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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
For when you need a GOAT candidate who can actually hit a headshot
It’s been a quiet few days, so what better time than now to pay our respects to one of the greats?
PGL Astana is on, which is nice, but Astralis are ruining it slightly by actually winning games.
Oh, and Falcons are continuing to be Falcons. You might not like that, but we do.
Oh PGL Astana, it really is hard to care about you.
It’s not that there’s no intrigue at all, but your team list is just so uninspiring. It’s not you, it’s us. We just don’t care about BIG, paiN, ODDIK, MIBR, and whatever a “HOTU” is.
Two days down in the Swiss stage, there hasn’t even been any big upsets. G2 lost against ODDIK and MIBR, but they’re playing with both TaZ and Snax. Expecting them to win any games with that is like expecting Astralis to make it to a Major. It’s just not going to happen.
Aurora also lost to BIG, and weren’t exactly confident against HOTU. But they actually missed events for the first time this year, so they’re probably just shaking off some ring-rust.
It’s been nice to see NIP’s return to tier one, though.
They currently sit in the 1-1 bracket after a strong win over VP and an expected loss at the hands of Spirit. sjuush has impressed in both games, but we’d like to see more from arrozdoce and ewjerkz if NIP are actually going to get to where they want to be.
FURIA have also been a pleasant surprise.
They also find themselves in the 1-1 bracket with a loss to The MongolZ and a win against GamerLegion, but so far, we quite like what we see. FalleN already feels like he’s adapted to rifling better than cadiaN did, and molodoy looks like a genuinely good pick-up.
NAVI also look to be in decent form. Not that they should have been tested by M80 or BIG, but given how poor they’ve looked at times this year, nothing would surprise us.
Sadly, Astralis have also looked good thus far in Astana. Who knew HooXi would be a far better fit for this team than cadiaN? We did. Or at least I assume we did, this tl;dr writer wasn’t actually on staff when cadiaN joined, but I have faith in my comrades to have good opinions. Most of the time.
In all seriousness, we’re happy for HooXi. We like HooXi. It’s just a shame that his 2-0 record at this event is coming at the benefit of Astralis.
Elsewhere, The MongolZ have seemingly returned to form in Astana. They’re also 2-0 with wins against FURIA and MIBR. Maybe this will finally be the event they don’t disappoint us in the latter stages.
Ah, who are we kidding? We’ve accepted reality by now.
Group play continues throughout the week, and playoffs start early Friday. See you then, with a preview.
Falcons are still reportedly signing kyousuke. Don’t worry though TeSeS fans, kyousuke apparently won’t be replacing your boy. Magisk is out instead.
That means that everyone’s favourite 1.04-rated, flavour of the month darling will be safe, at least for now, and won’t yet be losing his spot to a player much better than him.
We know that makes it sound like we don’t like TeSeS, but don’t get us wrong – we love him. He just isn’t good enough to match Falcons’ ambitions, and that’s okay.
What isn’t okay, though, is that he’ll now be given a fate far worse than being benched. He’s going to get the worst roles on the team.
That’s right, instead of cashing in on him when his stock his highest, the goodwill points TeSeS has built up means that his rewards for a few impressive performances will be sabotage, making him the new scapegoat for any time that Falcons fail to win big.
Let’s just hope the rolecels use all their collective power to defend him when he suffers.
When it comes to the kyousuke signing, we really can’t fault Falcons for it. kyousuke seems destined to be a star, and you can say all you like about his non-existent tier one experience, but he’s playing at bigger events now and is consistently dominating the field. He’s going to be a star.
There is one team we can fault for the transfer of kyousuke, though, and that’s Spirit. Given how lacklustre they look against their closest competition this year, you’d think the org would finally be inclined to give donk some backup and start trying to win trophies again. But we guess not.
Forget all that bs about roles for a second, because we know some of you are internally “well ackchyually”’ing right now, players as good as donk and kyousuke can make it work. NiKo and malbsMd did.
If only magixx hadn’t decided to have his one good game in the Major final.
When you think of longevity, one name stands tall above the rest. Patrick ‘f0rest’ Lindberg.
The hairy headshot merchant has been about for a while, but where did it begin?
With a bang – or, more accurately, a 16-0 win against e-Srael. Man like TyresoGnagare is still figuring out recoil patterns but f0rest? He was showing the SteelSeries GO 2012 crowd why he was such a phenom in 1.6. The Ninjas would go on to win the LAN, and – by today’s standards – the measly prize pool of 30,000 SEK (~$4,539.57 USD).
But before Global Offensive, f0rest was already a Counter-Strike deity. He, along with other Mirage-Callout-Havers brought fnatic and SK squads to the top of 1.6. His cool composure and in-game prowess had more impact than Imperial Valkyries.
He was who your favourite player's favourite player was afraid of.
Then came the NIP streak - 87-0 on LAN. And like a sunrise through the leaves, we saw f0rest. He made CS look fun, effortless, and saucy – which was devastating for anyone on the receiving end.
Nowadays, the term era is thrown around very often, but there is no denying the legacy held by f0rp and co. Even if they were often playing against postmen and farmers.
Time went by, NIP fell from their throne. The old guard tried once more in Dignitas, which unfortunately left fans more inclined to visit the Swiss Clinic of the same name than actually watch their games. But still, he kept his head and headshot percentage high.
Fast forward to 2024. Alliance vs. JANO. He’s 36 years old, a stand-in, drops 21 kills in 2 maps, and doesn’t play the third. No explanation needed. Facing former teammate Allu in the YaLLa Compass Fall 2023 Contenders -what a tournament, btw - f0rest was in good company with such Swedish CS Royalty as plessen, b0denmaster and robiin. Yikes.
Was it the biggest match of his career? Not even close. But it was pure, unfiltered f0rest: no fuss, no fanfare — just surgical headshots and that quiet swagger that says I’ve been doing this longer than your Steam account’s existed.
Then, quietly, he announced his retirement. Did we see it coming? Yes. Did it suck to find out? Absolutely.
There was something about f0rest that was just timeless. The fabled NIP magic never left him, and he could always turn on the gas when it mattered. These roots run deep - and f0rest has stood the test of time.
Enjoyed this read? Then you might like our previous features of First game / Last game: KennyS, Kjaerbye and n0thing.
