Edition #392 | AUG 21st, 2023

You put your Qikert in, your Qikert out, in out in out you shake it all about. You do the Virtus.pro and you screw around. That’s what it’s all about.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Heroic

2

1

ENCE

Vitality

2

1

G2

ENCE

1

2

Vitality

• G2 are back, baby: G2 won both Cologne and Katowice this year, but that’s still not going to stop them choking every so often. Up massively against Vitality in the semi-final, they capitulated a little bit and ended up dropping out and missing out on a Cologne final rematch.

ENCE stake their claim

Are ENCE the best team in the world?

ENCE might just be the best team in the world.

We’re writing this piece before the final is over because we don’t think the outcome of the final really has that much impact on the answer. The answer is…

Well, maybe. It depends.

If you value consistent greatness, the ability to go deep in events consistently, and just a generally great level of play, then yes they are. They are the team Heroic were six months ago — grand finals, semi-finals at a minimum, aggressive and domineering in all the right ways, and playing with more information than everyone else.

They don’t, however, have the trophies that a team like G2 or even Vitality have picked up this year. A win at IEM Dallas was nice, but it was after the Major — teams were in limbo and the season was winding down. It just didn’t feel… right.

Even Gamers8 wouldn’t really satisfy those looking for a bona fide number one, but it’s getting there. Ridiculously dominant wins over Liquid, Cloud9, and Heroic, all of which include at least one map where they left the enemy on under eight rounds, make the case for them.

The things that Heroic were doing to good teams last year, ENCE are doing to great teams. The much-hyped Cloud9 omnipotent quintet that was supposed to take over the world got thirteen rounds against ENCE.

Over two maps.

ENCE haven’t lost a BO3 series against a top-five team for a year and didn’t really look like doing it at any point on the way to the final at Gamers8 — or, indeed, Cologne.

Regardless of what happened at Gamers8 (which we’ll get to in a little bit…), ENCE might just be the best team in the world.

Qikert leaves Virtus.Pro

Forgetting Qikert Marshall

Have you ever stayed in a relationship even though it's been over for a while because it's easier? That’s basically Qikert and Virtus.Pro.

Qikert made the decision to take offers from other teams after the Paris Major. We got that official announcement on July the 14th after VP had signed mir, a perfect resolution. Unfortunately, it didn’t play out like that as n0rb3r7 broke his hand and VP needed Qikert to stand in.

Now, we’re no doctors, but apparently, bones take a while to heal. So, Qikert was on duty throughout the start of this season. He ended up playing a total of 4 events after finally deciding to dump VP. They kept pulling him back in.

We’re happy to say, Qikert finally got over his ex! Erm… ex-team. After Gamers8 Qikert officially stated his time on VP has come to an end. This time, we’re pretty sure it’s final as VP has announced n0rb3r7’s return to the roster. The best part is you don’t even have to wait long to watch this VP roster in action. Their next game is in 3 days at the “PARI Dunav Party 2023”. Yeah, we don’t know either.

All we need now is Jame running through the Riyadh airport to stop Qikert from boarding a plane because n0rb3r7’s broken his other hand. Maybe some Deathmatch in the rain to bring the team back together.

In all seriousness, we wish Qikert the best of luck in his next endeavor and are curious to see what VP will do next.

VP is now:

• 🇷🇺 Jame
• 🇷🇺 FL1T
• 🇷🇺 n0rb3r7”
• 🇷🇺 fame
• 🇷🇺 mir

STUFF WE LIKE

Our recommendations for the week

• Graphic designer and all-around aesthetic curator novah is in love with 🎵 Movements’ new album, RUCKUS!, their first piece of new music since 2020. RUCKUS! is basically how we’d describe it, too, but he seems to like it, and he is one of the coolest members of staff.
• “Prepare to lose hours of your life to Wendigoon videos” wrote Horizzon to our Discord conversation on stuff we like. We’re not sure we have hours to waste, but if we did, it seems like a fun rabbithole to fall down - and this 🔫 real crime video is a lovely place to start.
• “Can I unironically just put 🏡 the city of Philadelphia?” was M3CHATRONIC’s input. Yeah. We guess you can. Go to Philadelphia, guys. They do great spreadable cheese.
• sxmba rediscovered the 🎸 Queens of the Stone Age and recommends listening to Songs for the Deaf, which contrary to the name, isn’t just for deaf people.
• Genuine lunatic and socials wizard, dickle, recommends 🎶 “the most dangerous band in the world” Hanatarash, with their equally insane My Dad is Car. It’s… quite something.
• aizyesque’s recommendation for the week is 🥂 Rosie’s Pig Rhubarb Cider, “in recognition of Birmingham City beating the cider-drinking Bristol farmers”. Sharp, sweet, and just alcoholic enough to get a buzz on. Yummy.
• Incipiens has recently gotten into the unusual super hero show 🎬 The Boys. He’s a bit late to it given everyone was raving about it years ago, but he’s obsessed now. After he’s done editing this newsletter, he’s going to go binge-watch several more episodes.

Gamers8 Final

Team Vitality ARE the best team in the world

It’s a good job we covered ourselves with that ENCE piece, eh?

After a blistering Anubis map where ENCE looked two steps ahead all over the map, it felt inevitable that they’d add another trophy to their limited pool and really cement their spot at the top, but ZywOo had other plans.

After a quiet map one, the Frenchman kicked into gear to drop two world class showings on map two and three to stake Vitality’s claim on the #1 throne.

After all, they did ruin ENCE’s run of BO3 wins against top opposition, win the Major and also make at least semis in every big tournament.

Mirage looked relatively close, but Vitality always felt largely in control, and Nuke was comfortable thanks to a seven round T side and a near-flawless CT side, with ZywOo dropping double figures on both halves of the map.

Team Vitality are probably the best team in the world, even though we said it doesn’t matter what happens if ENCE win. Sorry about the narrative whiplash. ENCE’s inability to really make the leap to #1 in big finals, in the really, really big moments, just about stops them from toppling Vitality.

Vitality have been there, done that. When the heat was on, map three of the final, they levelled up. They were comfortable, in the zone, but ENCE seemed to crumble, at least a little bit.

We suppose that Heroic comparison in the opening story was more on point than we thought.

Final standings:

1st 🇪🇺 Vitality - $400.000

2nd 🇪🇺 ENCE - $180.000

3-4th 🇪🇺 G2 - $80.000

3-4th 🇩🇰 Heroic - $80.000

5-8th 🇷🇺 Virtus.pro - $35.000

5-8th 🇷🇺 Cloud9 - $35.000

5-8th 🇪🇺 GamerLegion - $35.000

5-8th 🇪🇺 NAVI - $35.000

Everything Else

Sportswashing has gone too far

💰 Oil Money

• The Saudi Football clubs have run out of football players and are now signing CS players. Et tu, Pasha?
• Unsurprisingly FaZe wants in on the Saudi money too. They definitely need it.
• But no amount of money can fix tech issues apparently, at least ENCE had fun.

🏝️ The Desert does things to a man

• GamerLegion threw some shade at EG. Unfortunately, it was very real nealaN.
• At least EG didn't get hacked like Astralis.
• Anders took time off running the matrix to suggest a way for NA to get back. Just don’t read the comments.

🗡️ CS2 keeps delivering

• You can even play Assassins Creed in CS2. If you have enough friends.
• Valve is making Faceit HQ sweat a bit.
• MR12 fans are silver according to the data. Maybe that’s not what the chart said, but we did. Speaking of which incased you missed it, mr12 might return for CS2. Lucky you, we covered it last week.