Author: Sam "AN1MO" McKenzie
Heroic came into IEM Katowice 2023 as the number one ranked team on HLTV, and so far Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck has had a barn burner of an event to propel the team straight into the Semi-Finals. We sat down with Sjuush to discuss their performances thus far, and their hopes going forward in 2023.Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie, BLIX.GG: You’ve been performing really well here at Katowice, is there anything you’ve adjusted in how you practice individually?Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck: I think I’ve been playing a bit more deathmatch, but also we talked about a few things before the tournament, like what our…
Team Liquid battled hard in a back-and-forth final game versus FaZe Clan to make playoffs at IEM Katowice 2023, an improvement on their showing at BLAST Spring Groups. With a big scalp under their belt and some strong performances now behind them, we caught up with Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic after the FaZe game to discuss Liquid’s expectations going forward in the tournament and for 2023 as a whole.Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie, BLIX.GG: You’re back in the Spodek for the first time since 2020. What are your expectations?Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic: I think with how we’re playing recently, especially after last year, we…
IEM Katowice 2023 was almost a fairy tale story for North America’s Complexity. Finally seeming to overcome some of their past struggles with closing out games, the team took down a host of top European teams on their way to becoming the last team standing from the Play-In stage.After their unfortunate loss at the final hurdle versus Outsiders, we caught up with Michael ‘Grim’ Wince to discuss their time at the event and how far they have come as a team.Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie, BLIX.GG: You were unlucky not to make the Playoffs. What do you think went wrong in that…
The 2023 CS:GO season is now well underway, with IEM Katowice set to be the year’s first big event. Last year we saw FaZe begin their rise to the top spot in Poland, but much has happened since then, most notably the top spots being blown way open compared to the FaZe NAVI dominance seen then.Many teams look capable of winning the event, some of which will be looking to stake a claim for the top spot in world rankings in doing so. With that being said, let’s take a look at some of those teams and some of the…
Cloud9’s run at the IEM Rio 2022 Major was an interesting one. After starting the Challengers Stage by going 0-2, they eliminated home favorites Imperial, and it was all seemingly uphill from there.The Legends Stage saw them sweep a clean 3-0 advancement, with wins against tournament favorites FaZe and CIS rivals NAVI as part of that run. It might have seemed a lesser achievement at the time, but a 2-0 victory against eventual runners-up Heroic was also impressive.As they entered the Champions Stage, it was quietly beginning to seem like their time in Rio may be a coming of age…
When OG entered CS:GO in December 2019, there were high expectations for the organization. Fresh off of winning their second Dota 2 International in as many years, the Red Bull-backed organization promised to bring a new elite squad to Valve’s other flagship esport.It feels slightly odd to say that almost three years later and with an entirely different roster, OG finally played their first Major in CS:GO at IEM Rio 2022. That Major also ended in disappointment, with the team failing to make it out of the Challengers Stage after losing to Fnatic, FURIA, and Vitality.Despite their underwhelming Major, OG…
2022 will most likely end up being quite a forgettable year for CS:GO. With giants underperforming in G2 and Astralis and far smaller teams like ENCE taking much of the plaudits for the first half of the year, the scene felt as if it was in a transitional state for much of the year.Many of those teams have since figured themselves out and look far better, but that’s not to say there isn’t a chance for further upgrades. It’s those potential upgrades that we’ll be taking a look at in this article.There will be one notable exclusion, however, in Heroic.…