Interviews
Photo credit: Radosław "MAKKU" Makuch of HLTV.org
IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR A & B
October 4-9, 2022
Richard "Xizt" Landström:
"I'm expecting a lot from jabbi, he's a huge talent"
Dorian "xertioN" Berman:
"There's certain situations I feel uncomfortable in right now"
Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek on the FaZe match:
"It just proved to us we're capable of fighting against the best teams"
Finn "karrigan" Andersen:
"Our main problem this season is that we need 5% more of everything"
Hampus "hampus" Poser:
"Aleksib is a great IGL, I don't know why G2 didn't want him"
Boris "magixx" Vorobiev on qualifying for the Rio Major:
"The best thing I am enjoying is the work I've done with the guys"
Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz:
"s1n is far better than we all expected"
Shahar "flameZ" Shushan on the rise of Israeli CS:
Photo credit: Radosław "MAKKU" Makuch of HLTV.org
IEM Dallas
May 30 - June 5, 2022
Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander:
"Our consistency is just really terrible individually"
Danny "zonic" Sørensen on coaching an international team:
"Teamplay and the tactical aspects are very limited"
Nikola "NiKo" Kovač:
"It's taking much more time than we had expected to adjust everything"
Abay "HObbit" Khasenov:
"Our goal is to be the best team in the world, it doesn't matter when it's going to happen"
Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski:
"I have a small tear in my eye, it reminds me of the VP times"
Sergey "Ax1Le" Rykhtorov on bouncing back in Dallas:
Photo credit: João "itsmeERROR" Ferreira
Photo credit: Radosław "MAKKU" Makuch of HLTV.org
PGL Major Antwerp
May 9-22, 2022
Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen:
"It feels like we're bringing the energy and hype into this event"
Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo:
"A dream coming true for us would be being able to play on a stage again"
Alexey "Qikert" Golubev:
"About the CIS shuffle? I think it's dark and full of secrets"
Robert "Patsi" Isyanov:
"We will get to show ourselves against all the elite teams in the world"
Bruno "BIT" Lima:
"We're a very different team when chelo is hyped"
Nick "nitr0" Cannella:
"I'm not scared of the word 'Astralis,' I was scared of the players, now I'm not scared at all"
Ismail "refrezh" Ali:
"It's a dream to lift the trophy on LAN, it's not the same doing it online"
Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken:
"We're hitting a good stride right now, I think we're close to peaking"
Casper "cadiaN" Møller:
"I don't think we've hit our A-game yet, but it's about to come"
Robin "ropz" Kool:
"If there's pressure, it's for everyone, and I think it favors us a bit more"
Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy:
"If you want to win the second Major in a row, you need to beat all the best teams"
Håvard "rain" Nygaard:
"This is one of the best crowds I've played in front of"
Daniel "djL" Narancic on impressions when first joining NIP:
"I didn't feel that they were a team"
Håvard "rain" Nygaard:
Photo credit: Radosław "MAKKU" Makuch of HLTV.org
BLAST Premier Fall Final
November 24-28, 2021
Jake "Stewie2K" Yip:
Benjamin "blameF" Bremer:
"I told k0nfig that I'd like to play with him for the rest of my career"
René "TeSeS" Madsen:
"I think when cadiaN has momentum on any map he can outcall every in-game leader in the world"
Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy:
"For our system it's really important to have at least 7-10 days where we can reset"
Philip "Lucky" Ewald:
"The people saying gla1ve took the AWP from me, it's not true at all"
Hampus "hampus" Poser:
"In some tight situations es3tag doesn't really understand us sometimes"
Casper "cadiaN" Møller:
"The winner is going to have bragging rights for months, maybe years"
Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev:
"Only when we are playing great CS I can show what I'm capable of"
Fragadelphia 15
September 10-12, 2021
Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman:
"Any of us could go to VALORANT and find an offer there, but we play CS because we love it"
David "cynic" Polster:
"Everybody on the roster has made it really clear they're in it for the long run"
DreamHack Open Anaheim
February 21-23, 2020
Owen "oBo" Schlatter:
"poizon absolutely can be the best AWPer in the world, if he’s not already"
Andrey "Jerry" Mekhryakov:
"After this long break we started to face some psychological issues"
Sam "s0m" Oh:
"Our map pool is really good; if we play like we did at the bootcamp, we'll be fine"
Andrei "arT" Piovezan:
"We are trying to find stability so that we can play at the same level against every team"
Kia "Surreal" Man:
"We played WESG as a mix and it went well, we just decided to go from there"
Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen:
Damian "daps" Steele:
"There is still a communication barrier that we're working on with BnTeT"
Fragadelphia 13
September 13-15, 2019
Emmalee "EMUHLEET" Garrido:
"You don't learn from winning over-and-over, you learn from making mistakes"
Matthew "WARDELL" Yu:
"I'm not ready to play for a team that isn't going to compete in tier one events"
Jason "neptune" Tran:
Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk:
"[in Rank S] the new kid comes in, starts winning all the money, and [players] get mad"
Shawn "witmer" Taylor:
DreamHack Open Montreal
September 7-9, 2018
Tomasz "phr" Wójcik:
"The Polish scene was frozen for way too long"
Lucas "steel" Lopes:
Skyler "Relyks" Weaver:
"It felt particularly good for us qualifying for an event like [IEM Chicago]"
Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas:
"I believe the thing that the Polish scene was missing, and still is, is ambition"
Nemanja "nexa" Isaković:
"I need a couple more events to just be fully comfortable with myself calling"
Mohan "launders" Govindasamy & Conner "Scrawny" Girvan:
"We can finally start on that long process of creating a strong product"
Photo credit: Chris Bahn
ZOTAC Cup Masters Americas Regional Finals
June 30 - July 1, 2018
Nicholas "guerri" Nogueira:
"I believe we can play very good CS here in the US"
Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan:
"It just takes time and hard work and I think that’s what we need right now"
Dustin "dusT" Mouret:
Brandon "Ace" Winn:
"[Relyks] is definitely kinda carrying the team on the experience side"
Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir:
"I'm learning a different part of the game now"
Joshua "steel" Nissan:
"I think koosta is one of the best teammates I've probably ever had"
Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert:
"The bittersweet part is watching people play and wishing I was in those situations"
Miscellaneous/Online Era
Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek:
"Nifty did a good job at choosing personalities that would match well"
Skyler "Relyks" Weaver:
Pujan "FNS" Mehta on qualifying for Flashpoint:
"This was our one and only chance to make it"
Austin "Cooper-" Abadir:
"Once we picked up Zellsis we felt an almost immediate boost in performance and teamwork"
Joshua "m1cks" Micks:
"Working under MSL was probably the most important experience I've had"
Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman:
Joshua "steel" Nissan:
"It's satisfying to lead a second group of players into the top 30; it's a different type of reward"
Josh "oSee" Ohm on rejecting offer to stay in Cloud9:
"floppy and I felt like it was too big of a risk as we enjoy playing with our current roster"
Owen "oBo" Schlatter:
"The team showed no interest in ever returning to America"
Matthew "mCe" Elmore:
Peter "ptr" Gurney:
"Now, all the up-and-comers that had a name but never really had the chance are going to be able to shine"
Dylan "Saturn" Finch:
"I don't feel like North American players are putting that much effort into [getting to the top]"
Johnny "JT" Theodosiou:
Joshua "m1cks" Micks:
"There was a very real sense on Cloud9 where everyone was playing not to lose"