With BLAST Premier Fall Groups having just ended with FaZe, Heroic, and Ninjas in Pyjamas as the winners of each group, we are entering a couple of quiet days in the professional CS:GO scene. This, however, is only until IEM Cologne begins in just two days. 

The preliminary play-in part of the event is set to begin in just two days from July 26-28, whereas the main part of the event takes place shortly after from July 29th - August 6th. The main event will feature 16 of the best teams in the world, all battling for a place in the Grand Final and a chance to take home a big part of the $1.000.000 prize pool. 

Just now, IEM has announced the official talent lineup for the event, and with many familiar names, there is plenty of entertainment to look forward to. 

The big lineup of 22 names consists of many of the fan favorites such as Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill and Alex "Machine" Richardson as part of the casting team. 

SPUNJ

The Counter-Strike world may have to settle with the fact that there will be only one Counter-Strike Major this calendar year, despite Valve’s earlier information about holding two.

Because in the latest episode of HLTV Confirmed, the renowned CS:GO caster and analyst Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill says to have heard that the BLAST.tv Paris Major will be the only Major in 2023

- I heard there wouldn't be one at all, SPUNJ answered on a question about whether the next Major would use CS:GO or Counter-Strike 2.

- But I only heard that recently - within the last 24 to 48 hours. And I don't know where that it’s coming from. That's all I heard. That's not official inside or information from Valve. They didn't tell me that, SPUNJ clarified.

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Milan “Striker” Švejda, co-host of the podcast and editor-in-chief on HLTV, then explained that he would see it as “very surprising” with Valve having publicly informed that there will be a second Major in 2023. Striker also assured the rest of the podcast that he would try to get some clarification for the upcoming episode next week. 

You can watch the discussion down below, where you also can find the entire HLTV Confirmed episode featuring Halvor "vENdetta" Gulestøl.

In a recent stream Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill teamed up with Heroic's superstar in-game leader Casper "cadiaN" Møller. One would think that it was cadiaN's job to carry the team towards the win and not SPUNJ, due to the Dane being at the very top of his career so far and with SPUNJ having been retired for over 5 years. 

However, when things mattered the most and the map were to end, it was in fact SPUNJ who stepped up huge. On map point, the former Renegades star saw himself being situated alone in a nearly impossible 1v5 situation. Despite being heavily outnumbered, SPUNJ managed to win the round through several smart manoeuvres, great AWP shots and a cool head. 

Watch the clip right here in our latest 'Pley of the Day'. 

You can see all #POTD clips from this month down below.

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cadiaN

Renegades

Heroic

You probably know Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill best for his commentary, seeing that he is currently one of the most popular commentators to help broadcast top-tier CS:GO at the biggest of events. However, "SPUNJ" wasn't always just a commentator. He started his Counter-Strike journey as a professional player himself and was the IGL of his previous Australian teams.

At this current moment of time things, a quiet in the tier-one scene of Counter-Strike and "SPUNJ" decided to hop on the server himself while the players were having their summer break. And whilst it is a long time since he retired as a professional player he proved that he still has what it takes to secure a slick 4K with the AWP. 

Take a look at the 4K from the Australian ex-pro's stream yesterday: 

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With the addition of the new map Ancient to the map pool, there is basis for an entertaining showmatch before the Grand Final Sunday afternoon at DreamHack Masters Spring.

This time it will be Alex "Machine" Richardson who takes on Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill on the server. Both of them have gathered two interesting teams to go along.

Among the names, we find the legendary French AWP'er Kenny "kennyS" Schrub, who will get to see on the server again after his benching at G2. The match will be live from 14.20 (CEST) tomorrow.

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SPUNJ

Player stats

Articles mentioning SPUNJ

Talent lineup announced for IEM Cologne

SPUNJ says a second Counter-Strike Major might not happen in 2023

Pley of the Day: SPUNJ with a nasty 1v5 ACE!

Stream highlight: Ex-pro "SPUNJ" still got it

Lineups for Ancient showmatch revealed

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