G2 DOMINATES at Katowice! / Are Heroic at their ceiling? - Snake & Banter 32 (ft. Aleksib)

Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen joins Thorin and Mauisnake to discuss G2's amazing performance at IEM Katowice + its impact on NiKo's legacy, FaZe's seemingly low floor as a team, the downward trend of Finnish CS, and more.
Snake & Banter is a CS:GO talk show, hosted by Duncan "Thorin" Shields and Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg, themed around each individual selecting a good, bad and ugly topic to discuss.
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0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:54 - Aleksib's good point (G2's dominance)
0:23:31 - Mauisnake's good point (Complexity)
0:32:40 - Thorin's good point (Heroic's tactics)
0:47:19 - Aleksib's bad point (Outsiders)
0:57:08 - Mauisnake's bad point (FaZe's floor is low)
1:07:35 - Thorin's bad point (Liquid is always 1 piece away from being great)
1:17:50 - Aleksib's ugly point (Downfall of Finnish CS)
1:34:02 - Mauisnake's ugly point (Heroic has hit their ceiling)
1:47:48 - Thorin's ugly point (NiKo's legacy)
#CSGO
#Counterstrike
#esports

[@victorbeeckmans149]

Aleksi is a very solid guest. Maybe someday we can see him on an analyst desk.

[@Firefly1026]

The Finnish scene losing sergej and Jamppi is a travesty, those two were the biggest young prospects in general that CS was seeing during that time period.

[@milandevadiga3228]

Aleksib thorin and maui, this ones definitely gonna be a banger

[@B_Tannen]

If this isn’t the best podcast episode ever, Idk what will be. Criminally underrated!!!

[@luvhcchris]

It’s so good. This, counterpoint, and btn(old and new) is my holy trinity 🔥

[@bob2000and10]

HLTV Confirmed better

[@jameshull4340]

Best one yet dudes, props for taking a back seat and letting Aleksi go into so much detail. A strong chemistry between the three of you.

[@Ansee7]

aleksib in the thumbnail, this ones ought to be good

[@suide3275]

Glad to also get an episode of this show still

[@123forsaken]

Awesome work! And finally G2 has broken through. Would have been nice to hear Aleksi speak more about his time in G2 and what the difference is now etc but this will do for now 🙏🥰

[@sitaro1207]

Glad to see so many Aleksi fans

[@tigerjosephvideo]

the "b" in aleksib's name stands for banter

[@stef9019]

It keeps getting better and better, excited for this one!

[@DEVILONBOTHSHOULDERS]

losing jampii was such a tragedy for the finnish scene

[@jirikros4006]

this gem made me laugh - at 37:01 "...(playing againts Heroic) it's like playing against Furia, but it's like..., it's different"

[@odedaone]

Dis gon be good

[@vedser]

That ending was a banger lmao

[@cz_czan]

oh my god oh my god im cooming, aleksib, mauisnake, and thorin in one piece of content. i've been simping for aleksiB for 4 years i've been blessed

[@waterbottleguy3649]

Yeah brother I need to see his feet

[@rapakko]

@@waterbottleguy3649 i need to see all of their feet

[@sitaro1207]

@@waterbottleguy3649 ...

[@miskamikkonen6969]

@@waterbottleguy3649 +1

[@bradleyfirby648]

Imagine a retroactive historical spinoff of snake and banter, using the same format but looking at times in the past. E.g. the good, bad and ugly of C9 winning Boston / Liquid failing in 2019 after the break / result of Atlanta 2017 / etc.

[@EntrEsprit]

Great episode

[@1tjos]

Major winner AlexsiB

[@benhefel3095]

That final line was fire.

[@edgaras6796]

Nice podcast lads 👌

[@kernc7786]

Thorin definitely had to make that video about him to get him on the podcast lmao

[@M.L.official]

the funniest thing to me is when morons on reddit and other platforms say thorin knows nothing about cs, you literally have Aleksib, an insanely good IGL, pretty much agreeing with most if not all of thorin's takes and thoughts about teams, players, etc. Great episode as usual

[@loosegoose9647]

"Like" - AleksiB 2023

[@johny153]

There is one thing that caught my eyes about G2 back at BLAST World finals was imho a change of attitude of Hooxi. I think after his tragedy he had right before the event it felt like he was desensitized and in a mood he wasnt scared of anything. I think he was in his IGLing in a mood "do as I say or stfu" (see kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6myk5Kep6l4b7s) and other players (mainly NiKo) respected that possibly primarly out of respect due to his recent loss and eventually they realized it worked and it earned them their trophy and they finally fully commited to him as IGL and probably HooXi also realised something and the team finally clicked. I think it was kinda similar in old FaZe superteam - as long as all trusted karrigan as an IGL they were dominant (but after Katowice they were just shit despite the talent.

[@airbreyaresports5871]

maybe im wrong but it did feel like iem sydney faze vs astralis did feel like that was a premier tournament at that time... but your right obviously especially now its the 4 with blast fall getting an honorable mention

[@Mad1Lee]

Fire episode, but not enough runtime to discuss all storylines of that sick Katowice tourney!

[@Viper4975]

Es3tag has got to be the most shafted player in csgo history

[@navox933]

No that’s bubzki

[@Viper4975]

@@navox933 agree that bubzki got mega shafted, but es3tag was on that same team

[@saratchandrab4384]

Bubzki bro 😂

[@johnr4868]

In terms of teams maybe, but Guardian has a depressing career as well. Hard carry for Navi for so long, constantly losing in major finals, then the one they had best chance of winning on Navi he has the fucked wrist in Columbus, Navi back then had the edge h2h over LG. Eventually they sign s1mple, and kick Zeus, then the coach rule changes and Starix can't igl anymore. Joins Faze, wins a few events, hard carrying in the final of Boston but the team chokes. Then the Katowice loss, and the team slowly declines, rotating 5th players, win a few more events but nothing big. Tries rejoining Navi with s1mple and Zeus again, is completely washed, and doesn't even last 6 months. After replacing him with Perfecto, Navi become dominant

[@zeukri-5464]

you need to do more content with asexyb i beg 🙏🙏

[@weakie87]

Aleksii 🥰

[@yesterdaystech86]

Great episode guys! Also while I know G2 won heroic were really strong on mirage and nuke and lost to very small differences. Like cadian missing the deagle body hit in nuke in the end which would put g2 on eco. Also heroic was 8-1 mirage t side. Xist takes timeout there and they win zero rounds after.. I still belive heroic can win against anyone

[@yomismo8675]

The only thing that Heroic can improve is to slowdown when they have an advantage. Sometimes they are winning and just push too much, or over rotate. It’s their style, and incredible when are equal or losing, but to risky in my opinion when you want to keep the advantage. Specially when they are great at refragging, so they should be more than able to play way more solid in winning situations.

[@DEVILONBOTHSHOULDERS]

heroic remind me of a korean league team, especially how they get information and their protocols

[@ibrahimabokor7366]

what if the meta changed and it is not as rewarding to save at it is right now. Then, Jame is forced to clutch and it feels like outsiders are a good clutch team.

[@Nicolas-rc9zi]

in the ugly point about Heroics peak: i think stavn could kind of become that for them. not to put too much pressure on that young man but he CAN be that shining light, he maybe should be more selfish, daring, and miss less. like what device said when he came back, stavn COULD take his individual skill to the next level, if it's anyone in Heroic it's him

[@forsenstunlocked5967]

TeSeS > stavn He has more impact

[@j4mmu]

i see aleksib, i click.

[@_Liam__]

1:01:00

[@LawL_LawL]

The win condition for a Heroic dominant era was for a team like G2 to not have fired up and sorted out their issues. In a time where Navi is stumbling, Faze shows why playing really staggered and solo CS isn't the most reliable, and Vitality is all kinds of awful, throwing the most insurmountable leads possible, G2 remaining in the dumps like they were at the mid-point of last year was Heroic's final piece. Heroic's style and players play extremely well into teams with individually talented players that do not play as coordinated as Heroic does, and pick them apart. They 2-0 Navi and Vitality and made it look convincing. Hell it didn't just look convincing, it was convincing; both of those talent stacked teams put up less rounds against Heroic than fuckin OG, and Complexity even took a map off Heroic.

[@marvoc8688]

22.38 aleksib took it personally

[@Ryhard20]

Hot take, Liquids main problem is Elige, for all the talk how good he is supposed to be, he plays absolutely shit too many times.

[@aoishi4781]

True, his inconsistency is the big reason that Liquid never reached their peak performance they had in 2019. In every series ive watched he gets like 1 map where hes insane, but then just falls flat the rest of the series

[@chugalingus4642]

Hardly a hot take anymore. I think he's been the problem for two years. Anybody who actually watches the game knows he has borderline 0 impact, is known for being passive toxic, and on top that doesn't even get the pointless kills half of the time like a BlameF or Jame. The people that defend him always point to one tournament or map where he did something 4/30 possible rounds. He needs to go. I will say Im the #1 ellige hater though, so I'm definitely a bit biased. But as an NA fan, they will never win another tournament with Ellige.

[@bjrnfruderman13]

Was Thorin also not mad about Hooxi and Jks joining G2?

[@gabriels.8256]

After their Blast Worlds final win he even said that this would hurt NiKos legacy long term, because now G2 won't kick Hooxi and you can't win "a real tournament like Katowice" with him.

[@cowboyevan]

i can’t know for sure but i’m assuming hallzerk just loads into the server with the crazy crosshair and then changes. the spectator can only see what you join with it can’t update during the game unless he were to relog

[@MusicJunkie37]

They showed his POV on camera and he still had those settings

[@cowboyevan]

@@MusicJunkie37 nvm then lol. ty

[@Knigh7z]

He’s got more things to worry about than trolling the spectator cam, and if he did it on purpose then surely he’d make it a lot more entertaining

[@fLrzi]

Aleksi "I mean" Virolainen

[@genericogenericee8086]

1/3 MAJOR WINNERS ALEKSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

[@samgriffith8086]

Thorins bad point is spot on

[@wick6296]

The camera quality goes from good (left) to worse (right)

[@markusojala2132]

As a Finn I can 100% confirm that playing against 5 man finn stack on Nuke is the worst

[@ballertheking1038]

Can the script writers let guardian win a major?

[@bajanwithsitasharma8146]

I just feel like alexi is good. I felt like good i feel.

[@juantinajero9211]

Haven’t seen the whole episode yet but after reading the tittle, I doubt heroic have hit their ceiling. They said this same thing last year when they were falling behind Navi, outsiders, Furia, etc. now they beat all of them and are only really losing to a dominant g2.

[@tech4172]

Idk imo liquid need more than 1 change why not give alexsiB a shot as igl for liquid replace Osee + Elige grab talent & they would be better than they are now

[@unknownentity8256]

AleksiB feels like

[@janoycresva919]

18 forever bro

[@sahajranipa]

Not a single mention of Navi ugly point??

[@jasonli2167]

Aleksib 2024 1:52:35

[@silvent5427]

AleksiBlink

[@ad3mn]

Can anyone post the ukrainian/russian source where s1mple calls out the names?

[@vedser]

There was a reddit thread

[@Nirrenirp]

Why arent they talking about NIP?

[@PartikleVT]

Thats not the point of the podcast. There are enough NIP questions in interviews. Also you wouldn't want to give out your secrets

[@Tophe]

Boyzzzzzz

[@phoenixfireblazz1545]

AleksiB seems a bit too quiet sometimes and not hanging out in the banter... Is that a Finnish thing or something? Looked like he wasn't feeling entirely comfortable in the podcast...

[@PartikleVT]

Gotta focus a lot because cant unferstand shit from how thorin pronounces english

[@M8Hundreds]

Its a finnish thing, see alot of my old self in him in terms of understanding banter

[@t3h51d3w1nd3r]

The joke is............none of these are jokes...............and that makes it funny

[@jimmybobhead44]

!

[@71snack48]

Algorithm

[@ShadowWasntHere8433]

Typing this comment so Muai can't memory-hole his heroic doubt when they win 2-3 titles this year. They win Kato if anyone on G2 played 5% worse or Stavn actually played in the final

[@AM2K2]

gg

[@DomzyDX]

must be hard to find people for this podcast if a tier 2 igl with bad stats was invited.

[@krypt1ccc739]

I agree that Hooxi deserves credit because the calling looks clean, but you could potentially argue its easy to make calling look clean when you have 3 top 20 players and jks just on the outskirts of that. I'm holding my breath a little longer on this G2 performance. Everyone remembers Navi being so dominant, but now we look back and say it's just because the other team's rosters were a mess, and I think we are going to come to the same conclusion soon enough. Navi are going through roster changes, Faze are just in a low period, Heroic are a good team but imo they're at the ceiling, Vitality for some reason can't figure out the roles, Outsiders winning the major was a bigger fluke than C9, cloud9 are also going through roster changes but still not addressing their actual problems and Liquid has nitro and oSee, need I say more? This event has just consolidated that m0nesy is the real deal, in case his insane eye test was not enough. Otherwise, we will forget this event once we are deep into 2023.

[@user-tz8yq3jy8s]

Complexity era is coming. Harry Potter era.

[@peterenis3507]

like thorin always said naming things has an affect on them and i think all the hooxie gigachad memes have become reality he tamed fckin niko and the next simple to break the map win record (nip doesn‘t count they were a cheat code back then) during iem cologne after he would have gotten kicked if he didnt win the tourney before crazy i just gotta say Hooxie Gigachad

[@waves-]

👍

[@paloman95]

Yeah but does he or doesn't he mean?

[@BratShemi]

Why are you always shitting on Norbert? He's not like a star or something , but he deffo aint as bad as you're sayin.

[@B_Tannen]

+1 for this honestly, he wasn’t even the worst player on their team at the major.

[@calley4170]

why doesn't aleksi talk about nip?

[@PDritty]

Great episode