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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
The heavyweight bout we’ve all been waiting for.
We're back from London with a special eextra-edition coming live from BLAST Open.
Plus, we sat down and had a short chat with apEX.
We said we didn’t think that MOUZ vs. M80 would be an easy one for everyone’s least favourite aura-less team, and as usual, we were right.
It looked like it may have been as they comfortably picked up an 8-4 CT half on Ancient, but an ace for Lake on the T side pistol round gave M80 some hope. Hope that was quickly dashed as MOUZ broke M80’s economy to secure a 13-10 win.
At this point, the MOUZ 2-0 seemed secure. Heading to their map pick of Mirage, a map they’re incredibly strong on, the lowly NA team surely wouldn’t be handle them. But it turns out the stage jitters still haunt MOUZ on occasion.
M80 fried on their CT side, MOUZ looked truly terrible as they gave away a 10-2 lead. Spinx was 0-10 at one point, and MOUZ only managed to secure an opening kill in the final round of the half. slaxz-, HexT, Swisher, and Lake were having a whale of a time.
It was brutal.
MOUZ attempted to fight back in the second half, Spinx picked up plenty of eco kills to hide the fact he’d had a shocker, but the gap was already too large, and M80 levelled the series at 13-9.
With two close maps to start the series, we were hoping for a banger third map. And then we saw it was on Inferno.
A map that excites us about as often as we excite our girlfriends, MOUZ dominated on their CT side, taking a 10-2 lead into the break.
Spinx was back on form, he went 16-4 on the CT side and had 14.03% round swing. The boffins over at Half-Life Telly tell us that’s pretty good.
Flat on their backs and still having fun - you can put your own joke here - M80 took the small remainder of their defeat well. There were smiles all around as they picked up their final round of their stage debut, enjoying every moment of the crowds’ cheers.
Good for them.
Just a shame that they’ll now have to go back to NA and probably become bad again.
Vitality’s captain talks 1v1s with gorillas, awful karaoke skills, and having dreams of becoming a pilot.
What's your first memory of Counter-Strike?
My first memory of Counter-Strike and when I discovered it was in a cyber cafe back in France in February of 2007.
When did the realisation you could become a pro kick in?
I don't know because back then in CS:Source it was professional without being professional because there wasn't that much money. I think there was a moment where I started to play good and a professional team in a professional league asked me to join them. That was the start for me.
What's the weirdest reaction you've gotten from a stranger when you tell them what you do for a living?
I think they are pretty similar overall. Back then, people didn't understand what I was doing. They understood gamers to be big nerds who just ate chips in front of their computers and drank soda.
Do you get any different reactions nowadays that esports has grown a lot?
Well yeah, nowadays it's a bit different. People understand more and see more of all the arenas, but in the beginning, there wasn't any of that money to back it up with.
What's your favourite memory of Counter-Strike?
I would pick two. The first memory is winning big tournaments and Majors – I think the Paris Major and Austin Major are some of my greatest memories ever. Then, for the second one, I would say it's playing free-for-all servers when I first started playing. I would leave school and go directly to the computer because Counter-Strike gave me so much dopamine. I enjoyed it so much so that's a really great memory as well.
How much is a can of Monster?
470 milliliters?
What if you had to guess the price?
3 euros.
A bit over, it's 1.70 euros… If you had to pick any one of your teammates to sing for the team in an attempt to boost morale, who would it be?
That's a really good question. I have no idea. I don't think we have any good singers in the team anywhere. I would go for mezii, he's British so it's easiest for him to speak English and sing in English.
You don't think you'd be good at karaoke?
I'm not good at karaoke. It's not one of my strengths. I like to sing but I am not good at it.
What's the deadliest animal you could beat in a fight?
You know that trend about a hundred men versus one gorilla? I would go 1v1.
If you had to tag one of your teammates in to help you against the gorilla who would it be?
I would go for flameZ probably because I think he is the craziest. We'll go crazy and try to beat the gorilla as much as we can.
If you were a professional footballer what position would you play?
I think I would play midfielder. It's like being an IGL in the sense that you have to organise the game with a pass and an assist to drive the game. I used to play football and I loved playing midfielder.
Would you be a defensive midfielder or an attacking midfielder?
I think I would be more attacking like the old-school number ten position that Zidane played. That's what every guy from France would love to do.
If you had to pick a CS map to live on, what would it be?
I would need to find a map where it's sunny. Maybe Mirage or Dust II since they're sunny maps but not Ancient because it's always raining. Italy looks great actually and so does Inferno, it's definitely one of those. Pasta in Italy would be great.
What would you be if you weren't a professional Counter-Strike player?
One of the first dreams I had was to be a pilot so I could've done that, other than that, maybe an engineer or something like that.
In the not so distant past, a game between G2 and FaZe would’ve been considered a blockbuster game of absolute cinema between two elite international teams. Now? Well, it isn’t quite as bad as straight to DVD, but you’d certainly be forgiven for not being seated with your popcorn.
Coming into the quarter-finals, both of these once great teams seemed to have started their climb back. The foundations of G2’s rebuild seem to have solidified after their win against Team Spirit in the online stage. On the other side of the ring, jcobbb’s addition in place of EliGE had FaZe looking refreshed against NAVI and Vitality.
The best-of-three began on G2’s pick of Inferno as huNter- lead by example with four glock kills on the pistol round, and G2’s start only got stronger after dismantling FaZe’s second round force buy. With momentum already on G2’s side, huNter- and his men convincingly ended the half 8-4 thanks to an icy 1v2 clutch from HeavyGod.
A switch to the T-side for FaZe in the second half saw them struggle even more after losing the second pistol round of the map. Despite trying everything, FaZe could only secure one more round before eventually losing Inferno.
FaZe clan’s pistol nightmares came to an end on Dust II as they took the first round and extended their lead thanks to a B-site 1v3 from broky. From there on, FaZe battled to a tied score of 6-6 at the half, and then began to hit their stride on the CT side. After rain’s 1v2 clutch from long, FaZe capitalized and extended their lead to 10-6.
Unfortunately for FaZe, the game only got more interesting as HeavyGod flipped the momentum of the game with four kills and a clutch amongst the chaos in mid. In the aftermath, G2 went on to secure map point with six rounds won in a row. But… in true FaZe Clan fashion, karrigan and his boys wouldn’t go down without a fight as they woke up in time to take it to overtime.
FaZe carried their momentum into the first OT with a strong start on CT before swapping over to the T-side and securing map point thanks to a rare clutch from a 1HP karrigan with the bomb down on short.
You’d be forgiven for thinking FaZe had the map in the bag from this point, but they say history is bound to repeat itself, and unfortunately for FaZe, it did. For the second time in one map, G2 won six rounds in a row which secured a 19-16 victory in the second overtime and the BO3 win.
Whilst it may not have been as exciting as the G2 vs FaZe games of old on paper, there was still some serious firepower showcased by G2 as they continue on their upwards trajectory.
Now the only thing that stands in the way of G2 and the final is Furia, but will their firepower be enough against the likes of Molodoy and Kscerato? We can’t wait to find out.
Is it finally time?
Are MOUZ finally going to beat Vitality on stage and win an event?
They’ve beaten Vitality before, of course, but even then they lost the final, and generally speaking they haven’t got the best record - but as chances go, they don’t come much better than this.
This is the same Vitality, but it’s also really not. They’ve been shakier than Leonardo DiCaprio at an ‘Age Gap Awareness’ seminar in the last month or so, and are finally very beatable. As long as you ignore the fact that they are unbeaten at this event.
Neither team are in their absolute pomp, but both are among the best teams in the world and as always, promise a banger game. Vitality need a better version of ZywOo (he ‘only’ averaged a 1.20 in the main stage) while MOUZ just need the same version of xertioN.
As always.
On the other side of the bracket, we have a fun one. FURIA are quickly proving themselves to be a serious team who need addressing FAST, with KSCERATO back to his ridiculous 2022 levels. molodoy has risen to a top 5 AWPer spot remarkably fast (argue with a wall!) and YEKINDAR is having fun again.
FURIA are having fun again. Beware everyone else.
This, though, is an important test. On stage, vs an impressive but fallible G2 team who have found some strength since Snax left.
Go figure.
This is G2’s first real proof of concept for this team that they can be a contender, while FURIA look like they have staying power. This game is extremely important for both - it probably acts as their ticket to the big table.
The best team becomes a top 5 team. The loser stays one of the rest.
May the best team win.
Name: Russel ‘The Magician’ Twista
Finishing Move: A super flashy flying kick off the top rope called ‘Abracadabra’. How bloody original. Cool move, though; he flips 180 degrees and corkscrews before landing a boot to the face of the poor recipient. It was outlawed from the WWE after his departure due to the inherent danger.
Appearance: Come on now. Do you really have to ask? A cape, top hat, long robe with question marks on it. The WWE aren’t all that good at avoiding the obvious.
Walk-in Song: ‘Magic’ by BOB. Remember what we just said? In his one and only Pay-Per-View appearance, they got Rivers Cuomo out to sing it with him.
The Magician was a popular mid-carder in the early 2010s who never really cracked the top tier due to his mediocre promo work and gimmick being hard to take seriously. Who’s going to honestly believe a man in a robe and top hat is going to beat up Batista?
He eventually became a bit of a comic relief character, but at first was quite serious as a babyface. He had a short-lived tag team with Santino Marella, but it was broken up due to being ‘hard to watch’. They weren’t lying. Zero chemistry.
Russel’s only Pay-Per-View experience was at Money In The Bank, where he was first on in a grudge match against his former tag team partner. He lost the match, which was by far the lowest rated on the card, largely because nobody cared about their beef, and Russel only had one good move. We’re all here for the Abracadabra. Oh, and Santino tried to steal the Swanton Bomb. Not cool, mate.
The Magician faded into obscurity not long after, known only as a talented high-flyer with no ground game.
