Talking Counter
Episode 124: BLAST Austin Major, IEM Katowice reflections, Astralis and mouz and G2 oh my!
Fri, 14 Feb 2025
YNk, moses, and SPUNJ found an hour and a half window amongst a busy schedule to Talk CounterJoin our Discord to discuss the episode with other listeners, take part in watch parties, and Talk Counter!https://discord.gg/kmYSfTng00:00 Intro14:33 moses at the BLAST Austin Major announcement18:25 MRQ’s 31:35 IEM Katowice -Spirit/Vitality47:12 Which team is in the most trouble1:02:00 Zews/twistzz dramas
Chapter 1: What did moses experience at the BLAST Austin Major?
and alex well yeah but like of course i saw alex yeah we're on the same plane on the way home we have the same plane on the way to romania no okay i i really enjoy watching you shake your protein drink oh yeah that's good that's good shit it was inevitable it's a nice form thank you it's off camera so it looks like anything could be happening did someone say martinis um
Let's get into Yanka, what you've done in the time since you've been home, because Jason's got a fun story. Jason went on an excursion. So we'll do Jason's last.
Why are you just immediately assuming that I did not do something fun? I don't have a true story. Once you have a kid, your life is just boring, Chad. Is that your philosophy?
That is actually exactly what I meant. I had a lot of fun.
To be fair, he's not far off for the first six months.
I had a haircut. I got a haircut. I played Settlers of Catan last night and also organized a weekend ski trip. in Serbia, albeit, you know, it's nothing like far away.
So haircut, board game, and organizing.
And I had to change the tires on my car and the brakes.
Wow, you really proved yourself.
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Chapter 2: What were the reflections from IEM Katowice?
So you were the official main host or your co-host?
Hello, everybody. My name is Jason O'Toole. I'll be your host this afternoon on behalf of BLAST, Live Nation, C3 Presents, the Moody Center. We'd like to thank you for joining us this afternoon to celebrate the milestone of the BLAST TV major coming to Austin, Texas.
Were you nervous?
Yeah, dude. I hate it. I hate those small, like standing at a podium and talking to like, I don't think it was like 100 people were there, like local media and journalists and shit. And that messes with me. And I'm like, I don't know why. Because I'm like, I can go out behind the microphone and the camera and inside the arena and chill with a crowd of 10,000. But 100 people really fucks with me.
So yeah, it was cool. It was fun.
Yeah, just ask Lily Phillips. Was that the porn star that got fucked by a hundred dudes?
Is that the circle of breaking the record in 24 hours?
Holy shit.
Let me check.
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Chapter 3: Which team is currently in the most trouble?
I know. Yeah, I probably wouldn't be too happy if that came around.
When was the last major you didn't work?
Well, the Million Dollar Man doesn't miss majors.
Oh, Antwerp?
I've done every major since Cologne 2015.
So what happened there?
That was when... That was PGL. They asked Anders and I to do it when we were at Pro League. That was the season we did it out of Dusseldorf. And they asked us during our first week there, and it was like three weeks in Dusseldorf.
But then the deal that they wanted to bring me on was like, you have to come do, they wanted all the casters to do the RMRs as well, so I would have had to go straight from Dusseldorf to the RMRs for a couple of weeks, and then I'd have a week at home, and then I'd be going off to the Major for like three weeks, and I was like, I can't do seven of eight weeks gone.
It was just like a crazy time in the schedule.
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Chapter 4: What are the dramas involving Zews and twistzz?
so first thing we did was we went to some bar like whatever and it had like trivia or something and never mind we didn't even want you know we didn't even play we're just sitting at the bar having drinks and then this old lady lady turns to me and sort of asks like uh do you know the time and i don't know i like look at it i said 8 30 whatever the fucking time was she's like do you speak english
It was my first time in Texas. Jason just started slamming says like, Welcome to Texas, bro, or whatever. But the second night or later that night, we go to Sixth Street, right? And this is the first time I actually before that I was in San Jose, where I was an observer, maybe did a couple of death segments, and didn't leave the hotel pretty much right. I was still like super green.
And I was in Vegas that year. observing for the e-league like the ces thing that was that year as well the story from that event will tell it another time but that this is my third time and we're like going to a couple of bars whatever dinner i don't know and then like i just remember asking jason's like jason like can you answer me one thing he's like why are the hottest girls all bartenders here
All the hottest girls we saw, our bartenders.
I still remember that bartender. She was very attractive.
And Jason's like, bro, just keep an eye out on how quickly the tip jar gets filled and how much they get tipped. And I was like, in 20 minutes, she was like 100 bucks worth of tips. I'm like, Well, yeah, yeah, it's all computes right now. You know, the tip culture is absolutely insane in the US.
So yeah, that was fun experience having flights of tequilas, getting brisket and Texas barbecue for the first time renting that Airbnb. We actually even had an Airbnb instead of a hotel.
Yeah, with 50 and smix stayed with us for the weekend.
It was just four of us or someone else to
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Chapter 5: How does the new VRS affect tournament structures?
See, this is the fucking problem with esports. Because someone comes in and is like, hey, how you doing? All this fucking stupid-ass American small talk. All of a sudden, he's a nice guy. Doesn't matter what anyone does, you know, about the action show. But, yeah, because he's, like, super nice to people. Yeah, he's a fucking great guy. He's definitely a fucking net positive to the scene.
I have some more questions.
Can't wait for him to be an analyst at the fucking major, but let's go.
With the announcement, what was the most interesting part that was announced by Blast for the Major from your perspective?
From my perspective? You know, actually, the most interesting part of the whole presentation was, like, when the mayor got up and talked about the economic impact of these schools. I don't care about that. Okay. Well, it was, like, it was to bring in, like, $30 million or something like that, so he was pretty fucking angry.
They got Elon Musk, bro. They don't give a fuck about us.
They got Joe Rogan as well. Oh, I drove by the Comedy Mothership. I tried to go in. Tickets were all sold out.
Yeah, you don't right-wing enough.
yeah well yeah i'm working on it but hey you think you are jason but you're not i like it you wish you were it is it is the right wing pipeline that i get to go down next so you know maybe one of those days i'll hit the i'll hit the mark um i don't you know the the stage design looks pretty cool i think what's um you know they had tickets sold out in six hours yeah it's another blast like spaceship stage isn't it
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Chapter 6: What insights were shared about Spirit's performance?
This happened with Navi after their major win too, right? Like they won the major earlier last year and then they kind of fell off a bit. But I understand that. Your emotions are at the top of the mountain. It's the peak of the game. It's the best thing you can achieve. And then to be able to follow that up is hard. It requires a certain mental resolve.
Well, that's why people say it's much harder to stay on top than to get on top, right?
And we all know that from sexual intercourse, don't we, Janko?
Yeah, absolutely. It's a fucking pain in the ass, but someone's got to do it, Chad. But yeah, for Spirit, I mean, it was... There's so many layers to that.
I bet Lily Phillips didn't go on top throughout those 100 dudes. I'll say that much.
Maybe she started and then was like, fuck this. Fuck me. But... Yeah, I mean, it's their fourth final in a row, and it was like... People will say the player break happened, but it was like five weeks in China for them, pretty much. And then, you know, you have to prepare for next season. I don't know. I think it's a little bit of a lame excuse. Like, you need to find a way to deal with that.
Sure, on one side, you suffer from success, but... How many opportunities are you going to have? You could have made a similar argument for Na'Vi on how they lost to Vitality in the Cologne final, right? You could have said something along those lines. And you look at how the season for Na'Vi went after that, it wasn't too great. So who knows how the...
year or the season will turn out for spirit i mean obviously a lot of things almost everything went wrong for them in the series they failed to win a single pistol felt it wasn't up until map three that vitality even had to eco and then when they did for the first time they won that round So, you know, when you always have to play from behind like that, their map pulls match.
So Nuke is a great map for both teams. Spirit Pick, Dust, it's not a bad map for Vitality. Mirage, good map for both teams. So the first three maps were the strongest, it felt like, for Vitality, and they were going to run into problems past that point, but they managed to get it done in three. You know, Chopper had six kills on T-side. He was having a really tough time.
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Chapter 7: How did Vitality perform in their recent matches?
And I'm happy that it happened that way and it was 11-11 and then Vitality won two rounds because it still showed that, okay, you know, they were not going to, it wasn't just Spirit playing like shit. It was Vitality was playing well and they got it done in the end.
I liked, did you see the headline from Hallie's post-final interview? What was the headline? I saw the interview. The headline was, this was HLTV, Hallie, today I couldn't make up for how players did in micro situations.
Oh, yeah.
And, like, that's bang on. What's a coach meant to do if your players are just giving over opening deaths all the time or making bad plays? And it's like... He said the whole thing is, the question was, it seems like historically it was an uncomfortable matchup for Donk. Statistically, Vitality are his lowest rated opponent. Does it feel like they figured something out about his play?
And Halle said, I think they outplayed me first and foremost. Things were going well with this tournament and I knew how to set up our game plan in the majority of games, made good calls, tactical pauses, but today I couldn't make up for how players did in micro situations. So it's an interesting response.
My players suck.
And then he goes on in the same body of text, the same reply. About Vitality, we played three best of threes against them. We lost in Dallas, drew some conclusions, and then won twice. But today they prepared well for us, and it was tough playing against them. We need to make the right conclusions and use this experience when we approach our next game against them.
I mean, they also got dicked by fucking ROPS on Dust2, and that's going to happen. I mean, this vitality is better than the previous version of it. So the thing about what can you do when your players aren't playing super well, the only thing you can do a little bit is in terms of the calls, have them do stuff more together. and more brute forcey, which is obviously far from ideal, right?
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the new tournament formats?
Because then you're just sort of throwing numbers at them and you're just hoping that there's a spark. You just get them into a post plant, whether it's a 2v3 and a 2v4, and you're hoping that someone will step up and sort of give you that spark. And they were never able to get that. They were never able to break the money of vitality and get a breeder and sort of make the game close because...
It's so easy playing from ahead the whole time. That's what Vitality was doing. Sure, there were a couple of close rounds, but if they lose that round, the score would be 6-2 or 6-3. It wouldn't be that they would be losing or that it would be tied 10-10 and all of a sudden you need to make a decision whether you're buying, whether you're ecoing, what are you going to do.
They weren't pressured at all until the second half of... Mirage. So it's tough in that way for you to do all that much.
So Rob's went 26 for 9, which was plus 17. 141.7 ADR on Dust2. And then on Nuke, Zywe went 26 for 6 plus 20, 127 ADR. It wasn't just that hard carries because other players were contributing, but those guys were owning so much that even if you had a chance in any situation, you weren't getting passed.
And then by the time I made it to Mirage, everybody contributed pretty much across the board for Vitality to get it done.
um so pretty comprehensive and i the thing that i like the most that my favorite takeaway is the space now that flamesy and mezzi have like they have more room and they probably feel like they get to contribute more which is nice because rops likes a lot of those positions that are really hard anchor um that he doesn't just play like a classic hard anchor he finds like aggressive maneuvers or plays for himself so i think it's nice for those two especially
I think it's sick for the whole team, man. First of all, just having issues within the team, that's not going to be fun to play with, no matter which players you have, right? That's just a shitty environment to be in. So first you get rid of that, then you get Robs, one of the fucking Gs in the game, especially when it comes to big games, to arena games.
He was probably in a little bit of a rut over there in FaZe, so a fresh start for him. So you get that. You get a sick player that for Apex, he gets a guy who can call his own number, who is a nerd and can help him with a lot of little detailed stuff and help the other players. You get an insane guy in the clutch, which is what they were missing. I said this so many times last year.
If Apex and Zyvo are dead, I don't trust the other three guys to win a fucking clutch. I just don't. They just freeze. In big moments, they just crouch and hold the angle. They don't do really all that much. They all swing and fight clutch. Whatever it is, I just didn't trust him.
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