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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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Falcons got Clapton’ed
The weekend of action is drawing to a close. In PGL Astana we saw Spirit running through Falcons, while at IEM Atlanta w0nderful swept away GamerLegion. We also had a quick chat with Snax prior to the aforementioned sweeping.
When the cat’s away, the mice will play. Or hornet. Or something like that.
IEM Atlanta ended last night, and with Vitality long gone and forgotten, many of the possible endings were exciting. That being said, we think we got the good one.
The third place decider could have been better, though.
Despite their stellar start to the event, BetBoom seemed to have let off the gas completely as Legacy stomped them in the bronze match, only losing seven rounds on their way to the podium. It’s a nice result for the Brazilians, but such a whimpering finish to an otherwise historic event for the Russians is disappointing.
With Astana already wrapped up, a late night best-of-five grand final would cap this weekend’s double header off. NAVI and GamerLegion had faced off once before in the group stage, with NAVI taking the win, but GL brought it close.
REZ was also quick to remind us what happened in the last BO5-final he played in America… and we saw the vision. This was going to be a legendary grand final.
Though, when GL lost their opening pick 13-3 - despite a blinder from the Swede - and lost map two with a whimpering second half, we started to worry.
They looked to at least come home with a consolation map win when they went up 12-7 on Nuke, but NAVI managed to bring the map into overtime, where they’d win 16-13 to lock in their second tier one trophy of 2026.
Playing at a high level all event, capped off with an excellent grand final, w0nderful took home his career first MVP award. Just 20 more to go before he fills the shoes of the man he replaced.
For GL, of course it’s a disappoint choke, but this is the first big event grand final they’ve played since the Paris Major. They’ve always been a team taking their achievements one step at a time, and now the next step is clearer than ever - win a grand final.
And whatever they’re putting in that American food (no matter how toxic) - they should keep giving it to REZ.
The IEM Cologne Major will soon be upon us. But first, teams attending this years CS Asia Championship will have a chance to sharpen their skills as they prepare for Counter-Strike’s ultimate prize.
Falcons are arguably the team with the most to gain here, as they look to deepen their playbook and further build chemistry off the back of a runners-up placement at PGL Astana.
As the highest VRS ranked team at the event, there’s also a huge chance for karrigan and his boys to lift silverware and put that pesky choking narrative to bed. Well, at least until it inevitably happens again.
They shouldn’t underestimate the rest of the field though, as MOUZ will certainly have something to say about their chances of going all the way here, if xertioN has another life-tournament, that is.
Speaking of life-tournaments, a couple of players on PARIVISION will be hoping to have one as conversations around a potential post-Major roster change continue to swirl. Partly thanks to head coach Dastan making it no secret that he’s less than impressed with some individuals on the team.
We don’t think anything concrete will be decided based on this event, but a poor performance certainly won’t help the declining stocks of xiELO and nota.
The MongolZ will be looking to bounce back after a relatively poor showing at PGL Astana. Sure, you can’t blame them for losing to a renewed Falcons and Spirit, but Aurora?
We’d like to think they’re better than that, but if they don’t put in a good shift in at CAC, fans of Asia’s top team will have to start reducing expectations.
Counter-Strike plebs will be praying their hardest for s1mple to put on a show and prevent BCG from once again going out dead last. Though real certified ball knowers will rest calm and assured that blameF’s return to tier one LANs will be a beautiful thing to witness.
If the beefy Dane can retain a similar level to his online form, he stands a very good chance of doing some serious damage for BIG here. Luckily for the other teams attending that damage will only be on the server, as blameF only uses his Olympian strength to pull his teammates deeper into a kiss…
PARIVISION are set to clash with Liquid in their opening game at CAC 2026. Normally, we wouldn’t dare back Liquid against teams that show any sign of quality.
Luckily for Liquid though, the odds favourite (1.35) PARIVISION haven’t been showing much individual quality with 2/3 of their star rifling trio showcasing poor form as of late. We’re looking at you, xiELO and nota.
With Liquid’s odds of winning sitting at 2.96, the idea of them bouncing back from Atlanta with an opening-match upset is just too tasty to ignore.
Feel the same and want to get involved? Sign up for Razed and play now.
Note: Odds at time of writing.
We spoke with Snax before his playoffs run in Atlanta to learn about GamerLegion, his time in the USA, and preparing for the Cologne Major:
How are you finding the US?
It's not my first time in USA, I was counting how many times I was in US with my wife and apparently it's more than 25. I really like it, especially the food and barbecue I had.
And how about the Atlanta crowd?
"I feel like the guys really like me [...] it’s nice that they cheer for us.
How have the last few months of GamerLegion been compared to your first run with the team?
It's better, the first time it was harder [...] I don't think we had good pieces, I mean role wise and stuff, not saying they were bad players. The roles were not fit as good as they are right now. It's definitely easier to call now.
With the major coming up, are you playing this event any differently?
I think that's a question for teams from top 10. We want to go to every tournament and grind as many points as we can. It's nice going to the major and tier 1 events to get some points before the major.
Of course major is harder, you have best of ones for example. We might have a bootcamp before the major to fix some mistakes we've done in the last few events, but I would say it looks promising. But obviously, I'm not gonna be too overconfident after the results because the major is a different time.
Q: Finally, what's the deadliest animal you can beat in a fight?
Spider.
Falcons and losing grand finals - name a more iconic duo.
PGL Astana’s climax promised a lot but delivered very little, much to our dismay. In the end, it was the same story we’ve seen time and time again: Spirit’s absurd firepower vs Falcons’ chronic inability to get over the final hurdle. CS’ hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby.
Dust2 started as a tight affair, giving us the illusion that we might actually get a competitive series. It went all the way to OT, where that hope quickly faded, as tN1R and donk made it clear they weren’t messing around.
Mirage came next, and you could tell Spirit had shifted into another gear. Falcons tried to answer back here and there, mainly through kyousuke as their only consistent performer - who looks to have taken a step toward overcoming his usual dip in form when Playoffs roll around. Still, Spirit were simply too much to handle.
That momentum carried straight into Ancient, where donk decided he’d had enough and proceeded to tear through Falcons like a hot knife through butter with his 17-5 score on the T-side. This 4K was particularly disgusting.
And so that marked Falcons’ first grand final under karrigan’s leadership. Not a terrible start, right? Sure, but then you zoom out and remember that this was their eight straight grand final loss, a trend that points to deeper issues that even one of CS’ greatest IGLs might not be able to fix. Big test in Cologne coming up for NiKo and the boys.
For Spirit, this is a strong follow-up to their second-place finish in Rio last month, and yet another sign that the players look far more comfortable with the freedom they have under S0tF1k compared to hally. Might be time to start drafting that ‘looking for team’ tweet, buddy.
Finally, we have to mention the legendary third-place decider between MOUZ and magic. Truly on the series of all time. Let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be an S-tier tournament without the perennial bronze medalists doing what they do best. There’s one silver lining for MOUZ though: at least xertioN seems to have finally found his role.
