Author: Sam "AN1MO" McKenzie
When Victor “Staehr” Staehr was signed by Astralis, it was met with a lot of excitement. One of the best young talents in Denmark, it was a signing that proved Astralis still had a pull within the region, and still intended to become one of the best in the world once more.However, the same could not be said for Johannes “b0RUP” Borup. Seemingly an uninspired signing at the time, fans felt like b0RUP was a ‘leftover’, and that team would have been better off by sticking with now former Astralis Talent player, Alexander “Altekz” Givskov.With the season now deep into…
Since Jan “Swani” Muller was promoted from Assistant Coach to Head Coach of G2 in October last year, the team has won both BLAST Premier World Final 2022 and IEM Katowice 2023. Now in a trophyless spell after starting the year looking like they would become the dominant team, he’s charged with helping G2 get back to winning ways.Following his team’s dominant 2-0 victory over FaZe at IEM Cologne 2023, we sat down with Swani to discuss the lack of changes, failure at BLAST Premier Fall Groups, and the team’s new Mental Coach.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX: A great win for…
The first Brit to ever feature in a CS:GO Major final, Ashley “ash” Battye saw his reputation as a coach skyrocket as a result of that achievement. With GamerLegion now playing at their first tournament since the departures of both Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek and Ivan “iM” Mihai, the coach looks to help bed in new arrivals Sebastian “volt” Malos and Sanzhar “neaLaN” Ishakov.After the team picked up their first win of the event against TheMongolz, we sat down with ash to discuss the changes in the team, finding the new star, and GamerLegion’s roadmap to get back to their peak.Sam…
A Major winner with NIP, Richard “Xizt” Landstrom is now one of the best coaches in the world with Heroic. Winners of BLAST Premier Spring Final, having booked their place in the LANXESS arena, they look to win their first LAN IEM event here in Cologne.After their game Monte, we sat down with Xizt to discuss advancing to the playoffs, the growth in the team over the past year, and the debut of his former rival Filip “NEO” Bubski as FaZe’s coach.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX: You’ve made it to the LANXESS, how are you feeling?Xizt: It feels amazing to finally…
Alvaro ‘SunPayus’ Garcia defied the odds to qualify for the IEM Cologne 2023 playoff stage last year with Movistar Riders, now on ENCE, the IEM Dallas winner has just done so again with the Finnish organization.A 2-0 victory versus fnatic, we sat down with SunPayus after the game to discuss their difficulties closing out map two, as well as the changes made to their opponents.Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie, BLIX: You guys maybe struggled to close out the second map against fnatic, but you got the win in the end, how are you feeling?SunPayus: I’m feel really good. For me, my best…
Life with OG probably hasn’t gone as planned for Nils “k1to” Gruhne. Winless at BLAST Fall Groups, it took until IEM Cologne for the new team to even get a win on the board.Having faced limited practice time and a tough group to debut against, faith in the new OG roster was low, but now with two rounds under their belt, we spoke to k1to after the team’s most difficult game yet.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX: A tough game there against Vitality, how are you feeling straight after?k1to: Bad. We didn’t get into map one at all, we just got destroyed…
Heroic entered IEM Cologne 2023 as the number one ranked team in the world, so it would’ve been a huge surprise to both them and viewers to see them struggle to victory against TheMongolz.After the game, we spoke to Martin ‘stavn’ Lund about TheMongolz’ unorthodox style, coming close to winning events, and cadiaN’s penchant for trash-talking.Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie, BLIX: An intense opening game there, was that not the game you were expecting from TheMongolz?stavn: It definitely wasn’t what we were expecting, no [laughs]. I mean, they did beat FURIA and they looked pretty good. I think they play some unorthodox…
It might have happened quietly, but David “frozen” Cernansky is one of the best players in the world. One of MOUZ’s key playersbefore Robin “ropz” Kool left, he has really stepped up since the Estonian’s departure to become a superstar for the German organization.Now playing under a new IGL in the form of Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek, MOUZ have started strong here at IEM Cologne 2023. After picking up a win against NAVI in the opening round of the Group Stage, we sat down with frozen to discuss his form and what siuhy is bringing to the team.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX:…
Winners of IEM Dallas, ENCE have slowly been reasserting themselves as one of Counter-Strike’s premier teams since the arrival of Guy “Nertz” Iluz.Following a close game against 9INE, ENCE now have their opening win at IEM Cologne 2023, and after the game, we spoke to Pavle “Maden” Boskovic about 9INE, the strengths of ENCE, and how not being able to play at BLAST events affects the team.Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie, BLIX: A very close game versus 9INE, how are you feeling now you got the win?Maden: After we came back from 15-10 and won the game, it feels good, but I…
Although 18 of the 24 IEM Cologne teams made changes coming into the event, G2 were not one of them. Potentially a surprise given their downturn in form following their win at IEM Katowice, the organization decided to stick by their roster in hope of a return to their trophy winning ways.After their opening win against Astralis, we sat down with Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen to discuss the victory, picking up momentum, and backroom changes in the team.Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie, BLIX: A close game there against Astralis, how does it feel to get the win?HooXi: Good, it feels good to win.…