The Recap - EP22

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.

ANZC Spark Cup

The ANZC Spark Cup has returned for Nov. 23 and 24 with a cash prize of $2,500 and $1,500 in ZOWIE Gear.  

We should expect a stacked tournament with a lot of ESL Challenger caliber teams and sparks (hah, get it) a revival of the overall grassroots ANZ scene. Previously, the only occasional online tournament within the ANZ region was the ESEA Cash Cup.  

With the Spark Cup making a return, I wonder if a circuit is currently cooking, especially hosting a weekly or fortnightly online tournament could be on the cards to keep the ANZ CS2 wheels going.

We could get something going that would work parallel to the ESEA Leagues like an in-season tournament!

ESEA Open – Season 51

The ESEA Open Season is beginning to heat up with a lot of top teams taking each other on. The undefeated Vantage is currently leading the ladder at 8-0. They’ve taken down competitors such as Above the Rest, Prevail, Underground, and Canon Event.

I can understand that these are Bo1’s so far but these are good signs for Vantage going forward. The other teams waiting in the wings are Canon Event, 1God, Above the Rest, AUU, GCSY, SemperFiand Zeo.

It is great to see AUU, GCSY, 1God, and Zeo at the top. They are made up of largely unknown ANZ players. However, the true test for these teams will be when they start taking on Prevail, Underground, Above the Rest, Vantage, and SemperFi.

A soft start or even a soft season is often exposed when you get to the playoffs. I never believe in a “good” side of the bracket because your aim should be to try and win the entire thing. I’m still expecting Semper Fi to win Open this season against Vantage Navy. We’ll definitely get all three maps!

BLAST Premier World Final – Singapore

It is good to see that a big tournament operator like BLAST would host a tournament in Singapore. I’m hoping that they’ll provide something to the Asia and Oceania region in the future.

It has been an incredibly exciting tournament according to our editor-in-chief Taffy who is currently at the event and myself co-streaming the event. 

The best series in the tournament was FaZe v Spirit as both maps went down to the absolute wire. Also, there were a lot of unlikely heroes such as Karrigan from FaZe and Zont1x from Spirit to carry their team over the line. It was such an exciting game where you could believe anything would happen.

However, Spirit completely capitulated in the Grand Final. They only won 3 T side rounds in all 3 maps. M0nesy was immense, delivering crazy AWP shots after AWP shots and most importantly, Snax broke the streak after 42 negative KDR games. I have never been happier to see an ex-Virtus Pro player to do well!

M0nesy deservedly won the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.

What an amazing tournament for Singapore to have and I hope there are more tournaments in our region!

Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024

The talent announcement has been released and it is an incredibly stacked lineup to show the large range of talent that we have in the space. However, something seems missing: Where are the Aussies, particularly for the APAC RMR?

I am incredibly happy to see dusT’s return to the desk and TechGirl’s first major, butI’m a bit confused about why there wasn’t an Australian duo. There are two Australian teams in the tournament in FlyQuest and Talon. FlyQuest has a great chance to make the major with only Rare Atom standing  in their way.

I understand the toughness of making decisions on which analysts, casters, and whatever comes to events. There are countless people in the replies stating “What about X and Y?”I know I’ll likely be the only one questioning this sort of stuff publicly. You could have made a duo with our current talent pool.

There are many casters who bring unparalleled experience and expertise in both the ANZ/Asian CS2 scenes respectively in Australia. Maybe we can build our own No Majors Club with Aussie casters and analysts?

That’s it with the recap today, stay tuned to DFRAG for more news and OCE CS2 coverage!