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.

Other news around the scene

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 🙃:

NIP finally have a Valve ranking, and it’s just under Mindfreak. Mindfreak have Rickeh. Yes, that Rickeh. Yes, it’s February in 2025.

dycha has benched himself on Monte. Haters will say he should have done that on ENCE. The haters were right. Honestly, great call from the haters.

launders wants to save North America. Not even Brad Friedel could save North America nowadays. Largely as he’s about 50.

Speaking of saving NA, M80 will be at BLAST Open Lisbon, taking the last spot. Sadly, Astralis will also be there, but they’re about the only disappointing inclusion.

Overheard on X

I don't know about you but I definitely got f–cked this Valentines.

Three games back to back, rage baiting cheaters.

Sad I have to install third party client to just play games with my friends.

– @MACHINE