Loading…
GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
Remember when events had no visa issues? Pepperidge farm remembers.
One more event, we’re almost there now. Or at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves.
Fortunately, though, there are actually some good teams at Dallas, and getting to watch ropz, ZywOo, NiKo and m0NESY is something we’ll never complain about.
It is a shame about BESTIA, though…
At IEM Dallas 2025, all eyes were locked on one man - a legendary figure in the Counter-Strike scene, making his long-awaited return to tier-one competition after a lengthy absence.
You already know who we’re talking about. His name carries too much weight to ignore.
Thank you for gracing us with your presence, nexa.
Oh yeah, and some guy name s1mple was there as well.
He actually didn’t do too bad, finishing with a 1.11 rating across seven maps. The sniper and this random little org called FaZe managed to take down BC.Game, but got eliminated at the hands of HEROIC. Not bad at all for someone who plays two FACEIT games every other week and hadn’t played an official since November.
As for skullz… ugly stuff. Sure, playing in a new team doesn’t exactly set you up for success, but this wasn’t a great showing for the Brazilian. Not even close.
In other news, Vitality won every game… again. Shocker.
They did come dangerously close to ending their streak against The MongolZ though, as the Mirage decider ended 13-11 in Vitality’s favor. Very entertaining series overall. If you haven’t watched it yet, we highly recommend it.
On the contrary, there are a few teams we strongly advise against watching. Unless you’re into self-inflicted pain, that is.
3DMAX, Lynn Vision, and Legacy put on performances that might just make you want to poke your eyes out. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
While GamerLegion seemed to bounce back from their disastrous Astana showing - making it to their second straight IEM playoffs - FURIA, on the other hand, looked far less convincing after what was a promising run in Kazakhstan. We’ll have to wait and see which version shows up at the Major.
In what was an even more predictable outcome than nexa and BC.Game being terrible, MOUZ and Falcons breezed through their opening matches to meet in the upper bracket final.
The series wasn’t nearly as entertaining as its Group A counterpart, but it was still a fun watch – torszi popped off, while none of the Falcons ever really took flight.
Aurora secured the final playoff spot after a rough start, dropping their opening match to HEROIC. They managed to bounce back through the lower bracket, going all the way and punching their ticket to the Playoffs by exacting revenge in the qualifying game.
With IEM Dallas’ Group Stage wrapped up, the teams qualified for the playoffs are:
Well, we all knew this was coming. It just isn’t possible to get through an event in the US without a visa issue.
So, if hallzerk likely being absent for Complexity wasn’t enough for you, you horrible bastards, don’t worry, because an entire team will now need to be replaced due to the failure to secure the necessary paperwork.
That team, if you’ve somehow managed to miss the controversy, is BESTIA. The Argentinian team, have been posting a lot on Twitter about their struggles to get their visas, and were ultimately replaced by Legacy as they missed the deadline set by BLAST to have them secured by.
Of course, this led many notable figures to come to their defence and criticise BLAST, especially when BESTIA pleaded their case, but further statements from BLAST has caused the community to be split in defence of the team and the tournament organiser.
Not sure where to stand on the matter? Well, allow us to play devil’s advocate for a minute.
Even if BESTIA have secured their visas now, we’re not entirely sure that should matter. The deadline was set and BESTIA failed to reach it. Considering that no other team has had this problem, should the rules be ignored so soon? We don’t think that sets the best precedent.
Besides, were BESTIA really going to do that much at the Major, anyway? dumau seems to think Legacy should’ve been there anyway, given the average results between the two teams, and let’s face it - Legacy aren’t doing f–ck all in their place.
There’s also no guarantee that US immigration will actually give BESTIA their visas on Monday, which, last time we checked, is further past the deadline than “one day”.
Sure, BESTIA can say they have them, but until they’re physically secured, there’s just no guarantee.
In truth, regardless of how many people you like telling you “it’s the right thing to do”, we’re just not sure it is. It might be the nice thing to do, fine, but TOs shouldn’t have to do things just because they’re “nice”. Nor should an organisation get their way just because they might have messed up and are now throwing their toys out the pram.
It sucks, but it’s life. And sometimes life sucks. Look at our lives for example, we’re all stuck in yellow levels on FACEIT. There aren’t many worse fates than that.
Jack’s away at IEM Dallas this week doing his “real job”. Instead, AN1MO is joined by our mulit-talented new man Ethan aka. fl0wz to cover for him on this week’s Overtime on Inferno.
He’s got plenty of harsh words for Team Spirit, and he’s not at all convinced that their win at PGL Astana means that they’re any good at all.
We’ve made it to the playoffs of the unofficial warm-up for the Major!
And based on how these teams are playing, some of them might need a few more scrims… cough G2 cough
Starting proceedings with the leftovers from Astana, we’re getting MongolZ vs. Aurora in a quarter-final for the second time in just as many weeks. Aurora somehow made the playoffs despite flying 32 hours straight, direct from Astana, and looking like they were still in airplane-mode for most of the groups.
Credit where it’s due: they’ve likely made more progress than their baggage.
This is the third time we’ll be seeing this match as a quarter-final this year, and each time it's delivered fireworks. That being said, even pretty colours and loud bangs can get a bit stale after a couple of repeats… At some point, you start hoping one of them just wins the whole thing, at least for the sake of variety if nothing else.
GamerLegion are set to make another surprise playoff appearance... this time with a stand-in?
In true NA-event fashion, sl3nd was handed the BESTIA treatment and denied a visa for Dallas. So Ash picked up the phone to his old mate acoR, told him to dig out the jersey, and together they’ve vibed their way through Group A, ironically knocking out the original vibes squad, G2, in the decider.
The third-best Polish team in the world couldn’t get it done in the battle of the stand-ins, despite a MEGA carry from malbs, further fuelling doubts over the direction of one of CS’ former giants.
GamerLegion’s continued run of form post MRQ further reinforces how utterly sh–t the current Major qualifying process is, and it’s a genuine shame we won't be seeing them in Austin. Unfortunately, however, they’ll be playing an admittedly slightly red-faced Falcons fresh off choking a 12–5 lead to MOUZ. Logic dictates the run ends here.
But, with acoR channeling vintage 2023 and ash cooking something questionable, who knows, maybe there’s a MOUZ tribute act loading up as we speak.
We wouldn’t bet on another 5–12 comeback, though.
Speaking of MOUZ, they’ve continued to show that kicking your IGL is ALWAYS the solution to your team's CS woes. They may as well not have played BCG and Liquid, having dispatched of those two in less time than it took ChrisJ to ruin his reputation.
There’s a reasonable argument to be made that MOUZ is the No.2 team in the world right now and are seriously in with a chance at winning the Major.
If any team looks poised to end Vitality’s Prime Astralis-esque streak right now, it would be them, but we’ll have to wait until the finals of Dallas to potentially see that mouth-watering matchup again, as Vitality was able to secure the other semi-finals spot after a minor scare from the The MongolZ.
All in all, bar the appearance of GamerLegion, which we actually did predict on this week's podcast, this is a fairly standard playoff bracket without much upset potential.
With just 12 days to go until the start of the Major, everyone will be looking to show their best and mark themselves as a contender for Counter-Strike's biggest trophy.
