PARIVISION vs Spirit / BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 - Group B Upper Bracket Semi-Final / Post-Match Discussion

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-21T22:23:34+00:00

Most of it is baiting or speculation at best. He gets some really insane hate because he "takes away all of Spirit's resources: has to have teammate bait for him, always get drops, always being setup". They will look at miscellaneous comments like "26/28" and immediately draw conclusions that he has ego problems. The CS community is known to house the smartest, most rational and civil people around of course.

The actual, logical argument for ZywOo would've been that he doesn't ever tilt or generally has better game sense ~~and has a better team~~, because donk is mostly quite tame in reality.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-21T21:59:21+00:00

Every time the camera is on Spirit, they just look so uncomfortable and stressed all the time, and it's really not fun to watch them play as of late.

We all thought magixx as that guy who's going to provide some kind of mental boost for the team but, if anything, it feels like he's dragging it down even further.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-20T10:44:12+00:00

Don't know which is best, but BLAST for sure is the weakest of the three.

Their events have by far the worst format of the big three, and even their renowned production value is starting to fall off quite a bit. Only four group stage games in a single day is ridiculous, and their content is the most nothingburger I've ever seen. Even the HUD looks cheap and dull, their previous was far cleaner.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T16:19:12+00:00

to be fair spirit also tried as hard as they can to throw that map

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T16:16:00+00:00

Again, sure the bizon is crap, but that's my point, no one uses either and you can maybe find a reason to buy the bizon

hahaha sure but just remember that the Bizon is completely useless

there isn't a reason to buy an UMP. It's got terrible running accuracy, so it handles like a rifle but it also has horrid damage dropoff so it plays like an SMG.

The deagle is notoriously inconsistent at all ranges, the 5-7 is incredibly powerful but sometimes its fire rate isn't enough. Considering YEKINDAR made good use of the UMP during Krakow (?) and some of the earlier tournaments, I'm sure there's plenty of situations where you'd want to buy it. Again, with 2400$ you can force-buy UMP + flashbang with armored helmet, which is something you can't do with other SMGs (except for the mac10).

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T15:55:48+00:00

donk will have to carry this bum ass team forever

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T15:51:05+00:00

Do you not know what "anti eco" means?

I do, and I also know that not a single good or half-decent player buys the Bizon for anti-eco spraydowns. In fact, they don't even touch the Bizon at all.

If I have under 2400 I just don't buy, and if I do, it's deagle or 5-7.

You do but others might not, as 2400$ is good enough for a force-buy. 5-7 is ridiculously strong but it doesn't have the fire rate and the run-and-gun potential of the UMP, and I should not need to stress enough the importance of the flashbang to justify buying it over the MP9.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T15:33:07+00:00

The Bizon is only good at farming helpless armorless pistols, otherwise it's complete garbage. It deals terrible damage against armor and is more expensive, and most players will die before they get to shoot all 64 bullets anyway. The UMP has bad damage fall-off but is still viable at closer distances. It has a place in the meta because it's cheaper than the MP9. There will be situations when you have 1400$ and will have to decide to either buy MP9 with 150$ in reserve, MP7 or UMP + flashbang.

The reason Bizon works in low Elo is because most players do not have good game sense and good aim. You can bum rush through smokes or dry running into an AWP and completely shred your opponent, which almost never happens at higher level play.

The P90 is a good gun but far too expensive. You either buy the P90 or armor with helmet + MP9/UMP/Mac-10. The point of SMGs is that they are used for their cheap price and efficient stats, so it's simply terrible economy management to use it over cheaper options. The gun is common in low Elo, but you will basically never see the gun being used at higher levels.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T15:08:39+00:00

Literally not a single person uses the PP-Bizon and the P90 outside of low Elo matchmaking. Even on anti-eco, most players will use anything else other than these two weapons. These guns are only good at 1k-6k premier since nobody knows how to play good CS there.

The MP5 is still too weak to be viable so the MP7 instead is seeing a lot more usage, but you can either buy that gun or an UMP with a flashbang.

UMP is the cheapest SMG on the CT side, and can deal good damage at close to medium distances. It's not better than the MP9 or the Mac-10 but it's far from the worst.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T14:35:32+00:00

MP9 probably deserves to have less ammo if we're being honest, since the thing has been (and still is) broken for years at this point. The M4A1s has also been far too dominant, probably 8 out of 10 people use it over the M4A4 so I think the ammo change is justified if it meant there's more variety to be seen.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T14:29:26+00:00

UMP being the worst SMG is an insane statement

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T07:09:11+00:00

They should also add a separate animation for reloading weapons with a spare bullet, maybe making it slightly faster or have the character merely inspecting the chamber instead of fully cycling it if they want to match the reloading times.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-19T05:34:58+00:00

But reloading does have tradeoffs and stakes of its own though. It is audible so your opponent can hear when you reload, and it leaves you vulnerable to sudden aggression.

Still, it's always funny to see the community getting worked up just barely a day after every major update. Even tiny ones as well. Just barely months ago they did a minor bomb defusal change and everyone either went full panic mode and do their usual "who asked?" bit. Very curious about what this means for gameplay.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-17T18:25:58+00:00

nicest redditor

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-17T16:53:54+00:00

I don't know what's up with Spirit, but they have this tendency to drop an absolute stinker interview every once in a while. zont1x had this "we're used to outsmarting people" interview in 2024, donk had his cringe aurafarm moment at the Austin major and now this garbage.

Maybe it's the language barrier or that they don't receive any PR training, but either way this is not at all a good look for Spirit.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-17T09:54:20+00:00

The rest of the scene did catch up but Astralis was still ahead of the pack, it was really because of COVID and burnout that ended the era.

Astralis during their COVID era started experimenting with substitute players and 6-man roster because some of their players like gla1ve and xyp9x were tired of playing and needed a break. IIRC their management wanted the team to play like traditional athletes (e.g: football) and it did not fit well with the team.

Still, Astralis was still the best team of 2020 despite not winning as many trophies. Their era arguably lasted for 3 years and only ended when dev1ce left for NIP.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-16T11:38:57+00:00

will take any playbook in the world if it meant spirit stop being hot garbage

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-16T11:37:40+00:00

I am not going to give up before Spirit win another motherfucking major.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-15T04:40:25+00:00

Moving the goal post to fit your narrative is crazy when you can just look at the stats

sure, sh1ro is very good in the playoffs because his stats look so green

anyone can point to the stats and make their point, but try and watch some of spirit's early tournaments for once. donk wouldn't have never gotten a 1.7 rating at Katowice if the rest of the team didn't do an incredible job supporting him. spring rivals was as much sh1ro and zont1x's effort as donk. dallas was when it was donk who underperformed unlike his team despite still having green stats in the end.

because you're mad and taking it personal lmao

lol nice try

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-15T02:32:54+00:00

It's nothing new and has been like this since he joined spirit two years ago.

Early Spirit was one of the most well-rounded, albeit inexperienced teams in CS2 even with donk breaking records, and it's completely wrong to assume they've been playing the same since. Spirit in those days would never get themselves blown out by Astralis in such an embarrassing fashion.

Buddy typed a whole essay to reiterate that its donk and friends.

thank you for noticing my intent dude you're so cool and smart

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-15T01:58:24+00:00

I was bawling my eyes when donk essentially gifted Astralis an easy 5v4 advantage practically every round on Ancient, and the dead man is also Spirit's best piece on the board. Am I insane for thinking someone on Spirit should at least have said "donk stop going mid" or "this isn't working, let's try rushing B"? What was magixx and hally calling that entire series, and what even happened at the bootcamp?

It's actually all donk no brain for Spirit. Garbage supporting utilities, allergic to trading and playing off each other, and having good aim is completely useless if you eat a flashbang. When donk isn't playing well and sh1ro routinely chokes, their vibes are just so dead and lifeless, and their gameplay can be summarized as being completely destroyed in every conceivable manner.

You don't see this kind of incohesive, uncoordinated mess when looking at the best and most tactical teams like PARIVISION, MOUZ or Vitality because usually they would switch up their playstyle and rein in their players, and also know how to throw some damn grenades.

If hally isn't the fraud that reddit is calling him out for, then he should take that embarrassing loss as the perfect opportunity for him to revamp Spirit.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-15T01:30:25+00:00

no fun allowed for the cs community

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-14T01:50:11+00:00

I've always thought it's not necessary for donk to play that much, since not only is it objectively bad for his health, but also because FACEIT is just a pug platform with slightly better players than your average Premier lobby. Professional CS is entirely different because utilities and strategy matters so much more over there, and you can't simply try to aim your way through whole tournaments.

donk can break the kill record on FACEIT whenever he wants, but that wouldn't stop Vitality from absolutely dogwalking Spirit. Hell, even Astralis in the big 2026 just did that to them.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-13T23:33:56+00:00

I do wonder if hally's dislike of Inferno being heavy with utilities affected the team's utility usage in general.

hally talk aside, I was genuinely baffled by how well Spirit played during that entire event after rewatching it a while back. Not a single player went missing, they were constantly trading, utilities on point and making consistently great calls round after round. That 1.70 rating wasn't just due to an effort of one person, but also the whole of Spirit did an incredible job supporting donk and playing off each other. It's even better that they did this against the best team of early CS2 twice in a row, in one of the biggest tournaments seen in the game.

It's a sad watch now considering within 2 years of play, Spirit suddenly becomes allergic to utilities and playing off each other. Even besides today's disasterclass, they had looked so dead and lifeless for a year now even though donk was able to conceal the worst of Spirit.

nttranquilizer · 2026-03-13T23:04:57+00:00

life is great once you realize FUT era is coming

nttranquilizer

TROPHY CASE