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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
Postponements, unpaid players, switching to different games, and how to bring NA CS back
The Esports World Cup may have moved locations, but the highly anticipated Esports Nations Cup will not be getting the same treatment… at least not for another 12 months, anyway.
ENC isn’t the only thing being treated unfairly, either, as Passion UA are in the sh-t for financial “miscalculations” and the CS women’s scene has taken yet another blow.
Another day in esports paradise, another organization run into the ground.
According to a report from HLTV’s MIRAA, Passion Unpaid Amounts is on the verge of collapse, facing a major financial crisis that has left former players and staff owed up to $600,000.
Things seemingly started going south after Zinchenko spent the football bucks to acquire the Complexity squad back in August 2025. The added costs soon began creating cash-flow problems, with salaries and tournament winnings either going unpaid or arriving late.
One of the most notable cases involved sticker money from the Budapest Major. According to Passion Unfulfilled Agreements’ CEO, Artemis Rjabovs, said money hadn’t arrived because the org was setting up a new account in Dubai. Wait, no - it was because Valve still hadn’t paid them. Apparently, the answer depended on which day you asked.
Naturally, the sh-tshow doesn’t stop there.
Even before the Complexity roster arrived, it seems Passion Unqualified Administration was already an internal mess - an appropriate reflection of the quality of their CS.
On one hand, Mr. Rjabovs repeatedly portrayed Zinchenko as deeply involved in the org’s operations. On the other, Zinchenko claims he was merely an investor and a media partner.
That last version of events becomes a little harder to believe when you consider a Discord call in which Zinchenko can be heard absolutely tearing into the players following an ugly loss to BIG in August 2025 - just two days before the organization shut down the Woro2k-led lineup - coupled with multiple reports of his direct involvement in player signings.
Gross mismanagement? Check. Broken promises? Check. Toxic environment? Check. That’s bingo.
Anyway, we’re called TL;DR for a reason. Do yourself a favor and give the full thing a read - it’s pretty good.
We can’t wait for the next episo… oh, that was quick.
Have you ever wanted to play CS on a team like the pros? If you live in NA, we’ve got an opportunity for you.
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CSC is a free volunteer-run CS2 league that operates like a franchised sports league. Everyone shows up, plays some games, then is drafted to a team in their own skill division.
With weekly matches, showmatches casted on twitch, and over 700 active players, it’s no wonder that many of the NA tl;dr staff play in CSC. That, and the fact that we aren’t good enough to pay for ESEA.
Season 21 is starting right now! Play Counter-Strike competitively, casually, in NA’s biggest free league at discord.gg/CSC.
This week on Overtime on Inferno, Jack has returned for a second time following his retirement from the pod. Maybe he regrets leaving the pod, or perhaps he just wanted to come back to continue sh*tting on MOUZ.
FURIA fe have transitioned to VALORANT, and we say good for them.
VALORANT has a solid women's scene, which is integrated properly into their pro circuit and backed by Riot to the teeth. In VALORANT, they’ll be respected and - most likely - adored, with watch time worthy of a scene that hasn’t failed an entire demographic.
This isn’t a knock on ESL, because they tried. This is a knock on performative fans who only cared about Impact when it was taken away, and especially on Valve, who could, and should, be doing more.
We all know the absurd amount of money Valve makes in a single month from Counter-Strike. They could absolutely decide to use even 10% of that and build an incredible circuit for women, which they could even model on VALORANT GameChangers, but they just won’t do that.
Why? Well, that’s anyone’s guess. But we honestly can’t wrap our heads around it.
It really wouldn’t have been hard for them to foot the bill for Impact and to create women’s Majors. Or, after Impact’s closure, to have paid someone like BLAST to run these tournaments instead.
The fact is, there simply isn’t the viewership for ESL, BLAST, or anyone else, for that matter, to support a women’s scene on their own. And without Valve’s help, there likely never would be.
But if Valve were to step in and arrange women’s Majors that take place prior to the actual Majors? That would all change. Not instantly, of course; it would definitely take some time, but with proper integration and its own Pick’Ems, a women’s Major would eventually thrive and ultimately, the women’s scene with it.
It’s great that the FURIA players have somewhere to go and to keep playing professionally, but it will never not be a shame that they have to compromise and play a game that isn’t their dream in order to do it.
Considering Valve has the money to do something about it, we’re starting to feel like it’s time to put the pressure on them and make sure they actually do.
Look, it was always going to happen, wasn’t it? Anyone who seriously believed it would go as planned was probably a bit delusional.
Of course the UK wouldn’t win.
The Esports Federation, hosts of both the Esports World Cup and the Esports Nations Cup, announced on Tuesday that the inaugural edition of the latter tournament won’t be going ahead in November. The reason is pretty obvious - it’s tough to host a giant sporting event in Riyadh at the moment.
While the EWC was moved in space, to a completely different sh-tty city, they took a different page out of Einstein’s book this time, and decided to move the tournament in time instead. The first edition of the tournament will now take place in November of 2027, so at least CYPHER and the lads will still get their chance.
Or not.
It seems that the teams who put their time and money into qualifying for this cup will unfortunately have to try again in a year. While the EF have said they’ll still fulfil their financial obligations, it’s a big blow to the teams with players who really could have used this break.
WOOD7 certainly had a lot to say about it. And we’re convinced CYPHER is some kind of anti-Midas with how every org - and now tournament - he touches dies. Gizmy, stay away.
But there is an interesting question posed. Why did the qualifiers even happen?
Look, if you listen to Overtime on Inferno, you’ll know we’re not experts in geopolitics beyond the foreign curse words Sam has taught himself in Premier games, but when the qualifiers for the main event were going ahead in July, we were pretty sure this tournament wasn’t going to happen in Riyadh.
But played they were regardless, leading us to believe the tournament would follow the EWC, which - considering the sheer scale of the event - has had a fairly successful relocation to Paris over the summer. As s0und said, why not do it again?
We figure there’s only one explanation, and we agree wholeheartedly:
UK CS can never be allowed to win.
