TeamNade Ep3

During a discussion about recent news in the Halo gaming community, three main pieces of news are highlighted. First, it is revealed that a player named Penguin has joined Space Station Gaming (SSG), sparking speculation about his motives and potential retirement. Second, it is announced that Neptune, a Call of Duty player, is returning to Halo, which is seen as a positive addition to the competitive scene. Lastly, it is mentioned that APG has left Optic Gaming, and while some believe it was a team decision, others think it was personal. The discussion also touches on potential roster changes and the performance of different teams in past events. And we're back after a two week holiday break with some news. So yeah, and I believe there's been a lot going on with Halo ever since after the World Championship. Mate, like, you don't even know. It has been going insane. Whilst you were away and on your holiday, like, it was all happening. I couldn't type fast enough to keep you updated. There's been rumours. Yeah, I've seen a lot of things here and there, but... The hearsay, like, I was sat here in the command centre, like, curating all these different pieces of information. On the wall opposite me right now, I've actually got, you know, like, one of those boards that you see, like, with strings linking everyone together, like, you know what I mean? Right, bro, right. So the main talking points, the main things we have to cover. Space station gaming. Yeah, let's do it, we'll do it in chronological order, right? So like, from the first bit of news to the last bit of news, which is obviously has come out today. Okay. So we're going to start and finish with space station. Of course. Space station gaming. Yes, I did see this one. With Penguin as... Now known as Deadzone. Oh, bro, you're spoiling my moment, aren't you? Yeah, now known as Deadzone, because no one knows what his Deadzones are. But yeah, Penguin, aka SubZero, aka Deadzone, aka Zane. That's his actual name, I guess. But like, anyway, so he's now out at SSG, which is interesting. It's an interesting manoeuvre, because obviously, top two all year last year, top three all year this year. Undisputedly, undisputed top two objective player in the league. And like, and he's not just an objective player either, like Penguin slash Deadzone is like genuinely an absolute demon on the sticks. Here's a question for you, though. I don't know. Do you reckon this was a personal move or a team move? I actually don't know. Because when it was first announced, there was a lot of speculation that he might actually be retiring. Because apparently, and I didn't know this, I don't think many people knew this, but his entire life basically got put on blast on 12, because people were trying to figure out what was going on. Whatever his chosen career is, he's been doing loads of internships in the off season. So a lot of people were kind of speculating that maybe he would be, you know, he's got to a point now in his professional career, where he wants to step away from gaming, he wants to go and do whatever it is that he wants to do. From some information that has come out since then, I don't think that's the case, like the people that seem to be in the know on making noises as if he's retired. You know, I mean, it's still very much a point of conversation. So probably and also the name change as well, like at the point where he was like, Oh, yeah, like now dead zone and penguins dead. And I'm a new man. Like, it was literally like, well, you've got to still be doing something to do with gaming. If you change your name. Yeah, exactly. Like if you still have a name like that, like, you know, I mean, I can't I can't imagine pulling up in a board meeting and being like, yo, my name is dead zone. And I'm here to talk about profit and loss for the quarter. That's not happening. You know, I mean, that'd be a weird thing from Halo to profit and loss in our business. It would be. But like, anyway, right. So stick your lane. So that's that that's obviously happened. Yes. Second biggest piece of news. Neptune returning from Call of Duty, which is I'm pretty excited about that. You know, personally, the more high tier players that are in Halo, the better I would say. Is he that was he that good? Or where would you rank him in the sort of ability wise to what is currently already in the lead? According to what? So like his breakout year was like Halo was his breakout title. Sorry, it was Halo five. Now, I didn't really watch any comp Halo before Infinite. So it's like, I can't say one way or the other actually how good he is. But his pro comparison is bound, lucid, renegade, like that type of player, which I think obviously, you know, I mean, like those types of players are. They're important, they're incredible, they're important, the way they play, like, you kind of, you know, need a player like that. Yeah, I would say. Especially if you will go toe to toe with the teams that have players like that, you know, yeah. So I, you know, I don't know how good he is. I don't know. Well, sorry, I don't know how good he was. I don't know how good he's going to be. I don't know how good he was. God, like, you know, I mean, I know it's a completely different game. But like, you can draw some comparisons. Yeah, I mean, so that's that that's, you know, I'm not so sure about that. And the third biggest piece of news is obviously, APG is out the opposite gaming. Yes, it is. Like, I think I think that is a team move. I don't think that would be a personal move. No, he's a bit. Have you have you seen the comment, the statement he put out? No, I haven't. Actually, it's like an eight minute video. I'll send it to you after this. But it's like an eight minute video. Basically, he he says that it was a I think from it was from what I remember the video, I think he said it was like a mutual decision like that, you know, they all kind of decided it was time for a team change to happen, which. Which I understand it because it's like last season wasn't the what like the best they wanted it to be. No, for sure. But at the same time, they did come second. You know, I mean, like second at worlds is not a it's not an understatement. You know, I'm sorry. It's not it's not an understatement. You know, I'm sorry. It's not it's not something to be said that I think, obviously, with him, because this is the argument, right? It's like, for everyone that's saying or everyone that was saying optic need to get rid of APG. Optic won a world championship with that squad. They got second in a world championship with that squad. They won events. You know, I mean, like, like, and realistically as well, right? It's like last season, they only won Orlando immediately before worlds and worlds. And then this season, they won the first major. I can't remember what it was with Charlotte. They won the major in Charlotte, and then they won the one immediately before worlds again. So they've only technically won two events every season with APG just so it's like, you know, it wasn't like last season, they were like, there's no underperforming here with the optic roster. I don't think I feel like what like what I'm one of the majors there was one of them. They finished for like, fourth or sixth or something like that. Yeah, that it was really under they didn't even get it to championship Sunday. But like, with, you know, it's not all like, it's not always. Therefore, like, you know, I mean, like, you know, obviously, like, you can only play what's in front of you. Yeah. But in some of these events, teams that no one had any idea we're going to be good came out of the woodwork. You know, I mean, like sentinels, for example, assault like say, like, insane showing Adam. Now, the interesting thing is, these three free agents in Penguin, Neptune, APG have all teamed together before with McQuinn, who is now on Native White, I think. Yeah, Native White. And I wouldn't be surprised if at least two of those players ended up on Native White this season. You reckon? Realistically, yeah. That's my sleeper pick. Because realistically, like when you look at it, right? I think optic are going to heavily target Penguin. Sorry, dead. Yeah. Right. Because really, like, a top two player in the league optic should be a top two team in the league. Realistically, you know, I mean, like they, well, they have, they have been a top three team for the whole time. So it's like, they should definitely be a team that's up there. So that pickup would make sense. And if they don't target Penguin, who are they gonna, who are they going to bring in? Like, who is the player that they're going to look at to bring in to replace APG? Well, wasn't there a whole lot of talk about taking in people from Quadrant? Because you didn't, you mentioned that there would be, that they might go for Legend. Yeah, that the rumor was that Legend was going to go to SSG. And I, you know, with my own little, little bits of insight and my little conspiracy theories based upon what happened last weekend, I could have seen it. But then obviously today, which is the fourth piece of Rostamania information, we know that that's not true. And I'm kind of glad for that as well, to be on a personal level. I think Quadrant would be better served keeping that roster together and moving the whole roster to the North American region area region. Yeah, exactly. Because I, you know, they're very clearly talented. And I think that given more time and more practice against the top teams, I think that it would help them, you know, maybe see the thing is with Quadrant is that like, even if they have the good practice and stuff like that, I don't necessarily see them be in phase. I don't see anybody being phased right now. Especially not in the new meta. And, you know, obviously the downside to, so if Quadrant go and scrim phase, the downside to that is that phase are going to analyze every single little thing about their strongholds game. And they're just going to take it away and incorporate it into their own system. And then suddenly phase are going to be undefeated on strongholds for like 20 maps or something like that. Who was it they played? Quadrant, was it a phase they played and they never won? They hardly ever won in the scrims? Or was that against SSG? I don't think Quadrant beat SSG. Aye, but like in the scrims, I remember you saying to me in the scrims, they played them constantly on strongholds and they won like three out of 40-odd. Oh, I can't remember to be honest with you. It was probably one of phase or SSG. I'd have to go and look it up. I remember the conversation, but I can't remember the specific details. Because we had the conversation, it was like, it's strange that certain game modes, Quadrant can beat phase and can beat SSG, but like they can't do it in other game modes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Like they can't do it. I think that's the thing though. I think that's what would be good if Quadrant did move because then they would be able to develop that consistency. I mean, and obviously it goes both ways, doesn't it? You know, I mean, like, you know, phase, maybe they're insane. It's difficult. Phase is not a good example. SSG, they might be insane at oddball. You know, I mean, they might have ridiculous oddball stats. So they might have ridiculous flag stats. And it's like, well, then Quadrant can go and if they're, you know, if they're having, if they're, they're having the experiences, they're watching a game film, like they're understanding the ways that they're wanting to play certain situations, they can then use that to their advantage as well. So it does go both ways. I just worry that, but perhaps it's my problem because my belief in their ability isn't as strong as it should be. Especially after seeing them play last weekend. But like, it's, you know, it's just one of those situations where I'm like, I want them to do well, but they've got to be careful in my mind. You know, and then obviously go on. I was, I know I was just thinking if with the penguin now dead zone off of SSG, do you think that the SSG lineup can be improved by the players that are available for them to pick up with losing him? Well, this, this is, this is the question, right? Because in my mind, the way the SSG system works is you have Eco who has like the most ridiculous halo brain in the world. He's the puppet master. Yeah. He, he runs it. Like he's the quarterback. He calls the players. Yeah. I mean, um, bound who like, I love, I love the way he plays. I love watching is like when they switched him in the tournament, like I just, I can't take my eyes off the screen. Um, who is just hyper aggressive, maximum damage, like in your face, constantly being annoying. Um, you know, and he's done obviously like when he was on phase, there was an issue with him overextended and diet and things like that. Like, and he's really reigned that in under the tutelage of the SSG system. Like, you know what I mean? It's like he's now an even more dangerous player than he was before because they've taken the raw talent and they've kind of pushed it and nursed it into a certain direction. And then you've got Stella who might be the best sniper in the league could possibly be, um, obviously MVP stellar as well, which thinking about it now, I don't necessarily disagree with who's just also like an absolute stone cold gunman. Right. So, and then with Penguin, obviously Penguin is the objective maestro. Yeah. But the question is, is like, so Penguin clearly had a really high halo IQ because within that system, if you have eco coordinating and then bound instead of just killing everything that they see, then Penguin has a lot of space in which he can exploit to move flags, um, hold oddballs, like, you know what I mean? All of these things. Um, Penguin isn't just the objective guy on that team. Like he's also a very more than capable slayer. He's an elite level sniper, right? But then that's, that's the question, isn't it? Is who, who do you choose to replace him? Who is going to either compliment bound and Stella's slaying ability, which I think is now going to become more prevalent is that we're going to need to see a more, so they based now because of the change in the weapon and the fact that phase are just going to run shit with this new gun. Yeah. Whilst also not falling into the same traps that phase fell into IE no objective efficiency. Yeah. So, you know, I know because it's like, you know, eco can, and is very capable of playing the objective, but do you, do you really want eco doing that? That's the question. Like, you know, obviously in that, um, optic series where eco dropped 50 kills and did absolutely everything, like literally, like when you go and watch that game back, eco does everything to try and make sure that his team wins. Like he personally is like the winner all costs, do whatever it takes mentality, like type of player. Like you can't just pigeonhole them into one thing because he can do it all to a ridiculously high level. Um, but I mean, so space station, they tweeted today and collect is now the new space station for player, which like, again, I like collect, I think collects an amazing player. Um, he is not the same type of player as penguin. I wouldn't say he more fits into the bound. The he's more akin to bound than he is. Anyone else I would say in the league. Um, so maybe it's kind of one of those where it's going to be a case of that stellar is going to be maybe slipping into the penguin role slightly and then bounding collector going to run around the map and kill everything. Um, or maybe they're gonna, you know, because obviously collect displayed on space station before, um, not with this roster, it was the old roster. I think that he is, so I think he's only like 18 or something as well, maybe 20. He's very young. So it's a case of maybe like, is this a pickup that they're there, you know, they're identifying someone who is an absolute top tier young talent. And then they're now going to do the same thing that they did with bound. You know what I mean? They're going to refine his game. Yeah. Into a more well rounded player. And to be honest, if there's, if there's two people that can do that, it's eco and Elamite warrior, who is the coach, like a hundred percent, right? Because do you know who Elamite warrior is? Um, Elamite who, I don't remember what he's done before or what he did. He's like a legend of the game, basically. You know what I mean? Like he was like it back in the heyday of Halo. He was like one of the top dons. So it's like, you know what I mean? Like you've got really good players around, sorry, not players, but like really good people around collect now, like really good Halo brains, like people that understand the game because they've been there, they've seen it, they've done it. Right. Um, and the relationship, because I, when, when it was announced that, um, SSG would be picking up the cloud nine roster, I was worried about the fact they weren't taking hoaxer because I was like, well, hoaxer was obviously an integral part of cloud nine success because I think he won coach of the year or something like that. So why have they not been picked up hoaxer as well? But I think between Elamite and eco, there's a really good relationship there. You know what I mean? So it's like, you know, they seem to get on really well. So it's, it's probably, that was the reason why they didn't pick up hoaxer at the same time because why fix something that's not broken. You know what I mean? I'm not, I've not watched a massive amount of collect gameplay, but I'm not convinced with what you're saying. Let's let's, in the, the let's take it for this example for like the way that you said it, that they're going to try and maybe make collecting bound jewel display and kind of pull seller back into that sort of penguin objective role more than ready. I don't think that's going to be beneficial because if you saw the previous major before world was, it was stellar and a sniper, he was unstoppable. So it's like, is that going to actually be detrimental to what they want to do by pulling him back and be like, here, like, let's let other people do that. We've brought in collect and maybe do that role. We've got what we need in there. Don't worry about it. You sit back and do the objectives and whatever else. I don't think that'll be, I mean, I don't necessarily, I can see what you're saying. I see where you're coming from because it's like, why would you take the MVP, the top sniper in the league? One of the, you know what I mean? Like high KD player, high damage player, take him off of the, you know what I mean? Like, so it's like you have a striker who backs 30 goals a season. Why would you then make him play second striker or on the wing? Yeah. You shouldn't do that. I get that completely, but I think the main reason why SSG is so good is because they are disciplined. There's a point in one of the listings that they did where you can clearly hear eco say, I can't mind which player it was, but he clearly goes, you've got everything on the map. Do whatever you want. We will play off you. Yeah. So it's a case of, I think it's really a case of like, they know their role within the system at any given moment. So it's like if collectors on the ball, he's not going to fall off on someone else. The same way if Stella's on the ball, he's not going to fall off on someone else or if he goes holding it or if boundaries hold of it, or if Stella has a snipe, then the expectation is going to be that the other players will play around him based upon what he wants to do, because he's the most important player on the map at that moment. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like, but if collect has a snipe, then Stella will also understand that his role isn't to do whatever he wants, it's to follow whatever he wants. It's to follow his lead. Yeah, for sure. Which I understand is a good way of playing because you're, you're playing off the people and they're making the calls. But I also feel like that can also be a problem because they're not experienced in making the calls and they're not as knowledgeable as people that should be making the calls. No, for sure. And I, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if in the first outing of this team, if collect did get a sniper rifle, we see him drop it for someone else. Yeah, you know, I mean, or if you know, or we see him getting thrown the ball to hold or he's the guy doing the objective work and running the flag, it wouldn't surprise me if we see him doing the dirty work from early. But by the end of the season, I would expect if that is the case, by the end of the season, I would expect it to be like equaled out over everyone. You know what I mean? Just going back to this Neptune thing as well, like what sort of player was he in Call of Duty? I can't say I've seen a lot of Neptune because I think he was mostly in challengers. Oh, really? Okay. I don't remember him on. I don't think he played last season in conflicted CDL. And I didn't I couldn't tell you a lot about him. But I feel like I don't know the thing I don't understand or know much about is the lower tiers of Halo. So obviously, in Cod, you've got the CDL and you've got challengers and then you've got like game battles and whatever else underneath it. Yeah. What is it for Halo? You've got like the top HCS stuff, but like what is the below that? Is there much of a structure below that? Like they have a challengers for Cod because I don't know much about it. So like. It would more it's not it's just not as like structured and rigid. So it's like Call of Duty has the CDL and challenges because it operates on the franchise model. Yeah. So. In Halo it because it's in Call of Duty at the top end is a completely closed eSport. You only get in if you're invited in. Yeah. With Halo, it's completely open. You know, I mean, like anyone can buy a team pass, go down to the event and play like how well you do is entirely dependent upon how good of a team you are. You know, so there's no like second like challengers. There's no sort of challengers for Halo. No, not really. I mean, there's there's top AM teams. And there's a lot of tier two organizations, quote unquote, I suppose you could say, like, for example, status quo owned by Flame Sword, apparently status quo play pay pay players salaries. Right. You know, LBT any so that you could say that they were a tier two organization now, I guess, because they had a team in two of the majors. And now, obviously, I don't know the specifics of. What was going on with that situation specifically? Yeah, because it's like because it's like they. From a personal viewpoint, and obviously given the people that I've been involved with previously, that was something that I was going to bring up with them to be like, look, you've got a team, you've got a tournament running, you've got teams playing in it. Why don't you have a named team playing in it? You know, I mean, because it's good exposure. Like it's good. You know, it's like it's you know, it's like it's just good marketing. It's, you know, LV, LVT team, like, bad SSG in fucking pools. The last major before world, you know, I mean, that looks insane. That was going everywhere on Twitter because of the goat King J shout out. But you know, I mean, it's also just like, I don't know if they did it because they were paying the players and they wanted to have a team to represent them or I don't know if they it was publicity stunt, basically. Yeah. It's hard to say in one way or the other. Okay. But like, yeah, like tier two, I suppose you could argue, like, if you go and look on, I can't remember what the website is called, but there's a website where it collates all of the halo results and lands and online events and all this, that and the other. And it basically ranks them from like S tier to D tier. Um, so like the Europa halo stuff that is technically B tier halo, because as a region, the players are not at the same caliber as, or there isn't the same amount of high caliber players as there are in America. You know what I mean? Um, so you don't really get the same like level of play. If that makes sense. You know what I mean? So it's like you in the, you have quadrant and Na'vi who are indisputably at the top. Yeah. And then under that you have any combination of about six players on one team. That'll be number three. Okay. And then number four and below, it's kind of a little bit murkier and then below eight, it's a little bit more, you know what I mean? And it's, it gets a lot more interchangeable the lower down you go until eventually you just get into people that they just constantly outplay each other all the time because they, you know what I mean? And also EU halo, like it changes basically like teams don't stick together. They just move around all the time. Um, yeah. Cause they're trying to find the best, uh, structure for them and the best team for them. Oh no, it's not that. No, no, they just fall out and just kind of go to each other. This is like the thing about European halo. One of the things that annoys me so much is that like you'll get teams that form and you're just like, Oh my God, that was a sick team. And then three weeks later they won't be playing together anymore because someone said something, someone's got pissed off. Someone's snaked someone else to go to a different team. Like it's literally like the, the, the catchphrase of halo should be the grass is greener on the other side because that's what all of them think. Like they just flip around all the time. But like, shout out EU halo man. Shout out Pinchy the goat. You were talking there about the event last week. Do tell what the event was last week. So I, I went to, um, Europa halo Blackpool for championship Sunday, which was low key bro. Like I think it was actually sick. It was a bit weird. And I obviously have my criticisms of the event, but overall it was, it was really fun. Like it was cool. Um, got like a really like nice feel for just how good some of these players actually are. Like you, you don't really seem to feel it like in this. Oh, like you don't feel it in the same way when you sit at home and watch it on your TV or your computer or whatever. Like, but when you're actually there in the room, it's like with it in the side of the greatness. Yeah. Like literally like you just like, like, bro, the one thing that I keep coming back to, right. Is just how fast SLG can quick scope at people like, and it's, it's yeah. Like, and it's not even like, you know, when you, you know, when you have the sniper, right. And you're trying to line up a shot and the guy is shooting you and it keeps de-scoping you. And then you'll like shank the right stick, like up into the sky or like into a wall, like bro, right. This guy quick scopes in between bullets that are coming at him. He's that fast. Like, so imagine like you're trying to correct your aim, limit the amount of damage you take in. So like you, so like you're already trying to like, think about moving somewhere else, but you've also want to try and get the shot off and you need to, you need it to be a clean shot as well. So you like, and literally like, and then this guy just like scopes in and like, there's like a little drag shot scopes out and runs away. You know what I mean? And it's like, it doesn't even matter if it doesn't hit because he's so close to hitting them that it's just like, oh, right. Like that that's closed now. I can't go there because if I do, he's not going to miss on the second opportunity that I'm presenting him. You know what I mean? As far as I know as well, SLG hit that only overkill of the weekend. Okay. Um, which was, it was quite, it was quite cool. I can't mind who he hit against, but like, obviously like an event like that quadrant size through everyone they play because they're better. I don't think they dropped them off until they played Na'vi. Yeah. They had a lot of difficulty against Na'vi. Yeah. Like, um, now and see, and this is where obviously mentioned before about a little conspiracy theories. This is where the conspiracy theories come in because as we know now it's been all proved false and I'm just wearing a tinfoil hat, but at the time, the five G towers is a reason for COVID and COVID was to get us inside so they could change the cameras on the pigeons. Exactly. Don't get me started on the pigeons, bro. You know, that's fake as well as I do. Um, but like bound turned up just like randomly, like he tweeted on the Saturday night, he was like, yo, tomorrow is if you want to win, drop the rock, drop the share on your team. And I was, I saw it and I was like, oh yeah, okay. Of course he is. And then we, we walked in the door and they were interviewing him and I was just like, what the actual fuck is going on? Like why is bound here? What possible reason is the, for him to be in Blackpool right now? Let me, let me set the scene for you as well. It was about eight degrees. It was 10 mile an hour wind and it was raining, bro. Right. Why would you come all the way from America to go to a halo event in Blackpool in that weather? Yeah. Like no way. If anyone's been to Blackpool in November, anyone that's listening has been to Blackpool in November. You know how shit it is. In fact, if you've ever been to Blackpool, you know how shit it is regardless of the weather. That might've been his first trip to the UK and he went to fucking Blackpool, bro. Like why? Right. But anyway, so I was like, I was literally, I was sat there and I'm like, why is bound here? Oh shit. Well, the, the rumor is that legend might be going to SSG. And then at that point I was, I was sat and quadrant were about to play next. And I was like, oh right, fuck us. Let's have a watch. Right. So I'd already seen chick. I'd already seen seeker and they were just like milking about the venue. Didn't see SLG outside of behind the screen. I genuinely don't think he exists when he's not playing. Like he just spawned and then respawns on the chair, ready to go. Um, and didn't see legend until they started playing. And there seems to be now that on the, on the station, the monitors are obviously all sat equidistant from each other. Yeah. I don't know what it was, but sat there looking at the team. It felt like there was a big distance between legend who normally sits on the far right of the station and everybody else. Okay. And then, and then, you know what I mean? At that point, I, you know, that was me being heavily influenced by confirmation bias. That was the only thing that I needed to see. And I was like, fuck legends going to SSG. And then especially when they started dropping maps and not playing very well, I was like, oh, here we go. The chemistry's gone. Like they're all head casing. Yeah. The mental shock that I, you know what I mean? Um, but you know, that isn't what happened. And they eventually won, I think. Well, no, they, they did, they did win the event, um, bracket reset against Na'vi, which yeah. So now we put them down to the loser's bracket in winners finals. They then went down there and I think they played team. So they played the third place team, which was, um, most flux septic and Nilsi. And those are four of the six players that you could argue would be in that second tier of EU halo player with the other ones being respectful and the guy's name escapes me, but there is another player that would fit into that team. Um, interestingly after that, um, as an, as an, as a kind of side note, all the top sweaters were playing an eighth lobby and I heard someone scream Nilsi even in this fucking game. Um, so I imagine he, after he walked off main stage after getting slammed by fucking quadrant, bro, he got slammed in the eighth lobby by like Baxter or something. I'm not sure. Um, fucking trace, but it was like, yeah, it was, it was very good. Like the first series that we saw when we, when we went in was better sweet versus BH three. Um, so bittersweet is, um, so they warlord loony and blue some. So now this is interesting in and of itself as well. Right. I've never heard of before, but he was a pro, um, split gate player for space station, which split gate was like the halo with Paul. It was like the halo Paul mix up, um, which had a pro scene that didn't last very long, but I was like, but he was, he was insane, bro. He was so good. I think he was one of the only players that are an M and K. Um, and then BH three was, um, what Boston sunrise, Momo and you may. Well, I think, I think that's right. Um, and that series was insane. I think it went to game four or five. Like the pop-offs were nuts. Um, so they just kept screaming that sunrise was an idiot. At one point, we only stood up to tell sunrise he was trash from behind the stage in the middle of the game as well. Like he picked him and then stood up and just went, uh, sunrise, you fucking suck. Like, well, I was staring at him through the production area. I was just like, Oh my God, like this is, this is yeah. Inject this. Like, I don't know what that is, but I want that. You know what I mean? Like, give me, give me more of this shit. Yeah, bro. Like it was, it was so good. It was actually so good. A bit of a shame that we couldn't stay and watch the final, um, the final series. We left just as they reset the bracket. Um, yeah, you got to get home at some point, but that was the thing. Like, you know, um, the went with, um, a good friend, Charlie drove and he just died. He wasn't really feeling and like, this was to get there from, from Manchester to Blackpool. Um, we left at nine o'clock. So we got back here for 10 if we'd stayed until it had finished. Cause it was only just finished as we got back to it. So I would have left at 10 and got back at 11. Like that's a long day. Like we would have been there for 11 hours. Um, yeah. Cause what time did you leave in the morning? I don't know. What time did we leave? I think he was supposed to pick me up at 12, but one was it? It was sometime around then, but he was like 45 minutes late. Um, and then I'll be audacity to complain about the amount of time we could get downstairs after finding my shoes, which I thought was amusing personally, but there you go. We love that. But team NATO, bro. Oh God. Um, speaking of the event itself, how do you think it was? For the first table event in the UK, I think it was the first Halo event in the UK. So I might say in that, um, it was the first Europa Halo event in the UK. So we'll go with that for the first Europa Halo event in the UK. How do you think the venue was set up? Now before, before I go into this, yes, I have absolutely no credibility to be offering criticism on LAN events because this is the first one that I've been to, but it is what obviously you've seen LAN events and you, and you have an opinion on it, which is fine. Everybody has their own opinion. I feel so for me, like it could have been eight blokes in a shed playing Halo and I would have had fun. You know what I mean? Eight blokes in the shed telling each other their dog shit as there's like fucking trowels and shit falling off the wall because people are screaming too loud. Right. You know what I mean? Like that, that would have been, that would, I would have found that sick. This event, like it was, it was, it was good. It was really fun. It was very weird. It was very strange. You know, I feel like Europa Halo really did drop the ball on something. So we'll go through them. Right. Okay. So you arrive at the venue. So the venue was Winter Gardens, which is a big, I don't even know what type of venue it is, but they had, I think they filmed like a couple of things there. Like I think they filmed Strictly Come Dancing there. There's like a big ballroom, basically. So we pulled up to the venue. There was a back entrance and that's where we were going to park, but the car park was full. So we had to meander around and find someone to park. When we got out, we put in, we didn't have no idea where we were, so we went to the front entrance. And when you get to the front entrance, there is a sign on the front that says Europa Halo Land. And it was literally like a printed A4 piece of paper on one of them stand things. You know, like a conductor's stand almost, but like, you've seen them if you've been to an event, a hundred percent. But anyway, so it said Europa Halo Land, and then there was an arrow pointing up the street. Now, when I looked at it, I thought the arrow was pointing inside and to the left, but the arrow was actually pointing up the street. So we looked at it and we're like, oh, it's inside to the left. And it was like in the conference center. It was like, okay, sure. So in we go. We're walking through and there's just loads of eight-year-olds in leotards, right? This is a bit wild, right? Turns out it was a dance event and we tried to get into that primarily first, which was a mistake because obviously we shouldn't have been there. We bought tickets for Europa Halo, but you've turned up on the wrong day. Yeah, it didn't look as bad as the two donnies that were trying to get in there at the same time as us. Let me be blunt about that because they looked like they could have been there for some hours. But anyway, the guy says, oh no, it's around the back. So we have to go out of the venue, walk all the way around the corner, go back into the back door, right? And then when we got there, literally there was just like 10 people outside smoking. And I'm looking at the group and I'm like, well, I recognize about four of you as pro Halo players. So we're definitely in the right spot. So we go in, get the wristbands. Now, when you went into this place, it was kind of weird, right? So you're walking on a elevator up and then elevator down, but they're basically stacked on top of each other. And I saw one of the Halo, very clearly a Halo guy going upstairs and I was like, I must be up there. So we went up, you go up and then you're on like another like mezzanine area and there's like a little bar area set up. And then there's the two doors, which are open into like a room, which was where the event was, right? So the event space was pretty big. They had ample seating, obviously a main stage set up. On the left-hand side of the stage, near to the door, they have the trophy, which was kind of like under a spotlight with like a background and stuff. And then on the other side, they had the casters booth. And then at the back of the venue, they had the four or five side stations set up for the other games that were taking place. Personally, for me, so I'll qualify this now. As someone who has worked for Europa Halo as their marketing guy, as someone who has a master's degree in digital marketing, and as someone who wrote my dissertation for said degree on e-sports as a method of marketing things, what they should have had at the front door, in my opinion, was someone very clearly from Europa Halo, maybe even two people very clearly from Europa Halo, greeting people. They should have had that. They didn't have that. So it was kind of literally walk in and you're just like, I'd never been to an event like this before. And I have a really big interest in this. The two people I was with, never been to an event like this before, would never have been to an event like this if they weren't going with me. So it was intimidating for me. I can't imagine what it was like for them. Just went in, didn't really know where to go. So we just kind of went in and sat down. There was stuff going on at the back of the room. Obviously, didn't really feel comfortable going and being involved with that because it's like, well, we've just turned up. We don't know anyone like this. It felt very insular. Everyone in the room very clearly knew each other, which is fine. It's a small community. I'm not complaining about that. But just having someone there just to be like, yo, you can... This is what's going on over here. Go and get a photo with the trophy if you want. We've got the caster's booth over there. That's the main stage is where you sit down, everything. You know what I mean? Just talking people through the event would have been... A little bit more explanation than, here's a sign, you're in. Yeah. Here's a sign that doesn't clearly point to where you're supposed to go and welcome to Europa Halo. Now, the reason why I say it would have been good to have someone like that is because it's a proven fact that having branded representatives of your company, creating good personal impressions with people helps them remember the brand that it was that they worked for. So if you have ever been walking down the street and some really nice person's coming to you, you're like, hi, would you like to try some free Pepsi Max? They do it because it creates a brand association in your mind between said nice person and the product. So then you're more likely to buy it. Or in this case, you would be more likely to share a post on Twitter, go to an event, play in an event. Yeah, because if there's another event, you're going to be like, oh, but it's just that because it's Europa Halo. We've had a really good experience with them last time we went to one of their events. Exactly. And in my mind, everything that Europa Halo does as the HCS grassroots partner tournament organizer should be to make the HCS not even not just look, but take notice of the passion that is very clearly evident in the European community. Like 32 teams, 128 players from all over Europe went to Blackpool. You know, I mean, very clearly people care enough to play this game in Europe. The people that make the game, the people that run the league have put on one event that was at a, so they put on a Halo event that was a part of a DreamHack event, which for anyone who doesn't know, DreamHack is a big organization and they'll run multiple events on one day. So at HCS Valencia, you had Halo, Counter-Strike, Starcraft. I think there was something else going on there, all in the same venue. So it wasn't a purpose built from the ground up only Halo event. It was kind of like a, well, this is happening. It'll be cheaper if we do that. And the second problem with it was it was in Valencia, which isn't easy to get to from other areas in Europe. You know what I mean? So, you know, now, I mean, obviously at the present time, there might be issues with hosting an event in the UK if you want people to come there, because I imagine the UK isn't that easy to get to. Shout out Brexit. But like, there's got to be something that, you know, if you're the main authority of Halo, competitive Halo in the country, everything you do should be to build your brand, make the people that are supposed to be your patrons go, oh yeah, we really messed up by not doing something here. We should do something next year. Yeah. And little things like that would a hundred percent help with that. You know, that was my main concern about the event is I feel like they dropped the ball a little bit. You know, secondly, they definitely could have had something else going on in the venue, you know, more to do. It's a difficult one though, because Europa Halo runs on the budget for everything is nothing. They have no money. It's all about everyone that works with them is voluntary. No one takes a salary. I don't know how the funding came about for this event. I don't know whether the guys that are senior in it then went into their own pocket. I don't know if they got money from sponsors because they managed to attract quite a few good sponsors for the event. Am I going to be sponsors that paid for all that anyway? I really don't know. But it would have been nice for there to be something else. I mean, even if it was just updating the stuff, like the little videos and things that they play in the intermissions, like, because that's been the same thing for ages. I remember I watched the Europa Halo Summer Series 2021 before HCS Valencia. I know it's 22, sorry, before HCS Valencia. And in it, they had a five-minute video from a guy called Wunderboy on a very specific map, which hasn't been in the competitive rotation since that point. And they interviewed Wunderboy on the Sunday. And the very first thing he said was, you'll know me from, hello, it's Wunderboy, and welcome to Bizarre Tips and Tricks, which has got me a lot of hate over the past year because it's not played anymore. And it's like, well, can we get rid of that and can we put something else in? Even if it's just a case of just like, because I know that Europa Halo has an open door policy for if you have a piece of content, they will put it on their stream during intermission. But even if it means going and approaching small content creators from America, small content creators from the EU, and just being like, yo, we like what you're doing. Can you just do us off a little video? Can you do this? Can you do that? Can you do the other? You know what I mean? But aside from that, it was a very good experience. I would definitely go again. If they do one next year, I don't want to just be spectating. I would like to go and play because... Experience that sort of playing on the main stage? Were all the games on the main stage? Not all of the games, no. But I think it was something like, what was the percentage? Basically, they said that when they did the schedule for the games, they tried to schedule it in such a way that as many teams as humanly possible got to play on the main stage, which I thought was really good. I think that's a really good way of giving everyone that main stage feeling. Most people would never get to experience that. No, exactly. And that's the thing. So it's nice that they are doing things to create those experiences. This is what I mean, man. My criticisms of Europa Halo's event are purely from the spectator's perspective. Everyone that went as a player has said that it was amazing. Jimbo from Na'Vi was tweeting during the event saying it's one of the best run events he's ever been to. And this is someone that goes to all the HCS events, someone that went to a lot of events during Halo 5. So it's like, definitely, they did something right. They did something really good there. It's just that my criticisms of it are just very specific and nitpicky. But then that's the sort of person I am. And I feel like if they weren't working on a shoestring budget, I feel like it would be the sort of level an HCS event could be. Yeah, exactly. And then if it's a shoestring budget, what can you do? I remember watching a video about it being one of the boys, he was a coach for one of the teams, and they all had Xboxes instead of PCs. And that's because the PCs cost more to get into rent or whatever instead of an Xbox. Exactly. This was the thing. Even on the main stage, they were playing on Xboxes rather than computers. What they did with the budget that they had is ridiculous because the budget that they had can't have stretched more than about 5,000 pounds, I would assume. Maybe getting up to 10 at a push. And most of that probably would have gone on the venue and equipment hire. You know what I mean? But it was class. I would recommend it. And hopefully next time there is one, we can get you along for the ride as well, because you would have loved it, bro. You would have been in your element. I would have loved it. I think if there was another one I would like to be involved in the competing side of it, I wouldn't be very good at it, but I would give it a fair bash just to experience it. It came at the wrong time, because I was away on holiday. And also, from where I live to get to Blackpool is not fucking easy. No, no, no, no, no. To get to Blackpool from where I live is a flight and then a train, or a drive. And that's long. Yeah, you don't really want to be driving that kind of distance. No. The issue, like, when the times that I've come down to see you and everybody else, or the conversations of going to festivals and whatever else, I'm always in a position of, before I've even started, before I've even got there, I have 150 quid from the get-go, before I've done anything. Yeah, yeah. Everything's way more expensive for you. You guys are there. It's like, you've still got a train, or you could have to drive, which is fair, it's still money. But if I don't want to take my car down, I've then got to fly, which is a baseline of 100 quid, 150 quid for a return flight. And that's what I've got. Oh yeah, let me buy the plane with my budget. I'm out here complaining about 150 quid for a return flight, and you're like, just fly the fucking plane. Just fly. I'm mezzling taxes this summer, bro. I've got all this tax dodging. Oh yeah, because that's great. Let's just announce that to the world, we can put them on that seat early. See, we're going to put them around a lot better. Forbes pulls up with a plane now, and everyone's going to be like, I remember on TeamNate, I've got three, bro. Mate, see if one day I win the lottery, this is going to be the start of my downfall, when you've got these, start mezzling. It's inadmissible in court, bro, because I just said it's inadmissible in court. Oh, is that how that works? Yeah, 1-0 to me against the legal system of the UK, bro. See, if that was the case, we'd never have anybody in prison, we'd just have one of his mates being like, nah mate, inadmissible in court, see, said it, get it off you. These drill ruffers that keep dry snitching on themselves in the shoons, bro, they need to just do that, you know what I mean? When they're like, yeah, I got a man down on a Tuesday night with my knife, he was called Ian, outside the chicken shop, but it's inadmissible in court, because I just told you about it, boom, sorted, you know what I mean? I don't think that's how that works. I don't think you can admit to a crime and then be like, I've told you now, so it doesn't count, sorry, lad. I mean, it's artistic license, innit? No, no, no, it's artistic license, like, this is an art form, yeah? Us being on mic, chatting about games, art form, bro. It's inadmissible in court. It's protected. Is it? Right, okay, I'll pass that on to my lawyer if I ever need one, because I'll get done for embezzling when I've won the lottery or something. Yeah, you do that, man. Trust me, it'll work out. Yeah, just wait till my get-rich scheme comes into play, then I'll be alright. When Activision ban you for being too cracked out of your mind at the new- Oh, wait, when I get fucking shadowbanned. Yeah, because that's happening, bro, I hope you understand that. I've been in those games, I've seen the numbers you're dropping. Genuinely surprised I've not been shadowbanned at any point. Maybe you haven't, just haven't noticed it. No, I've checked, like, I've got the webpage for a ban and appeal, like, linked, like, bookmarked, so I've checked. You've got that shit favourited, like, in case it happens, no way. I just heard that, like, I'm gonna blow my own trumpet here, I think I'm decent at COD. I think I'm fairly decent. What do you mean, fuck off, prick. I know, I know why you're washed, the one area of your game that you need to develop. Oh, what's that? You need to get those camos, bro, that's what it is. Yeah, those camos, I'm not ready for that. You need to drop more nukes, bruv. I've not dropped one yet, and my highest killstreak is 22. That's pretty close. My highest kills is 81. I didn't realise it was 30 for an MGB, I thought it was 26. Is it, it was 26 on the original game, no? 25. 25. That one you could do killstreak kills as well, this is all gun kills. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 30 gun kills. Or, gun and knife kills. Oh, yeah, that's brilliant. But that was bot lobbies, that doesn't count. It's definitely a bot lobby. The closest I've been on this cod was the beta when I got 29. Could you even get an MGB in the beta? Yeah, you could have. You could, oh mate, that makes it even more pain. Now, like, thinking back on it now, I understand why you were so fucking vivid. Yeah, when I, yeah. When you lost that. Do you know, that's like, it was scrapyard domination, I think, and all it was is a boy kept coming back and back and back to kill me, and he eventually, like, the fourth or fifth time, he finally got a kill. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That is like, I would have been annoyed, but not as annoyed if I died at, like, 24 or 25. But at 29, when you're one kill off. Yeah, exactly. That is so jarring. It is very annoying. But. Oh, like, let's have a spin up. Spin that record. Exactly. What are your thoughts and feelings on? The new game. So I've got a couple of questions that are like, I'm intrigued to hear your thoughts on. So, like, let's start off general. How are you feeling about it? Like, what are you saying? I am thoroughly enjoying it. What do you? So the past, so obviously working nine to five every week. Yeah, yeah. Monday to Friday. Can't fucking play games at night time very often. Can't be up late because you've got to get up in the morning. Yeah. Get to the way. Work to live. Bullshit. But Friday night, Saturday night, it was 5 a.m. and then 4 a.m. respectively is the time I went to bed. I can't remember the last time me and you. Well, I can't remember the last time you've been on that plane again. Yeah. I normally get like one, two, and then I go, right. And that's I've used up my time. That's fine. I'll go back. Yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Last night. But obviously this is Sunday. So last night, the five, the 4 a.m. wouldn't have happened because I would have had football to go to in the morning. Yeah, so I would have gotten up. I would have gone to bed earlier because I didn't have football due to the weather pissing it down. Only the only I was like, well, fuck it. I've got nothing on tomorrow. Yeah, I was sitting play. And I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It is. One of the better calls they put out in a long while, I find everything works and flows nicely. I don't know. I don't actually have that much complaints about it. Maybe the spawn point. Yeah, like the spawn logical lack of spawn logic is chronic sometimes. But then to be to be perfectly honest with you, I only noticed the failings in it when someone spawns directly behind me like that. P3 sub base on the submarine. Yeah, like that, bro. Like literally the other day. Yeah, we were playing that. Right. So like they spawned in that back corner. Then I spawned in the back corner, pushed out, got like one kill. And then I was killed by the two guys that spawned behind me. And then behind them, you spawned. And I was just like, what is going on? Like this, this entire, like the entire spawned in two groups in this one section of the map. Like there's a fundamental issue with that surely. One of the ones I experienced was terminal. I don't know if it was hard point or domination. I died front of Burger Town. Yeah. Going for the sea hill. And then I respawned at Burger Town and killed the boy who just killed me. Yeah, yeah. I'm not as well. Yeah, that shouldn't happen. Not at all. Like you should be spawned away. It's to me. The spawn point should be far enough away that it's not ridiculously out of the play, but far away and not a way that it's safe for you to do so. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you want to be quick, but quick enough back into the gunfights, but not too far away that you just you're like too close. You're getting gun down again. Yeah, for sure. Fair enough. On maps like Rust, you have no choice because there's 12. There's six people on an enemy team flown around a tidy map. Yeah, the same element on shipment. It's a tiny box map. You've got six. Yeah, there's always going to be choked on that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And especially on shipment and Rust as well, you have people constantly dying, spawn, dying, spawn, dying, spawn. You'll never be able to keep track of it. Spawn, die, spawn, die, spawn, die. Why is it that when I... I saw a video the other day where I think he was using shotguns or something, and he literally was like, why is it that when I'm using a shotgun? And then he just kind of like caught himself and smiled at the camera, and I was excited to go. So how would you say multiplayer, like core multiplayer only? Mm-hmm. The experience of this one compares to Modern Warfare 2. I didn't like the one that came out last year, not the original one. So 2022 Modern Warfare 2. 2022 Modern Warfare 2. It plays far better. It's far more enjoyable. You have opportunities to get out of a gunfight. If you are getting shot in the back, you have a chance of turning. The slide cancelling is not... You cannot abuse it. You can use it, it's fun to use, but it's not abusive. Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like it's an actual mechanic now. Yes, the dive has become useless to me. I don't use it. I'm now on pride. I am slide only. Slide only, yeah. There's no need for the dive. It's not worth it. But there is a far bigger improvement to MW2 that was needed, and should have been MW2 to start with. That's literally what I was going to say to you. I feel like this game that we have now is what MW2 should have been at release. It should have been this one. And the only reason this one came about, MW3, is because MW2 was received so badly. Because MW2 was supposed to be a two-year game cycle. They fucked it about so much and ruined it so badly. They've gone, we can't leave this for another year. We're going to lose everybody we've ever had if we leave this for another year and act like nothing's wrong with it. So let's redo it all. This is the MW3, I agree with everybody saying it's a $70 DLC. Because that's all it is. It's reskinned guns, new guns, same old reskinned maps that we've had from 2009. But it's, they've gone, we need to bring back something that the community massively loved to win them all back. So how do we do that? We play on nostalgia. Yeah, we use the nostalgia card, man. It works, to be fair. Oh, it fucking works. Hence, we had a conversation before recording, about four or three hours ago, about Verdansk and how they might bring it back for war. Yeah, for sure, yeah. And as I said to you at the time, I don't agree with bringing it back because I like fresh new stuff and I don't want to be reusing stuff. And the only reason they're bringing it back is because the nostalgia card of having lockdown and all you could do was jump on your Xbox or your PlayStation or your PC and play Warzone on Verdansk with your boys until whatever time in the fucking night. Yeah. All day, nobody gave a shit because you couldn't do anything else. You weren't allowed to go out. What's that? Your girlfriend or your boyfriend's upset with you? Well, fucking tough. What do you want me to do? Leave the house? I don't fucking think so. The boys are waiting. Sorry, I can't respond to your text message. I'm getting fucking rocks thrown at me in the gulag. You know what I mean? Infinite top drops, bro. I hope you understand when they release that, we're going to top and we're going to see if it's still a terrible place to drop. Bro, I cannot believe, yeah, right, this guy, right, like Warzone was really where I started like taking playing games a little bit more seriously. And this guy had me dropping religiously at this one spot on the fucking map where your rotation options are run over a big massive fuck off open field and get sniped from the air traffic control tower, run towards the dam and get sniped from the air traffic control tower or have a helicopter thrown at you from the top of the dam by someone that's seen you rotate and just decides to jump out or go to the airfield where you then have to, after running over a big massive open field, run across a fucking airstrip into the blender that was like topped in. Like, bro, this was a terrible idea. Like from the jump, this was terrible. And, right, and to top it off, and this occurred to me literally three years after the fact, it got to a point where like, because at the start, I feel like we were the only people up in there, like no one else ever seemed to contest, right? And then it got to a point where we were getting contested by every single game. And like, they were coming into our fucking house, bro. And we were getting bopped out of the map every time. Like, we just got fucking murked every time. And like, it occurred to me the other day, I'm like, how did that possibly happen? Because we spent so much time there that we knew all the sightlines, all the jumps, all the routes, like literally, and we'd still get fucked up, right? It's just the way it goes, you know? We can't win them all. But like, when that drops, we're definitely going back. Yeah, I'm actually quite excited for the war zone. I think, I think... I just hope they don't bring them back for that. I don't think we need it. They're doing it, they're definitely doing it. Yeah, probably. And I don't, I don't... They've already confirmed it's happening, haven't they? I swear they confirmed it's happening with, they're bringing back Rebirth Island and Fortunes Keep as well. I know they're bringing those ones, but I really hope they don't bring them back fucking for that. I don't think we need it. Genuinely, I really don't think we need it. I'm excited to see what this Urzik standpoint is like in... I hope it, I hope it's, I hope. I really hope it works. I just don't see the reason as to why they would build that map only for zombies. You know what I mean? Yeah. But like, I feel like they'll definitely repurpose that somehow. You know, if it's like spec ops or something, I don't know. But they're like, you know, that's a massive asset, they'll probably use it. The other thing, like, you know, part of the other reason why I think that like, that will probably be the map is because when you play zombies, there's strongholds on the map. So it's like, I feel like they wouldn't have something labeled as a stronghold if it isn't about to be a stronghold in Warzone. I just hope that if they do have strongholds again, they just get rid of the AI from the jump. Like, I don't want any AI on the map, apart from maybe a black site. Like, but then that as well, like, I don't really rate the black site, but we're getting on to a completely different... The thing is, the AI in the strongholds, they did take them away. And we should be able to block sites that had them. I know, but like, this is... Developers of Call of Duty that we're talking about, bro, they'll probably add them back in because they thought that people wanted it and then be like, oh my god, what? No, everybody hated this. Oh my god, oh, well, we can't change it now. So fuck you, I guess. You already paid us the money, what do you want us to do? Ha, no way. 1-0. Shit's on. Fucking 1-0. You know what I mean? What's your other questions for it? How do you think the competitive is going to shake out? Because Optic got absolutely fucking slammed in scrims yesterday. Slammed. Did they? Yeah, really badly. Like, really badly. But then at the same time, you know, I told you that FaZe was scrimming the other day and they were just barring the Standee team. I don't know which team that is. Was that Surge or something? I'm fucking not, I can't remember. Yes. Yeah, I think, yeah. Oh no, Gorillaz won it. Was it Surge or Gorillaz? I don't know, which one's Standee? Maybe, you know, when I was chatting to you about Asim earlier, was that Gorillaz? He was on Ravens last year. But who was, which team was he on this season? Asim, I don't think he's got a team. I think he's in Challengers. No, but like, apparently they signed him, a team signed him and then they bunned them off almost straight away and then they went to Challengers. Oh, fuck knows. I can't mind. Well, so whatever team it is that he used to be on, that he was supposed to be on, that was what happened with that. But like, when Standee was playing FaZe the other day, FaZe got like 100 point good on like, oh no, hard point something. So I guess like, you know, the point I'm trying to get at is that he scrims in like the first week of the game. It doesn't mean anything. You know what I mean? But at the same time, OpTic got fucking smoked, bro. You know what I mean? But then the argument for that is it's early days. They're still trying to work each other out and work out how these new teams that have formed work and how they're going to play. And OpTic's sons as well, because they're still doing the GA stage. Yeah, this is true, isn't it? They're still, you know, the competitive settings are not, yeah, they're not solidified. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So there's still a lot of movement to go, but they're just getting back into it. The game's only been out eight days, 10, nine days. So there's still a lot to go, which is December. And that's the start of actual games on the streams and stuff. Have they said like, what format they're going to be following this year? So is it going to be like last year where they did four weeks of online and then a LAN? Yes. Or is it going to be different? Because I feel like, I might be making this up, but I feel like I've heard them say, or I've seen something that said that it's going to be different this year. There's one less major. There's one less major, okay. Maybe that's what I'd heard then. So everything else stays the same and they're going to do the qualifiers as per on. As per usual, doing the online games. And then I'll decide the seedings for the majors. And then they'll go to the LANs and then do it that way. I can't lie, bro. With the way that the game plays, I'm pretty excited for the start of the CDL season. I think it's going to be really good. I think this is going to be a really good year. Last year was a good fun year to watch, but this has now got more health. So you have to do more damage and you have to be more pinpoint. And it'll be nice to see how the 2009 maps play. Yes, I think that is going to be exciting, to be fair, to see what the flow is like. Yeah, especially because we never got to experience... Oh, I never watched 2009 COD at that time. I never used to watch the competitive at that time. I didn't play COD at that time. Yeah, you didn't play it either. I didn't even have Xbox Live at that time, you know what I mean? Yeah, so we'll be interested to see how it goes. I hope to fuck it's a really good year. If it's not, I'm slightly worried. I'm sure it will be. You know what I mean? Sorry, I don't mean that as in like a nonsense. I'm sure it'll be a good year. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of stuff going on. You know what I mean? But I mean, it's already started really, hasn't it? You know, the chirping and stuff like that. They've already started talking shit to each other. Oh, but that happens every year. It's like the Halo, they just start to chat shit from the get-go. Oh yeah, 100%. I'm excited to get this year out of the way and then Shotzi is back where he belongs, bro. You reckon? Yeah. Like, I think, to be honest with you, like... Well, I think it depends how this year goes. If OpTic win everything and then win the World Championship or whatever the fuck it's called, he probably doesn't leave. But if they just get ruined, you know what I mean? Or it's a disappointing year. Because this is the thing with OpTic as well. Like, I feel anything less than first is a disappointment for OpTic. Even when they're not the favourite to win. That's kind of the impression that I get of the way that the fanbase kind of looks at it, yeah. Yeah, I can understand. Yeah, because the fanbase is so... Spoil is the word I want to use. Yeah, I understand that. So much dominance in previous years that now that is the expectation. Like, sports teams not too far away from me, bruv, who you could also argue is like that. Like, literally within a stone's throw of where I'm recording this from now. Yeah, they expect so much. The expectation is perfection and dominance and winning titles. And that is... Not... Not always the case, unfortunately. Yeah, it's not always the case. I was about to say it's not possible, but I don't think it's not possible. I just think that, you know, it's... The landscape of the league is very different from when OpTic were winning everything. Yeah, I mean, it's nothing to do with the calibre of players or anything like that. Just, it's just, I just feel like every single team now is... Very, very good. Apart from a few. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. At the top, the teams are indistinguishable in terms of talent. Yeah, definitely. There is no... There's hardly anything between the teams nowadays. And that's just evolution. Every year there's new people that are better. And they're always going to get better. There'll never be a slow period where it's like these people will dominate and nothing will ever come in and not beat them. Because the academies are really good now. There's so much comes through the academies. I'm excited to see what the products of Boston's academy are for this season. Do you reckon? To be honest with you. Yeah, because, well, like, hate him or love him, he did have a point when he said that every single person that's played on Boston Academy has been to the league. Yeah, that's fair. You know what I mean? Unfortunately, just not him. Well, Ghosty's good. Yeah, I can't argue that Ghosty's bad. Shut up, Ghosty, man. I love Ghosty. Yeah, that man was good. He was good on that. He was very, very, very good. He was good on all tech, I'll give him that. Wise beyond his years, I feel, as well. I recently went and re-listened to that podcast he did with Hex. And it's just absolutely blown away that this is like a 20-year-old. You know what I mean? Yeah, I get that. He's 20 years old, and he's already a fully-functioning human being. Like, at 20 years old, bro, I was not a fully-functioning human being. No way. Absolutely no way. Me neither. Like, I was still sort of working out what I was doing with my life at that point. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? Um, but who is your, like, what, right. So what is your incredibly scolding hot take on who is going to win champs this year? Who's going to win champs this year? Yeah, and I want a hot take, as well, about the league. I, um, I think, like, this depends, because, was it yesterday? Yesterday or the day before, the devs came out and said that they are actively trying to find a solution for snaking. It ain't going to nerf them, bro. It will. It ain't, it ain't. It will. It ain't, it ain't. Bro, it ain't, it ain't going to nerf them. They're still going to fucking ruin everyone's dreams, and they're going to win. Like, because they've only got better, because they dropped that fucking bum with his hat and his tight-ass pants, and they picked up the world's most unlikable AR. Like, they ain't losing. I would argue, I would argue, no, they're not going to walk it, but I feel like it's going to be very, they're going to, they're going to certainly give up a good fucking fight with it, and not in this phase. The, the, on this phase thing, right, I was doing a little creeping on the competitive subreddit yesterday, and this question didn't, it naturally came up, you know what I mean, like, it's going to be, which team is going to be nerfed the hardest by any changes to snaking? Yeah. And obviously, Arthur McJovial is the king of snaking. He's, he's, he's undisputedly the best snaker in the galaxy, right? There's no one better at this shit than him. And yet, they have success in titles that didn't have snaking, you know what I mean? Like, they were good in Cold War. In Vanguard, I don't think snaking was really a thing either, and they were good in that. Like, you know what I mean? It's not, like, because a lot of people were advocating, oh, Faze, Faze are dumb, they're in the mud, but, like, they're snake merchants, like, Selliums, like, literally not even a top five AR if you take away Arthur's, like, snaking ability, like, you know what I mean? And it's just like, it's like, right, well, okay, that, that, that point specifically is complete and utter bullshit, but, like, let's break it down. Just because you can snake well, like, definitely doesn't mean you can shoot well or play at the high level, you know what I mean? Like, I think it's, I don't think it's going to have any effect whatsoever on any of the teams, to be honest with you. They're too good, man. Like, they're literally all the, like, all the teams that will compete for it, like, they're, the caliber of player on this team is too good to be nerfed by something like that. Like, you know what I mean? Um, I, you know, it, I don't, I just don't see them not being able to find a way around it, like, you know what I mean? Uh, yeah. Short of them nerfing it by doing something incredibly stupid to, like, how often you can crouch and, you know what I mean, like, do that and stuff like that. I hope they don't fuck it entirely, because if they fuck it entirely, it'll just cause more fucking drama and it's just not fucking worth it. Yeah, no, exactly. But, um, but I feel, yeah, I think Faze will probably win Worlds. Um, just the team that they've got is really good. Um, this is probably not a hot take. It's probably just the fucking truth. Dashie will end up fucking leaving, probably. Halfway through the season, like he did last time. Just because he's fucking, he's a child. Um, and that's just the way it is. Like, he's just, he's very quick to throw the fucking toys out the pram. And you can't do anything about that, that's just the way he is, he wants to be the best, he wants to have the best, and unfortunately he can't always have and be the best, it's just not the way it works. I think that's the frustrating thing about him, because he's so, like, he's very clearly, like, in the conversation for potentially best player in his position in the league, in my opinion, you know what I mean? Like, that's the calibre of player that he is, he's very clearly better than a lot of the other ARs in the league. Yes, definitely. But like, everything that you hear about him outside of that, like, you know what I mean? It's just, it's like, oh my god, he's just, he's just, he's just, he's just, he's just one of my days, like, bro, like. Yeah, it's not good. You know what I mean? It's like, it's like fucking Draza, bro, right? Like, the guy seems like an absolute, like, when you see him compete and stuff, and like, some of the stuff he says, and like, when he hops on Twitter, and like, all this, that and the other, right? Like, he seems like an absolutely abhorrent human being, but the mental is championship level. Yeah, but he's such a twat. Like, but then, but then you have Dashie, who is equally as talented, equally as capable, and the mental is... Non-existent? On the level of some people that we know personally, like, that's all I'm going to say. Oh no. Right, that's all I've got to say about that. Oh no. Why? Why? You know, you know. No. No, I don't. Not a fucking clue. I'm not getting involved in this. I'm not getting involved at all. Fuck off. Um, back to our topic, which, hot take, hot take, hot take, right? I don't know if it's a hot take, but I think New York Subliners and Toronto Ultra will be in the running for top two. I can't wait for the rematch. But I genuinely can't wait for the rematch. I think both of those teams are going to be in the top two. They're going to be one of the, one of those teams are going to be in the top two, mostly because the New York Subliners improved their already champ-winning roster by getting rid of Prestice, uh, Prista and taking in, um, Sib. It's alright, I literally just thought that Prista was a beezy. Sib shoots fucking lasers. Like, there used to be like the down periods where they were trying to load into the game and they put him on his player cam. He's got his fucking specs on, his very reflective specs that he's polished before the fucking game, and you're watching him shoot fucking demons in the fucking firing range. It's mental. And then, then Ultra, they've got rid of, uh, young, um, Challengers player in Hicksey and it's for his rookie season to bring in a proven sub player in Envoy. So they, both those teams have improved and Ultra were already in a fucking impossible team to beat. Every single event, they were there challenging for the top spot. They were such an, you heard, you seen, well, me watching OpTic, they were like, right, OpTic versus Ultra's coming up. I was like, oh, for fuck. That is probably one of the toughest games between FaZe and Ultra. They were the toughest games. Like, let's not get it twisted. FaZe is not a difficult game for OpTic. How? Because OpTic have a winning record, head to head. Yeah, but they have a winning record head to head, but it's always a war. It always goes game, like game five, round 11 search, but OpTic always win, like dominantly as well. Like, it'll be like round 11 and then like someone will pick up an ace. Like, literally just like bang like that. It'll be like two to an aid, one to like a fucking quick scope, and then someone will get knifed. You know what I mean? And it's just like, oh, right, yeah. What I mean is it's like, you're always guaranteed to see this go the distance and it could, it can swing either way. It's always going to be a series, yeah. It'll always, like, it'll swing. You'll never have it fully one way. It'll swing back and forth and you'll never know how it's going to finish. And that's what I fucking love about those games. New York and, um, Ultral will finish in the top, top two. One of them will anyway. Yeah, yeah. I think the Surge lineup might cause issues as well. Has that been announced yet? Yeah. We've been through this about five times, haven't we? We have. Do you want the Surge lineup again? Please, please, bro. I can't remember this shit. Is this the one with the boozer on it? Um, hang on. If the boozer isn't Cockney, I'm going to be very disappointed. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Where is it? Um, yes. A boozer, RCCs, Hook and Illy. That's who you've got on this one. I think it'll, I think, I think it'll, they might die. I, I personally, I think that roster gets double first-rounded every single time. Like, I'm not even lying to you. They've got Gwyn as a substitute as well. He's coming in for Hook after Major One. You reckon? Yes. Like, Hook, man, like, I just, such a frustrating player to watch on OpTic. Like. Gwyn now on fucking Ravens. What the fuck's going on there? Carolina Ravens. Yeah, Carolina Ravens. Who's their sub then? Fuck knows. Um, Standy's on, uh, LA Legion. LV, uh, Las Vegas, uh. Las Vegas, uh, Legion. Legion, yeah. With Attach, Nero and Puro. Puro? Oh, what about the fucking, the LA Thieves? LA Thieves! They'll do fucking, they're gonna do wonders this year. Heard it. You've heard it here first. Ghosty, bro. Ghosty's gonna carry. Afro, Kame, Ghosty, Jojo Thieves. Jojo Thieves is gonna get fucking, Jojo Thieves is gonna get fucking battered constantly every week, but it's alright, though, because Ghosty's gonna pick up fucking pieces and just shout abuse at him. TJ Halle's still in the league. Um, TJ Halle? Uh, no, he's in. Fucking good. Good, man. Like, never want to see that guy stinking it up ever again. No way. Like, when, you know when, um, Legion had that, like, insane comeback against, was it like, it was either Thieves or FaZe. The hotel hardpoint, right? Yeah. And, like, the fucking Chrysler's standing up, and he's just like, shut up, shut up, shut up, and the guy's trying to talk to him, right, and then TJ Halle's just there with, like, one kill. And it's like, alright, great, because you did a lot of fucking work to help us out there, didn't you, boss? Nice one. Leave TJ Halle out of this. Oh, it's fucking dogshit, mate. He's a legend in the game. Don't care. Don't care. Don't care. Yeah, because you're a little bit too close to that fucking place, you know? On that stadium. Don't care. Don't care. Yeah, but I mean, he did get the job on a technicality event that recommended him, and he is nothing. He's a fool, and he's a waste of time. He's a fool. Good night. You know I followed that guy on Instagram, but, like, I didn't follow him, bro, because every single time that team lost, he'd just go on Instagram Live and just, like, talk absolute crap. What's his name? Martin Goldbridge. He's funny, though. Yeah, it's funny watching him rage about it. That video where he was, like, that boy in his chat was, like, oh, score a goal for my nan. Score an own goal for my nan. And he was just, like, no, and then scored, like, a scorpion kick. And he was, like, hope your nan likes that. Have that. And he went, my nan's dead. And he just went, fucking good. It's, like, oh my days, bro. You can't say that. I saw a video recently for him. It was, like, oh, talking about Harry Maguire, when they bought him, being, like, oh, I think Harry Maguire's going to be brilliant. He's a young centre-back. He went against Liverpool, and he scored against our arch-rivals anyway. He's going to be brilliant for them. And then, like, three or four years later, it's a video after he's done, Harry Maguire's done some shit. He's, like, get him out! Get Harry Maguire out! It's just brilliant. I love it. And just the fucking dichotomy of the United fan, bro. Yeah, they're very fickle. Where they're, like, they're gassed at the start of the season. To be fair, they get gassed up at the start of every game. And then, like, something really, like, shockingly bad for that level of play will happen. And then they just want everyone's head on a stick. Like, literally. Just, like, Ultic fans, to be fair, to come full circle on that analogy, like. Yeah, the problem is that it's just any fan, really. Yeah, it's the sense of entitlement people feel, I feel. Yeah, they just constantly expect everybody to win. If they're not winning, it's not good enough. Yeah. And that's because then the players that they've got are at the top of the game, but they don't want to, they seem to forget that they're also playing against other top players that are at the top of the game. Yeah, that's the thing, man. Going back to that, when we were talking about Optic before, placing top six at that Halo event, it's literally just like, sometimes that shit is just out of your control. You know what I mean? Like, as much as you try and keep it within your control through you executing your play style, like, sometimes other teams are just better. Yeah. You know what I mean? And there's not much you can do about that. No, not at all. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. Exactly. Shout out Simon Skinner. Shut up. Who the fuck is Simon Skinner? He's owner of the local supermarche. He's a snatcher and he must be stomped. Right. That's what he says, isn't it, bro? When they catch the fucking... What's his face for shoplifting biscuits? And he's like, oh, you don't want to press charges. And he just goes, that's where the cookie crumbles. Fucking Aunty Jackie's... Aunty Jackie's sister's brother's boy. Why's he got a cap down so low? Genuinely, some of the conversations that we've had in co-op about shoplifters, bro. Well, you don't work there anymore, do you? No, definitely not. You can chat shit all you want, because what are they going to do, fire you? Yeah, exactly. What are they going to do? I've got to tell you something about that. Okay. I'm assuming that'll be at another time. Yeah. After this. Right. Well, I think this would be a good time to stop. Unless you've got anything else you want to add? I don't have any other pressing business to speak about. I feel there was something, you know. Well, the thing is, though, it's... We can always do it on the next episode. Yeah, for sure. I feel like if it was something, it was very... It was like something that hasn't developed into something else yet. You know what I mean? It was like a rumor. Okay, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? But it's probably better just to leave it to play out a little bit. We can always speak about it in the next one. Let's not go in anywhere. This is still continuing for the time being. Hopefully we can become a little bit more regular with it. Well, like this... No, no, no, that's not me having a dig at you. Oh, no, I'll just explain it. It's just... It's the time that I had holiday, and it was just the way it is. I probably should have got one out before I went on holiday, but... I know. We did try and get it together, though, didn't we? But the timings of it just didn't work. Because I feel like on that day, like... Because you flew on like the Saturday or something, wasn't it? Was it a few years ago? Oh, I can't remember. Whatever day it was, like, we'd... We spoke... Like, the day before you went, we were like, the day before you went, we were like, yeah, we'll do one, like, we'll get on it and record it tonight. And then suddenly it was like 10 o'clock, and you were like, hey, I've got to go now. Yeah, I think we just ran out of time. Pre-planning wasn't great from us. Yeah, no. But I mean, when is our pre-planning ever actually that great, bro? Negative. I mean... Do it one take off the dome every time. One take, we were like... Like Friday, we're like, yeah, we're going to do one tomorrow. Didn't happen yesterday. We're going to do one today. Okay, yeah, we'll do it. What time are you going to be on? Oh, I don't know. Probably like midday. Literally been sat on the mic all day, and we don't press record until 10 o'clock at night, and we want to dance. Yeah, it's fucking o'clock. We've gone, you know what? Let's fucking do one now, eh? Yeah, literally before we started this, you were just like, I'm not going back at 12 o'clock. It is now 2359. Two seconds, I'll do my duolingo, hang on. Yeah, and I had to make a coffee, you did a duolingo. We were catching up on some personal issues that had occurred. They're like, fucking hell, bro. We are the masters of procrastination. That's why our esports team can be called the masters of procrastination, bro. I am not for that. Why? I think I'll pass on that one. Good luck with that. Master procrastinators. No. That's a goated team. It's either that or Team Rising Phoenix, bro, so it's your choice. Team Rising Phoenix? Yeah. What? And then our emblem will be a phoenix rising out of a trash can. Yeah, I think we've had enough for today. I think that will do it for today, Joan. Nah, man. That's the real shit right there, bro. Nah, that's going to fucking do. That's going to fucking do it. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to Team Nate podcast. There probably won't be any more episodes ever because I think my friendship with Forbes is now over, so, uh... Oh, man, you're fucking doing that. Right, that's it. I've had enough. Right. Thanks for stopping by. Goodbye.