The Recap - EP04

by OnlyJoshinTV

Welcome to The Recap, a new weekly content series covering Counter-Strike in the ANZ region with a touch of global action here and there. We aim to provide a regular series covering our region, from ESEA Open, ECL, and global events, to local LAN and online tournaments hosted here at home.

Talon look to make a return

Well, the big rumour floating around is that Hong Kong based esports team, Talon is seeking to make a return to CS2 as reported by HLTV courtesy of MIRAA. The article stated that the former Renegades IGL, AZR was going to be leading a team that consists of HaZR, ADDICT, nettik and hades. They will be coached by either DJL or potentially Xizt who have had strong Tier 1 and Tier 2 coaching experience.

It is not known where they would base themselves whether it’d be Australia to participate in ESL Challenger Australia or in Europe to take on a more competitive scene. Despite the rumours, there have been no official announcements from Talon, Bad News Kangaroos, Rooster or the players themselves on this roster.

If this move is true, it’d bring much needed investment to the Australian scene. Even if Talon decides to base themselves in Europe, it provides another pathway for future Australian players to experience international competition like the Renegades provided previously for players like Liazz and Gratisfaction.

The only cost would be that the quality of the Australian scene would decrease if Talon decided to participate in Europe instead. I believe that they would most likely stay within the Australian region given the easier access to the ESL Pro League via ESL Challenger League Australia.

I am mostly concerned about the long-term prospects of the team as hades can easily fit into any tier 2 European line-up and AZR’s stats do not provide any comfort on how long he could be an IGL for. It could be argued that his stint on Sprout didn’t really allow him to implement his system to his team.

Talon might have to make some big decisions in relation to their IGL and potentially their awper sooner rather than later. Looks like we’ll have to wait and see about this rumour.

EPL S20

In other news, the ESL Pro League Groups for Season 20 have been announced and FlyQuest and Rooster find themselves in Group A and C respectively.

FlyQuest find themselves facing Eternal Fire in the opening round. If they wish to qualify via the Upper Bracket, they will need to beat FaZe Clan or Sangal. They also have Heroic, NIP, Lynn Vision and NaVi in their group.

It is a mixed group for FlyQuest as I expect it to be a fight between 4 teams (Heroic, Eternal Fire, FlyQuest and Lynn Vision) over the final 2 spots in the group. This could be made worse if FaZe or Navi lose any of their opening matches. FlyQuest will literally be in the fight of their lives for their group.

Rooster will face the reigning champions in Mouz where they’ll most likely do battle with the loser of BIG/Imperial. They also have Complexity, M80, Fnatic and Astralis in the group. I do not really see a way that Rooster will advance from the group stage unless there are some serious missteps from Astralis, Complexity, Fnatic, M80 and BIG.

It is a bit of a boost to Rooster that malbsmd has completed his transfer to G2 as it may allow them to take down a subdued M80. Or would it end up like last time at Katowice? My predictions are that FlyQuest will defeat Heroic to make the playoffs and Rooster will be eliminated by M80 in the lower bracket.

It has been an eventful week in ANZ CS especially with the rumours coming in with Talon. Now we will be waiting for 2 more weeks until ANZ CS returns.

I think this long break is definitely showing that there is the opportunity to host an ANZ CS tournament to bridge the gaps between seasons.