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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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When you’re so good that that they have to nerf your gun
YaLLa Compass is on this week. Weren’t aware? Don’t worry, we got you.
IEM Melbourne also kicks off tomorrow, no one will be awake to watch it so we’ve got you covered on that, too.
This morning we’re also remembering one of the GOATs, because m0NESY could never.
Correction: In our last edition we wrongly stated that m0NESY was rumored to join G2, when he in fact was already signed to the team. * Crash_ drink more coffee before you edit *
IEM Melbourne is here and while it might not be Sydney, we’re feeling pretty good about the return of shoeys to tier one Counter-Strike.
We’re also feeling good about the return of siuhy to tier one Counter-Strike. His debut with Liquid at PGL Bucharest couldn’t have gone much worse, so surely it has to go better over in Australia.
When the teams get going, all eyes (as dreary as they may be) will be on Vitality. They can wrap up their ESL Grand Slam in Melbourne, and given the lack of Spirit, it looks likely they’ll do so with ease.
That is, unless MOUZ have closed the gap. From a 0-3 sweep to a thrilling 2-3 loss, MOUZ have improved drastically in their two finals against Vitality, and we have a sneaky feeling that the third time might be the charm for Spinx to get one over on his old team.
Fortunately, m0NESY’s debut on Falcons will kick off at a slightly nicer time (for the Europeans at least). Expectations will undoubtedly be high for the Baby GOAT on his new team, and he couldn’t ask for a much better first opponent than SAW.
FaZe and NAVI will also both be in attendance Down Under, but honestly, we’ve pretty much lost all faith in them at this point. At some point, we know FaZe will make us look stupid for saying that when they have their one event of the year, but we’re pretty sure it won’t be this one.
The only other big hitter, in theory, is The MongolZ. But, given how shaky they’ve looked recently, we’re a little concerned we’ll be let down again. We love you boys, please remember how to shoot things.
A little lower down the ladder of expectation, we are excited to see GamerLegion. Melbourne’s going to go one of two ways for them after their Major disappointment, and if they don’t sink, we wouldn’t be surprised to see them battling it out in the playoffs.
And this is all without mentioning Complexity, who have looked legitimately good recently. Yeah, we don’t get it either, but it’s happening.
Rounding out the team list are paiN, VP, 3DMAX, BIG, FlyQuest, and MIBR.
We would make comments about them, but our parents always told us that if we’ve got nothing nice to say, we shouldn’t say anything at all.
Imagine being so good that they have to nerf your gun just to give everyone else a chance.
Given that m0NESY has made a big move in the past week, we thought it was a good idea to revisit the career of the original CS:GO AWP god by bringing back our irregular First Game/Last Game segment.
And if that introduction (or that image) wasn’t obvious - we’re talking about kennyS.
kennyS’ first recorded game came at DreamHack Valencia 2012, an event in which his team at the time, VeryGames, would go on to finish second and receive a whopping $1,250 for doing so.
They faced DN-Gaming, a Spanish team featuring a bunch of names that we aren’t going to pretend to know who they are. That said, they do have some fantastic names in the literal sense: MakalisteR, MasterdAN, Gandalf, mansito and then shamefully completed by a bloke named scott.
VeryGames featured some far more familiar faces. Ex6TenZ, NBK-, and SmithZz were all on the team and fragging. kennyS was obviously fragging too – he went 16-4 in the 16-0 battering on Dust2.
However, it was Le Tank, RpK, that really stole the show. France’s somewhat forgotten star was smashing his Spanish foes and picking up 25 kills just four months before he left CS for almost two years.
kennyS’ last game couldn’t be any more different to his first, but there’s something poetic about the fact that he went out on a grand final appearance.
We understand if you just got a bit confused there. We all saw him retire in Paris after his stint with Falcons ended in RMR failure. But that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t played some games since, and the final game on his HLTV page is honestly just quite bizarre.
Coming at BLAST The Draft Season 1, his final game was in a 3-2 loss in Malaysia, while playing as True Rippers’ resident legend against shox’ Marcos.
Sorry, what?
For the uninitiated, BLAST The Draft was effectively a showmatch tournament that saw six legends of the game drafted onto teams from India and Pakistan to shine a light on one of Counter-Strike’s most unseen regions.
kennyS and shox were two of those legends, and unlike one particular Swedish fraud and his 0.86 rating, they absolutely fried for its duration.
Anyway, back to the game in question –
A BO5 final, kennyS was the highest-fragging player on the server, dropping a 106-73 statline in the 2-3 defeat. And shox? Well, he went 97-70 to carry his team to the trophy.
It might not have been the dream grand final for him to end his career on, or even win. But at least the five people who were watching got to see the king of the AWPers be dominant one last time.
Now that the MRQs have wrapped up, things have been a bit light on stories.
So, we’ve decided to dive into the choppy waters of online tier 2 CS and take a closer look at YaLLa Compass Spring 2025. Despite its tier 2 label, this tournament featured a hefty $300K prize pool. Pocket change.
But what really made the event stand out were its winners, and the dominant way they pulled it off.
NAVI Junior, NAVI’s academy squad with an average age of just 18, steamrolled the competition. Facing very solid teams like 9Pandas, Nemiga, and ENCE, they went undefeated on their way to the $75K first-place prize.
They started by cruising through group play, securing a Playoff spot. From there, they took down ECLOT in the semis and swept ENCE in the grand final to bring home the virtual trophy.
Now, we’ve got to talk about makazze, NAVI Junior’s brightest star.
Everyone’s been buzzing about kyousuke - and rightfully so, don’t get us wrong - but please don’t sleep on this kid. He’s been carrying NAVI Junior all season. Just to give you a glimpse, he wrapped up this tournament with a 1.36 rating.
Overall, this is incredibly impressive from the squad, who’ve now put themselves in a prime position to secure invites to tier 1 events. The only issue? If NAVI are present in those, the Junior team won’t be able to accept the invites. A real shame, considering their huge potential.
Inevitably, this opens the door for some members of the squad to be picked up by other teams looking to strengthen their ranks – or even for the entire lineup to be snatched up, should a very wealthy org decide to make a move and invest in a VRS-proven roster.
There’s also the strong possibility of promotion. Things haven’t been looking great recently for NAVI’s main team, and if that trend continues, B1ad3 might start eyeing some of these young talents as the solution to their problems. And that wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened.
Honestly, at this point, they might just be better than the main team.
