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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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We’re designing a dream French team this week.
ESL Pro League playoffs are in full swing, and MOUZ get a big playoffs win, but without the arena, who cares? NAVI, meanwhile, are fighting each other. Very cool.
In a previous edition, we remembered a GuardiaN flick (or five). This week, it’s time to remember a kennyS flick.
There’s been a lot of discourse this week about whether or not kennyS would be in a French all-time five thanks to bodyy and ESL, so we thought we’d have a look into it and create our own.
But first, let’s take a look at his because it is… questionable.
It starts out fine. ZywOo, apEX, and NBK are all very solid players who more than deserve their spots on this proposed team, but then he lists Lucky and Graviti. Seriously?
Lucky is a fine player and Graviti has tonnes of potential, but this really feels like some rather forced brownnosing to gain favour with some new teammates - and because we consider ourselves to be Counter-Strike savants, we find that to be a little bit sickening.
For one, how can you not have a French dream team without shox? A true legend of the game, shox’s peak level was so ridiculous that there were plenty of accusations that he was actually just cheating the whole time.
Sure, his career may have slowly gone downhill, but we’re talking about peak levels here - and shox’s peak was insane.
It’s also outrageous to us to not include kennyS here. Let’s not forget that he got the AWP nerfed because of just how good he was. And before you try to use that as a reason to not pick him, he’s already got an answer for you, smartarse.
It’s not even like ZywOo AWPs that often either, the guy is basically a rifler. We’re sure he’d be happy to rifle full-time if it meant kenny could have a spot.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, our team would 100% include ZywOo, kennyS, shox, and apEX. As for the fifth player, we’d probably go for NBK-, but that’s a little more debatable considering apEX said this.
It could be Happy, bodyy, NBK-, even RpK or kioShiMa, but one thing is for certain - whoever you pick, the team would cook.
Reply and let us know who you would pick, but just know that we will forever disregard your opinion if it sucks.
NAVI's team dynamic has been closely scrutinized by the community this past week, following a clip from the team's comms during EPL Season 21. In the moment, Aleksib is seen arguing with iM after a round: "Can we fucking play one round without saying something after?".
After the discussion gained some traction, B1ad3 addressed the situation in an interview with BLAST.tv, downplaying its significance and explaining that "nothing special is happening if people are arguing during the game. When people argue, it shows they care”.
In the latest episode of HLTV Confirmed, dupreeh also weighed in, sharing a similar perspective: "It’s a completely normal occurrence in a top team".
So, will NAVI disband after this shocking clip surfaced, showing that Aleksib absolutely despises iM and that the team environment is completely toxic and unsustainable? Absolutely… according to the behavioral experts and seasoned tier-1 veterans over on Twitter and Reddit.
Honestly, we don’t see what the big deal is.
Anyone who’s ever been involved in highly competitive environments, especially in sports, knows that things like this are completely normal and shouldn’t be blown out of proportion. As dupreeh and B1ad3 pointed out - two of the most competitive and accomplished figures in the Counter-Strike scene - so you’d think they’d know a thing or two about competition.
But, of course, blowing things out of proportion is what Twitter and Reddit do best, so we’re not exactly surprised.
NAVI lost a single series in the ESL Pro League groups, so we – of course – had to talk about jL retiring to become a streamer. They went 3-1!
Tune in for this weeks banter with AN1MO and aizyesque on Overtime on Inferno to hear more about that and how:
We’re not sure if this is controversial, but we sneakily quite like the new ESL Pro League.
The new format is great. It’s no longer in Malta. It doesn’t take half the year just to get to a 40 team playoff that takes another three months to finish.
Only a slight exaggeration.
We have simply one problem with it; though it’s no longer in Malta, the playoffs are still in a studio, and that suuuuuucks. If this was a double Swiss system into arena playoffs, we’d be fully on board. But for now, we’re a little underwhelmed.
And that brings us on to how MOUZ won a game in the playoffs.
It’s hard not to be impressed by how Brollan has taken to IGLing, but we’ll give it a go. This is still just a studio event, and it’s only a win over a G2 team who have been, well, a bit crap so far this year, and as such we have to caveat it.
But MOUZ won a tight quarter-final with a new IGL in a big event against another top 8 team. We can caveat it all we want, but this was a big win for them.
The other quarter-final yesterday was Spirit vs. Eternal Fire, which, on paper, seemed like an easy win for Spirit. EF is a good team, but they’ve been pretty shaky of late, with losses to TYLOO, 3DMAX, Falcons, and Liquid in the last month. FaZe, too, though that happens to the best of us.
Spirit are, without doubt, a top 2 team in the world, and it seemed like it would be a simple win for them. They did manage the win, but it wasn’t as decisive as one might have expected. Eternal Fire remain a nightmare to play against on Anubis, and Nuke went to double OT, but Spirit eventually won out.
Today, though, we have a classic two-course menu. A starter that whets the palate but doesn’t fill you up in Vitality v Liquid (we’ll be amazed if Liquid take a map), and a humdinger main course of NAVI vs. The MongolZ.
Vitality are the best team in the world for our money, and Liquid are on borrowed time this deep in the tournament. NAVI, on the other hand, aren’t in great shape right now (even without the aforementioned in-fighting) and The MongolZ are flying high.
NAVI are the better team, but The MongolZ have the power of friendship, God and anime on their side. We expect two overtimes, three maps, and a close, close NAVI win, but that game could go in any way.
Watch it. We demand it.
