strange reactions.

Do you have any pregame rituals?

Not really, I just try not to overthink anything, you know. Wake up, have a coffee, clear my head a bit, and warm up. Nothing special.

So you'd say that hit of caffeine is important then?

Oh yeah. I just drink coffee every day. So, need to get coffee.

Well, in that case, how much is a can of Monster?

$4.00.

Would you like to know?

Yeah.

It's $3.00. But you’re paid to shoot things, not drink Monsters. It was close enough. Have you got a favorite song to deathmatch to?

There's not a go-to at the moment. Maybe 50 Cent. Many Men. That might be the one at the moment.

From any team you've ever been on, you've got to pick any player you've ever played with to win a 1v1 to save the world. Who are you picking?

TjP from Rooster.

If you were stranded on a deserted island with one of your current teammates, which teammate would you pick?

Maybe erkaSt. I think he's got a lot of good survival skills. He'd keep us alive, for sure.

Who from your team would you least like to be stuck on that desert island with?

Definitely regali. He's gonna have no idea what he's doing, he's just gonna be farting and sh-t.

If you could own a house that was located on any of the Counter-Strike maps, which map would you choose?

Office.

Are you a cat person or a dog person?

I like both, but if I had to really choose one, definitely a dog.