Talking Counter
Episode 135: PGL Astana - FURIA's gamble pays off, G2 stumbles, Return of the IGL for NiP & Astralis
Wed, 14 May 2025
SPUNJ, moses, and YNk are all three working PGL Astana from three completely different countries and we're still Talking Counter.Join our Discord to discuss the episode with other viewers, watch live matches, and make fun of other people's opinions on AWPershttps://discord.gg/CSknjCdv00:20 Home broadcast decorating and soundboards12:54 PGL Astana Showmatch15:49 Cinderella Run - HOTU, ODDIK18:24 Temp Check - M80, Virtus Pro, mibr, paiN36:09 Freak Shows - FURIA, G2, (paiN)45:30 Stake Your Claim - Aurora, Mongolz, NaVi54:25 Superbowl Teams - GamerLegion, NiP, Astralis, BIG1:05:20 King of the Hill - Spirit
Chapter 1: What is the significance of the PGL Astana event?
All right, well, so we're here. Hello, Chad.
Hello, Jason. We're missing one member of the party.
Yeah, he's going to come. He doesn't know we're doing this quite yet. He had a webcam issue, so he's getting a new webcam over at the hotel in Astana. Yakko's just going to join up mid-podcast, and we don't know when. Because we have a hard cut-off time. We have one hour today. That's it. Just one hour to give you.
Unless he says something that we can't air as soon as he joins, and then we might have to edit that part out.
We might have to edit that part out.
That could become a problem.
That could become a problem. I actually did not think of that eventuality when I hit the record button.
But it might be okay.
But yeah, it's not live, so we can save the day. Exactly. We don't need a big red button or anything along those lines.
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Chapter 2: What was the experience of the participants at the showmatch?
So we were just walking through and we saw this water fountain piece in the middle of the store. And we were just like, yeah, we should probably buy that just for the broadcast. So I bought it. Now, doesn't it create an audio issue? It does, but it wasn't an audio issue on day one. Nobody noticed it.
We had it running and it's just like water dripping down like 10 different little like decorative bowls as it goes. So you can hear the water. It kind of sounds like a fish tank, I guess, like a babbling brook.
perhaps okay yeah nice and peaceful but on the second day people started noticing it and they were just like who the fuck's got water running like who's who's got fish in the background and then i started feeling bad producers said they couldn't hear it on the audio then the then twitch chat was commenting on it so then it was degrading the audio quality of the product so then i unplugged it but it still remained there in spirit
Chapter 3: What were the Cinderella Runs at PGL Astana?
Fair enough.
Yeah, no, look, that's like when you're in the Blast studio and you can hear people in the kitchen moving around plates and everything like that in the background. And they tell people, like, guys, when you're in the kitchen and there's casting going on, can you just be quiet? But you still hear some clanging. You know, someone picks up a plate and they drop it. The sound's going to happen.
Also, trying to put a noise constraint on players who are in green rooms next door, unless Blast have moved it since I was there.
Chapter 4: How did M80 and Virtus Pro perform?
you know that's a tough one to do as well so there's always going to be you know a bit of background noise a little bit of ambient that's nice you know the background noise it gives yeah it gives you a little bit of a feel for what the what the environment is like at the studio you know it's i just used a soundboard which i think was revolutionary i actually enjoyed that i saw a clip dinko showed me a clip of you busting out the soundboard uh on like an inferno round like made like some intense music and you just like kind of hype trailered the entire round
Yeah, maybe it would happen a little bit too often, I would say, especially with the first games of the day. There was one super silly day. The rest of it was pretty buttoned up, I'd say. Just when you needed a... Sometimes you needed one or the crowd, but not so frequent. So I think it's all about less is more with the soundboard.
Yeah, I think... Well, also, the first time you use it, you're probably all jacked up. You're probably excited about the new feature. You're pumped to just see what you can do with it. So yeah, you're probably chucking it out there a bit too much.
I'm going to buy one of them, though. One of those mixes. I think it's like a Rode Podcaster Pro or something it was called. I think I have one later on. You got one of those? Oh, he's up. He's walking around.
Well, I have this, which I don't know. I have a Steam Deck, is essentially what this is. I don't know if you can turn this into an audio thing. I assume you can soundboard it, but it can obviously be used for different overlays and shit.
Now, to be honest, I didn't want to get that mixer because of the soundboard. I wanted to get it because of the interface and everything like that. Because the type of headsets, the one that Dinko let me borrow, and then I also rented one that I have to take back to someone around here in Malta. it was good. Like it makes it super simple. So might have to be the investment.
You know, I think that this is fine for doing podcasts with, but that type of headset stuff did- For casting, it's really nice. Yeah, because the hardest thing is waking up in the morning, and I guess it is, I have to wake up even earlier than we were, which is fine. That's just the nature of the beast. But to clear out the sinuses, and I'm not sure why, I was so clogged up the whole time.
I've been clogged up since Sydney, since Sydney, Melbourne. Oh my God, blasphemy, a solid country. But I've been clogged up like that whole time. It's just that I lost my voice in Melbourne doing the, you know, all the yelling at the cashes stuff. And it'd been fucked since then. So a bit gruff. And then it's been very just like this phlegm has been had.
And then this is gross and people don't want to hear about it. But when you don't have this, you'd never... you take it for granted. You know, you need to be celebrating the times that you're clear and you're clean and you don't have any, like a layer of phlegm sitting there and you're feeling like shit because you feel a million bucks when you can breathe properly and you can talk properly.
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Chapter 5: What happened with FURIA and G2 during the event?
If it makes you feel any better, boys, we're about to be in Dallas, and we know that AC works. That AC ranks.
I'll get sick as soon as I get there. I just already know everything that's going to happen. It's fine. But... I did the thing I asked him about, you know, can maybe send the engineer to check if it's like, you know, and the dude comes in and like turns the knob and it's like, okay. And then it puts his arms up on the thing and like, see, like, you know, there's air flowing.
I'm like, yes, but this is not, this is not cooling the room. Like, you know, if it's going to, if it's not going to speak English. So it was just like a thumbs up. I'm like, yeah, thumbs up. I guess, man, you earned your paycheck today.
That's like if you tried turning it on and off again. Exactly.
It's actually even worse. He didn't even turn it off and then on. He just sort of turned the knob, which, yes, I have tried turning it to lower temperature, right? Just doesn't really do much. Yeah.
Could you do me one quick favor as we, as we continue? Can you point your webcam a little bit further down for ease of editing purposes? I know. I'm so sorry. I'm not trying to be like a, you know, imagine if he fucks the webcam. I know.
Oh, now I'm going to go get a webcam for Richard. Don't come at you. Fuck that. He's got to go.
That's perfect. That's great right there. You're great. All right.
It's definitely better.
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Chapter 6: What strategies did the teams employ this season?
It's better. It's better.
I'll sit up for you, Jason. You don't have to sit up.
It's just you had a lot of empty space at the top. And for editing reasons, it makes it difficult to make all of our heads the same size so we don't look all weird in these webcam boxes. Because, you know, we're a webcam podcast now.
We're a three box. We're confined to the three boxes. Maybe sometimes a fourth.
Never a fifth.
We're going to KBBQ tonight because tomorrow is just rehearsals in the afternoon. Everyone's going. It's going to be a large group. Has the city been nice? Have you seen the city? I wanted to go to Astana and see the place. Jason, I haven't seen the sun, let alone the city. Probably tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be 35 degrees, of course. That's a nice day, though.
scorching hot outside somehow even warmer in my room so my sunscreen on you know you'll be all right you'll be fine yeah i'll i'll have to put a hat on put some sunnies on slip slop slap we call it in oz you sit in the shade yeah people are raving about the botanical gardens apparently everyone cares about flowers now all of a sudden so maybe we'll go and see that
It's like hearing these motherfuckers talk about the botanical garden. It's like, what the fuck are you on about? I guess if you want to sit on a bench in a park, cool. But you don't care about flora. Or fauna, for that matter. Yeah, exactly. Sounds like Yank is having a great time. I know. I'm afraid to ask. I took a nap. I got to take a 20-30 minute nap.
I got switched again to the morning shift for this last day. And again, it's very warm. So I wake up in the middle of the night a couple of times. Just sweating a little bit.
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Chapter 7: How did teams like GamerLegion and NiP fare?
Chapter 8: What are the key takeaways for the teams moving forward?
Hello, Jason. We're missing one member of the party.
Yeah, he's going to come. He doesn't know we're doing this quite yet. He had a webcam issue, so he's getting a new webcam over at the hotel in Astana. Yakko's just going to join up mid-podcast, and we don't know when. Because we have a hard cut-off time. We have one hour today. That's it. Just one hour to give you.
Unless he says something that we can't air as soon as he joins, and then we might have to edit that part out.
We might have to edit that part out.
That could become a problem.
That could become a problem. I actually did not think of that eventuality when I hit the record button.
But it might be okay.
But yeah, it's not live, so we can save the day. Exactly. We don't need a big red button or anything along those lines.
For sure. Alex told me you had a water feature in your casting setup. Is that correct?
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