The Recap - EP24

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.

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.

Perfect World Shanghai Major APAC RMR – Frustration for Talon, jubilation for FlyQuest

The APAC RMR has been and gone, with FlyQuest scraping through as the final squad to qualify for the major. Unfortunately, their comrades in Talon fell to Lynn Vision in the lower bracket..

The scene had high hopes for Talon potentially qualifying for the Major in the second or third spot.

However, Talon didn’t have that killer edge or that hunger to command tempo which they had in the opening best-of-one. Rare Atom had Andrew “Kaze” Khong who was the highest ranked player at the RMR (1.42 HLTV rating) who was able to dictate play and decimated Talon.

Lynn Vision had Zhang “z4kr” Sike and Wang "afufu" Jianye decimating them on Inferno and Dust 2. Z4kr recorded 27 kills and a 120.4 ADR on Inferno, while Afufu had a rare great game with a 1.68 rating on Dust 2 to send Talon home.

It was a disappointing end for Talon as they seemingly were lethargic in their Bo3s. I’m hoping for the Talon boys to come out at the next international event with more vigour and fight to win a Bo3 against a Lynn Vision or Rare Atom-tier team.

FlyQuest, on the other hand, went down a path of redemption after the shock upset to Talon. They breezed past GR, tussled in overtime with the infamous DRILLAS and then took care of business against Lynn Vision. Dexter was shocked at Lynn Vision’s pick of Nuke as it didn’t seem logical to him.

I was surprised that FlyQuest looked incredibly convincing after their hell in a cell series against Drillas. You can read more about it here!

Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR – jks is in too!

Smiles were seen from around the world as Team Liquid—and globetrotting Aussie Justin “jks” Savage—booked their ticket into the Shanghai Major with a 3-1 record in the Americas RMR.

Team Liquid’s run started similar to FlyQuest’s run with an upset loss to Wildcard on Inferno. Liquid picked up the pieces, however, and smashed KRÜ and BESITA in quick succession. Neither squad managed more than five rounds.

Their Bo3 match-up would be against Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo’s FURIA. The PGL casters were glazing FalleN so hard that he could be served up at a Krispy Kreme store. Team Liquid absolutely shut out FURIA on Anubis with a 10-2 CT side.

Australian superstar jks was instrumental in Liquid’s success with a lot of key holds, multi-frags, and a massive ace against FURIA to secure a 10-2 half in their first map of Anubis.

Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis also chipped in with an ace of his own which included two critical AWP kills and the final bullet on the overglazed FalleN. He was the best player on the server with a 1.81 rating

The second map of Dust 2 was just dominance from Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato, who was essentially dictating the tempo of the entire server. YEKINDAR and Twistzz could only sit back and watch. Dust 2 ended 13-3 in a similar fashion to Anubis.

The decider was something to behold on Inferno as the legend of the NAF-10 was born. Keith "NAF" Markovic had kept his MAC-10 coming into the first gun round instead of picking up an AK-47. Everybody thought it was bonkers and that NAF had lost his mind.

NAF performed one of the craziest 2v5s in their entire tournament with a 2k entry with the MAC-10. Ok, maybe I’m the one overglazing NAF now!

With a strong 8-4 T side half, ultimate also recorded a clip of his own on the CT side of inferno to secure Liquid’s tenth. Liquid were beginning to believe that the ticket to the major was right in their grasp.

Team Liquid held their nerve and navigated their way to 13 and booked their tickets to the Shanghai Major.Overall, jks had a 1.16 rating over the entire Americas RMR and according to my eye test, was a key component in their major run. I even saw jks crack a smile as well!

Thanks for reading and see you next week. I’ve got a plane to catch for Dreamhack Stockholm! I can watch BiBiAhn farm at the ESL Impact Season 6 in person.