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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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Heroic pulled Astralis’ pants down in Copenhagen.
G2 take a step back to go… forwards? Boombl4 is on AWPing duty and Denmark is in its own civil war.
As the famous saying goes “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it” and G2’s memory is terrible.
After nearly 2 years, nexa is back on the G2 roster. He’ll be replacing jks, who has to feel a little wronged. The reliable Aussie was instrumental in G2 picking up both Katowice and Cologne this year, but who else would G2 replace?
For whatever reason, it’s looking like someone had to go. Some, like OverDrive suggested that it’s because NiKo wants to make a team of his friends and that’s why he chose to stay at G2. Others have gone with the story that nexa’s salary is simply more affordable and NiKo’s new contract was too big to keep jks as well. We’re not sure which to believe, and it could be neither. Even if option 1 is in character.
The reason we’re looking for external reasons is, well in the server the move is… dubious at best. jks is a world-class anchor and a great 4th option to have. Don’t forget it was him and HuNter who got G2 over the line in the Katowice final. nexa is far from a bad player, but we haven’t seen enough of him released from the IGL role to know how he’ll perform. Especially in jks’ roles, nexa might be exposed.
Is there a chance this works out? Sure.
nexa might have a level we’ve simply not seen from him since he’s taken the IGL mantle. Just look at what ElectroNic is doing now he’s free. Plus, even with nexa as the IGL, G2 made a major final. With JACKZ and AMANEK no less, he didn’t have the luxury of m0NESY AWPing. Who knows, Maybe HooXi was the missing piece of that roster.
But we’re sceptical, nexa will have to seriously elevate his game. All the while there are plenty of talented riflers out there you can try and turn into jks 2.0, take for example Krimbo. But why bother taking risks if you can recycle the same 10 players? Are we right tier 1 GMs?
AWPing is harder in CS2. That much is clear.
So why don’t we just do away with the ‘AWPing’ role at all?
That’s the approach of Cloud9, who are basically just going five rifles even on defence, with Boombl4 taking it up only a few times a match.
Luckily, new IGL Boombl4 is used to a no-AWP system, because old 1WIN AWPer deko used to just say ‘I don’t want to AWP,’ and then not practice with it all week.
It’s easy to see why no good teams want to touch deko with a ten-foot pole, isn’t it?
But, whether thanks to that little bit of experience or not, Cloud9 have improved post-sh1ro.
electroNic is fragging like a maniac, up to a 1.14 rating in the new lineup. Perfecto is right with him, and the T sides finally look like they’ve moved on from nafany & groove’s sufferball shoulder peek simulator.
But, they’re still missing that je ne sais quoi.
Except, I do sais quoi: They don’t have a bloody AWPer.
You need 4 star riflers like Liquid 2019 to do this, and C9 have 1.5 right now. Which does makes you wonder — why didn’t they just get Boombl4 (or another IGL) in the summer?
Cutting nafany but keeping groove and HObbit is like amputating a rotting hand when you needed to get rid of the whole arm.
electroNic has since admitted he tilts too much to be an IGL long-term. But shouldn’t he have known that a few months ago?
Cloud9 are better now. But, just think of how good they would be with Boom’s system and sh1ro full-firing too. We deserved to see that.
Why exactly is NiKo so angry? We’ve got a couple of theories, but you might have to sit through talk about small hands and our favourite English slang first.
What’s worse than losing a derby to your rivals?
How about going 8-0 up and losing the first map 8-13?
What about losing to your rivals 0-2 while they have three stand-ins - two of which have previously been on your books - who are standing in for two players you just snaked from them?
Or even doing that in your home country to ensure you don’t play in front of your home crowd?
Fortunately for Astralis, they don’t need to choose from those four, as they did all of them in the space of about two hours.
In fact, from the time they went 8-0 up on Vertigo, they didn’t tweet until they’d nearly almost lost the second map. It must have been embarrassing.
Rubbing salt in the wounds was the vintage performance we saw on map one from dupreeh, who consistently found openings in the Astralis defence to punish their insolence.
He was much quieter on map two, but cadiaN stepped up with a 30-bomb in first OT to finish off Astralis and send them home before the Danish crowd even arrive.
They weren’t alone - NIP, with their own Danish contingent, were dumped out unceremoniously by NAVI.
In the upper bracket - otherwise known as the boring part where nobody’s event ends in heartbreak and crying - FaZe kept up their winning streak by beating an impressive Cloud9 after smashing NIP.
Cloud9, by the way, won their own grudge match against NAVI.
Complexity were the team who pushed Astralis to the brink with their own 2-12 comeback on map two, before losing to an ever-dominant Vitality in the upper final.
Tune in today as the playoff games begin. We’ll be back Monday morning with a recap and a winner of the $200K and the last spot for BLAST World Final in just 3 weeks.
