January 26, 2025 • 50 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Everyone, Welcome back to another edition of the Apex the Podcast.
Ladies and gentlemen, We are continuing our series of going
through every single group and every single team heading into
Champs in Sapporo, Japan. If you haven't checked it out yet,
we already have Group A up, we already have Group
B up, and now we're gonna break down Group C
(00:36):
and Donnie, I don't think we need to get into
any intro pleasantries at all. We're in the third episode already.
I guess where we'll start with this is what would
you even consider this group? This is an interesting one.
If you could summarize this group up in a couple
of words, what would it be?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I mean, to be honest, I think just confusion, dude,
Like I think that it is. There's so many teams.
I think they have a lot of question marks. There's
a ton of talent in this group, Like, don't get
me wrong, a lot of past you know, experience a
lot of wins within this group. But honestly, just either
due to form or changes that have been made or
(01:15):
other factors kind of going on, just confusions. Honestly. The
biggest thing I've to kind of described this group as
because we'll get into it obviously with each team, but yeah,
I think out not Group of Death. Definitely, it's definitely
more confusion.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, I think I think we're sticking with Group of
Death being Group A. Now, obviously no disrespect to Group
D or Group C or Group B, but as as
it stands right now, it seems like that's the one
we'll have to see when we get to Group D.
That'll be our final one in the episode series. But
let's kick it off with the first team, and I
feel like they deserve to be the number one team
(01:50):
talked about here in this particular group. We're going to
start it off with Team Falcons. Now. When this team formed,
when Hal had left TSM and join and created this team,
there was a lot of high expectations. A lot of
people were talking about there's no way that this team
doesn't perform the way that they should. And I don't
want to say we haven't seen results, because I feel
(02:11):
like we've seen enough. We've seen some really good play,
but we've also seen some performances where it almost feels
like it's a little bit of a letdown. And with
the roster that's this good, you kind of expect a
little bit more, and I think they would tell you
the exact same thing. In their position with the you know,
accolades that they already have accumulated, this should be a
(02:33):
team that is winning a little bit more consistently here,
But they're kind of in a weird place with this
meta and it's just sometimes how a br plays out,
especially APEX legends talking about Falcons here. The one main
addition since the last time we've talked about them was
Waltsea joining the team. Obviously Jen Burton has moved on.
(02:53):
We have Waltsey zero Imperial. How down where is this
team at right now?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I'd definitely say that in the more recent time, especially
just at least watching scrims this past week if anyone's
tuned in, which they had switched to Japan time, so
definitely have not watched nearly as much lately, but they
are absolutely frying right now. In terms of scrims. They
I think have won like three or four blocks since
(03:22):
they've switched on, which they've only played four days since
you know of Japan scrims so far, so they've definitely
looked a lot better. They seem to have figured out
now that they kind of solidified who's doing what, because
the biggest question for the longest time was who's going
to play the Newcastle And at first it was How,
and then they switched to Walta because they thought How
(03:43):
opens up fights too much and that's not really what
you want your Newcastle to do most of the time.
But then they switched How back to Newcastle. He's kind
of approached things a little bit differently, you know, how,
being how he is. You know, when they were still
on an a time, they would scrim all day and
then he would play like four or five more hours
are ranked purely on Newcastle, just working on his game,
(04:04):
figuring out what things he needs to learn or do differently,
and you can definitely see the work's been put in.
And I mean, again, who's surprised. I mean one person
of anybody that's gonna do that's gonna be holl but
Will to his credit too, they've been trying him on
the rampart lately and honestly, it's looked really good so far,
and it could be something that they end up sticking
(04:26):
with when it comes to them playing in Japan. But
I think if you'd asked the question, you know, a
couple of weeks ago after BLGs ended it definitely had
a lot more questions, but I think they've answered a
lot of them more recently. And again it's it's a
team that you can say whatever you want about their
form or talk about their twentieth that they had in Germany,
but you have to respect to go to this game, dude,
(04:47):
Like you have to have them in the conversation. Are
they the number one team right now? Probably not, just
based on how Alliance and I guess it's Shopify rebellion,
I guess the way you say now, but how they've
played all year. But they have to be in the conversation, Like,
I don't really care what anybody else has to say
with that, and I think you guys would agree, like
they have to be in the conversation at least.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah. I mean, last time we talked about uh, I
assume we were talking about Group A, we got into
the questioning of, like, if there's one player that has
to be the MVP of your team, who would it be.
As far as Falcons go, they have three incredible players.
If you just look at pure just roster, it's hard
to look at Falcons and not say they're the number
one roster. But when you narrow it down to one
(05:31):
guy who has to show up and has to be
the absolute best for this team going in to Japan,
who do you think it is? You're muted? That's too funny,
actually just not even real.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I really think that it honestly will come down to
Zero's ability to put them in the right spots. I
think that how and Walse have both been putting in
the work in order to show up and do their job,
and I know that, like one of the things that
I was like majorly critical of them is that they
didn't have a true Newcastle player, and as Donnie said,
(06:07):
Hausman putting in the work to make sure that like
he is that castle and his castle gameplay has definitely
seen improvement, which is like bound to happen when you
have one of the most determined performers in our game
dedicate himself to a character. We finally saw that happen.
We saw the like off scrim work being put in
(06:31):
to make sure that that castle was there and so
they should have all of the pieces to the puzzle,
which is why I truly think that it's going to
come down to Zero just putting them in the right spots.
We know that when it comes to winning lands, Zero's
the best in the game and he should have the
tools in order to make it happen, and it'll be
(06:53):
it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm
I mean, I don't think they can do worse than
their last land performance, right, and so like the question
like they had so much pressure to perform that I
as weird as it sounds, I think them dropping their
like bad performance kind of alleviates that. And now it's
(07:18):
just like, Okay, we don't have everybody and their brother
looking at us as like, oh, these guys like it's
a it's a winter bus situation. Obviously in their minds
it's a winter bus situation. But I do think that
the journey that this team Falcons has been on, they've
gone through the thick of it, and now is their
(07:38):
time to really put it all together and it could happen.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And I think it's interesting bringing that up with Zero
because I know I hadn't talked to him about about
him yet, but we saw I think a side that
we would never really have seen with Zero when it
came to Germany, of not being very sure of himself
in that Finals and feeling like he wasn't making any
of the right decisions because I know there was that
story that came out that he had asked how or
(08:02):
how basically like said, like IGL the next game, which
I never thought we had seen a day where zero
isn't I jelling just because of how good he is
of the game and how good he is iglling. So
definitely be interesting to see where his confidence is at.
Because obviously, you can look good in scrims, you can
look good during BLGs or wherever the case is. But
Land's a different animal. You know, the lights are on,
(08:24):
everybody knows you're there to be a Land contending team.
How do you perform? You know from the last time
that you got twentieth and absolutely drop the ball. So
it'll be very interesting to see how he reacts. Again,
I think, if I'm putting my money on it, he
will react like champions do and get back up off
the mat and play much better in IGL, much better.
(08:45):
But again, until we see it, you know that question
is going to loom. So uh yeah, it'll be really
interesting to see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Now, Donnie, before we move on from Falcons Falcons win
a Land, what went right. I feel like that answer
doesn't need to be very long. But if Falcons has
another twentieth placer, potentially even doesn't make a final Let's
just say their land falls off a cliff and it
just doesn't go the way they wanted to go. What
held them back?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I think, honestly, it's both sides of the coin. It's
going to be how does Walty play? In my opinion,
I think that when he is at his best, this
team is basically untouchable because I think How's going to
bring it as we know? Zero's going to bring it
as we know, But how does Walty play? So if
they win, it's because he's the waltya we've seen in
the past that has led a landing kills. And if
(09:34):
they lose, it's because Walty got back to the question himself,
not being sure of his role, and ultimately leads to
their downfall.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Perfect I think that's the best way to kick it
off Team Falcons. Obviously, there's going to be a lot
of controversy every time we talk about Falcons. What I
found out in our comments section is whenever we talk
about Falcons, even slightly positively, we just get roasted. So
never right, so you're never right about Falcons. You're never
right about Falcons. That's just the way it goes. But
(10:05):
you know, that's the game we play. Let's move on
into the next team here. We got Gaming Gladiators, and
this team is super interesting because I feel like they've
kind of had this resurgence the last few tournaments that
we've seen them play. Now, Donnie getting into Gaming Gladiators,
are they still or would you consider them to be
in the upper echelon of teams that you would expect
(10:28):
to make noise in a finals lobby or do you
think that the rest of the group, the rest of
the pack has kind of caught up as far as
the meta is concerned.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Well, I think the ultimate question with this team is
kind of is what happened? You know, it's we saw
that they've had three top tens this year and all
the Big Lands they were tenth and split one. I
believe they got like fourth or fifth at EWC and
then they're finishing second and Germany. You know, you definitely
thought BLGs happened, and before the metas shifted that this
(11:03):
team would be along with Alliance, along with Falcons and
some other teams that have come up to be one
of the favorites at Japan, but I honestly think right
now you can't really consider them favorites just based off
of form. And the other part of it is is
that they don't stream, so we don't really know what
the problem is. We don't know if it's just a
role issue, if it's they can't adjust to this meta.
(11:26):
There's just so many question marks with this roster because
if you just based off of their past performance, it's like, okay,
like they should be a favorite, But then if you
base it off of recent performance, it's just like, well,
I don't they might struggle on my finals. You know,
they were struggling to make finals even in blgs's so
I mean they missed out in the regional final and
(11:47):
a region respectfully that isn't the strongest in terms of
just top down depth. So there's a lot of question marks.
I personally think they'll figure it out because I think
they're too good not to. I mean, light this year
as their IGL has one of the best years of
an IGL for anybody, and Lufka has a ton of experience.
(12:07):
I'm going back all the way to when he was
with us end and Cashera when they were one fight
away from winning Champs, and BLASTS obviously has been very
good this year as well, So I think they can
figure it out. But again the ultimate question is can
they figure out whatever their problems are because we can't.
We haven't been able to see it. So it's the
ultimate question mark of are they going to be a
(12:30):
top ten team or are they going to go out
in day one? So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Now when it comes to a situation like Gaming Gladiators
where you have this very consistent performance across all of
the ALGs part of it, but then you see a
drop off in BLGs. As a spectator and maybe potentially
even as a fan of this team, how much stock
do you put into that going into Champs because it's
obviously a completely different animal.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I mean, as weird as it sounds, some teams play
better when they're playing against better competition, and this is
a team that when it comes to Land there they've
been heating up and I believe like their last Land
performance they were one of the front runners to match point.
We're looking very very strong. At many points looked like
(13:19):
they were going to bring it home. And so I'm
not going to put too much weight in a bad
BLGs performance. If anything, I'm gonna I'm gonna look at
it as a slingshot approach and be like, Hey, these
guys got all of their bad turney days out of
the way, and now they're preps to come into Land,
back in the back in the big leagues, and I'm
(13:42):
expecting this team to pick up right where they left
off and have a very strong showing despite the fact
that they might not have had the best set of scrims.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Now, Donnie, getting back to that same question success in
this land, where do things have to go right? Unsuccessful land?
Where do you expect things to go wrong?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I think ultimately it's just a come down to their confidence.
I mean, honestly, the plain and simple, you know. I
think if they get back to their team fighting that
they have, they individually maybe not the strongest in like
a one v one situation, but in terms of team
three v three's, they were one of the best teams
all year, especially at the Land. So can they get
back to kind of that confident fighting style when it
(14:26):
comes to defending their spots, because they're not overly aggressive,
but they'll definitely take a three v three if if
they think it works for them, So can they get
back to being that confident team on the other side
of the coin if they don't have success again, I
think it's just gonna be because their recent form has
told us that they aren't in the best spot right
now again whatever that thing is, So it's just that's
(14:48):
gonna be. The ultimate question is can they figure out
whatever that is that's been all in the back.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Moving on into the next team in this group, we
get into Luminosity Gaming, and now Luminosity as has had
an interesting last couple of tournaments and interesting last couple
of months. I think going into this year with this
roster that they had, I was probably the most excited
(15:15):
I'd been because I felt like sweet chances to win
were the highest they'd ever been, and that necessarily hasn't
been the case. It hasn't been the worst either, but
it's just kind of where's this roster at. It feels
kind of like, in a weird way, when we were
talking about Group A and Zach Maser and his squad.
It kind of feels like the same in a weird way,
(15:38):
because you don't know exactly what you're going to get
down from your perspective, do you have a higher opinion
of where Luminosity is going into this tournament or or
where's your mind at with LG.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Well, I think the crazy thing with LG is that
it feels like when you have good teams, it's because
typically the players, there's some of their ability makes things,
you know, it's greater than the some of its parts.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
So them coming together, bringing the chemistry together, playing well together,
and using their own individual ability to make the team better,
that is ultimately what makes great teams in the sport,
right so, I think right now, unfortunately, the individual parts
are better than what the team has been putting together,
at least lately. When they first came together, because I
(16:29):
believe Esports World Cup was their first and as a
trio they placed third, you know, everybody talked about how
Funk was the next up and coming fragger. He was
the one, I mean giving Falcons fits at that tournament.
Multiple members of Falcons had said that he was one
of the main reasons why they didn't even win. So like,
that's obviously high praise when you get that from a
(16:49):
zero and a drogger coming from Falcons that way. And
then we get into split two playoffs and all of
a sudden they're missing finals. So what I've watched them play,
it just seems like there isn't a trust At times.
It seems like they all almost want to make their
own individual play and don't necessarily follow sweets calls, which
(17:10):
I'm not sure it is because they don't like to
be microd because I know Sweet obviously does tend to
micro's players a little bit more than other igls. But
you just wonder kind of what went different, what went different,
what went awry from the first time they played together
at a land to that second land, and it really
just seems like right now, unless they can kind of
build that trust back and get back on their communication,
(17:33):
because I think we'd all agree all three players in
terms of an IGL, a fragger, and an anchor, all
individually probably towards the top and their specific role. But
it's can this Can these three come together as a
team and play well as a team, because if they do,
there easily can get top ten, top five. They're each
all those players are that good. But it's just can
(17:54):
they figure it out as a team, work together as
a team, and ultimately get past whatever mistrust they might
have at times to kind of get that that whole
sum as a team.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
You know, I'm gonna throw it over to you about
this MVP question that I threw to you for Falcons,
Like Donnie had said, all three of these individually on paper,
you look at that and you say, those are top
five players in each of their roles, at least in
the NA region, maybe even beyond that. So when it
comes to game day, who needs to be that MVP
(18:27):
to make sure that they can pull this out?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah, I'm I'm gonna kind of lean into what Donnie said,
and I think that they the way that they win
is without an MVP, as weird as that sounds, but like,
like Donnie made the point, like these guys are like
if you were to like, yeah, like anchor support, I
mean Anchor fragger Igl, They're arguably each top five and
(18:53):
all of those roles, But it really is about like
the team cohesion. And I know that during BLGs, like
I was able to catch one of them. But this
team has some of the funniest fucking like beefs amongst
each other, like when a fight goes wrong and Funk
and Pyke's disagree about whose fault it is. That shit
(19:16):
is funny.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
One of the crazy like they they are like big
beefing and so I really think that for them, in
order for them to win, they don't need an MVP.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
They need them to collectively come together, get on the
same page.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And just be a team.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
And they got a lot of their fights out of
the way through BLGs. Sweet is fucking do for a
land win because I would say he's arguably either him
or Nocturnal as the best igls who haven't won a
land hackies would I would put him there, But I mean,
(19:56):
they did have the the World Cup and and so
it really just comes down to can they really just
come together. And I think something that is going to
be really big for them in order to help make
that happen is I'm not one hundred percent sure if
they're doing a boot camp, but I would be absolutely
just astounded if they weren't.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
They are over in career right now, yea.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
And so and with that boot camp, you have time
just spent together. IRO like, these guys are going to
be spending so much time together that hopefully their little
online fights that they've had they can squash all of
the beef and then come together get on the same
(20:42):
page and make it happen. I would say that you
should expect to see LG perform incredibly well at this land,
and I will certainly be surprised if they don't.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
But they don't need an MVP. I like that. I
like that answer a lot. Just be a team. It
would be poetic too. If this was the land that
Sweet finally won the biggest one, would it would be
cool to watch? It would definitely like if if I
had to rank like top three results, that could happen
just for me personally, Cloud nine Nine's up Sweet winning
(21:12):
this one, and then I'd love to see Complexity as well.
I loved I love the Complexity boys. They have a
good time when they hop on the show, so that
I would love to see Sweet get one. Although he
hasn't hopped on the show yet, which hopefully we'll get him.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
We were we were so close and we almost away,
almost had him. But that's just gonna make it so
that when he finally does come on, it'll make that
episode that much better.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, yeah, we almost had him. It was the day
of We're like, yes, we got him, and then something
came up and damn, we're so close, so close. Now
moving on into the next one.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
More quick thing. Yeah, for the point on Sweet because
I know a lot of people like to kind of
rag on some of his teams and performances that he's
had in the past. This man has seven top tens
at lands alone. That is a stat that is not
matched by many, even the hows and the Zeros. I
wou'd have to look back at theirs. But like like
(22:08):
Enox said, probably one of the most successful igls without
winning the land. I mean, you talk about that performance
when he was with NRG, with Nathan and Guild finishing
second in that land, they were arguably the best team
that day if it wasn't for certain a certain TSM
also playing very well that day. So yeah, one hundred
percent agree Sweets on that shortlist of short list of igls.
(22:30):
That definitely is due and again I think it would
be very exciting to watch him win if that it
does end up happening.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Has to be has to be in your top three
of things that could happen. Going to Land. Now moving
on into Aurora. Here we've got the Aurora Boys and Donnie.
I guess the question with Aurora is can they have
the patients when they need to have the patients, and
going through their entire you know, history and runs, it
seems like they're a little bit more on the aggressive side.
(22:59):
From your active Where do you see Aurora standing right now?
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Yeah, I mean, I think you put it perfectly. I mean,
this is a team that we literally watched uh have
a grand theft auto session with Fanatic during the middle
of the land.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
So it is definitely a team that will play the
way that they want to play. I mean they literally
they literally sent hard Deckie to third that the E
eight and uh oh my gosh, oh seven contest in LA.
So they're a team that will do anything that they
want to do and will go at it the way
(23:34):
they want to go at it, which can be good
at times, but it can also be a detriment at
times in terms of just trying to win a match
point format. So I think, like you put it, the
ultimate question is do they have the patience enough that
when they get to the spot to win a game,
can they execute enough to do that? Because ultimately I
think is if they get to end, if they get
(23:54):
to end zones and they get to that ring five,
rings six, they typically play it pretty well, but a
lot of times they struggle to even get to that
point because they take so many fights early on, and
you're really just pushing your luck every time you take
an early three to E three, especially at a land
when the levels are so high and teams can third
within seconds. So it is all about picking the right
fights at the right time, making sure you have all
(24:16):
the information of if this is an isolated fight or not,
and ultimately just coming down to in this post hard
Deci era, what do they look like on land, because
we haven't seen them at a land yet without a
hard Deci because they had missplit two playoffs, so we'll
see what they look like during BLGs. They definitely looked
a lot better because I know when they first made
the change. It definitely was a struggle at times. But
(24:39):
I think if we get Aurora back to the team
that we've seen them in the past with Oi Rain
and Impulse, I think that they easily could be a
team that ends up hitting match point and then it
will just ultimately come down to can they play the
match point style and close it out?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah don't. I'm not sure if this was Aurora, but
during Esports World CU were they not the team on
World's Edge, who was on top of the train tracks
who just randomly jumped down to the ground to allow
Luminosity to hit match point or get right below. It
was that not them.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah, they basically jumped on a solo, which they don't
have English comms, so I have no clue what the
decision making was in that situation. But yeah, I mean
that kind of is the epitome of their play style.
You know, they make decisions that aren't the traditional decision
or the one that you think would win games at times,
but yeah, when they are focused in and they are
(25:31):
making the calls to win games. I mean we've seen
them have Pro League days or match days that they
win two or three games in a six game set,
So they're very capable. It's just like you mentioned from
the top, are they patient enough to make those decisions
consistently over four days to set themselves up to win.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
A land now? E if there ever was a time
to be an aggressive team, not even speaking about just
Auror here, but I guess it kind of falls into
their lap with how aggressive they can be. This meta
would probably, if I'm not mistaken, suit it pretty well
with how quickly you could reset. Is that is that
right or no?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I mean, I would definitely say that there's room for
a knock more than there's ever been with the Gibbie
Bubble with the Newcastle shield, and so if you're able
to take fights aggressively, you're not punished nearly as much
as you would have when you have that Newcastle still up.
(26:30):
And so I would say that you are going to
be in a good spot and that this meta does
play into their play style. But I mean, as we've
said before, the way that Land is played is different
than any other style of apex. So we've seen how
this meta favors or disfavors aggressive teams in scrims. We
(26:59):
truly have I have no real idea how it's going
to come to, like what it's going to look like
Dame come game day, when they're on the stage, when
the crowd's there, when the money is on the line,
when the pressure is really on, because there's just no
way to get these players to scrim like they will
(27:21):
play on game day. And so I would say that, yes,
it does benefit people who want to take more fights,
but we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah, A perfect example of what you're saying is Esports
World Cup. That story I just talked about where they're
on height jump down for a solo and then allow
an a you know, Team Luminosity to end up winning
that game and then get match points. So sometimes the
bright lights can get a little too bright and make
you change up and do different things. And I think
(27:51):
I talked to Jayhawk about that specific game and there
was something else that caused them to jump down that
made a little bit more sense. But I just remember
watching it in the moment and being like, that's a
decision where I feel like that could be a land effect,
like that could be partly just being on the stage.
You know, you never really know, you never really know
(28:12):
what's going on. But yeah, so that is Aurora. Moving
on into Team Berger and Imperfect Apex Legends Fashion, I
think that there should always be a Team Burger coming
from Apax South, you know, it just it feels right
to have a Team Burger. We got Pricey Way and
Sharky Don. I'm gonna throw it on down to you,
Team Burger. I believe this was formerly VP, correct.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, formerly a VP yep.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
So moving into this, where do you stand with with
Team Burger?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
They're definitely a team that you're not gonna see too
much over aggression from them. They definitely play if at
a pick between one of the other, they definitely play
a little bit more patient and definitely play more of
his own style, which can work again in this meta.
I think what notice in this metas there definitely has
a lot of different avenues to have success. But like
he has mentioned, once you get to Land, you know,
(29:06):
things definitely change very quickly and you definitely just have
to be that much more calculated and smart about what
fights you're taking, in spots you play and things like that.
And I think they're a team that they've They've got
some solid experience obviously with Sharky, he's a two time
Land winner dating back to year two when he was
playing with zero, So they have a guy that knows
(29:28):
how to win and has been there before. And we
even saw in la If I remember right, they even
won the first game of finals. Kind of fell off
after that, but they definitely know how to play the
right spots and zone. I think the biggest question right
now is with so many teams being able to sustain
longer and there being more teams in the final zone,
(29:50):
can they win enough three B threes to one hold
their spot, but then two also take more advantageous spots,
because ultimately, when teams are moving from a ring three
to ring four, a ring four or ring five, chaos
and twos, and usually those teams that have that little
extra firepower are usually the ones that can make up
for maybe having a less lesser spot than others. And
(30:13):
that's all film gonna be. Their question is do they
have the three B three firepower to make an impact
of the land. I think they can, but they're gonna
be a team that kind of leans a little more
on things like a zone luck where they get a
little more zone polls, and also just being very smart
when they rotate and where they're rotating to.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, and I feel like that's already a disadvantage because
the amount of times zone is going to directly pull
to where you need to be is not going to
happen as often as anybody would like it. So to
be able to have the firepower and make up sometimes
for some of that lost ground by being able to
fight your way out of certain things when you don't
have that, it's obviously a major disadvantage. I mean, at
(30:53):
the end of this game, at the end of the day,
this game involves fighting. That's what you have to do
to end up winning. So that does hold them a
little bit here. Now as far as Team Burger goes,
what is their absolute ceiling, Like, do you see them
making a finals lobby? Do you see like that's the
highest they can Like where do you see Team Berger
(31:13):
like closing out at.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I think with the strength that we have, especially in
Na and the top of a pack north right now,
and then if you chip in you know, a team
like an Alliance or a team like Aurora, I think
their ceiling is making finals. I think they definitely are
very capable of doing that, because again we saw it
in LA, but we've also seen them miss split two playoffs.
So it is a question of if I had to pick,
(31:39):
they're probably gonna be that team that kind of falls
in like that eighteenth to like twenty fifth range if
I just had to like make a guess at it.
But they're definitely a team that is capable of, you know,
like a top fifteen per se. But I don't think
they're ceiling is too much higher than that unless we
kind of get like I've mentioned in the other episodes,
kind of one of those crazy matchpoint finals where you
get thirteen teams and anybody can win. I think that'll
(32:02):
be really the only play that we see being placing
any higher than the top fifteen. But they're definitely very
capable of making finals. I think we can definitely give
them that credit because I think Price he's done well
as igl again Shark, He's had the pass of a champion,
and I know, way from what I've heard from people
in a pack style and talking with Jay a little bit,
he's kind of like one of their next up players,
(32:25):
and I believe he's them in k fragging and so
that's also in this meta that's good in itself with
shotguns being as popular as they are. So yeah, definitely capable,
but I don't think the ceiling is probably as high
as a lot of other teams.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, and I could be mistaken here, but I do
feel like they made some noise in split one playoffs.
I don't know, I think it wasn't anything, you know,
extremely memorable, but it wasn't like they were just completely
irrelevant throughout very much of their.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Own Yeah, Like I said, they had won game one
in finals, but then they kind of didn't really do
much after that. I think they ended up in like
a twelfth or thirteenth, I believe if I remember correctly,
But I mean price he has had in the past
where he finished sixth in the year three Split one
playoffs against Sharky, whereas he's finished having won two lands
(33:14):
and wigh it was twelve actually now that I see now,
So I mean they definitely have some potential, but like
I said, it's it's gonna take a lot for them
to really make a huge impact.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
I think now we're gonna move on into the next
team here Knocked him E Sports and this team I'm
not fully I don't know a whole lot about Knocked
Me Sports. Don I'm gonna throw it on down to you.
What's something with this squad that you need to look
out for?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
So they're gonna be one of those patient zone teams again,
I think more even than Team berger Is. I think
that they I think the nice thing that they had
in the Crypto metaw was the benefit of extra information
because obviously when you're playing the Crypto, you were able
to scans around the map, and also you can just
use the CCTV camera that is his drone and be
(34:05):
able to see everything that's around you. So I think
they're one of the teams that definitely benefited from that,
because we quite haven't seen the same results since the
metas shifted. They missed BLGs regional finals over in EMEA,
and they've only had the one Land appearance, which was
the Split two playoffs where they finished fourteenth, which for
them is definitely an incredible achievement because again, they weren't
(34:27):
really a team that many people were talking about, but
I think they might be one of these teams that
we saw have the success in the Crypto meta because
you're able to gain a ton of information. I don't
quite think it's probably going to carry over to here.
Really their only path to success is having really good
zone rating and zone knowledge. But again, when you're you know,
unless you're really playing pathline during this meta, which not
(34:49):
too many people are since the Nerve, you're not really
going to have much information outside of just the ring
scan if you're playing catalysts. So we'll see if they
end up running catalysts. I'm sure they probably will be
his own team, but I know it just kind of
based off of trying to see what fights will look
like for them. Again, I think they'd be very happy
(35:10):
if they might finals again, but it wouldn't really surprise
me if I see them struggle quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, they do get the logo BUFF. I'm not gonna
lie to you. They do get a logo. We're going
to add that to their We're gonna put that old
check mark in the box. So they do get the
logo BUFF. But as far as their ceiling goes, would
it be crazy to say their ceiling might might be
not even making the finals lobby and just kind of
being close in you know, maybe making winners round one
(35:36):
or something like that, just because where I, like you said,
without this information, I think we're going to see a
mass exodus of teams who did surprisingly well maybe start
to fall back into a different spot because of the
change of meta.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, I mean, I think we could easily see that.
I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because obviously
you still have to play well and make finals. So
if they do end up making the finals, you know,
I'm not gonna say it's like the biggest shock in
the world or anything, but if I had to bet
on it, I think they'll probably probably be one of
those like losers round two teams because I do think
like experience does matter. I don't land, and we do
(36:13):
have quite a few teams that maybe don't necessarily have
as much experience as they do. But again, if they
also go out and loses round one, I think to
the point you made just now, I think they probably
are one of those teams that benefited a lot from
the last meta and kind of just don't have that
same information.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Now, okay, let's move into my favorite team of this
of this little group that we got here. We've got
org lists in Hungary formerly known as NAV and many
in the media, I shouldn't say many, some in the
media we're saying, you know, their performance in Split two
Matt or split to uh the first day was really impressive.
(36:58):
Many in the media were saying that it might have
been the most impressive perform maybe even more impressive than winning.
And I'm I didn't say that, I'm just saying others
in the media had said that this is matafe kind
of and Henchman formerly na V. I mean, they really.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Want another person who is more vocal than you.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Many in the media were saying that, and and it's
just you know.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Many were many were saying that you hit a victory
lap celebration at the first turn of the race.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, there was three turns left. And maybe, you know,
maybe I started spinning my tires and getting excited a
little early. Maybe I was retweeting things a little too quickly.
Maybe I was, you know, adding Jumba, adding Enoch Jayhawk, everybody.
You know, I was ripping my shirt off and and
(37:51):
swing swinging it in the air a little early, and
you know, it felt like, yeah, it was. It was
way early. It didn't go well. It didn't go well.
But I said after we recorded that episode, after Land
was over for Split two playoffs, I said I would
(38:13):
still back this team going into Champs. And Enak looked
at me and said, there's no shot. You're insane. I'm
not going to make at least at this point, I'm
not going to make that same prediction yet. But who knows.
When I touched down in Japan, I might change my
things might change for me. You know, I might have
(38:36):
a different frame of mind. So there's a very good
chance that Org listen to Hungary formerly known as Nave,
formerly known as the best team in group stages of
Split two, which will be remembered for years and years
to come. I could be back on that bandwagon, but
as far as this team goes, Donnie, I'll throw on
down to you. What's the ceiling for this team?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
So, I mean, I think the biggest thing with this
team is they need to play with an identity because
I think there's a lot of times where they want
to be a zone team, but they play like an
edge team, and I think that they quite frankly, they
just don't have the consistency in three v three's to
really be an edge team. But I think that we
saw that when they read the zone well and they
(39:23):
get to the spot and zone, they actually did a
very good job, you know. Again case in point day one,
it split two playoffs and produced again I mean a
really really good performance. I mean, we cannot discarded them
for how well they played. It's just then that next
day that they fall back into old habits of wanting
(39:44):
to fight everything, taking very bad fights, you know, positionally
or just during the pace of early game. It just
this is the decision making at the end of the
day is what always is going to hold this team back.
Because again it's three players that are solid at the
game and can definitely make a finals. I think that's
what's so surprising about this team is like I do
(40:06):
think they are, like gunuinely capable of making the finals.
It's just they have to make the right decisions. They
have to play like they're out of Land, not like
it's an online pro leagu day one, you know, because
they put up all these kills in a MIA and
they do really well and place in top five overall
and pro league. But they go to Land and they
try to play the same way, and again, like he's
(40:28):
mentioned multiple times, now, Land is a completely different animal.
You have to play the way that Land dictates. And
we saw that for basically one day and then they
fell back into their old habits. So if they hopefully
can flip the switch and kind of get that consistency
of playing morizone, I think they can have some success.
But it ultimately is going to come down to can
(40:51):
they as a trio make the right decisions when it
matters most.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
So, we already know that their ceiling is winning a
Land and hoisting the trophy. That's obviously their ceiling, that's
always obviously been there, That's what will be. That's their
ceiling as far as NOV goes, not really nav org
lists and hungry. But as far as their floor, where
do you see their floor at?
Speaker 2 (41:16):
I mean, I think if you ever see tearless that
people do usually there's a matafe tier for a reason.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
So it really ultimately is just an absolute wild card
question mark with this team. They I could see them
finding a way to make a finals again, I think
the path is there, but I could see them getting fortieth.
I mean, it's just it's it's just one of those
situations of again, like what decisions are being made at
(41:47):
the end of the day, and how are they going
to play this land? Are they going to play the
way that they need to, or that they keep playing
like the way of old and just take really poor
fights and lose their positions and zone for no reason.
I mean, I think there was even watching that split
two playoffs, there was a time that they basically had
godspot and just somehow, some way they just die in
(42:10):
two seconds and you just sit there scratching your head
like what the hell happened? You know, Like it's just again,
it's just can they make the right decision? You know,
can they hold a spot in zone and be patient
enough when they need to I really think if they
can embrace the Watson, which they had success with a
Split two playoffs, that is gonna be their ingredient to
success because Watson naturally should play a more slow play style.
(42:34):
But like I said, there's a Matafe tier for a reason.
So we'll see what the boys do in Japan.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Yeah, I knew I was fucked during Split two playoffs
when I watched them fly onto donut right outside of
what is it? What is that POI on World's Edge,
there's that little donut building. You know, That's what I'm
talking about.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
I'm trying to think of where that's all right? Talking
about more by like it's it's like a lava fisher
or like.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Yeah, yeah, okay, it will No, it wasn't a fishers,
like down towards thermal station. I think there's like a
donut little building over there.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
When I saw them fly, probably more like of a
like a mirage atoire or like staging or.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Like yeah over there. Yeah, I mean I watched them
blind fly onto the building.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I know what moment you were talking about. I'm just
I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Once I saw that happen, I was like, yeah, I'm fucked. Yeah,
this is bad, and I knew the tweets were gonna come,
and they did that they did deserve.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
I will say, though, man, for to defend why. I've
never seen someone more passionately defend the bad takes in
my life more than this man. So, like I I
give him full credit for going down with the ship
because there's many people that won't do that, and he
is a guy that will stick with the team no
matter if their first or fortieth. So shout out, shout
(43:57):
out why man, That's all I gotta say, because he
does a lot more of the hard work sharing teams
on than a lot of other people will.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
So the twist of the knife was when they won
the final game and it just yeah, like that that
was the final twist. It was like it was like,
you guys were first, Like throughout the entire group stages,
we get to to winners do shit. I think actually
they didn't even do that shit. I think they were
(44:23):
like eleventh or twelfth in winners. Then in losers it
was like they're out of it the whole time. Final game,
they win it, but it doesn't matter because they don't
even have nearly enough points to even qualify, and it
was just like they really just stabbed me, and they
just kept twisting back and forth like they really just
destroyed me. But ceiling, winning a land, ceiling winning a
(44:48):
land that is orgless and hungry, ladies and gentlemen, let's
move on into the next one. Here, we've got GHS Professional.
Don give me a breakdown on GHS.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
So this is a team that's got a lot of
experience when it comes to appearing at Lands. Unfortunately, they
really haven't had too much success when it comes to
placement at lands. I mean, the best result for anybody
on their roster is one tap. You got eighteenth and
year three split two playoffs so they can make it
to Lands. And they typically played decently well during an
(45:21):
APAC North Pro League, and I know they had just
picked up Tida from North APST earlier in this in
the season. So it's a roster that has potential, but
it's again a team that probably doesn't really have too
much of a high ceiling. Their only hope is that
they typically do play more patient when it comes to
their play style, and again I think with this meta
(45:44):
that play style can thrive at times, and so can
they ultimately get to a point where they have success
to where you know, they make it to the finals
and make some noise. That's gonna be a pretty tough
ask of this roster because again, I just don't think
they necessarily fight very well. And when we have so
many teams in the world now that just have such
good fighting potential, even in this meadow where it is
(46:07):
slower at times, it's just one of those things that
you just have to have that guy, like, you just
have to have somebody on that roster that can get
a pick or turn a fight when you get the
first guy knocked. And I just don't think they quite
have that. So we'll ultimately see if they can rotate
well they get some zone luck. You know, again we've
seen it before, teams they make some runs that ultimately
(46:29):
can put them into finals. But again I think for
this team, you'll pushing for a losers a round two
and hopefully getting the luck that they need to make finals.
This is kind of like the area that they're in
right now.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Yeah, So that is GHS Professional moving on into Reignite. Reignite,
don throw it on down to Reignite. Now. This team
had come in from last chance qualifiers in Apac North,
so may not have the shine that a lot of
these other teams have, but they're here and they're going
to perform, so don go through quickly on Reignite.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
So the big no with them is that f Chan
is their main player. And for those who remember from
Land's past, he had played on the pulver X squad
that had had some success. He actually got third and
year two champs with that roster of pulver X, so
he's had some success in the past. A very different
team he's playing with now. One guy suit of Takey
(47:27):
is making his first LANT appearance and shoot me, He's
had three appearances but hasn't really had too much success
in Land, So there is some recipe for they could
potentially figure out something just with f Chan's prior experience.
But again I would definitely think that, you know, they
missed BLGs finals, it took l CQ qualifying in order
(47:48):
to be here. I think again, it's gonna be one
of those teams that will probably struggle more likely than not,
and especially being an LCQ team. Their POI draft, they
got a lot of obviously low end picks, so I
don't really expect too much. But again, f Chance made
some if anybody remembers, he literally duoed his way almost
to making it to a winners bracket because one of
(48:09):
their players wasn't able to play. So you never know.
Sometimes with Battle Royals could be something they might be
able to figure out. But yeah, like I said, definitely
probably a team that might struggle a little bit.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
And our final team in Group C, this is zero Tenacity.
They come from EMEA Last Chance Qualifiers down for people
who don't know anything about zero tenacity, where are you
what are you seeing with this squad? And where do
you think that they can fit in?
Speaker 2 (48:36):
Again, there'll be another zone team. They primarily play it
out of pois like fragment and cascade faults, which generally
they're central pois for those who don't know, and that
typically means they'll try to quick rotate because they'll loot
fast and then get out of their POI typically one
of the first teams to do so. So ultimately they
don't really have too much experience at lands. Bambino is
(48:58):
really the one that has most of the experience, where
he finished just a couple of spots outside of making
a finals back at Year three Split two playoffs, So
ultimately they'll probably go about as far as he can
take them, just being their main player that has the
most experience, but kind of just watching their gameplay. They
found some success in BLGs. They end up getting like
(49:20):
tenth in their regional finals and they were third overall
in points through the four qualifiers. So if they're able
to kind of play that same way they have in
this meta, they might be able to surprise some people.
But again, I think they kind of just fall into that.
What I've just kind of been talking about these last
few teams is they don't really necessarily have that fire,
that fighting power to defend spots and zone or get
(49:40):
early picks if they need it, so they're gonna again
gonna have to have a lot of luck with you know,
zones pulling their way or making the right reads at
the right time, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
So there we go, and ladies and gents, that should
just about rounded out four. Group C in the Supporo
Champs land. Now, don't forget if you guys are just
watching this for the first time, we do have Group
A and Group B available for you guys to go
listen to. A Group D should be out very very shortly,
(50:10):
so you can hear everything about every single team heading
into Champs. Thank you guys for tuning in. Go check
out those other episodes and some of the interviews that
we've had with some of these players beforehand. You might
as well just check it all out. Thank you guys
for tuning in. As always, we'll catch you guys on
the next one. Say y'all.
Everyone, Welcome back to another edition of the Apex the Podcast.
Ladies and gentlemen, We are continuing our series of going
through every single group and every single team heading into
Champs in Sapporo, Japan. If you haven't checked it out yet,
we already have Group A up, we already have Group
B up, and now we're gonna break down Group C
(00:36):
and Donnie, I don't think we need to get into
any intro pleasantries at all. We're in the third episode already.
I guess where we'll start with this is what would
you even consider this group? This is an interesting one.
If you could summarize this group up in a couple
of words, what would it be?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I mean, to be honest, I think just confusion, dude,
Like I think that it is. There's so many teams.
I think they have a lot of question marks. There's
a ton of talent in this group, Like, don't get
me wrong, a lot of past you know, experience a
lot of wins within this group. But honestly, just either
due to form or changes that have been made or
(01:15):
other factors kind of going on, just confusions. Honestly. The
biggest thing I've to kind of described this group as
because we'll get into it obviously with each team, but yeah,
I think out not Group of Death. Definitely, it's definitely
more confusion.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, I think I think we're sticking with Group of
Death being Group A. Now, obviously no disrespect to Group
D or Group C or Group B, but as as
it stands right now, it seems like that's the one
we'll have to see when we get to Group D.
That'll be our final one in the episode series. But
let's kick it off with the first team, and I
feel like they deserve to be the number one team
(01:50):
talked about here in this particular group. We're going to
start it off with Team Falcons. Now. When this team formed,
when Hal had left TSM and join and created this team,
there was a lot of high expectations. A lot of
people were talking about there's no way that this team
doesn't perform the way that they should. And I don't
want to say we haven't seen results, because I feel
(02:11):
like we've seen enough. We've seen some really good play,
but we've also seen some performances where it almost feels
like it's a little bit of a letdown. And with
the roster that's this good, you kind of expect a
little bit more, and I think they would tell you
the exact same thing. In their position with the you know,
accolades that they already have accumulated, this should be a
(02:33):
team that is winning a little bit more consistently here,
But they're kind of in a weird place with this
meta and it's just sometimes how a br plays out,
especially APEX legends talking about Falcons here. The one main
addition since the last time we've talked about them was
Waltsea joining the team. Obviously Jen Burton has moved on.
(02:53):
We have Waltsey zero Imperial. How down where is this
team at right now?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I'd definitely say that in the more recent time, especially
just at least watching scrims this past week if anyone's
tuned in, which they had switched to Japan time, so
definitely have not watched nearly as much lately, but they
are absolutely frying right now. In terms of scrims. They
I think have won like three or four blocks since
(03:22):
they've switched on, which they've only played four days since
you know of Japan scrims so far, so they've definitely
looked a lot better. They seem to have figured out
now that they kind of solidified who's doing what, because
the biggest question for the longest time was who's going
to play the Newcastle And at first it was How,
and then they switched to Walta because they thought How
(03:43):
opens up fights too much and that's not really what
you want your Newcastle to do most of the time.
But then they switched How back to Newcastle. He's kind
of approached things a little bit differently, you know, how,
being how he is. You know, when they were still
on an a time, they would scrim all day and
then he would play like four or five more hours
are ranked purely on Newcastle, just working on his game,
(04:04):
figuring out what things he needs to learn or do differently,
and you can definitely see the work's been put in.
And I mean, again, who's surprised. I mean one person
of anybody that's gonna do that's gonna be holl but
Will to his credit too, they've been trying him on
the rampart lately and honestly, it's looked really good so far,
and it could be something that they end up sticking
(04:26):
with when it comes to them playing in Japan. But
I think if you'd asked the question, you know, a
couple of weeks ago after BLGs ended it definitely had
a lot more questions, but I think they've answered a
lot of them more recently. And again it's it's a
team that you can say whatever you want about their
form or talk about their twentieth that they had in Germany,
but you have to respect to go to this game, dude,
(04:47):
Like you have to have them in the conversation. Are
they the number one team right now? Probably not, just
based on how Alliance and I guess it's Shopify rebellion,
I guess the way you say now, but how they've
played all year. But they have to be in the conversation, Like,
I don't really care what anybody else has to say
with that, and I think you guys would agree, like
they have to be in the conversation at least.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah. I mean, last time we talked about uh, I
assume we were talking about Group A, we got into
the questioning of, like, if there's one player that has
to be the MVP of your team, who would it be.
As far as Falcons go, they have three incredible players.
If you just look at pure just roster, it's hard
to look at Falcons and not say they're the number
one roster. But when you narrow it down to one
(05:31):
guy who has to show up and has to be
the absolute best for this team going in to Japan,
who do you think it is? You're muted? That's too funny,
actually just not even real.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I really think that it honestly will come down to
Zero's ability to put them in the right spots. I
think that how and Walse have both been putting in
the work in order to show up and do their job,
and I know that, like one of the things that
I was like majorly critical of them is that they
didn't have a true Newcastle player, and as Donnie said,
(06:07):
Hausman putting in the work to make sure that like
he is that castle and his castle gameplay has definitely
seen improvement, which is like bound to happen when you
have one of the most determined performers in our game
dedicate himself to a character. We finally saw that happen.
We saw the like off scrim work being put in
(06:31):
to make sure that that castle was there and so
they should have all of the pieces to the puzzle,
which is why I truly think that it's going to
come down to Zero just putting them in the right spots.
We know that when it comes to winning lands, Zero's
the best in the game and he should have the
tools in order to make it happen, and it'll be
(06:53):
it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm
I mean, I don't think they can do worse than
their last land performance, right, and so like the question
like they had so much pressure to perform that I
as weird as it sounds, I think them dropping their
like bad performance kind of alleviates that. And now it's
(07:18):
just like, Okay, we don't have everybody and their brother
looking at us as like, oh, these guys like it's
a it's a winter bus situation. Obviously in their minds
it's a winter bus situation. But I do think that
the journey that this team Falcons has been on, they've
gone through the thick of it, and now is their
(07:38):
time to really put it all together and it could happen.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And I think it's interesting bringing that up with Zero
because I know I hadn't talked to him about about
him yet, but we saw I think a side that
we would never really have seen with Zero when it
came to Germany, of not being very sure of himself
in that Finals and feeling like he wasn't making any
of the right decisions because I know there was that
story that came out that he had asked how or
(08:02):
how basically like said, like IGL the next game, which
I never thought we had seen a day where zero
isn't I jelling just because of how good he is
of the game and how good he is iglling. So
definitely be interesting to see where his confidence is at.
Because obviously, you can look good in scrims, you can
look good during BLGs or wherever the case is. But
Land's a different animal. You know, the lights are on,
(08:24):
everybody knows you're there to be a Land contending team.
How do you perform? You know from the last time
that you got twentieth and absolutely drop the ball. So
it'll be very interesting to see how he reacts. Again,
I think, if I'm putting my money on it, he
will react like champions do and get back up off
the mat and play much better in IGL, much better.
(08:45):
But again, until we see it, you know that question
is going to loom. So uh yeah, it'll be really
interesting to see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Now, Donnie, before we move on from Falcons Falcons win
a Land, what went right. I feel like that answer
doesn't need to be very long. But if Falcons has
another twentieth placer, potentially even doesn't make a final Let's
just say their land falls off a cliff and it
just doesn't go the way they wanted to go. What
held them back?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I think, honestly, it's both sides of the coin. It's
going to be how does Walty play? In my opinion,
I think that when he is at his best, this
team is basically untouchable because I think How's going to
bring it as we know? Zero's going to bring it
as we know, But how does Walty play? So if
they win, it's because he's the waltya we've seen in
the past that has led a landing kills. And if
(09:34):
they lose, it's because Walty got back to the question himself,
not being sure of his role, and ultimately leads to
their downfall.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Perfect I think that's the best way to kick it
off Team Falcons. Obviously, there's going to be a lot
of controversy every time we talk about Falcons. What I
found out in our comments section is whenever we talk
about Falcons, even slightly positively, we just get roasted. So
never right, so you're never right about Falcons. You're never
right about Falcons. That's just the way it goes. But
(10:05):
you know, that's the game we play. Let's move on
into the next team here. We got Gaming Gladiators, and
this team is super interesting because I feel like they've
kind of had this resurgence the last few tournaments that
we've seen them play. Now, Donnie getting into Gaming Gladiators,
are they still or would you consider them to be
in the upper echelon of teams that you would expect
(10:28):
to make noise in a finals lobby or do you
think that the rest of the group, the rest of
the pack has kind of caught up as far as
the meta is concerned.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Well, I think the ultimate question with this team is
kind of is what happened? You know, it's we saw
that they've had three top tens this year and all
the Big Lands they were tenth and split one. I
believe they got like fourth or fifth at EWC and
then they're finishing second and Germany. You know, you definitely
thought BLGs happened, and before the metas shifted that this
(11:03):
team would be along with Alliance, along with Falcons and
some other teams that have come up to be one
of the favorites at Japan, but I honestly think right
now you can't really consider them favorites just based off
of form. And the other part of it is is
that they don't stream, so we don't really know what
the problem is. We don't know if it's just a
role issue, if it's they can't adjust to this meta.
(11:26):
There's just so many question marks with this roster because
if you just based off of their past performance, it's like, okay,
like they should be a favorite, But then if you
base it off of recent performance, it's just like, well,
I don't they might struggle on my finals. You know,
they were struggling to make finals even in blgs's so
I mean they missed out in the regional final and
(11:47):
a region respectfully that isn't the strongest in terms of
just top down depth. So there's a lot of question marks.
I personally think they'll figure it out because I think
they're too good not to. I mean, light this year
as their IGL has one of the best years of
an IGL for anybody, and Lufka has a ton of experience.
(12:07):
I'm going back all the way to when he was
with us end and Cashera when they were one fight
away from winning Champs, and BLASTS obviously has been very
good this year as well, So I think they can
figure it out. But again the ultimate question is can
they figure out whatever their problems are because we can't.
We haven't been able to see it. So it's the
ultimate question mark of are they going to be a
(12:30):
top ten team or are they going to go out
in day one? So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Now when it comes to a situation like Gaming Gladiators
where you have this very consistent performance across all of
the ALGs part of it, but then you see a
drop off in BLGs. As a spectator and maybe potentially
even as a fan of this team, how much stock
do you put into that going into Champs because it's
obviously a completely different animal.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I mean, as weird as it sounds, some teams play
better when they're playing against better competition, and this is
a team that when it comes to Land there they've
been heating up and I believe like their last Land
performance they were one of the front runners to match point.
We're looking very very strong. At many points looked like
(13:19):
they were going to bring it home. And so I'm
not going to put too much weight in a bad
BLGs performance. If anything, I'm gonna I'm gonna look at
it as a slingshot approach and be like, Hey, these
guys got all of their bad turney days out of
the way, and now they're preps to come into Land,
back in the back in the big leagues, and I'm
(13:42):
expecting this team to pick up right where they left
off and have a very strong showing despite the fact
that they might not have had the best set of scrims.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Now, Donnie, getting back to that same question success in
this land, where do things have to go right? Unsuccessful land?
Where do you expect things to go wrong?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I think ultimately it's just a come down to their confidence.
I mean, honestly, the plain and simple, you know. I
think if they get back to their team fighting that
they have, they individually maybe not the strongest in like
a one v one situation, but in terms of team
three v three's, they were one of the best teams
all year, especially at the Land. So can they get
back to kind of that confident fighting style when it
(14:26):
comes to defending their spots, because they're not overly aggressive,
but they'll definitely take a three v three if if
they think it works for them, So can they get
back to being that confident team on the other side
of the coin if they don't have success again, I
think it's just gonna be because their recent form has
told us that they aren't in the best spot right
now again whatever that thing is, So it's just that's
(14:48):
gonna be. The ultimate question is can they figure out
whatever that is that's been all in the back.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Moving on into the next team in this group, we
get into Luminosity Gaming, and now Luminosity as has had
an interesting last couple of tournaments and interesting last couple
of months. I think going into this year with this
roster that they had, I was probably the most excited
(15:15):
I'd been because I felt like sweet chances to win
were the highest they'd ever been, and that necessarily hasn't
been the case. It hasn't been the worst either, but
it's just kind of where's this roster at. It feels
kind of like, in a weird way, when we were
talking about Group A and Zach Maser and his squad.
It kind of feels like the same in a weird way,
(15:38):
because you don't know exactly what you're going to get
down from your perspective, do you have a higher opinion
of where Luminosity is going into this tournament or or
where's your mind at with LG.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Well, I think the crazy thing with LG is that
it feels like when you have good teams, it's because
typically the players, there's some of their ability makes things,
you know, it's greater than the some of its parts.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
So them coming together, bringing the chemistry together, playing well together,
and using their own individual ability to make the team better,
that is ultimately what makes great teams in the sport,
right so, I think right now, unfortunately, the individual parts
are better than what the team has been putting together,
at least lately. When they first came together, because I
(16:29):
believe Esports World Cup was their first and as a
trio they placed third, you know, everybody talked about how
Funk was the next up and coming fragger. He was
the one, I mean giving Falcons fits at that tournament.
Multiple members of Falcons had said that he was one
of the main reasons why they didn't even win. So like,
that's obviously high praise when you get that from a
(16:49):
zero and a drogger coming from Falcons that way. And
then we get into split two playoffs and all of
a sudden they're missing finals. So what I've watched them play,
it just seems like there isn't a trust At times.
It seems like they all almost want to make their
own individual play and don't necessarily follow sweets calls, which
(17:10):
I'm not sure it is because they don't like to
be microd because I know Sweet obviously does tend to
micro's players a little bit more than other igls. But
you just wonder kind of what went different, what went different,
what went awry from the first time they played together
at a land to that second land, and it really
just seems like right now, unless they can kind of
build that trust back and get back on their communication,
(17:33):
because I think we'd all agree all three players in
terms of an IGL, a fragger, and an anchor, all
individually probably towards the top and their specific role. But
it's can this Can these three come together as a
team and play well as a team, because if they do,
there easily can get top ten, top five. They're each
all those players are that good. But it's just can
(17:54):
they figure it out as a team, work together as
a team, and ultimately get past whatever mistrust they might
have at times to kind of get that that whole
sum as a team.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
You know, I'm gonna throw it over to you about
this MVP question that I threw to you for Falcons,
Like Donnie had said, all three of these individually on paper,
you look at that and you say, those are top
five players in each of their roles, at least in
the NA region, maybe even beyond that. So when it
comes to game day, who needs to be that MVP
(18:27):
to make sure that they can pull this out?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah, I'm I'm gonna kind of lean into what Donnie said,
and I think that they the way that they win
is without an MVP, as weird as that sounds, but like,
like Donnie made the point, like these guys are like
if you were to like, yeah, like anchor support, I
mean Anchor fragger Igl, They're arguably each top five and
(18:53):
all of those roles, But it really is about like
the team cohesion. And I know that during BLGs, like
I was able to catch one of them. But this
team has some of the funniest fucking like beefs amongst
each other, like when a fight goes wrong and Funk
and Pyke's disagree about whose fault it is. That shit
(19:16):
is funny.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
One of the crazy like they they are like big
beefing and so I really think that for them, in
order for them to win, they don't need an MVP.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
They need them to collectively come together, get on the
same page.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And just be a team.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
And they got a lot of their fights out of
the way through BLGs. Sweet is fucking do for a
land win because I would say he's arguably either him
or Nocturnal as the best igls who haven't won a
land hackies would I would put him there, But I mean,
(19:56):
they did have the the World Cup and and so
it really just comes down to can they really just
come together. And I think something that is going to
be really big for them in order to help make
that happen is I'm not one hundred percent sure if
they're doing a boot camp, but I would be absolutely
just astounded if they weren't.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
They are over in career right now, yea.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
And so and with that boot camp, you have time
just spent together. IRO like, these guys are going to
be spending so much time together that hopefully their little
online fights that they've had they can squash all of
the beef and then come together get on the same
(20:42):
page and make it happen. I would say that you
should expect to see LG perform incredibly well at this land,
and I will certainly be surprised if they don't.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
But they don't need an MVP. I like that. I
like that answer a lot. Just be a team. It
would be poetic too. If this was the land that
Sweet finally won the biggest one, would it would be
cool to watch? It would definitely like if if I
had to rank like top three results, that could happen
just for me personally, Cloud nine Nine's up Sweet winning
(21:12):
this one, and then I'd love to see Complexity as well.
I loved I love the Complexity boys. They have a
good time when they hop on the show, so that
I would love to see Sweet get one. Although he
hasn't hopped on the show yet, which hopefully we'll get him.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
We were we were so close and we almost away,
almost had him. But that's just gonna make it so
that when he finally does come on, it'll make that
episode that much better.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, yeah, we almost had him. It was the day
of We're like, yes, we got him, and then something
came up and damn, we're so close, so close. Now
moving on into the next one.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
More quick thing. Yeah, for the point on Sweet because
I know a lot of people like to kind of
rag on some of his teams and performances that he's
had in the past. This man has seven top tens
at lands alone. That is a stat that is not
matched by many, even the hows and the Zeros. I
wou'd have to look back at theirs. But like like
(22:08):
Enox said, probably one of the most successful igls without
winning the land. I mean, you talk about that performance
when he was with NRG, with Nathan and Guild finishing
second in that land, they were arguably the best team
that day if it wasn't for certain a certain TSM
also playing very well that day. So yeah, one hundred
percent agree Sweets on that shortlist of short list of igls.
(22:30):
That definitely is due and again I think it would
be very exciting to watch him win if that it
does end up happening.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Has to be has to be in your top three
of things that could happen. Going to Land. Now moving
on into Aurora. Here we've got the Aurora Boys and Donnie.
I guess the question with Aurora is can they have
the patients when they need to have the patients, and
going through their entire you know, history and runs, it
seems like they're a little bit more on the aggressive side.
(22:59):
From your active Where do you see Aurora standing right now?
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Yeah, I mean, I think you put it perfectly. I mean,
this is a team that we literally watched uh have
a grand theft auto session with Fanatic during the middle
of the land.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
So it is definitely a team that will play the
way that they want to play. I mean they literally
they literally sent hard Deckie to third that the E
eight and uh oh my gosh, oh seven contest in LA.
So they're a team that will do anything that they
want to do and will go at it the way
(23:34):
they want to go at it, which can be good
at times, but it can also be a detriment at
times in terms of just trying to win a match
point format. So I think, like you put it, the
ultimate question is do they have the patience enough that
when they get to the spot to win a game,
can they execute enough to do that? Because ultimately I
think is if they get to end, if they get
(23:54):
to end zones and they get to that ring five,
rings six, they typically play it pretty well, but a
lot of times they struggle to even get to that
point because they take so many fights early on, and
you're really just pushing your luck every time you take
an early three to E three, especially at a land
when the levels are so high and teams can third
within seconds. So it is all about picking the right
fights at the right time, making sure you have all
(24:16):
the information of if this is an isolated fight or not,
and ultimately just coming down to in this post hard
Deci era, what do they look like on land, because
we haven't seen them at a land yet without a
hard Deci because they had missplit two playoffs, so we'll
see what they look like during BLGs. They definitely looked
a lot better because I know when they first made
the change. It definitely was a struggle at times. But
(24:39):
I think if we get Aurora back to the team
that we've seen them in the past with Oi Rain
and Impulse, I think that they easily could be a
team that ends up hitting match point and then it
will just ultimately come down to can they play the
match point style and close it out?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah don't. I'm not sure if this was Aurora, but
during Esports World CU were they not the team on
World's Edge, who was on top of the train tracks
who just randomly jumped down to the ground to allow
Luminosity to hit match point or get right below. It
was that not them.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah, they basically jumped on a solo, which they don't
have English comms, so I have no clue what the
decision making was in that situation. But yeah, I mean
that kind of is the epitome of their play style.
You know, they make decisions that aren't the traditional decision
or the one that you think would win games at times,
but yeah, when they are focused in and they are
(25:31):
making the calls to win games. I mean we've seen
them have Pro League days or match days that they
win two or three games in a six game set,
So they're very capable. It's just like you mentioned from
the top, are they patient enough to make those decisions
consistently over four days to set themselves up to win.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
A land now? E if there ever was a time
to be an aggressive team, not even speaking about just
Auror here, but I guess it kind of falls into
their lap with how aggressive they can be. This meta
would probably, if I'm not mistaken, suit it pretty well
with how quickly you could reset. Is that is that
right or no?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I mean, I would definitely say that there's room for
a knock more than there's ever been with the Gibbie
Bubble with the Newcastle shield, and so if you're able
to take fights aggressively, you're not punished nearly as much
as you would have when you have that Newcastle still up.
(26:30):
And so I would say that you are going to
be in a good spot and that this meta does
play into their play style. But I mean, as we've
said before, the way that Land is played is different
than any other style of apex. So we've seen how
this meta favors or disfavors aggressive teams in scrims. We
(26:59):
truly have I have no real idea how it's going
to come to, like what it's going to look like
Dame come game day, when they're on the stage, when
the crowd's there, when the money is on the line,
when the pressure is really on, because there's just no
way to get these players to scrim like they will
(27:21):
play on game day. And so I would say that, yes,
it does benefit people who want to take more fights,
but we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah, A perfect example of what you're saying is Esports
World Cup. That story I just talked about where they're
on height jump down for a solo and then allow
an a you know, Team Luminosity to end up winning
that game and then get match points. So sometimes the
bright lights can get a little too bright and make
you change up and do different things. And I think
(27:51):
I talked to Jayhawk about that specific game and there
was something else that caused them to jump down that
made a little bit more sense. But I just remember
watching it in the moment and being like, that's a
decision where I feel like that could be a land effect,
like that could be partly just being on the stage.
You know, you never really know, you never really know
(28:12):
what's going on. But yeah, so that is Aurora. Moving
on into Team Berger and Imperfect Apex Legends Fashion, I
think that there should always be a Team Burger coming
from Apax South, you know, it just it feels right
to have a Team Burger. We got Pricey Way and
Sharky Don. I'm gonna throw it on down to you,
Team Burger. I believe this was formerly VP, correct.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, formerly a VP yep.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
So moving into this, where do you stand with with
Team Burger?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
They're definitely a team that you're not gonna see too
much over aggression from them. They definitely play if at
a pick between one of the other, they definitely play
a little bit more patient and definitely play more of
his own style, which can work again in this meta.
I think what notice in this metas there definitely has
a lot of different avenues to have success. But like
he has mentioned, once you get to Land, you know,
(29:06):
things definitely change very quickly and you definitely just have
to be that much more calculated and smart about what
fights you're taking, in spots you play and things like that.
And I think they're a team that they've They've got
some solid experience obviously with Sharky, he's a two time
Land winner dating back to year two when he was
playing with zero, So they have a guy that knows
(29:28):
how to win and has been there before. And we
even saw in la If I remember right, they even
won the first game of finals. Kind of fell off
after that, but they definitely know how to play the
right spots and zone. I think the biggest question right
now is with so many teams being able to sustain
longer and there being more teams in the final zone,
(29:50):
can they win enough three B threes to one hold
their spot, but then two also take more advantageous spots,
because ultimately, when teams are moving from a ring three
to ring four, a ring four or ring five, chaos
and twos, and usually those teams that have that little
extra firepower are usually the ones that can make up
for maybe having a less lesser spot than others. And
(30:13):
that's all film gonna be. Their question is do they
have the three B three firepower to make an impact
of the land. I think they can, but they're gonna
be a team that kind of leans a little more
on things like a zone luck where they get a
little more zone polls, and also just being very smart
when they rotate and where they're rotating to.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, and I feel like that's already a disadvantage because
the amount of times zone is going to directly pull
to where you need to be is not going to
happen as often as anybody would like it. So to
be able to have the firepower and make up sometimes
for some of that lost ground by being able to
fight your way out of certain things when you don't
have that, it's obviously a major disadvantage. I mean, at
(30:53):
the end of this game, at the end of the day,
this game involves fighting. That's what you have to do
to end up winning. So that does hold them a
little bit here. Now as far as Team Burger goes,
what is their absolute ceiling, Like, do you see them
making a finals lobby? Do you see like that's the
highest they can Like where do you see Team Berger
(31:13):
like closing out at.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I think with the strength that we have, especially in
Na and the top of a pack north right now,
and then if you chip in you know, a team
like an Alliance or a team like Aurora, I think
their ceiling is making finals. I think they definitely are
very capable of doing that, because again we saw it
in LA, but we've also seen them miss split two playoffs.
So it is a question of if I had to pick,
(31:39):
they're probably gonna be that team that kind of falls
in like that eighteenth to like twenty fifth range if
I just had to like make a guess at it.
But they're definitely a team that is capable of, you know,
like a top fifteen per se. But I don't think
they're ceiling is too much higher than that unless we
kind of get like I've mentioned in the other episodes,
kind of one of those crazy matchpoint finals where you
get thirteen teams and anybody can win. I think that'll
(32:02):
be really the only play that we see being placing
any higher than the top fifteen. But they're definitely very
capable of making finals. I think we can definitely give
them that credit because I think Price he's done well
as igl again Shark, He's had the pass of a champion,
and I know, way from what I've heard from people
in a pack style and talking with Jay a little bit,
he's kind of like one of their next up players,
(32:25):
and I believe he's them in k fragging and so
that's also in this meta that's good in itself with
shotguns being as popular as they are. So yeah, definitely capable,
but I don't think the ceiling is probably as high
as a lot of other teams.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, and I could be mistaken here, but I do
feel like they made some noise in split one playoffs.
I don't know, I think it wasn't anything, you know,
extremely memorable, but it wasn't like they were just completely
irrelevant throughout very much of their.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Own Yeah, Like I said, they had won game one
in finals, but then they kind of didn't really do
much after that. I think they ended up in like
a twelfth or thirteenth, I believe if I remember correctly,
But I mean price he has had in the past
where he finished sixth in the year three Split one
playoffs against Sharky, whereas he's finished having won two lands
(33:14):
and wigh it was twelve actually now that I see now,
So I mean they definitely have some potential, but like
I said, it's it's gonna take a lot for them
to really make a huge impact.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
I think now we're gonna move on into the next
team here Knocked him E Sports and this team I'm
not fully I don't know a whole lot about Knocked
Me Sports. Don I'm gonna throw it on down to you.
What's something with this squad that you need to look
out for?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
So they're gonna be one of those patient zone teams again,
I think more even than Team berger Is. I think
that they I think the nice thing that they had
in the Crypto metaw was the benefit of extra information
because obviously when you're playing the Crypto, you were able
to scans around the map, and also you can just
use the CCTV camera that is his drone and be
(34:05):
able to see everything that's around you. So I think
they're one of the teams that definitely benefited from that,
because we quite haven't seen the same results since the
metas shifted. They missed BLGs regional finals over in EMEA,
and they've only had the one Land appearance, which was
the Split two playoffs where they finished fourteenth, which for
them is definitely an incredible achievement because again, they weren't
(34:27):
really a team that many people were talking about, but
I think they might be one of these teams that
we saw have the success in the Crypto meta because
you're able to gain a ton of information. I don't
quite think it's probably going to carry over to here.
Really their only path to success is having really good
zone rating and zone knowledge. But again, when you're you know,
unless you're really playing pathline during this meta, which not
(34:49):
too many people are since the Nerve, you're not really
going to have much information outside of just the ring
scan if you're playing catalysts. So we'll see if they
end up running catalysts. I'm sure they probably will be
his own team, but I know it just kind of
based off of trying to see what fights will look
like for them. Again, I think they'd be very happy
(35:10):
if they might finals again, but it wouldn't really surprise
me if I see them struggle quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, they do get the logo BUFF. I'm not gonna
lie to you. They do get a logo. We're going
to add that to their We're gonna put that old
check mark in the box. So they do get the
logo BUFF. But as far as their ceiling goes, would
it be crazy to say their ceiling might might be
not even making the finals lobby and just kind of
being close in you know, maybe making winners round one
(35:36):
or something like that, just because where I, like you said,
without this information, I think we're going to see a
mass exodus of teams who did surprisingly well maybe start
to fall back into a different spot because of the
change of meta.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, I mean, I think we could easily see that.
I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because obviously
you still have to play well and make finals. So
if they do end up making the finals, you know,
I'm not gonna say it's like the biggest shock in
the world or anything, but if I had to bet
on it, I think they'll probably probably be one of
those like losers round two teams because I do think
like experience does matter. I don't land, and we do
(36:13):
have quite a few teams that maybe don't necessarily have
as much experience as they do. But again, if they
also go out and loses round one, I think to
the point you made just now, I think they probably
are one of those teams that benefited a lot from
the last meta and kind of just don't have that
same information.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Now, okay, let's move into my favorite team of this
of this little group that we got here. We've got
org lists in Hungary formerly known as NAV and many
in the media, I shouldn't say many, some in the
media we're saying, you know, their performance in Split two
Matt or split to uh the first day was really impressive.
(36:58):
Many in the media were saying that it might have
been the most impressive perform maybe even more impressive than winning.
And I'm I didn't say that, I'm just saying others
in the media had said that this is matafe kind
of and Henchman formerly na V. I mean, they really.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Want another person who is more vocal than you.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Many in the media were saying that, and and it's
just you know.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Many were many were saying that you hit a victory
lap celebration at the first turn of the race.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, there was three turns left. And maybe, you know,
maybe I started spinning my tires and getting excited a
little early. Maybe I was retweeting things a little too quickly.
Maybe I was, you know, adding Jumba, adding Enoch Jayhawk, everybody.
You know, I was ripping my shirt off and and
(37:51):
swing swinging it in the air a little early, and
you know, it felt like, yeah, it was. It was
way early. It didn't go well. It didn't go well.
But I said after we recorded that episode, after Land
was over for Split two playoffs, I said I would
(38:13):
still back this team going into Champs. And Enak looked
at me and said, there's no shot. You're insane. I'm
not going to make at least at this point, I'm
not going to make that same prediction yet. But who knows.
When I touched down in Japan, I might change my
things might change for me. You know, I might have
(38:36):
a different frame of mind. So there's a very good
chance that Org listen to Hungary formerly known as Nave,
formerly known as the best team in group stages of
Split two, which will be remembered for years and years
to come. I could be back on that bandwagon, but
as far as this team goes, Donnie, I'll throw on
down to you. What's the ceiling for this team?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
So, I mean, I think the biggest thing with this
team is they need to play with an identity because
I think there's a lot of times where they want
to be a zone team, but they play like an
edge team, and I think that they quite frankly, they
just don't have the consistency in three v three's to
really be an edge team. But I think that we
saw that when they read the zone well and they
(39:23):
get to the spot and zone, they actually did a
very good job, you know. Again case in point day one,
it split two playoffs and produced again I mean a
really really good performance. I mean, we cannot discarded them
for how well they played. It's just then that next
day that they fall back into old habits of wanting
(39:44):
to fight everything, taking very bad fights, you know, positionally
or just during the pace of early game. It just
this is the decision making at the end of the
day is what always is going to hold this team back.
Because again it's three players that are solid at the
game and can definitely make a finals. I think that's
what's so surprising about this team is like I do
(40:06):
think they are, like gunuinely capable of making the finals.
It's just they have to make the right decisions. They
have to play like they're out of Land, not like
it's an online pro leagu day one, you know, because
they put up all these kills in a MIA and
they do really well and place in top five overall
and pro league. But they go to Land and they
try to play the same way, and again, like he's
(40:28):
mentioned multiple times, now, Land is a completely different animal.
You have to play the way that Land dictates. And
we saw that for basically one day and then they
fell back into their old habits. So if they hopefully
can flip the switch and kind of get that consistency
of playing morizone, I think they can have some success.
But it ultimately is going to come down to can
(40:51):
they as a trio make the right decisions when it
matters most.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
So, we already know that their ceiling is winning a
Land and hoisting the trophy. That's obviously their ceiling, that's
always obviously been there, That's what will be. That's their
ceiling as far as NOV goes, not really nav org
lists and hungry. But as far as their floor, where
do you see their floor at?
Speaker 2 (41:16):
I mean, I think if you ever see tearless that
people do usually there's a matafe tier for a reason.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
So it really ultimately is just an absolute wild card
question mark with this team. They I could see them
finding a way to make a finals again, I think
the path is there, but I could see them getting fortieth.
I mean, it's just it's it's just one of those
situations of again, like what decisions are being made at
(41:47):
the end of the day, and how are they going
to play this land? Are they going to play the
way that they need to, or that they keep playing
like the way of old and just take really poor
fights and lose their positions and zone for no reason.
I mean, I think there was even watching that split
two playoffs, there was a time that they basically had
godspot and just somehow, some way they just die in
(42:10):
two seconds and you just sit there scratching your head
like what the hell happened? You know, Like it's just again,
it's just can they make the right decision? You know,
can they hold a spot in zone and be patient
enough when they need to I really think if they
can embrace the Watson, which they had success with a
Split two playoffs, that is gonna be their ingredient to
success because Watson naturally should play a more slow play style.
(42:34):
But like I said, there's a Matafe tier for a reason.
So we'll see what the boys do in Japan.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Yeah, I knew I was fucked during Split two playoffs
when I watched them fly onto donut right outside of
what is it? What is that POI on World's Edge,
there's that little donut building. You know, That's what I'm
talking about.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
I'm trying to think of where that's all right? Talking
about more by like it's it's like a lava fisher
or like.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Yeah, yeah, okay, it will No, it wasn't a fishers,
like down towards thermal station. I think there's like a
donut little building over there.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
When I saw them fly, probably more like of a
like a mirage atoire or like staging or.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Like yeah over there. Yeah, I mean I watched them
blind fly onto the building.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I know what moment you were talking about. I'm just
I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Once I saw that happen, I was like, yeah, I'm fucked. Yeah,
this is bad, and I knew the tweets were gonna come,
and they did that they did deserve.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
I will say, though, man, for to defend why. I've
never seen someone more passionately defend the bad takes in
my life more than this man. So, like I I
give him full credit for going down with the ship
because there's many people that won't do that, and he
is a guy that will stick with the team no
matter if their first or fortieth. So shout out, shout
(43:57):
out why man, That's all I gotta say, because he
does a lot more of the hard work sharing teams
on than a lot of other people will.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
So the twist of the knife was when they won
the final game and it just yeah, like that that
was the final twist. It was like it was like,
you guys were first, Like throughout the entire group stages,
we get to to winners do shit. I think actually
they didn't even do that shit. I think they were
(44:23):
like eleventh or twelfth in winners. Then in losers it
was like they're out of it the whole time. Final game,
they win it, but it doesn't matter because they don't
even have nearly enough points to even qualify, and it
was just like they really just stabbed me, and they
just kept twisting back and forth like they really just
destroyed me. But ceiling, winning a land, ceiling winning a
(44:48):
land that is orgless and hungry, ladies and gentlemen, let's
move on into the next one. Here, we've got GHS Professional.
Don give me a breakdown on GHS.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
So this is a team that's got a lot of
experience when it comes to appearing at Lands. Unfortunately, they
really haven't had too much success when it comes to
placement at lands. I mean, the best result for anybody
on their roster is one tap. You got eighteenth and
year three split two playoffs so they can make it
to Lands. And they typically played decently well during an
(45:21):
APAC North Pro League, and I know they had just
picked up Tida from North APST earlier in this in
the season. So it's a roster that has potential, but
it's again a team that probably doesn't really have too
much of a high ceiling. Their only hope is that
they typically do play more patient when it comes to
their play style, and again I think with this meta
(45:44):
that play style can thrive at times, and so can
they ultimately get to a point where they have success
to where you know, they make it to the finals
and make some noise. That's gonna be a pretty tough
ask of this roster because again, I just don't think
they necessarily fight very well. And when we have so
many teams in the world now that just have such
good fighting potential, even in this meadow where it is
(46:07):
slower at times, it's just one of those things that
you just have to have that guy, like, you just
have to have somebody on that roster that can get
a pick or turn a fight when you get the
first guy knocked. And I just don't think they quite
have that. So we'll ultimately see if they can rotate
well they get some zone luck. You know, again we've
seen it before, teams they make some runs that ultimately
(46:29):
can put them into finals. But again I think for
this team, you'll pushing for a losers a round two
and hopefully getting the luck that they need to make finals.
This is kind of like the area that they're in
right now.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Yeah, So that is GHS Professional moving on into Reignite. Reignite,
don throw it on down to Reignite. Now. This team
had come in from last chance qualifiers in Apac North,
so may not have the shine that a lot of
these other teams have, but they're here and they're going
to perform, so don go through quickly on Reignite.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
So the big no with them is that f Chan
is their main player. And for those who remember from
Land's past, he had played on the pulver X squad
that had had some success. He actually got third and
year two champs with that roster of pulver X, so
he's had some success in the past. A very different
team he's playing with now. One guy suit of Takey
(47:27):
is making his first LANT appearance and shoot me, He's
had three appearances but hasn't really had too much success
in Land, So there is some recipe for they could
potentially figure out something just with f Chan's prior experience.
But again I would definitely think that, you know, they
missed BLGs finals, it took l CQ qualifying in order
(47:48):
to be here. I think again, it's gonna be one
of those teams that will probably struggle more likely than not,
and especially being an LCQ team. Their POI draft, they
got a lot of obviously low end picks, so I
don't really expect too much. But again, f Chance made
some if anybody remembers, he literally duoed his way almost
to making it to a winners bracket because one of
(48:09):
their players wasn't able to play. So you never know.
Sometimes with Battle Royals could be something they might be
able to figure out. But yeah, like I said, definitely
probably a team that might struggle a little bit.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
And our final team in Group C, this is zero Tenacity.
They come from EMEA Last Chance Qualifiers down for people
who don't know anything about zero tenacity, where are you
what are you seeing with this squad? And where do
you think that they can fit in?
Speaker 2 (48:36):
Again, there'll be another zone team. They primarily play it
out of pois like fragment and cascade faults, which generally
they're central pois for those who don't know, and that
typically means they'll try to quick rotate because they'll loot
fast and then get out of their POI typically one
of the first teams to do so. So ultimately they
don't really have too much experience at lands. Bambino is
(48:58):
really the one that has most of the experience, where
he finished just a couple of spots outside of making
a finals back at Year three Split two playoffs, So
ultimately they'll probably go about as far as he can
take them, just being their main player that has the
most experience, but kind of just watching their gameplay. They
found some success in BLGs. They end up getting like
(49:20):
tenth in their regional finals and they were third overall
in points through the four qualifiers. So if they're able
to kind of play that same way they have in
this meta, they might be able to surprise some people.
But again, I think they kind of just fall into that.
What I've just kind of been talking about these last
few teams is they don't really necessarily have that fire,
that fighting power to defend spots and zone or get
(49:40):
early picks if they need it, so they're gonna again
gonna have to have a lot of luck with you know,
zones pulling their way or making the right reads at
the right time, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
So there we go, and ladies and gents, that should
just about rounded out four. Group C in the Supporo
Champs land. Now, don't forget if you guys are just
watching this for the first time, we do have Group
A and Group B available for you guys to go
listen to. A Group D should be out very very shortly,
(50:10):
so you can hear everything about every single team heading
into Champs. Thank you guys for tuning in. Go check
out those other episodes and some of the interviews that
we've had with some of these players beforehand. You might
as well just check it all out. Thank you guys
for tuning in. As always, we'll catch you guys on
the next one. Say y'all.
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