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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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Plus a huge game update.
A new update dropped last night with big changes to economy, Vertigo and incendiaries, 9INE have a new cursed roster and the first Major of 2025 might have its location leaked.
Also welcome to all of you who came here for Bootcamp. We think you'll want to stay here for our jokes. Or at least the news.
Pistol round winners, rejoice.
Now the Ts won’t have a better buy than you just because they planted the bomb and you had the audacity to defuse it. At least in theory.
Last night’s update changed the money Ts get from $800 to $600, meaning they’ll only have a minimum of $2650 per person on the second, which isn’t quite enough to get a Galil and armour, unless they get a single kill, obviously.
It’s a start, at least.
In the meantime, incendiaries have gotten $100 cheaper, which sounds great until you realise they’re now a lot worse. Great. Good luck stopping any push that isn’t through a doorway.
They also only last 5.5 seconds instead of 7, which… fine, we guess.
Vertigo has gone through a pretty dramatic shift. But ”why is it still in the map pool if it needed changes?” we hear you ask.
New catwalk at A bombsite
The A site has a lot, with a pathway from short to elevator opening up, and a walkway behind the site that gives CTs a little more cover. This opens up some more positions, making elevator far less claustrophobic and playing behind the headshot box, which should make the site more diverse and interesting to play. We like.
There’s some nonsense about chickens being able to sit down that, honestly, only annoys us that somebody thought was worth spending time on doing. We’re becoming very jaded in our old age.
It’s… an interesting set of changes. The Vertigo ones seem intriguing, at least, and the economy changes are nice. But having a much worse incendiary, even if it’s cheaper, doesn’t feel great.
A bit of a curveball for pros, but fun for us, as we get to see them learn on the job at IEM Dallas that starts Monday.
Another week, another wave of roster (and coaching) moves.
Busy week in the Tier 2 depths.
We’re very USA-focused this week, which is why cadiaN has a cowboy hat. The next Major, the new dodgy league and fixing Team Liquid with… Woro2k?
Mouz became #1 on HLTV, and therefore are the best team in the world. Right
HLTV rankings are the most definitive team rankings; they account for every event, every team, and the ranking mechanism has had years to mature. So, MOUZ taking the #1 spot does make them the best ranked in the world, technically.
But, does that really mean they’re the best team? Like, if they played FaZe in a final tomorrow would you have faith they’d win?
And if you’re a MOUZ fan who just answered “obviously” we’d like to invite you to put aside that bias. This isn’t x.com.
Outside of MOUZ, it feels a little unfair to NAVI. Winning a Major wasn’t enough for them. Rightfully so, as FaZe were in the midst of an unprecedented finals run. Of which they lost most.
Which kind of makes it funnier that after an actual event win at IEM Chengdu, they get leapfrogged by MOUZ winning EPL. Did FaZe lose that much at EPL?
Are we saying it’s unjust to call MOUZ #1? Not really. The real problem is that none of us know how to define the world's best team.
HLTV does a pretty good job, and in the eyes of the pros, it’s the rank that matters most. So to them, us saying it doesn’t matter because of inconsistency or thought exercises, is a little silly. Though, we would all do better to consider context more, not just numbers. Hit that ranking details button once in a while.
So congrats MOUZ! In the only metric that really matters, you’re the best around. For now.
These are the top-ranked teams as of May 20:
Hope you guys like freedom, BBQ and visa issues.
Rumours seem to suggest - and they’re rarely wrong on these matters - that the first Major of 2025 will be in the USA. Specifically, Austin, Texas. It’s going to be hot.
Texas is no stranger to esports, with some suggesting the state has made a point of trying to be something of a hotbed for the digital kind of sports that one might assume ‘real Texans’ wouldn’t approve of.
In fact, IEM Dallas starts next week in Texas.
This will make it the fourth Major in the US, which matches Germany as the most common country for Majors. A bitter person might suggest that Americans saying ‘about time’ are pampered, and they actually are getting far too many Majors.
Not us though. We’re not bitter.
On a serious note, it’s a fun city to travel to with some great food, hot weather and very few good hometown players. It’s just like Antwerp. I mean their official’ish city slogan is “keep Austin weird”, which has made for an eclectic melting pot of people and businesses.
The Major will be produced by BLAST, too, which is a surefire sign of quality. Let’s just all hope Complexity or Team Liquid don’t win.
We wouldn’t know how to deal with happy American fans again.
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