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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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Behold, the greatest team of all time
Vitality are the Major champions.
Another incredible performance to cap off an incredible season. They may have looked the lesser team in map one, but there was no doubting their greatness on maps two or three.
They might just be the best team of all time now, and we can’t wait to see how long they can keep it going for.
Turns out we’re not very smart.
In our defence, you asked specifically for Major hot takes, but that doesn’t totally excuse some of our batsh–t insane takes from the start of this process.
In fact, for some of us, it makes it look worse.
AN1MO, who deliberately left his surname off in order to not be associated with this moronic opinion, stated that “HEROIC will make it to playoffs”. Not only did you not really put your neck on the line (come on, that’s half-arsed), you were also wrong by a mile.
Not as wrong as macc, who said HEROIC were going to win the thing, but at least they tried a bit harder on the whole hot take thing. It’s still mental, though.
You might have noticed from the start of this newsletter that the grand final was The MongolZ vs. Vitality. This isn’t news, nor is it wholly surprising to the majority of you with at least a handful of neurons firing in the brain.
For staff writers Ty ‘simba’ Sherback and Elliott ‘aizyesque’ Griffiths, though, it is. simba had Vitality ‘go[ing] out early’ while aizyesque had The MongolZ going 0-3. The MongolZ have lost three maps, in fairness, it’s just they’ve won eight.
Great work, lads.
Logan had Wildcard making playoffs and NRG going 0-3, neither of which really worked out. He was at least guided by blind faith, if nothing else.
We weren’t all completely hopeless. Ethan ‘fl0wz’ Rogersen had Falcons going out in the quarter-finals, which was wrong but at least directionally correct that they would be disappointing. NiKo’s ability to fail at Majors never ceases to amaze.
Logan’s second prediction (slightly cheating, but we’ll let him off) was that “The MongolZ will be in the final against a random Stage 2 team”, before launching into some nonsense about the Krakow Major. Impressive at first, but got less impressive the more he talked.
A bit like the Joe Rogan podcast.
Finally, we’ve got one man (or mouse) who straddles the thin line between genius and insanity like Miley Cyrus straddles that wrecking ball in the most dated pop culture reference we can think of - dickle.
“Chinggis Warriors to make playoffs” was inspired in its level of copium, but he followed it up with “The MongolZ to make the final”. Miles away, then spot on, without even a full stop between them.
Genius. Insane. Flip a coin.
We’ll do better next time, promise.
Austin, Texas’ slogan is “keep Austin weird” and the fans definitely got the memo.
From blasting to kissing, the city is bustling with 10,000 gamers. While we can't promise good smells, the vibes are great.
The arena is packed, and our on-the-ground correspondent and pod producer extraordinaire, Fuffy, may have had one too many beers.
Playoffs began on Thursday with games going late into the night, but luckily, the local Denny's and Whataburger were around to service fans’ needs. Day two held the much-anticipated FaZe game, and the crowd, fueled by $25 margaritas, screamed their hearts out for EliGE and s1mple.
Unfortunately screaming doesn’t equal winning, so the fans band-wagoned to The MongolZ and chanted “F–ck you apEX” all the way to the Grand Final. This time the cheering worked, and a MongolZ victory on day three locked them in for a final showdown against Vitality.
Day four had a show match, but we don't talk about the show match. Then it was time for the main event. apEX and his middle finger greeted the crowd’s boos, then the crowd screamed because they love Mongolia.
Map one gave us hope that we'd be seeing a Cloud9-Boston level upset, but instead, The MongolZ did something even more NA - They lost.
As Team Vitality lifted the trophy, boos turned into cheers, and we started wondering if those chants carried another meaning. But 10,000 sweaty Americans and the most successful IGL in CS2 sounds like a really awkward date.
Although, we would pay good money to see it.
TheBLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 Grand Final.
Vitality on the brink of fulfilling their destiny. The MongolZ chasing immortality.
Everything led to this moment.
Kicking things off on Mirage, Vitality came out swinging, racing to a commanding 3-0 start that hinted at total control. However, The MongolZ rallied, flipping the script behind a cold 1v2 clutch from Techno4K and the trademark firepower that defines their squad.
As The MongolZ’ confidence surged, so did their momentum. Led by 910’s brilliance, they took firm control of the second half, keeping Vitality completely at bay.
In the end, they closed out the map with a convincing 13-5 score, making a strong statement to start the series.
Honestly, we’re not even sure what happened.
The Mongolian squad dismantled Vitality in a way no team had managed until now. They showed that, despite all the pre-match favoritism, they were here to leave everything on the server.
But the battle was far from over, as Vitality refused to go down without a fight.
On the first half of Dust 2, they came out firing, bouncing back from the disastrous Mirage thanks to ropz’s masterful B-site defense and the team’s solid CT execution, powering them to a commanding 9-3 lead.
Shoutout to this sick 1v3 clutch by Senzu, though.
With the power of friendship on their side, Vitality cruised through the second half of Dust 2. The MongolZ could only claim a single round before apEX and co. closed it out with a dominant 13-3 victory.
And just like that, Inferno would settle it all.
It couldn’t have started better for Vitality - on a map that had been a struggle for them this Major, having lost both previous matches.
This time, a strengthened B defense and The MongolZ struggling to close out post-plants helped Vitality push to an early 9-3 lead in the first half.
With the final pistol round in their hands, Vitality wasted no time, securing the map and the Major trophy with a decisive 13-6 win.
For The MongolZ, this run is nothing short of historic - not just for Mongolian Counter-Strike, but for the entire region.
They stood toe-to-toe with one of the most dominant teams in the history of the game, pushing Vitality to the edge in the Grand Final of a Major. The crowds at home - and fans everywhere - are proud of your effort. In our eyes, you’ve already become legends.
But in Austin, eternity called, and Vitality answered.
Years from now, we’ll be telling our children and grandchildren just how unstoppable Vitality were in their era.
An era forged in a way only one game on Earth can. The best f-cking game on Earth.
Counter-Strike.
Final standings:
1st 🇪🇺 Vitality – $500.000
2nd 🇲🇳 The MongolZ - $170.000
3-4th 🇧🇷 paiN - $80.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 MOUZ - $80.000
5-8th 🇪🇺 FaZe - $45.000
5-8th 🇪🇺 NAVI - $45.000
5-8th 🇧🇷 FURIA - $45.000
5-8th 🇷🇺 Spirit - $45.000
And so the first season of 2025 has come to an end.
A season that began with Spirit lifting an often forgotten trophy at BLAST Bounty, everything that came after was won by Vitality. A run so strong eclipses even Astralis’ at the height of their powers, we’ll likely never see dominance like it again in the modern era.
One of the big questions heading into next season will be whether or not they can maintain their level for an even longer period of time, or if one of their many chasers will finally catch up.
Chief of those will be Spirit.
The team that we all expect so much more from, their win in Shanghai should have propelled them to new heights. But their stagnant roster has, unsurprisingly, stagnated, and many will now be expecting them to make changes going into the new season.
Another team that actually know will be making changes is Falcons, who are set to bring in kyousuke over the break.
The biggest disappointment in Austin, we have our concerns that kyousuke will create more problems that he fixes, but another change to the team could prevent that and see Falcons become Vitality’s true number one contender.
Two teams we expect to look the same are MOUZ and The MongolZ.
Both were exceptional in the first half of the year, and given how both teams seem to have gotten over their stage fright, it’s only a matter of time before they get to lift one of the biggest trophies in CS.
Of course, there’s also the number of teams that should be far better than they have been this year.
Astralis have now signed HooXi after an impressive stand-in period, while FURIA and FaZe also looked much better with YEKINDAR and s1mple. Whether or not that can be something consistent, or if the latter two will even join permanently is yet to be soon, but they should all go a long way in making their respective teams matter again.
And that also brings us to Liquid, and to NAVI. Two teams, who, without sugarcoating it, have had utterly dreadful first halves of the year.
Both terrible in their own way, changes are a guarantee over the break, but neither team has an obvious answer if they hope to get back to their glory days within CS. makazze could go a long way for NAVI, if they can keep hold of players they’d want to hang on to, but it’s really not looking good for any move Liquid can make.
The same is true for G2, who desperately need to shake off the Snax and TaZ era.
SunPayus and sAw are coming in, and they will make them better, but neither man is enough. There will need to be more changes and more money spent if G2 have any hope of lifting a trophy again.
In short, if you thought the rostermania at the start of the year was crazy, expect this one to get f-cking mental.
Never before have so many teams disappointed in such a way before, never before have many of these players played against a team as so seemingly perfect as Vitality. Questions must be asked by a lot of organisations, and you can be certain they will be.
Whatever happens, though, we’ll be here for it all. Whether a move makes us feel giddy with excitement, utterly confused, or feel absolutely nothing at all, you can be sure that you’ll always – whether you ask for it or not – be getting our opinion on it.
So, with that, another season comes to a close and the only thing left for us to do is thank you, our loyal reader, for always being along for the ride with us.
Bringing you the news, good or bad, is never not a joy to us all, and we look forward to continuing to do so as the new season begins!
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