Loading…
GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
Liquid capitulated in Cologne.
Mauisnake is back in business, SAW make their LANXESS debut and we ponder on if G2 are good or not, like Nicolas Cage.
Ah, Team Liquid. You just can’t help it, can you?
No matter what the lineup is, no matter how exciting you are, no matter how good you are, you just always have that choking gene.
Team Liquid were on the brink of Cologne playoffs before choking egregiously against FaZe Clan, and we mean egregiously. Up 11-1 (11-1!) on Mirage, they succumbed to the FaZe aura and somehow managed to screw up a ten-round lead.
They needed two rounds. They got one and lost in overtime. Embarrassing.
For all the talk about ultimate, he was comfortably Liquid’s best player in their one-map win and almost single-handedly the reason they got to map three. He dropped 32 in an OT win on Nuke, and was not really the problem on Mirage either.
It was a ridiculous comeback from FaZe, but… come on, lads.
Liquid had knocked out Complexity to get to the deciding game, and FaZe had 2-0’d Falcons, which, obviously. The other deciding game somehow shook out as G2 vs paiN, with the former beating Astralis and the latter beating The MongolZ.
SAW looked like they might be pulling off a crazy win over NAVI when they took Nuke, but they got hammered on the remaining maps to drop into the quarter-finals, while
Hot takes are back on the menu at BLAST.
BLAST has announced the talent lineup for BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, and it’s as BLAST as BLAST comes. Except, of course, that Mauisnake is back at an event.
It’s been a little while since we’ve seen Maui, since February in fact. Since then he’s mostly been streaming, but thank god he decided to leave his house again. Between his stream and his Twitter, he had us worried. There are only so many takes a man can take.
The rest of Showdown has a predictable quality BLAST lineup.
Pimp is Maui’s desk partner, while Launders and Scrawny will be blessing our ears, along with Vince and Jacky who are always welcome additions. And what would any event be without BanKs doing interviews - even if it is an online event? We need to know who’s feeling “thank you”.
Showdown starts on Wednesday withFaZe vs. Rare Atom playing at 15:30, a banger opener if you ask us because Chinese CS and FaZe were born to meet. But there’s more to see, like NIP vs. AMKAL or VP vs. Zero Tenacity.
With the talent at Showdown, they’ll make these matches entertaining. Even if you’ve never heard of brutmonster.
In this podcast, Logan is saddened by his missing co-host, but powers through it to talk about
We’re into the money-makers now.
This is where the big movers and shakers make their names. This is where the teeth get cut and the diamonds are smoothed. This is IEM Cologne, in the LANXESS Arena. Stand up and be counted.
Now we’ve got the platitudes out the way…
We’re on the ground in Cologne and will be dropping you daily newsletters for the next few days, and boy howdy do we have some gems for you.
We’re kicking off tomorrow with FaZe vs SAW, which is a really tough one to call. At first it seems like a David vs Goliath, but this is a wounded, beatable Goliath and a David who has been working out.
FaZe are a team who, while they pulled off a crazy comeback, were 1-11 down to Liquid. SAW won’t be quite as generous if they get in front, which has been quite clear from their games so far. They smacked G2, let’s not forget.
MOUZ enter the LANXESS with question marks over their arena ability, but they face a G2 team who are a different team from day to day. If the best G2 show up, MOUZ will shrivel up and hide, but if the worst G2 show up, then MOUZ’ crowd yips won’t have any effect whatsoever.
Both games could be brilliant, but both could easily be a walkover.
Either way, we’re bloody excited to watch them. Vamos!
