Michael “Grim” Wince broke into the tier-one scene with Team Liquid, the first player to step into their Intel Grand Slam-winning roster after the departure of Nick “nitr0” Canella. Now the star of a Complexity team looking to do NA proud, he will reunite with his former Liquid teammate Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski as EliGE takes his first steps outside Liquid in eight years.
BLIX sat down with Grim to discuss the change, what it will be like to play with EliGE again and what it means to be the best team in NA by default.
Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX: You’ve played with EliGE before; what’s it like to be back on a team with him?
Grim: I’m really excited to be back on a team with Jon; he is a super smart player and extremely good mechanically with a ton of experience. I have no doubt we will do well with him.
BLIX: He brings a lot of experience to the roster. Do you think that’s something you’ve been missing and preventing you from going on deeper runs?
Grim: I think his experience will help in the mid-late round situations, help identify gaps, and have plans to close out the rounds; I think it will help a lot in general. I don’t think we were missing experience, though. As a team we have been playing together in tier one for almost two years now, but he definitely has more, and that will help a lot for sure.
BLIX: Outside of his experience, what else does he bring to the team?
Grim: His mechanical ability is top-notch, and he has some of the best mechanics in the world for CS; his aim will help us a lot in hectic situations. He is also just a really good person, so he will fit in well with the team and is extremely smart to help us find gaps in strats or our reactions and protocols.
BLIX: You’ve been in some of the best form of your career in recent months. Are you worried about how changing elements of the team and roles may affect that?
Grim: I don’t think so because Jon fits in one-for-one really with most roles with Justin [FaNg], so I’m gonna keep my roles unless later on we need to swap something. I’m not too worried about my roles personally, I’m just going to try my best to do what I need to do for the team.
BLIX: With Liquid going majority EU, you’re now one of the best NA teams. Does it feel like you are?
Grim: I think so because I believe the only team better than us in NA was Liquid, and now that they are majority EU I think we have to be considered the best, and I believe we have to perform even better to prove we are the best and keep ourselves to a high standard and do the best we can for NA.
BLIX: Outside of having a new teammate, what will be the key going into the second half of the year to winning a trophy before the year is out?
Grim: Definitely, to keep practicing super hard and efficiently, we all know we have what it takes to beat any team in the world, so we need to put in the work in practice and prove that we have what it takes in the matches.
