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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
MOUZ find their wizard.
The Lord has blessed us - MOUZ have finally realised their roster will never win.
They’re in the market for a new IGL, and we’re all here for it, just like we’re here for the actually banger games we’ve been blessed with at PGL Bucharest thus far. It might be a CCT, but it’s a bloody good one.
We think we were a little hard on 3DMAX last time we wrote about PGL Bucharest.
Well, that’s a lie. We don’t think it’s possible to be too mean to Fr-nch people.
We underestimated their ability to play Counter-Strike, if nothing else, because they really turned their game around. After we ridiculed them for being upset by FOKUS and nearly also by Voca - who featured an out of form former matchfixer - they went and got revenge on B8 for ending their chances at qualifying for the Cologne Major.
Of course they then went and beat PARIVISION in the final Swiss game, but we can’t credit anyone on 3DMAX for that win. It was a purebred PARIVISION loss.
The more we watch PARIVISION play, the more we understand why dastan is so hard on his players. We would be as well if we needed five overtime periods to close a map against Wildcard.
Speaking of closing, it might be time for BC.Game to close up shop.
Despite losing a map to the aforementioned retchy - we can not stress enough that he didn’t play an official for five years before this event - s1mple and co. managed to not come last place, for which they earn the official TLDR lifetime achievement award, which is a steaming pile of sh-t spray painted a brownish gold.
That’s all they could manage, however, as FOKUS made light work of them with two map wins putting them 1-3. At least they’re self-aware.
B8 took down Inner Circle in a Ukrainian derby while Legacy won the American battle against NRG, only for the Brazilians to get battered by s1zzi of all people. The 16-year-old didn’t quite manage to make s1mple the third best rated Ukrainian AWPer of the event, but unlike s1mple, he gets a chance to do that in the playoffs.
Speaking of AWPers doing what they shouldn’t be doing, JW was here to play.
EYEBALLERS may have lost to MIBR in the 2-0 game, but when it really mattered they stepped up. While PARIVISION fought for their life to beat Wildcard, the deciding game between FOKUS and the Swedes was decided by Banjo and Ro1f.
Do not adjust your screens, ladies and gentlemen, you are watching a tier 1 event.
Don’t worry, we still have some teams you iPad babies actually care about. Astralis and FUT made their way to playoffs flawlessly, while The MongolZ proved why they were better than PARIVISION as they got past Wildcard without a single overtime. A low bar to clear, but seemingly PARIVISION go lower.
Long day, huh?
The Playoffs of PGL Bucharest 2026 are officially underway, and day one gave us a BO3 marathon.
Realistically, the upper side of the bracket wasn’t exactly must-watch material - unless you’re French or Danish, of course. If by the divine roll of the dice you happen to be from one of those places, first of all, our condolences.
On the bright side, though, you’ll be pretty happy with how things played out for your team.
3DMAX showed clear signs of recovery, taking down MIBR 2-1 in a series that initially looked out of their hands. MIBR started strong and seemed in control, only to completely collapse and throw it away. Quick shoutout to misutaaa, who’s been fitting in nicely despite the team’s struggles.
We then got a rerun of the opening series, with Astralis taking on EYEBALLERS. After winning Mirage off the back of a JW nostalgia-fueled masterclass, the Swedes stormed to an 11-4 lead on Ancient and looked set for the semis. Unfortunately, they ended up choking harder than FaZe in Boston, handing Astralis the map and ultimately the series.
Naturally, the only match where phzy drops a 0.95 rating stinker is against his countrymen. Honestly, we get it. Swedish CS needs some Love these days.
With the appetizers out of the way, it was time for the main courses.
The only sweep of the day came in FUT vs B8, but it was anything but clean. It took full regulation on Ancient and OT on Overpass for FUT to seal their semi-final spot.
As for B8… what can we even say? Maybe signing another 16-year-old straight out of ESEA Advanced right after the last one went so well wasn’t the brightest idea.
To close out the day, the big boys came out to play. The MongolZ and PARIVISION traded blows across Dust2 and Mirage, setting up what looked like a banger Ancient decider. And it really was a bang… for one side. After going down 3-9, The MongolZ answered back with a flawless T-side to close out the series.
You’ve got to feel for nota and xiELO, they probably went straight into the dastan torture chamber after that one.
Illustration by Fuffy, Source: NAVI, Aurora
Jack is out this week, and quacke returns to leave some teams quacke-ing in their boots. Yeah, we said it twice in case you didn’t get it the first time. The boys have plenty to talk about, including which recreational “activities” frozen should get up to, to save himself from the pain of playing for FaZe.
Slow but surely, the Major is catching up to the rest of the tier one circuit.
With ESL announcing that IEM Cologne will feature BO3s all throughout Stage 3, PGL have now added another change for their Major in Singapore at the end of the year - a 3rd place decider.
Which hopefully should also mean the death of showmatches. Thank God.
For some people, this won’t be a particularly big change, but in the world of VRS - it matters a lot.
Think back to Paris, for instance, where that game would’ve been contested between Apeks and HEROIC. HEROIC were the second best team in the world at the time, sure, but the VRS point reward for the much lower ranked Apeks would’ve been massive, a real reason to go out and play that match like it’s the Major final itself.
In other news, the VRS cutoff date for Singapore will be November 2nd, far closer to the actual start date of the Major than it has been with IEM Cologne.
If you read this week’s Deep Dive, you’ll know already that we’re a huge fan of this change. If the Major invitees are meant to represent the best teams across the season, then having the invite date as close to the start of the Major is undoubtedly good thing.
Now, how about we get BO3s for the whole thing and remove some of those make-a-wish spots for Asia and the Americas?
MOUZ have been on the brink of greatness for a very long time, so it was a surprise to us when they instead decided to drop off the face of the Earth.
Fortunately, though, they seem be finally adressing at least one of their issues, as French know-it-all KRL has said that MOUZ will be looking to replace Brollan.
In his place will be Danish icon Magisk, and as per usual, we have some thoughts on this.
First up, Brollan needs to go. He needed to after Budapest, and he really, really needs to know that MOUZ can’t even string group stage wins together. Sadly for the Swede (who we do quite like btw), he just never properly adapted to IGLing, and the issues there were always apparent with poor mid-round calls and inadequate T side win rates.
However.
Is Magisk really the man to fill the spot? We aren’t so sure.
We know that he IGLed for a short spell on Astralis, and he’s a player that certainly makes sense to undergo an IGL transition… but is that what MOUZ really needs right now?
In an ideal world, we’d liked to have seen MOUZ to sign an already established IGL. Someone like Ch1zN, JT, s1n, or even LNZ. Someone who understands already how to call their system, and not just how to be puppeted by sycrone.
That’s not to say sycrone isn’t a good puppet master - he’s certainly better than hally.
Although, saying that, Magisk probably isn’t the type of guy to be happy just being a puppet. You get the sense that he actually will have had a plan for how he’d want to play for a very long time now, and will be determined to put his plan into action.
Magisk’s determination could also be the deciding factor of whether this move is a success or not. He’s a born winner, and that’s something that MOUZ have sorely lacked. Having him there to cast spells on them with ancient Danish runes might actually be the way they finally get it all to click.
So, even though Magisk isn’t the established IGL we’ve been asking for… maybe we do like this move. Maybe it is the thing to take MOUZ to the next level, maybe it is the thing to finally prevent them from cracking under the bright lights, maybe it’s…
Nah, xertioN and torzsi will just bottle it anyway.
