Loading…
GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
Everything you missed over the holidays.
We hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas period, regardless of whether or not you celebrate, and an even better start to 2024. Let’s make it a good ‘un.
Ah, the ol’ -STYKO +STYKO move is back for 2024.
We really thought we left that in… wow, was that really six years ago?
Apeks’ Major run seems a long time ago now, and the time since has been plagued with inconsistency, change, and disappointment — and nothing sums that up more than the decision to remove STYKO, followed by bringing him back a few months later.
With kyxsan heading to Heroic, as was rumoured, Apeks went back to the ol’ reliable and brought back the Slovakian to the line-up in an attempt to bring back some of the good vibes of early 2023.
It’s not that either of those moves is bad in a vacuum, just that it sort of suggests that they don’t understand how to fix the problems.
Still, we’ll never be sad to see STYKO back in the top tiers of Counter-Strike. He’s a player who spent so long underrated that there’s a real fire in his belly to prove himself, and since MOUZ he has proved he can hang with the best as an individual.
Plus, he just seems like a really good bloke, in truth.
In the meantime, he decided for some reason to tell us all how much he earns. We’re glad he did, but it seems like a brave decision. This enlightening video goes through how much he earns a month, sticker money, sponsorship money, and the total he makes in a year.
Don’t watch it if you’re going through a tough time, would be our advice. It’s… a lot of money.
A wise man once said: nothing at all.
That’s a proverb that stavn and Jabbi might have listened to, were they wise men.
The ‘Stabbi’ meme is too perfect to be forgotten or ignored, regardless of its truth. The fact that their names combine to create a word that sounds like backstabbing means that no matter what their side of the story was, nobody would care.
They still, however, insisted on telling everyone their side.
stavn and Jabbi (who stavn says will be referred to as “we” in the statement, because it was written together, even though he then uses his own name at times) told us all that what Heroic said about the benching situation was completely wrong.
They suggest that there was no agreement with Heroic re: the benching of cadiaN equalling a contract extension, and no prior contact with Astralis that coloured their decision.
The pair caught a bunch of flak for the statement, with some commenting on how it sounded like ‘Astralis PR’, and some saying that the statement didn’t need to be made at all.
We actually thought the statement was fair, and the addressed a lot of the concerns raised by Heroic. It’s not brilliant, but understandable that they’d want to clear their name.
Sadly for them, ‘Stabbi’ is just too perfect. You can’t fight fate.
Heroic ended up replacing the duo with kyxsan and nicoodoz, with NertZ also joining, leaving them with:
🇲🇰 kyxsan
🇩🇰 nicoodoz
🇮🇱 NertZ
🇩🇰 sjuush
🇩🇰 TeSeS
The Finnish org has taken “new year new me” a little too seriously.
After being picked apart by Falcons, ENCE was put in a tough spot. How do you rebuild a team right before the Major season? Turns out it’s easy, just steal Falcon’s idea and buy someone else's spot! If you can’t beat them, buy them.
So, ENCE grabbed a list, looked past the first 20 marked “too expensive” and picked their new core. Does 9INE ring a bell?
Yeah, they still exist, and guess what, they have a Major spot. Or should we say, had, because it’s ENCE’s now. You might be thinking: “Isn’t that a Polish team?” and you’d be correct, but that didn’t stop ENCE from signing Goofy, hades, and Kylar.
This does bring a few… interesting complications.
Like, what language does this team speak? gla1ve is the only “on-server” member of the team who isn't Polish (including their coach) so do they teach him or do they switch to English? The rest of the team’s staff isn’t Polish, so you’d imagine they’d talk in English but what about when they’re playing? Does gla1ve change his name to Łukasz now?
Aside from that, there’s also the concern about performance.
9INE have looked like a shadow of their former selves recently, and you have to wonder if they’ll recover. Maybe the new pressure will be good for them, especially partnered with a new IGL to freshen their perspective on the game. But they also left behind their star KEi, giving dycha the tough task of filling that void.
In any case, at least ENCE secured themselves that sweet sweet Major sticker money. You can’t argue with profit.
ENCE will start the year with:
🇩🇰 gla1ve
🇵🇱 dycha
🇵🇱 Goofy
🇵🇱 hades
🇵🇱 Kylar
If you finished that Heroic story thinking “so what happened to dupreeh? Wasn’t he on Heroic?” then… well done, actually. You’ve kept up with the whirlwind of CS roster moves better than most.
You’d be correct, but dupreeh’s contract only ran ‘til the end of the year.
With the Major cycle starting very, very soon (more on that Monday), dupreeh knows that he has to be in Copenhagen for it. He was at every CSGO Major, and it’d be a shame for him to miss out on the first CS2 one.
With that in mind, he’s found a home — replacing nicoodoz on Preasy. nicoodoz, as you might remember above, moved to Heroic.
Preasy had been on a bit of a run, and this adds some plot armour to an already scary team. They’re ready for a Major in their home country, it seems.
This leaves Preasy with:
🇩🇰 dupreeh
🇩🇰 TMB
🇩🇰 refrezh
🇩🇰 Altekz
🇩🇰 roej
Wake up babe, a new Colossus just dropped.
Old kassad, after a few years of punditry and hot takes, has waded back into the competitive scene as the coach and de facto GM of Singapore’s BLEED Esports.
But, we all know how hard it is to build a lineup from the ground up.
Step one: Find your IGL and your AWPer.
For IGL, kassad has gone with hampus, who wanted to build a Swedish super (read: mid) team but couldn’t get the funding. Still, it’s a solid first piece for the new lineup.
For AWPer, you can already see why entering CS can be so difficult. BLEED have picked up CeRq, who had a miserable time after COVID at EG but has been grinding CS2 to good effect.
There’s no doubt it’s a gamble, but we’ve seen kassad revive players’ careers before; just look where jkaem was pre-Renegades.
The rifling core is also taking advantage of benched players. faveN (who was always good for BIG, when he wasn’t missing games due to illness) and lauNX (albeit on loan) join to be the side’s two lurkers, and both have untapped potential.
BLEED did go for dupreeh (kassad didn’t like the agent), maxster (couldn’t play at RMRs since he was NIP’s 6th), and jks (who “respectfully refused”).
And, props to kassad for publicly acknowledging this. Transparency with transfers is a rare gift in CS, and we should give credit to those who deploy it rather than using it as a stick to beat them with (see HenryG at Cloud9).
Last but not least, BLEED have extracted CYPHER out of TSM, a British entry-fragger extraordinaire of Major fame who hasn’t really had a chance to repeat his feat since his move to TSM.
It’s a solid, international, generic, tier-two roster. But unless you have the backing of a state, that’s probably the best way to start out.
Their competition will be OG, TSM, BNE, BIG, GamerLegion, and NIP — not the heavy hitters.
The aim will be Major stickers, and a solid enough ranking to get a few invites. Achieve that, and kassad will already have put his money where his mouth is.
BLEED’s lineup:
🇸🇪 hampus
🇬🇧 CYPHER
🇩🇪 faveN
🇷🇴 lauNX
🇧🇬 CeRq
🤑 Money, Money, Money
🤨 Don’t be suspicious
🫡 Just putting it out there