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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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How many continents are too many?
We know that having an international team is all the rage right now, but Passion UA might be taking it a bit too far with this one…
When you hear ‘PGL Cluj-Napoca’, it doesn’t scream elite event - but it sort of is.
Spirit are missing, but the remaining four of the big five are involved, as well as a litany of tier two teams, and one tier three team (FaZe) that actually make this a really exciting event.
There’s just one problem, and it’s a problem that will plague a lot of events this year: it’s going to look the same as every event last year, and Vitality are probably going to win.
Vitality come in as big favourites having comfortably dispatched the second-best team in the world in the grand final of Kraków, and with so few teams even trying to improve on their rosters from the back end of last year, it feels like they’re going to keep winning.
There’s still plenty to enjoy, and it’s not like Vitality games are boring - even if the outcome is predictable, watching ZywOo and ropz style on fools makes us feel a little tingly, and FURIA and Falcons are homes to some of the most exciting players to watch in modern times.
Our eyes are firmly on FUT, who had a pretty fun run in Kraków and in dem0n, dziugss, and Krabeni, they have three of the most electric talents in the world. They’re not the best team or anything, but they are extremely enjoyable to watch. dem0n in particular is joyous.
Aurora look to continue their spike in form against the rookies in their opening game, which looks to be one of the most intriguing games. NAVI vs Astralis is a great litmus test for both of them to figure out where they lie, as Astralis are climbing and NAVI are falling down the ranks.
PARIVISION are one of the last few teams who we’re not sure on - their win at BLAST Bounty was remarkable, but it almost seems an age ago now. At Kraków they were okay if not outstanding, and we’re intrigued to see where they land. Another test against MOUZ, whom they came so close to winning against last time, is a perfect start to figure that out.
We’ll obviously enjoy watching Vitality vs G2, but we’re not expecting anything other than a 2-0. Vitality are comfortably the number one team in the world, and there doesn’t really seem to be anyone to change that - certainly not G2, who are, as ever, underwhelming.
The full list of games can be seen here, and you can start watching from 9AM CET on Valentine’s Day, which is sure to please the other half.
Imagine Gianni Infantino wakes up one morning and decides that only fifth-division players are allowed to compete at the World Cup. The guys who fix your water pipes by day and kick a ball around by night. It wouldn’t exactly be must-watch television, would it?
Well, that’s more or less what the Esports Nations Cup is shaping up to be.
The idea itself isn’t new. A Counter-Strike tournament where national teams face off to crown the best country in the world has happened before - most recently with the relatively obscure IESF World Championship in 2024. The difference this time is the much larger prize pool, courtesy of the same seemingly bottomless pockets behind the EWC - which, by the way, would’ve been a far more fitting name for an actual Esports World Cup.
Running from November 10-15 and boasting a hefty $1,320,000 prize pool, the ENC’s format is simple: 24 qualified teams enter a round-robin group stage, split into four groups of six, with the top four from each group advancing to single-elimination Playoffs. Each national roster is limited to a maximum of three players from the same club, meaning orgs could still earn VRS points if they allow their core to compete.
Sounds exciting on paper, but why is this a concept doomed from the start? For several reasons, actually, but we’ll spare you the full sermon.
First and foremost, the calendar. The CS schedule is already suffocatingly packed. Adding another event would be tough on its own, but the situation worsens when the ENC is scheduled to run directly alongside BLAST Rivals S2 - a tournament the top teams will undoubtedly prioritize and are likely already planning around.
Then there’s the VRS problem.
As 100 Thieves’ GM messioso pointed out with a hypothetical scenario, do you really think a team like Spirit would simply send donk, magixx, and sh1ro to farm a few VRS points? And would Falcons let m0NESY and kyousuke attend - at no benefit to themselves - just because it sounds cool?
Not to mention the sheer number of conflicts and questionable situations that can arise when you start mixing national-team and club matches in the same ranking system.
Oh, and there’s just one more minor detail.
The ENC wraps up just ten days before the PGL Singapore Major begins. If you think top teams will sacrifice precious bootcamp and preparation time to send players to the Mickey Mouse Toontown Cup, we’ve got bad news for you.
Unfortunately for the ENC, in the VRS era, money isn’t everything. This isn’t the kind of problem you can solve by simply throwing more cash at it - unless, of course, you’re handing out a million dollars to every player and organization that agrees to participate.
Hell, in that case, even we’d be feeling patriotic.
[Editor’s note: the above sentence was written by our Portuguese writer. For the English here: God save the king.]
Find the answer at the bottom of the ‘Everything else’ section.
NovaH is back, and with him, comes chaos.
Our two hosts were in a jolly modo after being reunited, leading to a lot of fun tangents and the longest censoring of Sam that Producer Charlie has ever had to do.
You know that point when the meme reaches the normies and your cortisol levels spike because you get brutally framemogged by their awful jestermaxxing?
That’s what this feels like.
Passion UA - which, as a reminder, is an abbreviation for Ukraine - seem to be going even deeper into the international trenches, so deep that they will reach somewhere no one has ever gone before:
All five of their players will be from different continents.
On one hand, that’s kind of exciting. It feels like a rare opportunity, a social experiment to which we will be the knowing observers, but on the other, it’s f-cking terrifying.
The rumour - if it’s to be believed - suggests that Passion UA will be bringing in try and Senzu, presumably in place of hallzerk and nicx.
In our opinion, try is the sure fire hit here. He’s been the best part of Imperial for a long time now, and way too good to be slumming (favela-ing?) it out on that team for much longer. hallzerk has also been struggling for a while, so an upgrade there can’t hurt.
And hey, at least it means Senzu won’t be AWPing.
That doesn’t mean we’re confident in the Mongolian, though. There’s something about the idea of him on an international team that just feels off to us, and especially one like this.
Had he gone to a FaZe, a Liquid, or even a G2, one where they wouldn’t effectively be building from the ground up and just plugging him in for those extra percentages (ooh, foreshadowing) then maybe it might click. But this team? It feels… unlikely.
On the plus side, at least JT will have a team capable of shooting back. We’ve been saying he’s a top IGL for a while, and if he can make this team click, then seeing him in the playoffs frequently shouldn’t be out of the question.
Once he gets there, he can get the f-ck out and onto a serious team, too, and we’ll consider that a win for him, ourselves, and Counter-Strike as a whole.
Trivia answer: tarik
