Having endured a difficult start to life during their teamâs defeats at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023, OG got their first win as a team on the fourth time of asking against Complexity.
With a revamped roster, OG finally saw the return of their IGL Nemanja ânexaâ Isakovic in the recent off-season. A man currently struggling, having not touched the game in four months, we spoke to nexa about his performances, the growth in the team, and whether they have any expectations at all to succeed.
Sam âAN1MOâ McKenzie, BLIX: You’ve picked up your first win now as a new team, how does that feel?
nexa: It feels great to finally get that win on the board and stop the losing streak. It feels good.
BLIX: Were you disappointed to have the losing streak already, especially at BLAST? Or did you look at your group at BLAST and realize you did have a tough group going into Fall Groups?
nexa: Yeah we definitely had a tough group, we weren’t really disappointed. We played some of the toughest teams that we could possibly play, you know? The results were expected, we also didn’t have the highest expectations for ourselves as a roster coming in, we’re just trying to learn game by game as a team and grind it out.
BLIX: You had that losing streak, but in terms of your performances and the way you’re gelling as a team, how are you feeling about that?
nexa: I think we are making progress. I think we could’ve won our first game here against 9INE, but we had small mistakes. We obviously are still very green as a team, but I like the way we are working, we are learning a lot from our own mistakes, and we are improving at a very quick pace.
BLIX: What about your own individual performances? It seems like you’re struggling at the moment.
nexa: Yeah, my individual level is still not what it used to be. I think it’s kind of expected, and the guys also knew it before coming in. I didn’t touch the game for pretty much four months, and now I’m getting back into it. Even though I’m playing a lot, the feeling is still not really back yet. I feel a bit out of my comfort zone, but at least one thing that I am confident in is that I am able to give out good calls and good direction so everyone else knows what they need to do.
BLIX: regali did an interview with Dust2.us yesterday, and he was asked a question about who the rifle star of the team and he couldn’t really answer between F1KU and FASHR; as the leader, can you answer that question?
nexa: It’s definitely FASHR. That’s the goal when creating the roster, but obviously, we’ll see how things progress, if he feels comfortable in that role, or if we need to move up someone else and he takes more of a background position. As I said, we’re still pretty new, and we’re still figuring out what fits best to what player.
BLIX: So if FASHR does take a step back, who would become the team’s rifle star, would it be F1KU?
nexa: No, I think it would be k1to.
BLIX: What about F1KU, then? It feels like he already has more freedom to be a star when watching your games.
nexa: He definitely has more freedom, but he’s definitely not the main star, he’s more of a secondary rifle star. He plays better positions, or let’s say, more active positions than he previously did, and he’s doing a decent job so far, but he still has a lot of things to learn, and obviously, it’s all new to him. He’s also working a lot, and he’s improving and I think today was a really good showcase of what he is capable of.
BLIX: As a whole, what are the hopes and expectations for this roster, and how long do you think it will take to get there?
nexa: The expectations for the beginning? There are none. I think the main goal is looking at CS2 and being ready to be competitive and ready to play Counter-Strike at the highest level when Counter-Strike 2 comes out.
BLIX: This event, then, have you thought more about where you would like to be by the end of it?
nexa: The first goal is to make it to the main stage. As I said, the expectations aren’t really high, and we’re just playing it game by game and we want to see how far and how good we are right now with the tools that we have.
BLIX: Reactions to this roster were pretty poor. How much involvement did you have in terms of building the team, and what would you say to the doubters?
nexa: I think what we needed in the team basically was some voices, you know? People in the team who speak while playing the game, so I get some help and I don’t feel like everything is on my shoulders, and I will get some help from someone else while we’re playing. Also, we needed some experience in the team, the previous roster was basically four young players, and it was really difficult to control everyone by myself, so that was one of the reasons why we picked up FASHR and k1to as well, even though neither of them have too much experience, they just have enough to know how to behave and the work ethic. As for how much say I had in the roster, I had a few thoughts, but it was basically just three or four players to choose from and we chose FASHR and k1to.
