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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
No one will miss this map anyway
Counter-Strike is back, thank God, and our predictions are already in shambles.
There was also a pretty big update this week, especially if you’re not a fan of Anubis.
So, remember when we attempted to preview how FISSURE Playground 1 would go in our last edition?
Yeah… about that. Let’s just say pretty much everything we predicted went the other way.
Now, you could say we’re terrible at this – and fair enough – but hear us out: If every single prediction is wrong, doesn’t that make us some kind of reverse oracle? Geniuses, but backwards?
Please. We’ve hit rock bottom. Just nod and agree.
Let’s start with the (very) few things we got right. GamerLegion topped Group A, powered by a strong debut from budget ZywOo, while Wildcard completely tanked. Maybe kicking your IGL and your star AWPer wasn’t the brightest idea…
Then there’s FURIA, one of the big surprises of the tournament, and not in a good way. Turns out they’re bad again.
They came in as one of the favourites, but couldn’t even qualify for Playoffs after back-to-back losses to the revamped SAW. We’re starting to think the secret to unlocking prime YEKINDAR is to never actually sign him.
As for Group B… well, we told you anything could happen.
Lynn Vision went undefeated and locked in their spot at the Sava Center in a way no one expected but everyone saw coming. Along the way, they dropped a strong contender for Play of the Year with this ridiculous 1v5 from z4kr.
Meanwhile, Rare Atom finished dead last, and 3DMAX pulled off a second-place finish. The real disappointment here? paiN. This was one of the softer groups on paper, and they completely whiffed. Outside of snow, no one on the team looked capable of keeping up.
And even crazier than Lynn Vision going undefeated or Major semifinalists missing Playoffs is the fact that TYLOO topped Group C… with their coach standing in.
How the f-ck, you ask? Well, it’s actually pretty simple: JamYoung.
As for Virtus.Pro, we have to give credit where it’s due. We didn’t think it was possible, but they’ve managed to become even worse than before by placing rock bottom, below MIBR and Astralis. That’s an accomplishment in itself.
Finally, Group D might’ve shown us that even HEROIC have a limit to how many times they can successfully rebuild.
Okay, maybe we’re overreacting – it is their first tournament with this lineup – but finishing dead last in a group with BIG, Complexity, and BetBoom? Not exactly a promising start.
Lucky for BetBoom, they found themselves in the decider BO3 against BIG. Since BIG seems to qualify only for those random tier 12 LANs in Germany, the Russians secured the last Playoff spot in Group D behind Complexity.
The playoffs begin today with the following matchups. Read on for our preview.
With rostermania over, it’s time to look back on all the changes (or rather lack of, in Liquid’s case) in this week’s Overtime on Inferno.
NovaH and AN1MO judge which teams are going to struggle this season and which will climb the rankings.
All the things CT’s could do.
If they had a little (more) money.
Well, now they do.
In the latest Counter-Strike update, Valve finally showed some love to the CT economy. They also threw in a few gameplay tweaks and changes to trading, splitting the community between those who think scamming is dead and those who think it just got a whole lot easier.
But first, the stuff that actually impacts the game.
Valve added a “shared team award” for CTs, giving the team $50 for every enemy killed. It might not sound like much, but that extra $250 can make a big difference, especially when you win pistol and the Ts still come out with a better buy just because they planted.
The MP9 also got hit with a well-deserved nerf, increasing its recoil and cutting down jumping accuracy.
Let’s be honest, if you haven’t been one-tapped by a flying MP9, you probably haven’t played much CS lately. Now we just have to wait another six months for a Five-SeveN nerf.
The incendiary grenade’s fire now spreads a bit quickly, although it’s still miles worse than the T’s molly. But hey, it’s something.
Skin enthusiasts also got hit with changes, and saying they overreacted would be putting it lightly. Suddenly, it was the end of the world because Valve added a feature that lets users revoke all item trades from the last 7 days. Relax, your pixels aren’t going anywhere (see zipeL’s takes).
Oh, and there was this minor change where some map got swapped for another. Who cares, honestly.
Just kidding, keep reading.
We’re going to be really honest with you guys: We thought Lynn Vision’s performance in the Austin Major was going to be a complete fluke. Guess not.
Honestly? We’re bloody chuffed about it. (that's brit-slang for ‘pleased’)
However, we do have our concerns for the future of their run at FISSURE Playground. Astralis might not look incredible in Belgrade, but they’re still by far the most experienced team that Lynn Vision could have possibly faced in the playoffs, and they’ll be playing them in the quarter-finals.
It should be the best game of the round, and winning it could set up either team to go on a run to lift the trophy, so you may as well not watch it. Because now we’ve said all that, it’ll be a dumpster fire. That’s just what we do here.
We’re kidding, watch it. EmiliaQAQ deserves it.
TYLOO have also impressed so far over in Serbia, and obviously, as massive TYLOO fans, we’re absolutely thrilled about that. They’ll be playing 3DMAX in the QFs, and as massive French haters, we hope they absolutely curb stomp them.
Slightly down the chain of excitement is GamerLegion vs. BetBoom. A match that will probably end up being quite fun, we still don’t think much of BetBoom and we’re sure Kursy will soon see a downtime in form for GamerLegion, but we’re never going to turn down an opportunity to watch REZ and PR.
One of the best rifle duos of the year, REZ and PR have been an absolute joy to watch this year, and PR is currently sitting at the top of the player ranking charts at 1.43. Monstrous.
And finally, in the do-whatever-you-can-to-not-watch-this-match match, we have SAW vs Complexity.
SAW vs. Complexity. In a quarter-final. Of a million-dollar event.
Wasn’t the bubble meant to have burst?
Anubis is out of the map pool.
Thank f-ck for that.
Seriously, we know that all the apparent Anubis enjoyers have come out of the woodwork since the update dropped, but let’s make this absolutely clear: Anubis is almost as bad as Vertigo.
Almost.
A massively T-sided map, it sits at a 57.2% T-side win rate at big events this year, which is absolutely abhorrent. The economy might not make it seem like the case, but Counter-Strike is meant to be CT-sided, having a T-side win rate as high as Anubis’ is absolutely criminal.
And let’s face it, no one played the f-cking thing anyway.
The second least played map at big events – only in front of Train, because Train is new – it never really caught on with the proles either, it was the second least played map in Premier, too.
Being real, no one’s going to miss the map once the beautiful Overpass is back in full swing, except maybe for Aurora, because it’s the only map they’re actually any good at.
That Aurora dropping out of the top ten prediction from this week’s podcast is looking really good right about now.
So let’s talk about the new-ish map.
Overpass has returned, and we really couldn’t be happier about that. Instead of the nostalgia bait return of Cache, or the terrifying prospect of an updated (and likely awful) Cobblestone, Valve actually did something smart for once.
We know, we can’t believe it either. At least they stayed a little true to themselves by announcing it right as the new season began.
A map that we expect a lot of teams will still be able to plug-and-play, we’re still confused why it was ever taken out in the first place, especially when Vertigo was left in the map pool when it departed.
One of the best maps to ever be in Counter-Strike, it instantly shoots up our map pool ranking, and we expect it will for a lot of the pro teams, too. There’s a lot less to learn with it than Train, at least.
Great update, honestly. No notes.
Well, except for the fact that the Five-SeveN is still broken. But not everything can be right with the world.
