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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
We’re not going anywhere, but tournament franchising is.
Edition #385 | AUG 4th, 2023
Lots of action in this edition!
Since this will be an action-packed weekend, we’ve decided to do something a little bit special.
Every morning through to Monday you can expect a tl;dr on the matches that happened at IEM and a preview of what to look forward to.
Our very own aizyesque, Horizzon, and Incipiens are live from the ground. Reply to this email and let us know how you like it.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Cloud9
Today
Vitality
Astralis
Today
Heroic
TSM Falls apart
Remember last week? What a beautiful time. TSM’s roster got leaked in all of its mediocre glory, and as we joyfully joked about TSM’s terrible decision-making we pondered “How could it get any worse?”
And then it got worse.
A report from BLIX broke the news that XTQZZZ would, by choice, no longer be part of the rumoured project, for no specific reason. To make matters worse, XTQZZZ was reported to have handpicked and built the team himself, so his departure was especially unexpected.
The departure means that the entire roster is in jeopardy. Despite the fact it hasn't even been announced yet.
The reason behind it gets a little bit into the weeds of legal speak, but essentially, TSM had allegedly made a verbal agreement with XTQZZZ. That verbal agreement was allegedly relating to the length of the contract and bonuses, and in the US, a verbal agreement would typically be seen as binding. Again, all of this is alleged, but French streamer KRL is the one alleging it on XTQZZZ’s behalf.
KRL shared that TSM had breached their verbal agreement with the players, which in US law, is commonly accepted as binding. Apparently TSM went back on promises around length of the contract and bonuses which seem quite important.
In a Twitter thread that quickly gained traction, KRL alleged that TSM refused to pay for the scouting and interviews XTQZZZ did. Not only that, but the roster was also supposed to have met for a bootcamp that got cancelled. The reason for that cancellation? TSM believes bootcamps are only necessary for Majors.
It’s unclear if TSM will return with another roster, but if this is the way they’re handling CS we’d prefer if they just stayed away. How do you make EG management look competent?
IEM Cologne Groups
If you’re a fan of underdog stories, this hasn’t really been the event for you. But if you’re a fan of watching the biggest and best… well, it’s been a blast!
Let’s start with the semi-finalists - having smacked FaZe around, G2 were tasked with toppling Vitality. A task few would be fit to take on, not least complete - but a superb showing from the wunderkind m0NESY helped push G2 into the semis.
Joining them will be ENCE, who had NertZ to thank for helping them edge out Heroic for a semis berth. On the deciding map, ENCE won two 2v4s and a 1v3 to win 16-14, with the Israeli winning the 1v3 and 2v4 with all seven kills in back-to-back rounds.
ENCE have looked superb, and look nigh-on unbeatable on Nuke at the moment.
Tasked with beating them will be the four quarter-finalists: the aforementioned Vitality and Heroic, as well as Cloud9 and Astralis.
C9 snuck through by the skin of their teeth over a very resilient GamerLegion, with sh1ro going supernova, as we have come to expect by now.
buster was, predictably, pretty bad. But at least he got them there, we suppose.
Finally, Astralis. As if we haven’t seen enough of that name at big events. Yay, device is good again.
Can’t you let someone else have some fun already?
On a real note, they too look nasty. Buzz, b0RUP and Staehr have all had crazy maps and series, while blameF and device have done what they’ve always done.
Make Astralis choke again, we say.
And so the playoff teams are:
🇪🇺 ENCE (group a - direct to semi)
🇩🇰 Heroic (group a)
🇷🇺 Cloud9 (group a)
🇪🇺 G2 Esports (group b - direct to semi)
🇪🇺 Vitality (group b)
🇩🇰 Astralis (group b)
Podcast
Tune in to this week's episode of Overtime on Inferno where your favorite hosts aizyesque and Logan Ramhap go deep on the biggest news in CS:GO:
LISTEN NOW
IEM Cologne Playoffs
Oh, baby.
If the six teams remaining weren’t quite enough to whet the appetite, tomorrow’s semi-finals will.
Ax1Le’s return to Cloud9 means that Exodia is finally complete. All five pieces are in the hand, and now we must all bow in front of the greatest roster ever created.
At least, in theory.
Their first game together as a team will be against Major champions Team Vitality in a quarter-final in the LANXESS. Just writing that made us feel all gooey inside.
Vitality have looked devastating with flameZ at the tip of the battering ram, but are not infallible; as G2 showed. We wouldn’t want to take them on ourselves, mind.
Our, uh, map pool isn’t good into Vitality’s.
The other semi-final, as the particularly perceptive among you might have twigged, is Heroic vs Astralis. An all-Danish fight to the death with more shouting and screaming than an episode of Dance Moms.
Not that we’ve ever seen one, of course.
cadiaN vs device. stavn vs blameF in a bait-off. Bragging rights, semi-final spots and the Danish crown all hinge on one series in the LANXESS.
This promises to be a barnburner.
Fortunately for you, we’ll be back tomorrow with a Cologne special edition to cover it all.
Because we’re lovely like that.
Opening up the circuit
Did you feel that? Something major just happened.
Our buddies over at Valve (who still haven’t given us beta-access btw) have brought us a massive change for the future of Counter-Strike.
No, this one isn’t about nice reflections, awesome-looking water, or a weird tickrate. This one’s about the professional scene.
While Valve getting involved with the scene must feel like a miracle of messianic proportions, it sure is real. Valve have decided “no more paying for your spots” and have basically decided that from 2025 onwards, there will be no more franchise tournaments - like BLAST had for example. Tournaments will also have to be more transparent about their prize payouts.
The circuit will be completely “open”, meaning to qualify for a tournament you must either play an open qualifier or receive an invite based on your ranking. Your ranking as Valve deems it that is.
Yup, that’s right. Valve are taking on the HLTV rankings. They’ve already shared their ranking system, and it’s completely open source. So go berserk! They’ve even said that if you can come up with something better than their formula, they’ll give a good think and might even use it.
Personally, we think invites should be based on our newsletter readership. Share tl;dr with five friends and you get to play at Cologne!
ESL has seemingly taken the news pretty well, even though it pretty much spells the end for their Louvre agreement with teams. The agreement that allowed teams easier entry into the ESL circuit was poised for renewal in 2025, so we think the date Valve picked might not have been a coincidence.
BLAST on the other hand didn’t feel like going into to it deeper than “we look forward to it”, which is fair given franchising is kinda their entire shtick. They do mention they’ll stick around, however, so who knows?
The rest of the scene seems mostly positive (a few examples: WarOwl, launders, SirScoots), not only being excited at the prospect of Valve actually caring but also at the prospect of a healthier subtop and more underdog qualifications.
Most of the people that are worried (more examples: mauisnake, NER0, skrivcasts) about this change raise the issue of the financial health of the scene, given that franchising attracted a lot of teams and allowed for established big orgs to become financially stronger.
Is it about the money, or is it about the game? Will Valve’s ranking be good enough? Who knows, so see you in 2025.
EVERYTHING ELSE
🧠🤷♂️Who gets what, when, and where?
🤨 Just the tiniest bit out of place
🤦 Maybe don’t do this