Loading…
GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
BC.Game pick s1mple over the bottom-fragging Portuguese players.
NIP decided having a part-time AWPer is better than r1nkle, which seems harsh, while Vitality’s reign of terror is almost over. We promise. This time for real.
~~~
In other news, we’re proud to share our first partner in a long time: Razed.
For more than 6 years, we’ve been sending this newsletter and exploring different ways to follow the Counter-Strike scene. Along the way, we’ve also had various partnerships, all in an attempt to also unlock a way to compensate our crew for the time they put into giving you all this (excellent) content.
We haven’t found the way yet, and TLDR is and has still mostly been a volunteer effort.
However, in the coming months, you’ll see various partners and initiatives from us that we hope will help change that, so we can continue doing more of what you’ve come to expect from us.
We always pick partners diligently, and we hope you’ll at least understand us and, at best, support us by checking out the partners we feature.
So if you’re one of our readers who bet, consider checking out Razed. They’ve got some great odds for the IEM Rio playoffs, as well as some sleeper picks for the outright winner of IEM Cologne.
We recently got news that NIP are moving to a villainous, evil country that everyone despises.
Of course, we are talking about Denmark. Wait, what did you think?
With the signing of their third Danish player, NIP have not only completed the full 180 on their Swedish legacy, they’ve also pulled their pants down, sh-t all over it, and lit it on fire.
Seriously, how ugly does this look?
And to top it all off, we suspect most Danish people aren’t even too happy about it. The player coming in is namely an AWPer, as r1nkle is the one who exits the squad.
This actually makes perfect sense. We remember the ancient year of 2024, when r1nkle first joined the team, and Mauisnake declared with his flashy playstyle he would one day be fighting for the “biggest trophies in the world”. And we wholeheartedly agreed.
Thing is, that “one day” relied on r1nkle actually developing, improving his consistency over the coming years, to one day reach a level where he could compete in tier one games every time of asking.
And yet, he still swings back and forth more than the wrecking ball to NIP’s Stockholm offices.
So, he’s benched, and a Danish (shudders) “AWPer” is coming in. There haven’t been many good ones recently, so who out of the shallow talent puddle has put pen to paper?
None of them.
Because it’s stavn.
Perhaps the most unpopular player active today has decided to not only do everyone the disservice of returning to competition, but to swap into the AWP role, so he won’t even bless us with good gameplay.
Call it schadenfreude, but if this goes as it’s expected (horribly), we’d be glad. Maybe it’s a cleansing of bad teams - first we killed FaZe, now NIP.
Liquid, you’re next.
Not even just a map, which they did lose to G2, but a real life series. And it was to the apparently dead Team Falcons.
Teams in the rear view mirror may be less dead than they appear.
In fact Falcons have been on a tear, with m0NESY looking like he was back at his peak. He’s far and away the highest rated player at the tournament and for bloody good reason. He smashed Spirit and dominated Vitality basically on his own.
They’re straight into the semis, while Vitality had to settle for a quarter-finals spot after their loss; as did MOUZ, who were beaten by a FURIA team who also seem resurgent. The theme of this tournament has largely been that the good teams are good again.
Which is nice. We were starting to worry that Aurora might be third in the HLTV rankings, which is the equivalent of seeing Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals. It’s not a good sign for the health of the scene.
Spirit ran the lower bracket gauntlet, somehow dropping a map to RED Canids before 2-0ing G2, which is quite frankly hilarious. Without hally, tN1R looks quite a lot better. Go figure. donk did have his worst ever map against Falcons, and is still one of the highest rated players at the event.
NAVI cruised past HOTU and clapped Aurora’s collective cheeks in the deciding map to secure a spot in the quarter-finals, which was exciting for them until you realise they’re playing Vitality. Oops.
On the negative side, Passion UA (albeit without Senzu) looked appalling, Legacy back to their base level (which means they’ll probably be world-beaters next event) and Team Liquid need to just pack it in.
We’re sick of ‘em.
Vitality haven’t looked their greatest at IEM Rio, falling to Falcons in their upper bracket duel, and nearly getting 2-0d by G2 before bringing it back.
They face NAVI in their quarter final, and the odds are looking ripe for a full send pick. Vitality sit at 1.27, with their opponents at 3.45.
This is a steal given the shaky form Vitality have shown thus far, and NAVI have only lost to FURIA.
Know better than us? Place your bets.
Note: Odds at time of writing.
Just four months after signing the SAW core, BC.Game have already pulled the trigger on their first roster changes, benching MUTiRiS and aragornN.
Let’s be honest, this surprises absolutely no one. Results have been declining since Kraków, and the VRS ranking they spent a significant chunk on has completely collapsed, now sitting at a miserable #73. At this point, the atmosphere at Tottenham is probably healthier than whatever’s been going on inside BC.Game.
Following their latest crash at PGL Bucharest 2026, paired with a very telling interview from MUTiRiS, changes felt inevitable.
When a team underperforms, the weakest links are usually the first to go - that’s part of the game. What’s harder to accept is the growing sense that this team was never built with competitive success as the priority. Instead, it looks like BC.Game saw Counter-Strike as a marketing vehicle, with s1mple’s reputation and visibility as the driving force.
Just look at what followed the benching announcement.
In the middle of the season, with two events still ahead, s1mple has decided to head to Andorra for a two-month content bootcamp with a bunch of streamer friends. If that doesn’t make it clear to you how uncommitted he is - and that he doesn’t give a single f-ck about this team - we don’t know what will.
Imagine someone like ZywOo just randomly deciding to take a couple of months off right before a Major just to chill and “stream more”. And perhaps the biggest question: what serious org would even allow that? Let us tell you, NONE.
The business relationship between BC.Game and s1mple is simply that, business. BC.Game benefits from the buzz and eyeballs that s1mple attracts, while s1mple enjoys the freedom to do whatever the f-ck he wants, show up to a few tier 1 events here and there, and collect a serious bag every month. Sounds like a pretty good deal to us.
And case in point, BC.Game shortly after announced nocries as a sub for IEM Atlanta. If he even ends up playing is beside the point, as the intent is pretty clear. Bring in the famous FACEIT kid before anyone else, regardless of whether he has any meaningful experience. You see, the competitive context doesn’t matter much around these parts. It’s all. About. The views.
The truth is, the SAW trio probably had some idea of what they were signing up for - but likely didn’t expect it to be this bad. It’s no secret that BC.Game worked their way down the list of top-30 teams, throwing money at anything that moved until someone eventually said yes.
What makes it more ironic is that at their very first event together, IEM Kraków 2026, s1mple praised his new teammates, saying he “finally had a decent team”. Fast forward four months, and that same “decent team” suddenly lacks skill and “can’t win rounds”. Funny how quickly that changed.
Maybe what they really need is their own two-month content bootcamp in Andorra.
Jack’s wish of karrigan leaving FaZe has finally come true.
Except instead of being benched, the legendary Danish IGL has reportedly made a getaway move to Falcons. Even with FaZe’s 2026 being absolutely woeful, our co-hosts can’t help but believe karrigan might just revive Falcon’s Major hopes.
Also in this week’s Overtime on Inferno:
If Vitality are ever going to lose again, this is about as good as shot as we’re going to get.
The six big teams are in the playoffs, m0NESY is in peak condition, FURIA have history of beating them and molodoy seems at least somewhat So Back, and they’re already dropping maps.
ZywOo hasn’t been at his best, while the other teams are all back on the rise. flameZ hasn’t been the superstar he can be. ropz and mezii have been doing some heavy lifting, but they rarely consistently carry games throughout the tournament, they’re moments players.
It’s all looking set up for a Falcons vs Vitality final, if Vita can get past FURIA and NAVI (which is already looking marginally less likely than it did a few weeks ago). Falcons only have to beat MOUZ or Spirit, and they’ve already beaten Spirit, to set up the final we want to see.
Can we shock you?
We’re going outside the box.
Vitality win the event. Sorry.
