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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
A set of heroes emerges in the Spodek.
While everyone else was bothered about petty things like ‘IEM Katowice’ and ‘the games’, zews decided it was time for something far, far better. Drama.
Despite our numerous prayers to the CS gods, Vitality beat The MongolZ.
Honestly, we’re not sure if gods could’ve done anything to stop it. This ropz Vitality roster looks insane. There’s basically no flaw unless you’re still unconvinced about apEX as an IGL. How based of you.
The strength of this roster really showed in this game.
Every player on Vitality got a positive rating, while ropz and ZywOo were particularly impressive. They locked every single clutch situation they found themselves in, with the one exception of when 910 made both mincemeat. The exception that proved the rule really…
Mirage especially showed the disparity between the teams.
The MongolZ love picking Mirage into teams, fully trusting themselves to be on par fragging-wise, and often having pretty good tricks. Usually, this works out pretty damn well for them.
But for this game, not only did Vitality keep everyone but 910 quiet. They looked a couple of steps ahead at every turn. They were fully at the wheel, for the entire game.
To be fair, how is anyone supposed to compete with this?
This team is pretty damn good. Pour one out for our Mongolian brethren, they were doomed from the start.
We just can't make it through a single week without drama, can we? Gotta love Counter-Strike.
It is no secret that tensions ran high within the Liquid camp during the cadiaN era - if you can even call it that. The team’s chemistry was never great, and the results reflected that.
Fast forward to today, and zews (Liquid’s coach at the time) has finally spilled the beans about the team’s environment and the relationships between the players - and let’s just say he didn’t hold back. Guess where he did it? On Snake & Banter, Thorin and Mauisnake’s podcast. Honestly, we can’t think of a better place to do it.
Now, zews dropped a ton of information, particularly about Twistzz and the overall team dynamics, all wrapped up in a long list of accusations. But don’t worry, we’ll focus on the juicier bits.
According to zews, the team began falling apart when Twistzz and cadiaN had a “very big fight”. Despite the coach’s efforts to mediate, the two players couldn’t even talk to each other. Zews went on to reveal that Twistzz told the team he “doesn’t like how Casper is as a human,” and demanded cadiaN to be removed from the roster, with himself stepping in as IGL, or he would leave the team.
Because of the way Twistzz allegedly handled the entire situation and the ongoing issues within the team, zews admitted that he doesn’t believe Twistzz is “going to be a good leader” for Liquid’s new lineup.
But the rant didn’t stop there. He also had some strong words for the org itself: “For Liquid, don’t be an organization where your back is against the wall. You’re one of the biggest orgs in the world, how the fuck are you being run by a kid?” he added.
Now, that last line comes off as being salty and a bit butthurt over getting booted, which would be understandable if the root of the team's issues didn’t stem from you. It’s no secret that Twistzz always had second thoughts about leaving FaZe, but this just adds more fuel to the fire.
Overall, this whole situation stinks of basic high school drama.
It’s something Liquid’s management should be able to control, but from the looks of it, they seem just as lost as everyone else.
Some games are classics for all the right reasons.
Some games are classics for all the wrong reasons. Usually NIP ones.
This semi-final, on the other hand, danced uncomfortably in the gaps between ‘good’ and ‘bad’, like Nicolas Cage, Darwin Nunez or the Mr Beast TV show.
Not sponsored, by the way. Mr Beast, if you’re reading…
This was a really enjoyable watch, but it wasn’t all that pretty. Team Spirit weren’t at their best. NAVI weren’t at their best. Thankfully, donk was still pretty good. Funny that.
donk dropped 55 in 51 rounds in a scrappy game and ultimately decided it all, as he so often does, but the story was that both these teams seem to make each other worse. NAVI are a well-drilled team who rarely make mistakes. Spirit are the best team in the world.
Neither of those things looked true in this semi-final. And yet, it was an enthralling watch.
sh1ro, donk and b1t all had massive moments in what became a show from the individuals rather than the teams, which was always more likely to suit the team with donk. w0nderful was quite notably absent, and you might find some criticism of him on social media.
We think that’s a little bit unfair. He’s been pretty reliable and a key part of a team that has won a hell of a lot in the last 12 months; but Counter-Strike fans are fickle mistresses. They always want a new roster.
donk had set the stage for his second Katowice win in as many years. He was ready.
Well, after just one tournament, it seems like Spirit’s reign of terror has come to an end.
Honestly, we didn’t have that one on the cards.
We say we, AN1MO did, he correctly predicted Vitality would win IEM Katowice on this week’s episode of Overtime on Inferno. And he’s definitely not the one writing this piece just so he can gloat about it.
Definitely not.
The final was pretty good, too. Even if the scorelines might suggest otherwise. A masterclass from Vitality on the first two maps, ZywOo finally got over his issues with air quality, and Spirit almost made Vitality sweat on map three.
Note that we said almost, Spirit’s comeback was mounted on the CT side, and the economy made sure that the game had 13-11 written all over it as soon as the comeback begin. Unless donk did donk things, of course. Which he couldn’t.
Vitality did everything they had to do in order to win, and by that we mean they kept donk quiet. As ropz and ZywOo both had maps with 2+ HLTV ratings, donk was restricted to his best showing being a - by his standards - measly 1.27, and just 0.88 across the three maps played.
Of course, that didn’t stop him from having some big plays, but we’re not sure anything could stop that.
Well, maybe nine pandas could. If you know you know.
In truth, we think that this final had the best possible outcome. If we’re not getting a full BO5, then a BO5 final better be done in three maps. Especially three entertaining maps like these were.
But more importantly, Vitality also showed that Spirit are in fact mortal. We were beginning to worry they may have created some horcruxes in Shanghai, but that’s evidently not the case.
Seeing Spirit lose is reassuring, true dominance is never fun, and with Vitality grabbing the first real trophy of the year, 2025 has just been blown wide open.
Final standings:
1st 🇪🇺 Vitality – $460.000
2nd 🇷🇺 Spirit – $216.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 NAVI – $108.000
3-4th 🇲🇳 The MongolZ – $108.000
5-6th 🇷🇺 Virtus.pro – $61.000
5-6th 🇹🇷 Eternal Fire – $61.000
7-8th 🇪🇺 GamerLegion – $38.000
7-8th 🇪🇺 FaZe – $38.000
