Vorborg: “roeJ is definitely one of the best players at on-the-fly countering how other people play”

Daniel “Vorborg” Vorborg saw his stock rapidly rise in 2022 thanks to the success of the Copenhagen Flames team that made the top eight at the PGL Antwerp Major. Following that event and the subsequent break up of the team, he faced a challenging spell with Evil Geniuses.

Now back as the coach of a Danish team with Preasy, the 31-year-old is once again showing what he can do at the helm of a team looking to climb up the rankings.

With Preasy recently reuniting Vorborg with Fredrik ‘œroeJ’ Christensen, we sat down with Vorborg to discuss the move, the strengths of his young stars Nico ‘œnicoodoz’ Tamjidi and Alexander ‘œAltekz’ Givskov and whether or not Preasy’™s sole focus is the first Major of CS2.

Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX: You’™ve now had a few months with Preasy, how is the project developing?

Vorborg: It’™s developing nicely. We took some time initially to just grind a ton, and slowly develop a map pool, and I think we did alright making it just shy of the top 30 that fast. For me, it was especially getting to know TMB [Thomas Bundsbæk], Altekz and tOPZ [Alexander Miklagard], how they view the game, and what it takes for them to perform the best.

We knew heading into the project that we had a bit of a role overlap with tOPZ and Altekz, so tOPZ had to try and adapt to some new roles. In the end, it was a bit too tall a task for him to play a ton of new roles and compete at a higher level than before. So when the opportunity came to grab roeJ, we jumped at that.

BLIX: You’ve now been reunited with roeJ, how did the move come about?

Vorborg: I’™ve been keeping in touch with a lot of the players I’™ve previously worked with. Throughout the time I was in EG, he [roeJ] would sometimes mention that he would probably prefer to one day play on a Danish team again. So it was something that was in the back of my mind.

As mentioned we had some role clashes, and we knew that already when we created the team, so I had told fnatic that if they were ever open to letting roeJ go, then they should let us know. That was the case now, so Preasy negotiated a deal for him, and here we are.

BLIX: What does he add to the team that you were previously lacking?

Vorborg: Well, first and foremost he is a player who thrives playing the central positions. Big sites on CT and map control on T.

We also have this idea of how we want to play CS, and it’™s a very loose style, with a lot of midround calling and free calling based on what the opponent is doing – not necessarily calling strats or rounds we’™ve rigorously gone over and over in practice.

With that in mind, while a lot of people probably won’™t believe this, roeJ is definitely one of the best, if not the best, at on-the-fly countering how other people play and challenging for map control on both T and CT. He is so good at breaking down what the opposition is doing, and making calls around what to do against it. With roeJ on our team, we now have a full five that embraces that still, and I think that also really lets roeJ flourish as a player.

BLIX: Altekz has been impressive for you; how bright of a future does he have? What does he need to work on to get there?

Vorborg: It’™s up to him how far he is going to take it. He has all the talent required to go far, so it’™s just about continuing to apply himself to improve every day.

He’™s been very consistent for us so far, and when you look at his statistics, he is obviously performing very well for an anchor player. I’™d say he is extremely good at playing alone and just puts himself in good situations on his own, but where he can improve is getting set up by teammates, and setting up his teammates better.

But right now he is also on a team with four other very talkative players, so I’™d say it fits us well to have a guy that asks for a little less from his teammates. It can also be tough to have five guys who all want to make plays with resources from the team.

I think right now he just needs to keep doing what he is doing, and continuously improve with the team.

BLIX: nicoodoz has also been strong, why do you think he struggled in tier-one?

Vorborg: I honestly don’™t really think he struggled in tier-one. I’™ve seen this storyline multiple times, but I don’™t really agree with it. In Copenhagen Flames on LAN against top 20 opponents, he averaged a 1.18 [HLTV] rating and in fnatic he was at 1.07.

Sure, that doesn’™t make his average at the level of a world-beater, but I think he’™s held his own against all levels of competition very well. I do think though that he can shine even more here on Preasy because I think we’™ve succeeded in empowering him a lot as a playmaker, and making him more active round to round. That has been working great for him, and I think we’™ve been building on his aggression and making the team cohesive around him when he goes for plays.

BLIX: People might say that the Danish scene is lacking the depth of talent it used to have, what would you say to that idea?

Vorborg: I definitely disagree. We might have fewer strong full Danish teams, but that’™s only because we have players scattered across international teams. But the Danish depth of talent is still insane. I think we probably have more than 30 players right now capable of competing at a top 20 level, and I think basically at every Major we are one of the top two represented countries, even though we have a population as small as we do.

BLIX: What are the aims for the project in the next six months? Is it all eyes on the Major?

Vorborg: The true and boring answer is improving. I don’™t believe in just having one tournament as a goal, especially not with a project as new as ours. We could have an amazing next six months without qualifying for the Major. It’™s all about if you feel like day to day that you are moving in the right direction, are we fixing the things that need fixing – are we constantly improving?

We would love to qualify for the Major, and I believe we have a good chance to do so. That being said, it’™s not like the project is a failure if we don’™t, and we need to stop everything we are doing and rethink it because of that.

BLIX: You’™ve had good fortunes in the Major before with Copenhagen Flames, can you do it again with Preasy?

Vorborg: I don’™t see why not. We have a lot of the same ingredients, and we’™ve hit the ground running. I think we have some amazing players who gel very well together. It’™s all about how we handle the adversities that will come, and how efficient we are at fixing our mistakes as we go.

BLIX: Finally, you said you didn’™t feel like you had done all you could with EG or shown the best version of yourself; do you feel you’™re showing more of your abilities as a coach again?

Vorborg: It’™s early days still, but I certainly will have my chance to show more of my abilities now.