Author: Sam "AN1MO" McKenzie

Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen was one of the backbones of the greatest team of all time, although success has been somewhat hard to come by since he took the plunge into an international roster when joining Vitality.With a win at ESL Pro League Season 16 under their belts, Vitality would have been hoping to find more success at IEM Katowice, although that was denied by an incredible comeback by Team Liquid in the Quarterfinals.We got the chance to sit down with the man himself after the ill-fated Liquid matchup to discuss the series and the shape of Vitality heading into the…

Nigma Galaxy have been the dominant force in women’s CS:GO for a long time now, and Alexandra “twenty3” Timonina is one of the players at the center of that. We got the chance to talk to her at ESL Impact Katowice 2023 about their success, as well as the growth of the female scene.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX.GG: You guys started well here and you’re already through to the semi-finals. How are you feeling about all of that?Alexandra “twenty3” Timonina: It’s what we expected. It feels really nice to be in the semis again but that’s something that we knew we…

While the rivalry between Furia Fe and Nigma Galaxy may have overshadowed Womens’ CS:GO for a while now, NAVI Javelins have put in a strong performance thus far in ESL Impact Katowice to reach the final in front of their home fans.We sat down with one of their stars Hania “Hanka” Pudlis at the event to discuss their chances at bringing home the trophy.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie: Congratulations on making the final, could you take me through the series?Hania “Hanka” Pudlis: We just won the Semi-Finals versus an impressive team, we’ve never played against each other before so it was pretty…

Header image by: ESL/Helena KristianssonAfter embarrassingly failing at the IEM Rio RMR event with elimination at the hands of a youthful GamerLegion side, G2 has since gone from strength to strength. With one big event, the organization’s first since 2017, already under their belt, the team has a chance to not only win IEM Katowice 2023 but to also set a modern CS:GO map-winning streak record, with their streak currently sitting at 17.With their authority no longer being questioned by the depths of Counter-Strike’s Reddit faithful, we sat down with IGL Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and coach Jan “Swani” Muller to…

When Team Liquid’s infamous Captain America, Nick “nitr0” Canella returned to the team after a stint in VALORANT, many wondered whether he still had the ability to perform as an IGL at the highest level. Now, over a year later, Liquid are back playing some of their best CS once more and find themselves with a tough semi-final matchup against an in-form G2.We caught up with nitr0 after the Vitality game to discuss the series and his thoughts on the rest of Liquid’s year.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX.GG You’ve got your revenge on Vitality, how are you feeling right now?Nick “nitr0”…

When Swedish CS:GO legend Richard “Xizt” Landstrom joined Danish Heroic as their coach, not many would have expected the degree of success they would find from the relationship.Untested at the time, Xizt has overseen the team through the inclusion of young star Jakob “Nygaard” Nygaard and their ascension to the number one ranked team in the world coming into the 2023 season.At IEM Katowice 2023, Heroic has continued their strong form, qualifying straight to the Semi-Finals. We sat down with him to discuss his transition to coaching and his thoughts on the remainder of the tournament.Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX.GG: What…

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…