A hero gets honored, aizyesque and Logan get it horribly wrong and G2 flops yet another group stage.

Valve brings latex to CSGO

If you thought that gimpsuits were only a thing in kinky movies and Call of Duty: Warzone - think again.

Alright, we needed to get that off our chest, because that frogman-suit is just... horrible.

Luckily there is much more to unpack from the Operation Riptide release this past Wednesday:

• Dust 2 gets an update, removing visibility from T spawn through mid. That is unless they use this nifty trick.
• Ancient received a few tweaks, the biggest being increased plantable area in bombsites
• There are changes to the M4A1-S (more damage on bodyshots) and Deagle (less damage on bodyshots), while the Dualies now cost $300
• Changes to the game modes include MR16 matches, a new DM system and private lobbies, so you can host your own 10-mans in game

Other than that, we have got a full load of new skins, with no less than 5 different cases available. And there are some real stunners in between.

In our polite opinion, the absolute best part of the update, is the honoring of Jacques Beltran of the Gendarmerie Nationale in France, who swapped places with a hostage, and lost his life in an attempt to overcome the attacker.

"We do what we have to do".

The full list of changes in the new Operation and update can be found here.

Oh but wait, there's more...

We'll drop a grenade for ya'

It wouldn’t be a big CSGO update without some drama, would it?

And while all you filthy casuals were getting excited about the gold AK-47 and Scuba Steve, us serious students of CSGO were getting very, very angry at one part of this update:

You can now drop grenades in competitive.

Making such a big change one month before the Major is problematic even for good updates. And it’s even more problematic when everyone hates it.

How this can be used

1. We can now have 1-man executes: 4 players can go palace and the other (probably karrigan) can find a way to throw all three A smokes and ten flashes.
2. You can’t make reads on numbers of players from the number of nades anymore. You can fake flash with… a flash. Multiple times. No, seriously, click that link.
3. You can also drop 4 smokes in CT spawn on Inferno, and have the top of Banana smoked off for 1 minute every round – without even having to rotate players.
4. A similar situation can be found on Overpass, with A players re-smoking Monster from CT spawn 3 times, letting B anchors save their grenades for the execute. Of course, there’s an element of risk-reward to this. It does makes the other bombsite weaker...
5. ... And to do this on Inferno you have to give up Banana control. Plus you’ll have to go back to CT-spawn to pick up the smokes, unless you want all your A players heavily delayed every round. If you do a one-man execute, there will be a big gap between nades landing, so you’ll either have to go out too early or let them rotate.

So are pros over-reacting? 70% of voters on our poll actually think it’s a good change - there are clearly some fun consequences and it will throw every strategy-book into turmoil.

There's even a role for us now

In the late-round, low HP players, instead of becoming bait, can now throw utility sets. You can drop all your grenades before you go into that One-And-Done spot. And you don’t need to teach your noob friend smokes anymore, you just throw them for them!

As a community we’re pretty bad at change. Mostly because it’s normally really bad (remember Revolver?).

So will dropping grenades improve the game? Probably not. Should it have been released before the major? Definitely not. But it's not going to break the meta, or make MSL win that Major, aizyesque.

Life goes on, and so must you.

A set of unfortunate predictions

You know that feeling when you think you have something nailed, and you're going to look like an absolute genius?

That's not how it went for Logan and aizyesque in Overtime on Inferno.

• They took a shot at dev1ce and NiP before the Blast Premier groupstage.
• Oh and they predicted instability in BIG after swapping coach.
• If that trend continues, you should probably bet on EG winning Blast.

BLAST groups hit halfway point

If you read our last edition, you already know where we left you in the entire BLAST timeline. If you haven't, shame on you, but also no worries. You only missed out on one group.

MIBR, BIG, G2 and NIP took to action this time around in Group B. G2 were pretty confident, but not for long...

Maybe don't gloat so much beforehand, Carlos. We appreciate the meme, but you have got to back it up with a W for it not to bite you in the butt.

The final was technically a rematch of the first game for both teams, but that doesn't mean the result would be the same. Even though BIG saw themselves bested 2-0 in the earlier match, the heat was still very much on for NIP.

And the result was marginally better for the Germans, but unfortunately just not enough. They managed to take one map off of the Ninjas, but one map just doesn't cut it in a best of three. Clue is in the name.

So, with these placements, the teams of Group B earn themselves the following:

• MIBR: $5k and a flight home
• G2: $7,5k a place in BLAST Fall Showdown
• BIG: $12,5k and a place in BLAST Fall Finals
• NIP: $25k and a place in BLAST Fall Finals

Xizt hangs up his mouse

• Which isn't very smart considering you need your mouse to operate your PC. Can't move your cursor with a beautiful career now can you? ‍
• Like milk outside the fridge. Match fixers never prosper, remember that kids. ‍
• Yeah you tend to lose players when you lose to an academy team like mouz NXT... Get it together suNny! ‍
• It's okay hastr0, everybody deserves a second second chance. ‍
• It's a viable tactic though, tarik is right. We'll dub it "jiggle-creeping". ‍
• Considering how well it went the last few times analysts tried out coaching, we'll keep our predictions to ourselves for this one. ‍
• More youngsters to watch? We can't wait. ‍
• This man made A site whiter than a 20W light bulb... The new meta everyone!