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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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Or perhaps it's making a lot of Senzu
Senzu is back, and he’s already fragging out, putting Liquid to the sword on day one of Pro League. Not that it’s too much of a task, mind you. TO’s are also hard at work this week, with BLAST completely revamping their circuit and PGL catching flak for the pinnacle of theirs.
We know this is the second week in a row we’re talking about them, but we’re starting to really like 100 Thieves.
Only about eight days out from the team’s competitive debut, this mix of experience and youth can be pretty happy with themselves, having stormed through DraculaN in Bucharest to finish in second place.
After an early stumble to ENCE, the rain-led side managed to dominate the lower bracket, knocking out the likes of Eternal Fire and FlyQuest before arriving to the grand final against HEROIC. Even here they got close to a win, but had to settle for the silver medal.
You’d think this run of form in LAN tournaments would come from the most experienced players, rain and device, finally activating and carrying the youngsters into relevancy, but au contraire mon petit croissant - device is still playing like merde.
Instead it’s actually the core of younger riflers who lead the pack, with poiii, sirah, and Ag1l all dropping high ratings, and already the decision not to pay millions for a ranked core has paid off big time.
VRS experts now give 100 Thieves a significantly better chance of making the Cologne Major than BC.Game, who instead opted to buy three players from SAW to leapfrog the ranking. Considering BC.Game reportedly spent a significant chunk of money on that core, especially compared to what 100T spent, that’s a big win for gla1ve’s camp.
A big part of this rise is thanks to 100 Thieves filling up their LAN bucket with ten recent won matches, something BC.Game and Liquid, among others, are struggling to do, which may leave them out of the Cologne Major in a month’s time.
There’s still a long way to go until we can truly consider 100 Thieves relevant on the world stage, however, and next up they still have a few more small VRS cups to play. We’d also like to see some better stuff out of device before they step into the elite, or we suspect it will be a very short lived endeavor.
For now, we’re perfectly happy watching the youngsters prove themselves, game after game.
The TO wars are undeniably happening.
We saw PGL attempt to throw down with ESL - which went about as well as you’d expect for them - and after shifting their focus to BLAST as they looked to find an opponent in their weight class, they’ve been met with another stiff response.
BLAST, who have been criticised for a circuit that involves too much travel (Open) and too many online matches (Bounty), have done away with all of that. They’ve now reduced the participating teams in Bounty in order to remove the online phase, while also limiting Open to just one flight for the teams.
We’re surprised it took you this long.
They’re also adding more money into their circuit, which will always be a good thing, upping both the player experience and the incentive for orgs to actually take part in BLAST events.
Considering the rumours we’d been hearing about the strides (and potentially underhanded tactics) PGL were taking in order to move up a spot in the big three, they may just have been pipped to the post once again.
You can read more about the full changes to the BLAST circuit for 2027 here.
It sounds impossible, we know, but what if donk really does leave Team Spirit?
Where would he go? How many trophies would he win? And more importantly, where would that leave Team Spirit?
Something tells us it would be a lot further down the rankings.
In the latest episode of Flashbang Realities, host Sam is joined by guest KingT to discuss what would happen in the event that donk does bid farewell to Spirit, as well as the surprisingly high likelihood that they see it happening.
Watch Here
Remember when the response to ESL’s Cologne pricing was so bad, we had to write a Deep Dive about it?
Well, PGL have outdone them.
But what if, once again, we said the prices are reasonable?
Okay, maybe not quite as reasonable. But we can get into that.
First off, unlike ESL in Cologne, PGL aren’t offering any weekend tickets. Instead, you have to buy a ticket for each day, with the grand final Sunday costing upwards of $300 alone.
Which, btw, is more than an entire weekend in the nosebleed seats at Cologne.
Also unlike ESL, PGL aren’t yet offering any form of VIP package for their Singapore Major. In Cologne you can get exceptional value out of your premium ticket with the “free” drinks and merch that are included in the ticket, but in Singapore, you just get a scrap for the best seats for you and your friends.
Now, back to the pricing.
It’s clear to see that we obviously don’t think the pricing is as good as it is for Cologne, but let’s apply the same logic we did back then.
Going by the fact that events have far more domestic guests than you would expect them to, those tournaments are therefore priced based on the local audience. Considering that Singapore has a GDP per capita of between $90,000-$99,000 (the seventh highest in the world), PGL can afford to be charging a little more for the tickets.
There’s also the fact that for travelling fans, a trip to Singapore is likely to be quite expensive in itself. As a result, those willing to travel probably also have a reasonable amount of money, and therefore could also probably afford the higher ticket cost.
It might be a b-tch for you, the average fan who likes to complain, but listen, this is just the reality of it.
Oh, and for some reason - genuinely, we have NO clue as to what that reason might be - you also don’t seem to be complaining about it as much this time.
Wonder what that reason might be… can’t be anything brownie point related, can it?
ESL Pro League S23 has kicked off, bringing a wave of revamped rosters making their debut appearances.
We know, two weeks of online CS is pretty daunting, but the excitement of seeing these new lineups in action and EPLs laid-back vibe actually turns it into an enjoyable stretch.
The warmup Stage began with a couple of teams you’ve probably never seen before getting reality-checked by the heavyweights. SemperFi and Gaimin Gladiators were handed their expected opening-round losses by PARIVISION and G2, respectively. Jame and the boys simply operate on a different plane of existence.
In another absolute shocker, M80 were obliterated by FUT after somehow taking the first map, with the wonder trio of dziugss, dem0n, and lauNX leading the charge.
We’ll skip dwelling on how bad NIP looked against Legacy, because the real story isn’t there. Here’s a little guessing game: who topped the series for the Brazilians with a 1.19 rating? It’s not who you’re thinking… unless you thought of arT. Don’t get too excited though, he’s still very much the same arT.
Next up among the debutants, Grim got off to a very rough start with NRG, posting a 0.74 rating as they were swept by HEROIC. He’s clearly still finding his footing in the new environment, but one of the perks of the Swiss format is that he’ll have a few more chances to get some reps in.
The first game of misutaa’s 3DMAX campaign wasn’t as disastrous - as he put up a respectable 1.08 rating - but it wasn’t enough to prevent a loss to paiN after a hard-fought three-mapper.
On the other hand, we finally got to see Senzu in a Passion UA jersey - and it was just as weird as you’d imagine. Strange as it might look, the kid came back like he never left. In a match where Liquid joined NIP in the absolute ass club, Senzu delivered a 1.27 rating in a clean 2-0 sweep. With try showing flashes as well, this roster has already made a strong first impression, and we’re excited to see how they develop.
Day 2 of EPL S23 is headlined by HEROIC vs Astralis and G2 vs Legacy in the 1-0 group, while Grim gets another shot at redemption as NRG take on Monte to decide who drops to 0-2.
