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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
The unction needs a new destination
It’s all quiet on the CS front as we await the Major, just as long as you don’t count the death of the BYOC, a tier two bloodbath, and Snax fighting spiders. So, actually, it’s not that quiet at all.
Much like the dinnertime entertainment at a cheap cruise - the magic show just keeps going and going.
Stake Ranked is underway in Barcelona, with the classic hodgepodge of teams only an invitational cup just before the Major can provide. There are no easy warmup wins to get here, though, no matter what your rank is.
Fresh off their miracle run in Astana, the opening win against 3DMAX was nice, but we were certain the jig was up when FaZe took the first map against them 13-4. But despite karrigan moving the other way, a little bit of Falcons’ choking seems to have backwashed onto FaZe in the process.
Well, to be fair, FaZe have had their fair share of chokes as well.
Come to think of it, this might be the most classic FaZe game ever. frozen and Twistzz look like they should be winning trophies, broky drops a 0.89, and FaZe lose a close 1-2 game to an embarrassingly low ranked opponent.
And these Russian kids are starting to win games at a rate where we’re running out of magic-puns - we might need to start learning card tricks to keep up.
Alliance started their campaign with MaiL09 dropping “the worst official in his life” against FaZe, before relegating 3DMAX to last place with a close three map win. Sharks started the event with winning the South American derby with 9z, the two of them trying to warm up for the Major, before being taken down a peg by NIP late last night.
HEROIC were forced to join them in last place, largely through individual brilliance on the side of their opponents. stavn was, once again, annoyingly good on the AWP in the opener to send them down, before 9z snatched the tournament life away from them with a match-winning 1v3 clutch from dgt.
Honestly, OverDrive’s analysis of 9z was at least right about one thing: **the aim is donk-level. We’re not sure if he’s right about the rest, though…
This means 9z meet FaZe today with elimination on the line, while Sharks will square off against Alliance. In the upper bracket Snappi and his men will take on magic for a spot in the final.
For those of you struggling to stay awake reading about this event, hold out - the Major starts very soon.
We really thought HEROIC were going to go far at the ongoing Stake Ranked LAN. But how utterly wrong we were.
In their first game against NIP (2.08) they were the odds favourites at 1.69. This seemed like a slam dunk. Although, upon closer inspection, maybe we should’ve expected this. Both of these teams have fugazi AWPers, and it seems yxngstxr was the more fugazi out the two.
If you’d have bet on NIP to win, you would’ve doubled your money. If you placed a bet on HEROIC, then we send our condolences.
If you think you can make more money than us, sign up to Razed here.
DreamHack have announced they will no longer be selling BYOC tickets for their festivals, citing the fact that the tickets make up “less than 10%” of attendees as the main reason.
That makes it sound like it isn’t a big deal, but the story isn’t actually that simple.
Whilst it may be true that only 10% of the tickets are bought by BYOC enjoyers, that’s actually because DH only allow 10% to purchase the tickets, whereas regular tickets are more or less unlimited. Nice way to cook the books, lads.
Of course, it probably is true that interest in the BYOC element has declined over the years. A peak of almost 10k tickets sold in 2013 was always going to be hard to match, but is 10% of a massive festival really not enough to justify it?
Maybe not, but only if the overall isn’t as high as EFG would like it to be. Which, considering we were at DH Birmingham earlier in the year, might actually have some truth to it, considering how barren it was outside of the COD event.
Which was wicked, btw.
If that is true, though, it certainly doesn’t bode well for the future of the classic DreamHack, and it wouldn’t surprise us if they do eventually just become a place for EFG to host multiple events at once.
And if you ask us, that’s a real shame.
Fortunately, though, if you are looking to attend a BYOC, there are still opportunities. There are numerous in the US, and here in the UK, we obviously have EPIC. As for former DH hotspots, look for OWN Valencia in, well, Valencia, Glitched if you’re in Sweden, and Caggtus LAN if you were formerly a DreamHack Leipzig frequenter.
Long live grassroots CS.
It’s bloody hot in the UK at the moment, although that’s not the reason Sam and Jack got so heated this episode.
Look, the main culprit was indeed Falcons, but beating a dead horse is only fun for so long. Which means this week, the only two teams dead-er than Falcons are in our crosshairs, PARIVISION and Liquid.
Snax on the deadliest animal he thinks he could beat in a fight, his internet café beginnings, and GamerLegion’s designated DJ.
What's your very first memory of Counter-Strike?
Internet café for me, my parents had one in 2000, so 26 years ago.
When was the moment that you realized you could become a professional player?
Probably 2010, I would say.
If you were stranded on a deserted island and you had to survive, which of your teammates are you taking with you to the island?
My coach.
And which of your teammates do you not want to have to be stuck on an island with?
Olda [PR].
What is your favorite memory in Counter-Strike?
Winning Katowice, probably, or Las Vegas. Both of them are really nice for me.
How much is a can of Red Bull?
I don’t know, zero?
If you had to choose one of your teammates to DJ your music while you’re warming up or when you’re all in the car together, who are you picking?
Tauson.
What genre would you say he'd go for?
He can do everything, so it’s nice. I don’t have one [favourite] type of music. I usually listen to what I like.
What's the deadliest animal that you could beat in a fight?
Spider.
If you were a professional footballer, what position would you play?
I would try to play as a midfielder.
If you had to pick a Counter-Strike map to build a house on and live in it, what map would you pick?
Militia.
If you weren't a Counter-Strike pro, what job would you choose to have?
I was in cooking school, so I would cook. Or maybe keep playing darts, because I played professionally when I was younger. So I would try both.
Interview by shoko
