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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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They just keep being underwhelming and it’s ruining our day.
Stage three of the Major is underway, and we’ve barely digested the end of stage two.
Meanwhile, arguably the best IGL ever (check the deep dive from Wednesday btw) has a new role at a new team.
Liquid might have got through this stage, but it still felt like they didn’t, you know?
They scraped, and we mean scraped, past TYLOO, who threw away not only four series points but two of the absolute dumbest rounds you will ever see.
Attacker, mate. Please don’t come back. It’s so hard to watch you play.
In fairness, they were more convincing against Astralis, which can’t be a good sign for the state of Danish Counter-Strike. Liquid beat them 2-0 with ultimate topfragging - a surefire sign that Astralis are not tier one any more.
NIP went from 2-0 to 2-3 by getting banged out by 3DMAX in a 2-2 game, which is incredible commitment to the bit. It’s so on brand.
You can change personnel, but you can’t change the NIP DNA.
Passion UA beat M80 in the ‘whipping boys of stage three’ derby to go 3-2. We still have no idea how good they are, but we’re assuming it’s ‘kinda bad’.
PARIVISION and B8 both went 3-1, so big kudos to them. Jame has done a Jerry and brought four randoms to the Major and taken names, while B8 are steadily solidifying themselves in the upper tiers.
The most disappointing team of the stage were Aurora - not just because they went 1-3 as the highest seed, but also because they lost to Astralis and let Liquid go through nice and easy.
They desperately need some changes - but it’s not easy to find them.
Now the real stuff starts.
Which map is both the most played and the most balanced between CTs and Ts in 2025?
Find the answer at the bottom, after the “Everything else” section.
The pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place in the Thieves’ den, and the second key addition has been revealed.
Just a week after announcing his retirement and transition into coaching, gla1ve has landed his first opportunity and is set to become the head coach of 100 Thieves’ new lineup. While rain is already confirmed as the IGL, the rest of the roster remains a mystery, but we now know the two big names that will serve as the cornerstones of the division.
However, big names don’t automatically translate to success.
It’s undeniably risky to hand the reins of your project to a first-time IGL and a first-time coach, the two roles that most define a team’s identity. Things could go very wrong for 100 Thieves.
But honestly, if you were going to bet on any debuting IGL and coach to lead a new team, you’d probably struggle to find a better pairing than rain and gla1ve, two of the most battle-tested veterans in the game. Some might even say the best IGL of all time…
Their experience may or may not fully carry over into their new responsibilities, but only time will tell how far they can take 100 Thieves.
The move also suggests that 100T won’t be building a roster entirely from scratch, as it’s hard to imagine that legends like rain and gla1ve would be willing to grind through open qualifiers and random tier-15 LANs in the middle of nowhere to enter the VRS. But you never know…
Alright, listen up. What if 100 Thieves bought Astralis’ core and reunited them under gla1ve? Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch, but at least they’d be getting paid.
“The Major is pretty bad” was said within about a minute of this podcast starting. The person responsible for this message no longer works with TLDR.
What’s worse than The MongolZ without Senzu?
Liquid with their full roster, apparently.
The MongolZ, fresh off losing to Imperial, came in to beat Liquid and send them to the 0-2 bracket. We’re honestly quite sick of talking about Liquid being pants, but they keep being pants, so we have no choice. They got paddled in the opening round by Spirit, with donk and sh1ro picking up 54 kills.
In a 13-8.
They’re joined in the 0-2 bracket by 3DMAX, who in fairness had to play Vitality in an 0-1 game, and PARIVISION, who lost a tight game to MOUZ and a less tight game to NAVI. That’s kinda fair enough - sometimes you just lose to a really good team.
The same goes for Passion UA, who lost to G2 and then Falcons. You might be wondering why Vitality, Falcons and NAVI were even in the 0-1 bracket, and the answer might surprise you.
They all lost their opening game.
NAVI lost to FURIA (again, fair enough), Vitality lost to FaZe, who are the most confusing team in the entire world right now, and Falcons lost to B8, which is less defensible but not entirely awful. B8 are no mugs, they’re just… not a tier one team.
Which is why MOUZ smacked ‘em to go 2-0, alongside Spirit who managed to overcome the FaZe voodoo thanks to some vintage chopper MAC-10’ing and donk, again, being the best player in the world.
G2 also ended up 2-0, beating the aforementioned Passion UA and then paiN, who had beaten 3DMAX. FURIA destroyed Imperial to join them. All makes sense.
So far, there’s not really been any massive surprises, but things are bubbling away under the surface nicely. With FaZe, Falcons, Vitality and NAVI all in the 1-1 bracket, there’s bound to be some drama today.
That leaves a fantastic slate of matches today, with the picks of the bunch, in our opinion, being:
Every game has some jeopardy or story tied to it, and personally, we cannot wait for another day of the Major. What a time to be alive.
Trivia answer: It’s Ancient for a second year running. Is this the best addition to the map pool Valve has ever made?
