OpTic Podcast - ANNOUNCING THE 2025 HECZQUARTERS LAN | The OpTic Podcast Ep. 234

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

Go to http://leesa.com and use code OPTIC ti get 25% off mattresses plus an extra $50 off. New users get $50 when they play their first $5 lineup on https://www.prizepicks.com using code: OpTic OpTic Gaming Merch: https://shop.opticgaming.com/ Check out the OpTic SCUF collection and use code “OpTic” for a discount: https://scuf.co/OpTic Check out the OpTic Podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/optic-podcast/id1542810047 https://open.spotify.com/show/25iPKftrl0akOZKqS0wHQG ANNOUNCING THE 2025 HECZQUARTERS LAN | The OpTic Podcast Ep. 234 00:00 Intro 01:00 Do Scump & Methodz miss competing? 11:00 Scump is stressed 15:00 Players “trying” at EWC 30:30 Ad Read 32:00 MaNiaC Elden Ring Stream 35:00 HECZQUARTERS LAN 36:00 Cold Play kiss cam 44:30 Coaches talking during matches at EWC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oh, no. Imagine seeing that thing rolling at you. Oh, yeah, you're ducking. You're dead. Like, that's some dead right there. Oh, my God. Everyone's so happy. Everyone's like, no, my car. No, everybody's like, yes. I hope it's on my car. Oh, shit. Oh, that's so tough.

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to welcome you to episode 233. Damn, I thought I was 2-29. I was off. Brought to you by Price Picks, and we'll tell you a little bit more about them later on in the podcast. Definitely one of my most engaged. engaged sponsors that I ever had on the vlog. Maybe it's because I hit that one crazy thing, but I like doing them. I mean, it's just fun to do. Yeah, it's super, super fun.

A little skin in the game. Seth, on days like this, Zinni, on days like this, do you guys miss competing where you have to travel 24 hours to go compete somewhere? And then how, like, how do you know what? I'm going to say yes. The answer is yes because competing. Like, well, competing, but getting there, dude, 24-hour travel day sucks. but it's the fact that you can look back at stuff like that and like after the fact I think you have much more appreciation for it

but it's also like once you get off the plane everybody understands you're like it's time it's turny time it's turny time but you get off that plane it's a different a different type of t-shirt swagger walking around for the next four or five days you're like all right is it time to put on you gotta realize even in the desert yeah I mean fuck we've been listen we've been there these players are so spoiled you're inside I mean we went to the place. It's well, well aced.

Outside. They have ACs outside. And Misters. It don't help. It don't help at all. Unless you're in it. JP told me he was like, I mean,

what am I going to go get showered and then go play phase on main stage? Like, can't have that. JP was telling me like it's, he's like, Saudi heat puts Dallas heat. Like Dallas heat doesn't even compare to Saudi heat. I'm going to argue that because it's a lot drier there

so it doesn't seem as hot. It doesn't. It doesn't, you can't compare it. These players are spoiled, though. It was 108 in Phoenix. But it's dry there too. But it's dry there too. You literally like, the sweat evaporates before it hits you.

It's insane. Yeah, you like don't sweat. No, you're like baking. Yeah. Yeah. It's fucking crazy. Why can't we just like, we just move? No, not move.

But then you go to Miami and it's like the worst. Dude, it is the worst. Well, the thing about Florida is at least you have water close by. Like Dallas, you don't have beaches and you have pools, but you don't have like, you know, boardwalks, beaches. Galveston. No, that's full of shit. Excrement.

How badly do you want to get in the ocean? Wait, what? How bad do you want to get in? Gableston. The beaches in Galveston, Texas? You want to dodge a couple turds? Yeah, you're dodging turds. If I'm building my perfect place, it's fall weather

year round. There's fish everywhere. You're dodging turds. You want to wear a long shirt. You want to put on a hoodie, you can. You want to layer, you can. Like, there are two weeks in Dallas where the weather is perfect, and I just want to, like, press

pause on it and keep it like that forever. Do you know those two weeks in Chicago that are perfect? Yes, exactly. I was just going to say that. I would say it's two months. I would say two months. It's like March. Start of January?

No, listen, it's March and September. March and September are like maybe. October, October. So like end of summer, start of spring. Yeah, period. And that's it. The rest of it, although every single time that I've been back to Chicago, I haven't been back in the winter, but I have been back in like really hot days,

I still don't give a shit because downtown is like right next, it's waterfront so you get all that breeze and you're good. We need a Chicago tourney, bro. Dude, we need a Chicago tourney and only if they would just give me the chance I would bring it. Chicago. Here's what I would do. Okay, here's what I would do. Chicago is my number one choice. If they give me a second event, if we give us a second event, which what we asked for, I'll do it in London.

And if that is impossible. This is such good PR. If we could do a third one, I would do Mexico City just so that everybody can experience Mexico City. That's my dream event. I heard Mexico City sick. Well, you, from you. Yes.

The only bad thing about Mexico City is the elevation. And because you're so high up, you're like, I mean, I don't know how science works, but you, it's very polluted. So you didn't go to Mexico. Wait, oh, you went to the first Mexico City Gears event. Of course. I went to the second one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's what I'm so jealous of other esports is like they've had Katavice and Sweden and such sick locations. You say that though, but would you be down to be on that type of travel? Dude, I love traveling. Like, I love it. Yeah, but any excuse, but I flew to Italy for a two-day trip for a Juventis podcast. It's not about streaming. It's like I'm okay to miss a few days of streaming for travel. But I'm saying, like sometimes their schedules like,

Catavite next weekend they're in Poland. Oh, dude, but think about that experience. The CS travel. Oh, yeah, you remember the CS travel. I'm saying. I'm sure sometimes they have some crazy stretches.

But if you ask any of those players now that went through that, they're going to be like, I can almost guarantee they'd be like, dude, it was awesome. Oh, yeah. Like in the time, I'm sure it's stressful, but like having those memories of like playing in Poland and being able to like double whammy compete and explore, I think is like an unmatched experience.

And the venues they're in. I bet you the shock of retiring. from like CS or Val or League or Dota is way crazier than Cod. Because Cod like, oh man, like you don't get to go to. I'm not playing my five events a year. Yeah, you don't get to go to Dallas and L.A. this year. But we still go anyway. They stop going to fucking Poland and Russia.

Yeah. They stop traveling the world and sit in their house. And they just play more. Right. Like they're like, when they go to an event, they know that they're, they're playing way more. Yeah. But, though. But yeah, an optic, I think obviously London would be great,

but I think an optic Mexico City event, dude, I think that shit would be. No, Mama's way. I think that shit would literally go viral. Like, they go crazy down there. Dude, I think London's like my number one, though. Like Chicago, I think it would be awesome. That's because we've had London. Times.

No, and times. Yeah, but I just think London's amazing. Oh, yeah, yeah. I feel like if we went back to London now, it wouldn't be like, it wouldn't be like back how it used to be. They've been waiting for this. Especially with... It's gonna be a homecoming fan.

Dude, in London, like, it'd be a Friday night and everyone would be at the casino. You're like, dude, we all have to play tomorrow, but nobody gave a fuck. Everyone's at the casino. Okay, the players are a little different, but I think the fans will still show up in full force.

I don't think the players will be as social as... Exactly. Our generation of players... It's so fucking weird to talk like this. Our generation of players. Everyone's a coach or creator or... You got a couple people standing. Oh, yeah.

I think another one in Paris would be crazy, too. No. Dude, Paris, last time I went was amazing. I've always had, like, my things with Paris, but last time when Mead is went for the Olympics, obviously it's a little different because we're there for leisure instead of, you know, playing. Yeah, but it was amazing.

Like, everyone was super nice because, like, usually people are like the French hate Americans. Everyone was so nice. Maybe it was because it was the Olympics. Yeah, they weren't French. It's the French. No, they were definitely French. It's the French Canadians that get you,

the Rambo Reyes of the world. Yeah? They'll tell you right to your face. Oh, you got something on your face. It's like what? Yeah, I respect that though. You know what would fucking bang and I mean this? Like if Tokyo, a Tokyo call a duty event.

Obviously. For us. No, for everyone. See, I disagree with you. That would go so hard. I just don't think the CDL has that market. If we had the market, 100% I'm down with you. But I feel like we're like confined right now to NA and Europe.

You don't understand my Tokyo brethren. My Japanese brethren. I feel like a Tokyo event would actually bang. It would fuck. They would go just to see it. Yeah, this is our only opportunity to go see Akkadiv. So they're going to fucking... Dude, you have to trust me.

Maybe I'm wrong. Yeah, trust me, you're so wrong because... I would love it. Don't get me... And I feel like the transit. They could probably just get on a bullet train. Not only that, not only that, but think about the amount of people that live in the United States. Green Wall obviously travels with the Green Wall.

They will be like, wait, Tokyo? Hell yeah. This is probably like the only excuse I'm ever going to have to go to Tokyo to go do something explosive. Maybe you're right. I am right. I have a feeling. But anyway, that's how I would do it. But if we got two events next year, I would definitely, I wouldn't even do one here.

And my Texas people understand. No, I got to have a Dallas event at this point. It's become like a staple. Yeah, I think you have to now. Well, Dallas are just easy to get to. Like there's, for us, yeah, for sure. Well, no, most airports fly direct to Dallas. It's a central location.

So you can get from L.A. or Vegas or Jersey, you're here with three and a half years. Chicago I'm down for. I'm so down for Chicago. London is the same thing. These are all international. I haven't been to Chicago since I'm 15. My palate has expanded. I'm able to drink.

We should just go on a weekend. Dude, I'm so down anytime. I'm one of the few who if you text me saying, let's go to Chicago, I'll book it right then and there. I'm fucking there. I'll actually back that. You are, you're down to travel. I thought you said you're back in that in terms of me. He's down to travel.

There's no better thing than trying new food, exploring new places. So you asked me, I'm being beautiful. I'm like, yeah. Bose is there right now. Out of nowhere. I texted Bose yesterday like, yo, wagers, he goes going to Chicago. I was like, oh, okay. I got a text from pages of like, yo, Bose just told us he's not on the podcast.

I was like, what the fuck? Wait, yeah, why is he in Chicago? Dude, mobbing, Joe. You know how he does. He's a fucking superstar. He knows he's got watch party Thursday, right? He knows. Beaking up, but does he care?

Beaking of. But does he care? EWC. He better fucking. All I know is that, I think, I don't want to speak on his business, but I think he's there for like some, some pretty cool stuff. Let me make sure. Let me see if I can even talk about it. Hold on.

Very cryptic. See, now I'm really interested. No, no, it's actually cool. Well, while he's doing that, if you're watching this, we might still be live. It's Thursday, 7 a.m. start time for us. I'm assuming pod's probably going up. Is it going up later because of EWC or is it going up like the same time?

Or is it going up earlier? After the stream ends. Okay, well then. So we just finished day one. Tomorrow we'll be live at 7 a.m. We're probably like 645-ish. We're going to do our best. but I'm so excited to have like one final shabang.

Burritos? No burritos? Yes, burritos. I'm on a pretty extensive diet, but. But I'm excited because I've been taking a little break from streaming, so this will be like back to my regular. Can I ask you a question about, I mean, now that your pool's cool now, right? Yeah, pool's good.

So have you been pool day in or? No, I mean, to be honest, I was just like, I've been stressed, first of all. I'm not going to talk about why I've been stressed, but I've been stressed. stressed. And when I'm stressed, I, like, just shut the fuck down pretty much. When I'm, like, overly stressed, I just shut down. It's bad.

It's how I've always been. It's just... His mid-juggling hasn't been going according to plan. You've been getting shit on the wrist. No, it has nothing to do with league. Although league has helped me quite a bit because it, like, makes the days go by faster.

Are there sometimes where some toxic bastard just rains on your parade? Because they're crazy in that game, aren't they? 100%. It's crazy that they're that crazy. and only game chat. That's the funniest part of it. Brother, you'll steal a kill from someone. You'll help them.

You'll steal their kill accidentally and they'll just throw the rest of the game. That's insane. And they're 30 minute games. So you're just sitting there like, and then it's called holding someone hostage because you can surrender. You need four votes out of five.

Right. And they'll just hold you hostage. So they'll just keep hitting no. Like they'll know that you lost. They'll just keep hitting no and they'll make you play the game out. That's fucking awesome. It's like we have no chance of winning.

Let's just end this so we can go play our next game, they'll just, it's... Sorry, I cut you off, but you've been playing league to your days of been flying by as where you were. Yeah, so, yeah, I've just been stressed, bro, about life. Multiple things. Expresso? Multiple things, yeah.

Depresso, what are they called? Expressos? Well, I think the watch party will snap you and snap all of us right back to it. Not really depressed. It's just like, I've been stressed out. Call of Duty right now is in a bad spot. I don't really want to open cases and shit, which is like the main thing going on right now. It's like, I just thought it's a nice time to take a break.

Season just ended. It's like, dude, I took two weeks off of streaming, right? And all my boys are texting me like, is everything okay? Are you okay? Like, it's like, yeah, bro, I'm perfectly fine. It's just... Not me. Just a little stressed out and needed some time to...

Anytime you're not streaming, I think to myself, this guy's finally sitting poolside, just enjoying his fucking afternoon, his midday, is morning. and don't call him. And I know people are going to hear that. They're like, oh, he's stressed. So he takes two weeks off. But it's like, listen, I don't. Fuck him, man.

Well, dude, I'm not kidding. This whole first half of the year, I feel like I have just lived in front of a camera. Like, people don't realize. I've been streaming like 110 to 120 hours every month on Twitch, plus 330 matches of the watch party or whatever, plus content days, plus travel days. plus travel days plus shoots.

So it's like, dude, I've just been, like the first half of this year, I really haven't taken a break or days off. And also that kind of like builds with me as well. Like if I overdo it, you burn out, man. I burn out. And that on top of some of the news that I've been receiving, you know, it's just been a couple crazy. What news?

Again, I'm not going to get into it. So why did you bring up the news? That's why I asked about the news because you brought up the news. Well, I'm stressed for a reason. I'm not just. stress for fucking no reason. I think the watch party will help. Yeah.

Because I think, I agree with you. If you're going to take some time off right now, call duty is at a tough state. I mean, Warzone's not doing too well. I'm still playing like S&D Chows at night just to pass the time. But the watch party, going back to what I was saying earlier, these players are so spoiled. I mean, I'd be getting on every morning.

I see Tim and Matt go live. I'm like, well, they're opening cases and I'm playing Warzone ranked. What do people want to watch? $100,000 cases, war zone rank? If you're loving league that much, dude, Just fucking play league. And your viewers might be down because that's natural.

Yeah, but you know that's not how it is. But I'm going to give you an example. As a streamer, you have to worry about viewership. You have to worry about engagement. You just have to. I have the perfect, the perfect arguments, counter arguments of what you just said. Look at Matt when he started playing fucking Valoran.

He didn't fucking think that anything was going to be anything. And he got a different though. How is that different? How is that different? Yeah, I tip Matt very, very hard because it's very hard to break out of, like the call of duty box, and I feel like I'm still in it.

Like, if I'm not playing cod, my choice. People just, I'm just going to have way less viewers. That's just how it is. Him, he'll, like, actually get on and dirty grind something to the point where it'll help him. I can't get through that mental barrier. So I tip that. I tip that out of him. Yeah, Matt will just play, like, the new, like, like, what is it called?

Like, an Eldon Ring, a new, like, Souls game. He'll just, like, play it. Like he'll just, after he's done with Halo scrims, he's like, all right, I'm going to play this for four hours. Oh, you're talking about formal. I'm talking about nature. Oh, you're talking about nature. Yeah, I'm talking about formal. Sorry, sorry. Yeah.

But Matt, Matt, I mean, Matt, too, he'll just play whatever the fuck he wants. Yeah, formal just does that. But I just can't get over that mental hurdle. Maybe I will at some point in my life, but I just think call duty's in a, in a rough spot. So I call this, I call this point right now weathering the storm, but we're not going to get going on that topic. What I wanted to say is these players are so spoiled and I'm so excited for the watch party. talk about that. But these guys have such a big tournament after champs. There's been like a lot of debate recently about if players and teams are trying for EWC and anybody that's not trying for a

tournament. Your opinion. Whether it's this big or not is insane. Everybody's trying is stupid. And I think anybody says they weren't trying is trying. Nobody was trying. You know how serious people take certain things. Well, I think that's really stupid then if they weren't trying. You can think whatever you want. It is what it is. And you're not, why are you right? What if somebody doesn't want to make additional cash, that's on them? It's just disrespectful to like your teammates, your organization. 90% of the league last year didn't give a fuck.

I think that's crazy. It's different this year. It better be. Because those guys were grinding. These guys were grinding. Well, I mean, those guys got slammed at champs. So, of course, they're grinding. But our guys were even like grinding leading up to this tournament.

EWC? There's no reason not to. It's an extra $150,000. Dude, but what I'm saying is last year. I can't even imagine, I can't like, imagine we had that. Just, we can't, players,

we can't all wish for more tournaments, and then we have more tournaments, and then we have conversations about if people are trying. Like, what the fuck are you talking about? Okay, it's a simple fucking solution. I'd be going hard as fuck for this. It's a simple solution. It's a psychology thing.

It's human psychology. The only reason they're not taking, it as serious or they're not doing this because they just had champs the most serious tournament and although the price pool is $200,000 less or close to being the same as that and the importance level from a monetary perspective should garner the interest and the one from every player to do that but mentally they're just like yo like I hit the finish line this is like the overtime that they got to fucking play I don't know if they move it if they move it I guarantee you they try harder My favorite part of the podcast, the prize picks.

Let's get into it. Picks, picks, picks, picks. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win. Less on those phase fucks. How about that? You know who's been winning money mark.

Yeah. Money Mark is a prize pick savant. I'm following him up, except for like on, like for example, if I can go first, I'm going to go with the gentlemates less. Thank you. Gentlemates less, just right off rip. Right off rip. They're playing thieves.

Oh. I mean, 160 kills collectively. So that's what? 53 about for average for three maps. I like that, actually, Hector. That's a good pick. Yeah, that's nice. I'm just on my hater shit, you know?

The hater in me wants to say phase less, but I don't see phase less. No, I wouldn't. Not against phase less in that match. That's too risky. Oh, it's probably, what, the best amateur team there? Yeah, probably. Is that, that, that's recent them, right? Yeah.

Yeah. But the, the EU. team is probably good too. Yeah, war is, is that Afro in them? I don't know if that's Afro or is, which one's Bantz on? I don't know the names. Bantz is Team Orchid. That's the team that dropped Henry for Beans. Yeah, it's Team Orchid. I was thinking maybe Envoy Moore 1.03 KD against the gentlemenates, because I just think thieves are going to slam them. Yeah. I don't really know. Envoy, I mean, you expect Hydro and Scrake to slay. Envoy when it comes to the KD, it's like sometimes he drops a beautiful 1.1 and sometimes

it's a beautiful 0.9. It kind of depends how his Slayers play because he'll like pick up the slack. If like if Paco and Ernie aren't playing well, I'm confident. There's more kills on the map for him to pick up. I'm confident that. So you got more on Envoy? Wait, who picked more for Envoy? Zen.

Zin. All right. Wait, hold on. Sorry. Brack 18 control kills is speaking to me right now against Heretics. 18? That's, you get more, right? Brack, you got 18 and you're right?

Yeah, 100%. I don't know. They draw these lines tight. Brack's a slayer. And I don't think they accurately know about Brack and Stanee and players. No, they know. I wonder if.

They wouldn't be having them up there if they didn't know. No, listen, listen, I wonder if we're able to take all of like JP Cresz's graphs and charts. Yo. Dump them into chat, GPT, and then, Show them this and ask it to pick it. Speaking of JP, he's been my little league duo. He told me that.

Yeah. I went for a walk with him. He goes, dude, I was dirty grinding with Seth. He's playing like eight hours a day. I wouldn't say dirty grinding. We played like, we'll play like two or three games. Well, he said you've been dirty grinding. Yeah.

He said he's playing like seven, eight games a day. And he's like, how long is that? Because I don't know. He's like, yeah, probably like seven, eight hours. I'm like, dude, what? They're like. Hey, it's okay. They're like 30 minute games.

Like seven eight is like, I respect that you're an extra game. But you got to understand. I'm not upstairs. Like, I'm in the living room while Iz is watching a movie playing. I just respect the passion to play a video game off stream at this part in your life for that. Oh, I'm dirty addicted. Like that's like a- I'm not denying that fact.

It's like crack. We thinking more on Simper here? Yeah, sorry. Don't get me started because I won't stop. 58.5 kills? A lot of kills. I don't know, but I'm feeling like Mamba. With a name like Mamba, he's got to come out fucking.

Wait, where, Mamba? Mamba's good. It's just what phase shows up? Is Faye's going to absolutely steamroll them? Or is the best challengers team actually going to show up and make some noise? Let's go less on Mamba there. Wait, who's picking this? Is this your pick?

That was my pick. Okay. Okay. Scroll up for me a little bit? Yeah, let me get one in here. Let's go. Hey, and if any pro players are watching this, please know that I don't know anything about Call of Duty,

and I'm not disrespecting you in any way. I'm just doing it for fun's sake, okay? No beef, no beef. I'm going to go a Beezy Simp and Celium less than 171.5 over three maps. Just because I think they're going to beat them so like... Quickly that they won't have a chance to get that many kills? Exactly.

I think it's going to be a quick series. Omit. Probably one of the best amateur teams there, but it is phase and I feel like they're going to come out hot. See, pro players exactly what Seth just said is the real. Seth just said is the reason why I pick less. I just think that kids and the boys are going to like run through them that they're not going to have the opportunity to get that many kills.

I mean, listen, there ain't no, there ain't no nothing. It's just, I'm trying to get my pick right. Of course, especially for the people. Yeah. And guys, new users get $50 when they play their first $5 lineup. You got to use Code Optic at the link in the description below. I see what you're saying, but I think I don't care if the EWC was a month from today. It's just the principle of like, dude, it's already a volatile thing where like players are still playing for their livelihoods.

They're only a certain amount of players that are actually safe. Yeah, but that is. And the recency bias is so important. I don't know. I hear what you're saying. I just think anybody that's not trying for any term. You guys, you guys never had this opportunity, though. That's why you see it from that value is like that perspective comes from the value that you see in the fact that you guys never had the opportunity to have the salaries, the travel accommodations.

Everybody used to have two team rooms, right? Two queen beds. Now everybody has their own room. Their girlfriends travel with them. These guys get paid so much money. There was a time. I don't give a fuck. I know you don't.

But I would say that a lot of pros care about the status of the tournament more than the money because they already make so much money. That's what I'm saying. I don't think they're making that. There's certain people that are making that much. What was that? Across all pro players? In comparison to what we weren't making.

Because we weren't making anything. My ADHC won't let us go. My first eight years, I don't even think I had a salary. What? My ADHD won't let this go. Did you get, did you elope? Nah. So why are you rocking that?

You're not married yet. I'm kind of married. No, that doesn't count. Take that off. Take that off. Oh, wait, yeah. What the hell? No, we might be skipping a step, so we're just.

Okay. And just sorry. My distractiveness, I'm like, I hope he didn't take my, I hope nobody invites me to another way. To heart, obviously. We can go back and forth, but my opinion is prize pool is just like an obvious added plus. Like that's just unprecedented to have such a big tournament, especially post champs. Like it's just, it's the second biggest tournament of the year prize pool wise. But it's just the principle of like, if we want more tournaments, there should never be a conversation around if you're trying or not.

You should be putting your best foot forward at every single tournament. But it's also cod though. Like if a new tournament Popped up in Counterstrike Because they already go everywhere Then they're just take it They're just like oh shit Another one another one we have to try as much as possible

But Cod I don't think it's I don't think it's far fetched that the guys didn't try last year I don't think it's spoiled brats I don't think it's crazy Because it's a brand new tournament with no Expectation no expectations no status behind it Like Like you're not like oh who won it last year

like it's just a brand new tournament across the fucking world that's funded by people we don't know and so it does not crazy to me that the players didn't take it seriously I think I obviously if I was given the opportunity I would go as hard as possible but it's not crazy to me that

they don't take it they didn't take it that serious it's not crazy to me I don't know especially our guys because they just won champs and they're like for the first time in history you win champs and now all of a sudden and there's another tournament you got to worry about. You don't get to just ride that high.

They were like, fuck it, I'm going to ride the high. For a new high. Go win it again. Yeah. I get what you're saying. It's a good month. I get what you're saying also. Go win 200K, boom, win 150K per person.

That would be fucking crazy. It's a good month. That's one thing I do hope for next year and maybe I'm just, we don't have the luxury of like, you know, having a UMG or UGC. It's all just the same. It's just CDL now. It would not bang the same. It won't.

bang the same. Any single time I hear anybody talking about the Hilton and Anaheim, like, people, like, I don't think that people realize what that looks like nowadays at our age, at every pro player's age, the level of maturity that the scene has gotten to, then it's like a completely different world than it was before. I wouldn't call maturity. I would call it a different level of spoiled now is the way I would, we've all grown up. mature but like these players now I feel like they deserve to experience just at least a fraction of what we experienced

like more tournaments convention center DreamHack Dallas was the perfect example of that DreamHack Dallas made you feel like it was kind of like the old days and that's why there was so much positivity around it is because it felt like it should feel and that's I know it's a dream hack

because it's hard to replicate On the round of bar that you guys did very good you guys should go check it out you were talking about the fact that You guys were fierce competitors on that, but afterwards, everybody had like a little community. Everybody gathered around, made fun of each other. One big friend group. Hung out as friends, right?

That can't happen nowadays. Even if the pro players now were just as cool, if not, whatever, as you guys were back then, like that atmosphere doesn't exist anymore, where you guys can go to a bar and then just like talk amongst each other. You know what I'm saying? Like it's different now. Maybe. Because everybody has grown up into this thing. So the simple beer that you were able to get before, I mean, actually, now with fans,

that you might be able to get 14 beers all that once, actually. Beers coming left and right. I just don't think, Seth, I don't think the watch party specifically, you four, could walk into the Anaheim bar after an event and it would be fun. You guys would get bombarded by people. For sure. It wouldn't be like it used to be. Which is cool, but yes, exactly.

It needs to be rebuilt again. I feel like it used to be... The Anaheim bar, there was like... Build it back up. It used to be like... It used to be like... It used to be like... Like, fans were like chill.

Kind of. Like, it wasn't too crazy. People weren't like bombarding Crem and Damon. And like it was mostly like... Dudes that were playing in the event or like... Correct. Like around the event. And then like E-girls, they were chasing.

And like, everybody was drunk and like... It wouldn't be like that now. I really would have. I don't think it would be like that. If you think about the latest, the last of them, the last of champs, or no, no, the last Anaheim event that we had, it just, it's it. And even if it's not, I just want more tournaments. Can I tell you why Dreamhack felt that way?

Felt like it was like an MLG event. Talk to me. Because the inside of it felt like an MLG event. But all this other stuff, like party at the Hilton bar, like all this other stuff. Like that's something that's long gone. You weren't there, though. You weren't there Sunday night at the after party when it was just the entire cog community. and the Halo community altogether.

It was fun. That sounds fun. It was fun, bro. Good times. I'm talking to formal. I'm talking to Clutch. Yeah. And then I'm talking to Cammy.

And then I'm talking to Eric Anderson. Like, there were just so many people that you don't normally see. Oh, you did go. You were going to team with Pred. What? No, you didn't go Sunday night. Sunday. What about?

Oh, at DreamHack. Yeah, no, I didn't go. You missed out. It was fun. I heard I missed out. I think DreamHack is like, I think that's like the future of, Gaming? Yeah, like, it's just a full circle.

You know who enjoyed it? Live. Really? Live was, I mean, I can imagine, yeah. Live was like, like, she's like, oh my God, like this is awesome. They had anime stance there. They had fucking other shit. It was, it was like a nerd convention, right?

Like the shit that we all fell in love with. Dude, it was awesome. It was good. It's also just the atmosphere or the feeling. Yeah. Like that level of excitement and everyone's enjoying their own thing. and you can walk ah dude i thought it was awesome get a little whiff of that yeah dude yeah dude i think dream hacks in sweden this year could you imagine we go to like

that'd be so cool i would up i'm down i'd be so cool if we had a call in a new sweden event sign me up that would be awesome major three sweden i'm there somebody somebody sign me up major four like they're there hey five person watch party you're on we had a fifth chair or my lap is not dude we just swapped i'll do thursday you do friday saturday sunday Fuck yeah I say that But I do love Be another watcher

I know you guys like gaming And I know you guys like eating But you also should like Sleeping Sleeping is the most important One of the most important parts of living You gotta wake up and you got to feel good And the morning and you gotta be energized

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He had a gold door in the race to Master Prestige. Why do you pick now? Why not? EWC Thursday. After. Perfect. After EWC is live. From us to him.

Think about it. He's live. That's fair. He's live. We end our stream. Go watch Maniac do whatever fuck it is that he's doing. Go watch him fucking rage?

Die over and over again. He's going to lose his mind, right? I'm so jealous that. He's playing it for the first time. God, you love that game. You love that game. That game is so good. It is so good.

It is so good. I can't be that loud in my apartment, and I know that this game, I have no choice. So I'm going to have to figure out where I can do it. Race MasterCasties coming up. Put it on the goal. Are we doing that again? I want to do that without.

I don't see why we wouldn't. No, I mean, if there's a master prestige system, we have to. The race. I feel like the race is a must. Especially now. The race is an absolute must. We have to. Because it's so fun for everybody involved.

We have a blast for them. But Nick is doing the Elder Ring Stream now because this is the week before he has to do a Halo watch party because on like the 31st is an event or something like that. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. So he's doing it. It's the 31st of August, though, no?

He told me. No, I think it's August 1st. He told me. Matt Craig. August. I think it's August 1st through 3rd. I said I was going to go. Yeah, I think it's August 1st.

Look that. Matt Craig, please. August 1st. Wow. Oh, shit. So we're going to be getting back from L.A. because we're flying to L.A. next week. Yep.

from Monday to Friday, right? Yep. A lot of people are going. I don't think it's been announced what is taking place there, but a lot of people going to L.A. next week. I'll be there. Wait, Matt, can you pull up the date bottom right real quick, like the calendar? So what day do we get back? We probably get back on the first.

So we get back the first. We get back August first. And then we watch HALO the next two days. Fantastic. Don't mind if we do. Yeah, I just want to see So we get back the first It's one thing

And we talked about this Around the bar But so CoddX is rumored To be the end of September Which usually the beta follows Which means We're not getting the new game Until November most likely

You think? Oh Yeah Because last year we got it like October 25th I believe it dropped We ended on Halloween So now I was like

Dude this this off season It's kind of gonna be hell Because It was hell before When the game came out in October and now the game is going to be pushed back even more. So now we just have more time to kill. So I really hope Rostermania is as lit as it can possibly be

to try and weather that storm a little bit. We don't have a new cod until November. This is what we're going to do. Are you ready? Hex quarters is going to, Hex Quarters and Optic is going to contract TST to throw a land tournament out of the fucking hex quarters with all the teams that live in the surrounding area. There we go.

And anybody that wants to come in. The new game? Yes. Oh yes. Immediately. Oh, okay. After the race. Be fire.

After the race. Okay. That's what we need. I've been saying this for how long? Right after the race ends, boom. Everything gets torn down, laying set up. Matt Craig. Mac Craig.

Matt Craig. Matt Craig. Yeah, when you say that? He's like this. He's like, he was so hype. That up, build setups. That's dope. I don't know if I'm going to watch the maniac Eldon Ring thing just because, I mean,

just see the highlights of him getting, I'm supposed to maybe be on there for something. I'm ready to do whatever, man. I'm ready to do whatever. I want to talk about Andy Byron, the CEO that resigned after the Coldplay Kiss Cam moment. His wife put out a statement today. Really? Today? And it was some like, look up his wife's statement.

I want you guys to have your own opinion about that. That situation, this guy became the biggest meme in the world overnight. Bro, they started playing, they started doing cold cam, or. cold play cams at sporting events. So like you're supposed to hug your partner and then the cam comes on and you're supposed to like run away. Oh really? That's awesome. Oh, it's not awesome.

Formal statement. You know what I'm saying? Formal statement from Megan Byron, wife of Andrew Byron for now in parentheses. This is her writing this. Yes. Manhattan, New York. It has come to my attention and apparently to the attention of half of the internet. Then my husband, Andrew Byron, has made certain choices,

public ones under stadium lights during a cold play. Why did you type it like that? I don't. Just press enter so that during could be on the same fucking thing. During a Copeland concert at a venue typically associated with infidelity, with infidelity. But here we are. Let me be perfectly clear. I am not issuing this a statement in defense, nor in heartbreak.

I am issuing it in power, in precision, in silk gloves, and sharpened wit. I will not. I don't read the replies. What? He said, yeah, he was right to cheat on her. I'm on Andy's side now. The dude replied saying, you sound like a guy who cheats on his wife. That is upside of me to cut you off.

I saw that and I lost my mind. I am not spiraling. I am ascending. And while Andy may have quoted Colplay in his statement, I will simply say, when the lights went out, I saw everything clearly. To those, how poetic. Like, to those who expect tears, I don't cry for clowns. I schedule. I don't, for e-lounds, I schedule, I document, I rebuild.

This is not revenge. It is refinement. And he will feel it in the silence that follows. You know what? Dare it. Power to the, power to Megan Byron, man. No one's talking about dude's husband, though. What?

I'm sorry. No one's talking about wife's husband, the cheater. Other girls are husband. He's a CEO too. Really? She's a CEO whisper. She cheated on her CEO husband with her CEO. God.

And she's the head of HR. Lore. Fucking. Insane, bro. She's got a type. That type is. I mean, yeah, that's insane. I mean, they were at Gillette Stadium.

So I'm sure they had some usual there where if they just, if they didn't react that way, it wouldn't have went viral. He probably would, they both would have been caught for. cheating most likely still. But they wouldn't have gotten fired. But they wouldn't have became the biggest meme on the internet. Yeah. Is it a distraction?

A distraction from what happened to the files? What files you may ask? Those files. I still think it would have blown up. I don't think so. We would never have heard about it. I would have just said, if they would have just like, if he would have just like taken his arm out and

been like done one of these, I mean, they probably would have gotten like a divorce. Like, but no one would have heard about it. Yeah, probably wouldn't have been fired for their jobs. If you would have been like, yeah, we're on camera, act like you're on fucking camera, yeah. Lee didn't kiss her on the neck. You know what I'm saying? Everybody was, oh, it's just some random couple. Nobody fucking knows.

He's not a fucking influencer. Yeah, no one cares about these people. Yeah, no one gives a fuck, but now they do. Oh, it's so insane. It's fucking crazy. Go back. I actually read that accidentally. I wanted to talk about the CEO of Twitch who is going.

Who is going into people's, what do you call it? Wait, where the fuck? Wasn't that a topic? Yeah, I think you just made some shit up in your head. No, we spoke about it earlier. CEO of Twitch going into other people's Twitch channels and promoting his own stream. Yo, man, you do whatever you want, man. Yeah, that's like rule number one.

You do what you want. CEO rule number one. No self-promotion. You get Insta permit for that. And everyone's stream, you come in, go to this stream, you get permut. Oh, yeah. Is it a rule that you can't... It's not a rule, but it's like the unspoken rule of Twitch.

You don't go into someone else's Twitch. DJ Clancy has been timed out for 600 seconds. Glasny Mexican fan fan and others with a collective reach for more than... I still sell for this funny. Wow. I am shamelessly going into chat of streamers I know to ask for raids when they are done.

I am doing my first charity stream for St. Jude's as part of the GCX merit. What's GCX? Marathon, not listening. Is that games done quick? No, that's GDQ. I don't know. GCX, it's similar.

Gaming causes X. I didn't know if that was like what it was under. Because I've seen that going on lately. They're doing like the games done quick where they speed run games and stuff. Wait, what's that say up to it? Gassie Mexican, that's my man. I know him. Fan, fan and others will collectively reach more than a million followers in one instance

in timeout, CEO of Twitch. perceive the self-promotion. Clancy's account was blocked from chatting for 10 minutes. That's funny. Imagine timing out the head of Twitch. You're just a mod. Give five. Give five.

I don't know what GCX. Gaming Community Expo. Okay. No, you're good. You're good, man. Yeah, it's a St. Jude's. What do you, I mean, what do you think? I mean, he's, you know, as he's raising money for St. Jude,

which is obviously going to lead to good. Do you sort of have a responsibility to do everything in your power, literally, to do as much good as you can, including? I think it's just a really big oversight on his part. Because, like, I think he's like, oh, well, I'm the CEO so they know I'm not trying to be a streamer. It's not for me. It's for somebody else. It's not for me. It's for St. Jude's.

So it's fine for me. I'll just go in. But, like, that's, like, if I did that, obviously, like, if I was like, yo, I'm raising money for St. Jude's. Go to courage nature. Hey, man. Live over here. Today's the day. You raid me, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like that's, that can be very like, you're not doing that to raise money. He's the CEO of Twitch. Right, exactly. He can contact these guys. He can send him to DM. He can raid himself. He can send a DM be like, yo, I'm doing this with Love of Raid.

To do it in the Twitch chat is one, like, that's just, like, like you said, one of the first rules to not do on Twitch. And also it adds like a pressure to the streamer where, like, fuck, okay. The CEO. Yeah, fuck. Okay. Yeah. Fuck. I'll never get front page.

I would have rated the shit out of that stream, Plancy. Know that. By the way, guys, St. Jude's today. I don't know. I can fight both sides of the arguments. But I get it. Dude, isn't it crazy that yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the 2024 champs win? And isn't it crazy that it's almost been a month since we've been in Toronto?

Like, how does that happen? Almost been a month since we won Chams What, three weeks? Crazy It's crazy It's crazy It's relativity man

It's crazy Time's been flying by Rogue monster truck wheel destroys cars And I see this man After event goes Array

And then after this I want to Oh shit Oh my gosh Oh no Imagine seeing that thing rolling at you Oh yeah You're ducking

Like that's some dead shit right there Oh my god Everyone's so happy Oh, everyone's like, no, my car. No, everybody's like, yes, I hope it's on my car. Oh, shit. That's so tough. I mean, that's insanity.

Imagine that? You think insurance covers that? That's like San Francisco. You're in the... It's an act of God. They've got to cover it, right? Yeah, right? You're in the water in the back, and all of a sudden, boom, home run.

I mean, look, I'm just glad nobody got hurt. Yeah, that's crazy. That's so dope. That's why I don't go to Monster Truck events. That's why I'm right there. Rogue tires. Yeah, just rogue tires. It's just one of those things that makes me a bit ory.

Hell yeah, brother. Anyway, Matt, can we look at the brackets and then we will let the fine people go? Let's look at the, there we go. We didn't talk about it. What do you guys think about the coaches being on stage? Coach's being on stage? Full time. I personally think that.

Wait, full time at the event? They can talk in respawn games full time and they can talk in between rounds and search. Oh, you've been really off the grid. I've, yeah, I've been off. This is like a huge talking point right now. How do you feel about coaches on stage? So let's hear your unbiased opinion. I don't think it should be a thing.

Damn it. Thank you. I mean, it's like. Now everyone's going to have that. Well, it's the precedent that's... You know what? I also don't think... The king said no. I take it back.

No. I say no. It's the precedent that's set all year. There hasn't been coaches on stage. Why now? Well, that's part of... It's also single LM. It's also pool play.

Like, it's a whole different turn. It's a whole different vibe. I personally look. I don't think they should be on the stage. At some point... I don't mind in between search rounds. I actually think that's kind of cool. I look, CSP-A-D.

But that takes away all of the call of duty, like... Trust me, I agree with you. It's like you have to be able to adapt on the fly. It's the biggest skill gap already, and I think that's what separates. For example, our team just won champs. Sometimes you play the eighth-place team, ninth-place team, and the games are 250 to 230.

What separates our team is our ability to track players, fill in gaps and to have like the communication, the intuition to seamlessly do that. And everyone's like, well, this is going to show the skill gap between coaches. And I'm like, bro, every coach these days is a former decorated pro. Looney, Lamar. The list goes on, Rambo. Like, these guys are all competent call duty people. They're going to know when there's a gap in the map.

They're going to know when you have to rotate. Yeah. So I just think it takes away a fundamental part, especially because of how low our skill gap is. Agreed. But it's not full time. They're talking in between rounds. No, no. And a hard point they can talk whenever they want.

Yeah. Wait, so they can say rotate now. What the fuck are you doing? Rotate now? Go, go, go. Yes. No, I don't agree with that. Yeah.

I do want somebody up there hyping people up the way that the Pomage was hyping up the boys. I don't know if the boys cared or didn't care or not. But I do think they're having like a fifth person out there fucking like. That was such a funny event. I just think it's the precedent that's set. It's like all year they haven't had coaches. Correct. Now there's coaches.

It's like, okay, now it's. Seth comes up Seth comes up to me after that after one of their matches and goes Pomage said good shit Seth and I shot somebody in the back and I was like

come on Pam I shot somebody in his back and Pam said good shit Seth and I was like Yo Pam during the race stream he kept saying sit just over and over before I am he'd be drinking

a mics harder or just you kill a kid in a pub sick I'm like dude this guy's out of his mind dude yeah I don't know Personally, I fucking love it, but I'm not a pro. A pro. Well, listen, as a former pro, I say that it should be okay to do.

I don't believe that it should be a full-time thing. I do think that in between rounds, especially in S&D, especially like in. That's going to be cool, I think. I like that. But this whole, the full-time stuff, I don't know. I was thinking more like of a hype man more than anything. You won't catch me the fuck up there. But you know what I'm saying.

Listen-in's about to be so much more hype. The only time- You're at your JP. It's going to be Damon. It's Damon? That's what I've heard. Listen, bottom line is this. Great.

We have fucking the goat back there. Just from a visual standpoint, like it looks good, right? It doesn't look cool. Whatever. I've sat in the booth with the boys, most famously the van at full sale. I was sitting in there and I realized something, man. I don't belong up there. It ain't for you.

No, no, it's like, I'm too, I'm too, uh, emotional? No, yeah, maybe. I just, I'm like, I can't handle this shit. Like, I was like, yeah, let's go put some shoes on and run or something. I am not, I don't belong up there. So I'll tell you. You're like, throw the need. I disagree with this personally.

But I, yeah, I'm a big hater on it and respawn. And also, I do hope I'm wrong. Like, maybe this thing's actually awesome and we're all wrong. I hope that's the case. It's got to be awesome. It's going to add like a cool thing. I'm just saying for like the integrity of computer. heating.

Yeah, I don't like it. But it's already a single elimination pool play tournament with. Pool play's awesome. Yes. I love pool play, but if you put single, there's not pool play in the rest of the fucking events. I prefer double a limb, but at least we get the top two teams from each pool deserve to make that eight team bracket.

And then single limb, I agree. I'm a double a limb fan. If I had it my way. Pool play into double a limb is like the is cod to me. Two best of five is what I would, two best of seven is what I do. for a final. But if we're already doing something so different from the CDL, then throw coaches up there too.

I mean, imagine it's dope and this is the one event every year where we get to have coaches up there. Listen. Durches will be cool. I'm going to say, I disagree from a player's standpoint, but from a viewer's standpoint, yeah, obviously it's going to be cool. Yeah, it's going to be sick. So it's like, which side of the fence do I ride? Do I go

with the players or do I go with the spectators? I don't know. You're a spectator now, man. You're a spectator. That's true. You have a watch party. From a pure watching standpoint, it's going to be cool to hear like what coaches are more vocal and who's like, what's going to be the best what's going to be the best coach with no like

spreadsheets in front of them? Well, I was talking to JP on our walk like we went, we walked the trail yesterday every day and he was like honestly, it's so late and like we haven't practiced that way that like I'm not sure if Damon's actually going to be talking that much. Like our players kind of have it all locked and engaged in. They might fuck them

up to be honest. I think there's going to be a team that gets fucked up by their coach. 100%. And I said that I said that to Zem, but Zen was like, no, they're all pro. They're all pros. No. They're going to be talking too much, though. It's going to, oh.

Then you're going to start overthinking. I think of situations like Vegas. Like, I think these three coaches aren't going to say shit. Specifically, the coaches for these three teams. Okay, but think about it like this. Why would you say anything? Okay, but Vegas Falcons, right? They're at a bit of a disadvantage because of Exnid's language barrier.

So he's learning. Now you're going to have Clayster in the mix. And I feel like that's going to make up a big portion of that storyline. like Hydra didn't have that We don't know We'll see And I hope it works Search I think it could be cool

Like I like the fact that in between rounds Your coach could be like yo They're throwing this at you Let's try this Like I feel like that actually may add a cool That's cool A cool aspect to it That will also fuck teams up

I think adding another Another voice Especially like a coach figure It's gonna It's gonna It's gonna help a lot of teams But it's also gonna throw in Another element where it's like

okay do we listen to what our coach is saying? Too many chefs in the kitchen. Or do we just do what we know we should do on the spot. Like are we ignoring our coach in real time? Like I don't know. I think also just adding a fifth voice is going to fuck someone up. Yeah. I think the role of the coach is just going to be mainly kill feed watching and knowing, yo, Real is behind us or this guy is behind us. And that is a big portion of the game.

Those are make or break moments that prior the four players had to keep track of as part of the game. Our skill gap is low enough. I feel like that's an important part of the skill gap is having players that are going to track names. Shaltesey's graded it. Like that's important. And now I feel like game outcomes could change because some teams might not be good at that. And their coach just goes, you know, this guy's behind us. Lessons the skill gap.

I don't think having coaches like at every event would be good because of stuff like that. But I think for this event specifically once a year, fuck it, throw them up there. Like, it's already such a unique event. And like, let's just make it as fun as possible. I think that one of the issues, though, is the fact that they just came up with this idea. And they're like, yeah, this run to implement it. Yeah, did we know this was going to be? That's the issue.

If last year at the end of that tournament, it was like, or like somewhere in between at some point, a month ago, if they said, hey, just so you guys know, we are heavily considering having coaches up here. the coach's role will be this and I hope that you guys can start preparing now you know what I'm saying like that thing the fact that they dropped it so early I think is part of the issue also but yeah I mean again

I don't think they should be up there full time I do believe that being up there and being sort of like a high person I mean dude it just adds a lot of element where people a coaches might say yo push push push but the player had no intention of pushing because he's seen this play developed before he's played the same thing

and then he's like fuck it I got to listen to the coach because he sees something else and goes and fucks it all up, that coach is fired. Yeah. I don't know. I wouldn't be saying shit. I don't think they're going to talk a lot. I just think they're going to be able to give them

really important information that they wouldn't have prior. And then what's that happened? The players are going to be like, yeah, yeah, no, my coach fucking did awesome. It was really helpful up there. Behind close doors, like, yo, I don't want you to fucking say a guy. I remember, I think that it's like, I could be making this up.

But there was an interview from Stainville in like Black Ops One. and he was like, he was like, I think Stro was his coach or somebody was coaching him and he was like, yeah, we lost Map 3 because the coach told us it was like, and literally, like, he was like sometimes, you know, coaches like say the wrong thing. That would be hilarious. I don't remember that.

And like shit like that is like, it's going to add another element. It might lower the skill gap, but there's a gap there. Some coaches are going to be a lot. I think Clay is probably going to be the best one, the best utilized coach up there because of what you said. Clay was always a really good communicator. and they have one that and they have somebody who's

you know their English isn't their first language so English isn't my first language either who was the best coach that ever coached you in real time did you ever have one? See that's the thing I can't really remember because B02 was like I feel like

B02 was the end of like the coach no ghosts there was were there a ghost? Yeah remember Mr. X like that's the Mr. X club but coaches didn't coach like that back then Have you ever watched clips of Mr. X? Oh, yeah, of course, of course.

They would just scream at you. Yeah. Hilton used to stand there in an oversized suit and just scream at people. That's great. I saw that, I saw that clip yesterday. Was it ghost the last game? And then we had a homage at ESWC. Yeah, ESWC.

And then that was like, is it? You're welcome to my city, but you're in my city. Did we have a coach, Dan Nover? We had, no. We have a, we had, oh no. ever did, did we? No, because Flamesword was when you... Oh, yeah. That's why Flamesword came on. Because he was the coach, right? Yeah. And then he snuck a halo team in there and shit.

Mufflinger. But it's good because we got a maniac cursing out of the situation. Because, yeah, because UMG Philly, you guys had a... Mike was behind you guys. And then... And then Big Timer was the coach, right? Big Timber was a Halo coach. Oh, he's a Halo coach. Yeah, I can't really vividly remember... It's all...

Coaches. Because I think... For us. I think coaches, like, started getting... Started, like, not being a part because of the players. Like, I don't think it was a mandated thing. I think people were just like, why do we need a fucking coach? Yeah.

I just think, like, the attention to detail, like, back then it was, like, trolley, the shit talk. Right. Now it's like, dude, these coaches are watching Vod 20, like, nonstop. They're watching the team scrim nonstop every day. Let's see. I'm actually glad it's happening because coaches are such a big part of the game now that, like, I would love to see what they do. do in real time.

Yeah, it's a great, it's a great tester. I mean, like you said, it's not a call of duty CDL event, so fuck it. But also, you love this. No. If you're a coach. You think you're like, yes, finally. This is their moment. If you're JP, you don't love it.

If you're Damon or. I don't think Damon wants to be up there. Actually, I don't know. No, Damon does not want to be up there. I promise. If you're looking to. I think only Clay. He's like, why?

Only Clay is loving this. I can just imagine the amount of times a coach is sitting there at an event, watching their team saying like, why, why the fuck are they doing this? Every single time. I wish I could say something. Every single time. But the coaches can always roll.

Every single match. They can also see the other team. Exactly. Like a coach up there, I think if JP went up there, he would freeze. And I love JP. But JP has never, he told me the most competitive thing he's ever played is GB, S&D's online. I think Lamar is going to be great up there. Yeah, Lamar.

I think Alunee's going to be good up there. I'm telling you, these guys are going to be good up there. Cool. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. I guess we'll never know. I mean, I guess we will know. I guess we will know.

Two days, Thursday. By the time people watch this, we will have already known. Yeah, we already know. Bring up that schedule again. What time do matches start? 7 a.m. 7 a.m. is that every day? Or is that like, I think finals day will probably be different?

First of all. So day one, it starts at 7. Day 2, it starts at 9. Who's opening the event? Optic verse 5. Oh, my God. See what I mean? I guess it's better than close.

closing right? Yeah, maybe. So seven and the nine day two. Can you scroll down? Day three it starts at nine again. So seven nine nine nine. Oh wait, we have two different streams for the first two days? Yeah. How many matches? Do we had that last year too? I mean it's it's pool play. There's going to be a fuckload of matches. I would be shocked if they didn't have it like that. Hell yeah. I love that. We got plenty of cod to watch. Okay, so that's day one July. How many matches is that? Holy five. Eight matches? What? Y'all are going to be conned it out.

And then hold on, and then on Thursday. Wait, what the fuck? Wait, day one is from 7 to 4.30. 7 a.m. to 4. You're going to need burrito. Breakfast burritos and lunch burritos. Hey, let's do it. I got my time off.

I'm ready to fucking go, bro. I'm not, but I am hype about this shit. I am looking forward to it. What else we got? G2. Wait, that's a good matchup. Rocker versus a new cloud non. Yeah, do you think that we should have had the group with the two? Two challengers teams?

Yeah. Absolutely, we should. What is the advantage? And since this is outside of the realm of the CDL, you know, like who got the two challengers? Group D. But they do have the hardest challengers teams. Wait, Group C, no, Group C's Falcons. Group D, right? Yeah, Group D has the two challengers teams.

And Omid is considered the best challenger team. Project 7. I think Project 7 might be Omit's second Challenger's team that they had to loan out for this event because they couldn't have two teams here, I think. So I think that team might be good as well. And then Timor, is that Afro's team? Is it?

I don't know. Has to be, right? Then Coy is Toronto. Which challengers team do you think has the like could possibly make it out? Oh wait, is Afro not here? No idea. No, they're not there.

Wow. So omit's considered the best challenger teams. Mamba Mac, Vivid, craze, they're good. And you have Brack Prolute. So do you think a challenger's team is going to beat a CDL team? We saw it twice last year, right? Yeah, we'll see at least one, I think. Dude, 100%.

Will they make it out, though? Who knows? We'll see it happen. No, they won't make. I mean, listen, we've got to see some upsets, but I don't know how far they'll make it into the actual tournament. Hopefully we all get fucking surprised. And Omit or War or P7,

like make it all the way into like a Saturday or a Sunday. Would love that. Yeah, I'd be down for that. I'd be so down for that. That's what we're missing right now. That Cinderella story. Well, so I think it's day one and two is all pool play, right? And then day three is all the quarterfinals because it's single limb.

And then day four, Sunday is both semis and the final. Yeah, top three, right? Yeah, well, not top three. Though be four teams going on Sunday. Yeah, yeah. So we started 9 a.m. Our time. Day three and four.

I'm hype. It's such a fun event because there's no, there's no, there's no, it's such a stupid thing to think about, but there's no CDL, um, uh, overlays at this event. So not everyone has the same camo. So like, there's, every player has like a different camo and shit. That reminds me, though, we might be in trouble with the codcaster. Apparently codcaster is very broken. And, and the observer has to like press a certain button after every death, otherwise it

breaks. Observers back there, clawing. They need to be cracked. Fikes back there clawing up. It's not just the coaches. It's the spectators.

Yeah, wasn't it like there's no mini map? Yeah, it's bad. There's no mini map. That part I know. And we obviously need a mini map. Dude, I wonder how mad the Saudis are about that.

You know what I'm saying? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, time out, time out. You're telling me. We put up $2 million. No, I don't know how much money they put up. But you're telling me that we paid

and then you're not going to fucking give us a working product for people to fucking spectate? Well, they should be playing on the champs build. Like, they should have been granted the access to the version they were playing at champs. Yeah. You're on the prior patch. Correct.

Correct. But also, there's a third place match. But which is a big money difference too. Yeah, it's a huge money. So you're trying your ass off for third place. Are they playing French? It's like 20, 30K extra a person for third place. They're not playing fringe.

you so we're going to have to watch 500 Hacienda matches yep I'm not mad at it personally they had frequency last minute

and C side wait so how many matches are there on one two they just played like a four three four five six matches on Friday on Thursday

woo oh y'all are turt yeah we want to be turned that's like a triple you're not you're watching like this there's 12 matches well there's 12 matches

but only six on each stream so I I see that's six matches. At least we won't have any dead times. There's no fucking honeycomb games. There's no trivia games. There's no wordal. Whoa.

What? We'll get him done. Okay. I doubt it. There'll be some. Riley's been waiting for three weeks, bro. Dude, oh my God, bro. He's ready to buzz.

Oh, he's been in his lair. You're just waiting. You're all going to have to mute him. Patiently. Dude, he's been practicing the new sound effects. He'll walk through that door like Kane. Riley comes into the chat, 3.8. and says some dumb shit every day.

At 3 a.m. 3 a.m. Like, Riley, you have two kids. The hell are you doing up at 3. What are you doing on? Yeah, I don't think he sleeps. He's like a vampire. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, that's got to do it for this episode of the podcast.

As you guys know right now, as you're watching this, we're live right now. So maybe put a pause on this. Come back and finish it tomorrow or the day after that, but we will see you on the watch party. Hala, ha, ha, ha, ha.