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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
donk fulfills the prophecy, as karrigan cries.
Phew. What a great year of Counter-Strike, and another one in the books. Now it’s time to hug your family, cook some great food and enjoy Christmas. It’s a particularly sweet one for Team Spirit fans.
Look, we’re happy and all that Asia got its Major. Honestly, we are. We really are. It’s just…
This game was at 6AM UK time, and 7AM European time. If we could not do that again, it’d be great. And yes, we know that for some of you this is a rare Major that you could watch, and we’re happy for you - but this must have been one of the least viewed Majors of the modern era.
Anyway. MOUZ vs Spirit. A game we were definitely in a lucid state while watching.
In fairness, we were more awake than xertioN was. The young entry fragger is a decent player - a very good one at times - but man does he stink the place out in big games sometimes. He had just 13 kills combined on the final two maps as Spirit came from 0-1 down to stop MOUZ’ run.
It’s hard to point to any MOUZ player who was good in those two maps, which is probably why they lost. Spirit didn’t even need a groundshaking performance from donk in this game, which is not a good sign for MOUZ.
Spirit took Ancient 13-4 and Mirage 13-7, barely even tested on either. MOUZ on stage, man. They just don’t show up.
There’s this feeling about MOUZ that they just have a soft underbelly, and it’s becoming harder and harder to deny it. Not that we were ever trying, mind.
They even had a rare Brollan take over on map one, and it still wasn’t enough. It’s a shame, but this MOUZ team is just missing something. A little je ne sais quoi, a little X factor.
This was probably their last chance of winning a Major together - but these players will have many more chances on other rosters, maybe even under the MOUZ name.
For Spirit, it was proof that they’re not just a one man team, and we’re sure we won’t have to walk that statement back ever!
Team Spirit are in the Major final. donk’s destiny, it seems.
FaZe walked into G2’s party and took over the playlist. No last dances here.
FaZe Clan did what no one believed they could and beat G2, confidently, 2-0. FaZe played an absolutely storming series, with what can only be described as a masterclass of IGLing by karrigan on the T-side of Ancient. He called circles around snax, which isn’t even an insult to Snax, karrigan is just simply the best to ever do it.
But despite FaZe’s great performance, G2 didn’t really show up.
malbsMd, NiKo, and m0NESY, in that order, were G2’s worst performers in this series. For malbsMd, inexperience can excuse him, but m0NESY? Not so much. He’s an expected star for this team, and he was anonymous throughout. At least he has years of his career ahead of him.
However, for NiKo, this will be a “major” stain on his legacy.
This was NiKo’s best shot at a Major since he choked those two finals, and it might also have been his last real shot with his impending move to Falcons. Yet, he failed to hold up his end of the bargain. Instead, HuNter was by far G2’s best player this series. Even Snax fragged out on Nuke.
Credit to FaZe where it’s due, they shut NiKo down, especially on his T-side Nuke, with rain having his number on smoke spams.
But surely the greatest rifler of all time (until donk does another year or two) should’ve had answers.
In any case, this likely spells the end of this era of G2, with malbsMd poised to take over NiKo’s roles. Whether that’ll be all that changes, only time will tell. For now, all we know is that this is likely the end of NiKo’s hopes to be a Major champion. Unless Falcons seriously surprise us.
The middest of rosters you’ve never heard of has disbanded.
TSM has announced it is parting ways with valde, niko (the Danish one), and coach Rejin, while also benching sirah, acoR, and Zyphon as they "evaluate [their] next roster moves ahead of the 2025 season.”
Although the org didn't specify any reasons behind their decisions, acoR provided some insight, revealing that the moves were "due to budget reasons".
After failing to secure any significant tournament wins in the Tier 2 scene and, more crucially, missing out on a Major spot – along with the sticker money that could have kept them afloat – it seems TSM has run out of funds to sustain their Danish roster and is now looking to rebuild.
According to Complexity’s GM, they’re focusing on NA players to assemble their next roster. But honestly, if you couldn’t achieve anything of value with your previous lineup, it's hard to see how a switch to NA talent will lead to success.
Unless, of course, your ultimate goal is to win Launders LAN.
Given that the year began with Spirit vs FaZe, it’s only fitting that it ended in the exact same way.
And we’re so glad it did.
A full, three-map affair, we were slightly concerned we would witness another dominant showing like in Katowice when donk and magixx ploughed through FaZe on Nuke, but we couldn’t have been more wrong.
In true FaZe fashion, FaZe bounced back on Ancient, winning the map with an even more dominant scoreline as they tied the series off the back of a 13-6 win.
At this point we were now starting to feel a different type of concern. A concern that donk and magixx were going to be let down in the most dramatic fashion by the rest of their team.
For context, donk and magixx combined for 41 kills in that Ancient drubbing. zont1x, sh1ro, and chopper? They had 17. Seven. Teen.
With three of Spirit’s stars completely shut out of the game, the FaZe aura became visible once again. A relentless, resilient force of nature that is inexplicably both terrifying and captivating whenever it takes hold.
But Spirit, for all the times they have crumbled in 2024, chose the right time to find their composure.
As we headed into Dust2, Spirit flipped the momentum once more, brawling their way to a 8-4 lead as donk went 18-5 on their CT half. They even picked up four of the next five rounds, too, but that was when it began to get dicey. And we were hooked.
We all know of the legendary FaZe Clan choke against Cloud9, so as FaZe began to claw their way back into the game, it started to feel like the fates had finally smiled upon rain and karrigan.
They were going to do it. They were going to come back. And they were going to do it in the most incredible way possible after some rounds that seemed almost impossible to win.
Until they didn’t.
Despite having a quiet series until that point, it was sh1ro who fired the all-important shots. Left in a 1v2 as FaZe looked to force overtime, the AWPer proved once and for all that he actually does have bottle, cutting down karrigan and broky to claim Spirit’s first Major trophy.
An incredible win that capped off another incredible, record-breaking tournament from donk, it may not have been clean, but honestly, who gives a f–ck?
A result that seemed like destiny given that it’s the year of the dragon, the year ended as it began, with Spirit on top. We think they might remain there for a while.
And that deserves a big chopper thumbs up.
Final standings:
1st 🇷🇺 Spirit – $500.000
2nd 🇪🇺 FaZe – $170.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 G2 Esports – $80.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 MOUZ – $80.000
5-8th 🇪🇺 Vitality – $45.000
5-8th 🇪🇺 HEROIC – $45.000
5-8th 🏳️ Liquid – $45.000
5-8th 🇲🇳 The MongolZ – $45.000
