Author: Sam "AN1MO" McKenzie

Fresh off a win at IEM Rio 2023, it no longer seems like a pipe dream for Vitality to win the BLAST.tv Paris Major.The team, which features the only two French players at the Major, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, has seen a drastic improvement in recent months and now seems to be in the form that allowed them to win ESL Pro League Season 16 shortly after the arrival of Lotan “Spinx” Giladi.But the question remains: Is it enough for them to win the Major?One of the favoritesAs is to be expected, any team featuring ZywOo will…

One of the breakout stars of the RMR, UK prodigy Cai “CYPHER” Watson, pulled off an immense performance as Into the Breach became the first UK core to qualify for a Major in CS:GO.Before they debut at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, BLIX.GG’s Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie got the chance to talk to CYPHER about the RMR, debuting at the Major, who he’d like to face while he’s there and much more.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX.GG: You begin the Major in the Legends stage; how do you feel about it?CYPHER: I feel pretty amazing about it, to be honest. We can get extra…

IEM Rio 2023 has now reached its conclusion with Vitality claiming their first trophy of the year. Overshadowed slightly by being sandwiched between the RMRs and the BLAST.tv Paris Major, Rio still proved yet again why Brazilians are some of the most passionate fans in the world of Counter-Strike.With the event over, here’s our five biggest takeaways from IEM Rio.The event calendar is still oversaturatedAs said previously, IEM Rio began just days after the RMR events for the Major, and with everyone’s minds fully focused on Paris, it did somewhat feel like this event just wasn’t needed.Fans have been complaining…

It was only last month that FaZe celebrated victory at ESL Pro League Season 17 and finally wrapped up their Intel Grand Slam.The Intel Grand Slam, an idea originally created to become more of an indicator of a team establishing an era, looked to be something FaZe would speedrun throughout 2022. With their first win of the year coming at IEM Katowice 2022, it wasn’t long before they added ESL Pro League Season 15 and IEM Cologne 2022 to their list.However, that was where the trophies ran dry for FaZe in 2022. As their dominant surge halted, they would only…

After building his name with Triumph, Paytyn “junior” Johnson earned his first opportunity in tier one with Brazilian giants FURIA. Unfortunately for him, the AWP spot on the team has never been the most stable position, with Henrique “HEN1” Telles, Andrei “arT” Piovezen, and Rafael “saffee” Costa all also occupying it at some point during the last three years.“With FURIA I believe it just wasn’t the right fit, I love those guys and I’ll always cheer for them.” junior told BLIX.GG.What followed was a loan stint with Bad News Bears, where once again, junior would show his potential by dominating…

With the RMRs for the BLAST.tv Paris Major set to kick off in just a few days, we will soon know the teams who will have their chance at eternal glory in the final Major of CS:GO.Four RMR events will be held, with two in Europe, one in the Americas, and one in the Pacific. The field in each event is strong, but ultimately, there will always be favorites. Read on to see our picks for the favorite at each RMR event.European RMR AArguably the weaker of the two European RMR events, RMR A has two obvious favorites.Fresh from winning…

Considering it wasn’t too long ago that Evil Geniuses was home to the best team in North America, its descent into becoming one of the biggest laughing stocks in Counter-Strike history has been rather sad to watch.Burdened by their choice to continue representing a region with a weak talent pool, EG doubled down on that decision by implementing their ‘blueprint model’. They did this by signing two of the lesser NA rosters and growing their player numbers to 15. This was done with the idea that they could support the growth of young talent in the region and promote them…

As G2 entered IEM Katowice 2023, all conversations around the team were focused on their impressive map-winning streak. A streak that was already up to 11 by the time of their opening match-up versus BIG, they had extended it to 17 by the time the Playoffs kicked off.As was said to Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and Jan “Swani” Muller during their live HLTV Confirmed segment, G2 wouldn’t even have to win the event to break Natus Vincere’s record of 19 maps; they would just have to win their Semi-final 2-0 and the first map in the Grand-final. As it happened, they…

Perhaps a surprise inclusion to the teams competing at ESL Impact Katowice, Saints capped off their rapid ascension in NA Impact by qualifying for the event by defeating EG Gold. Unfortunately, their time in Poland ended in disappointment, and since then, their roster has undergone multiple changes.Read more: GFi: “My greatest hope is for us to someday have that same ecosystem of leagues like in NA & EU”With Impact Season 3 already underway and their opening match against CLG Red just around the corner, we sat down with IGL Anna “buhnny” Cheung to discuss the team’s changes and future.Sam “AN1MO”…

After being on the bench of OG since May last year, Danish journeyman Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen is finally back on the server with the team while Nemanja “nexa” Isakovic has a spell on the sidelines.We sat down with niko to discuss his return to the team, taking on the role of IGL for the first time, and his future in CS:GO.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX.GG: Right now, you’re standing in for OG; how did this position come about?Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen: It all happened very fast when OG reached out to me. Nexa decided he needed a break for personal reasons and…