gla1ve is undoubtedly one of the greatest IGLs - nay, players - to ever grace Counter-Strike. As the head of Exodia on Astralis, he oversaw four Major victories and a complete revolution in the way the game was played.

Now the game has moved on, and gla1ve has a new challenge at the helm of an exciting ENCE team, and he spoke to BLAST.tv about the new challenges ahead.

Still pretty new to this team, it's still a little strange to see you in an ENCE jersey, how are you feeling about it?

I'm feeling good, it's been a bit of a hectic start because we have two tournaments in a row and we didn't have much practice time so overall I think we had like, seven days, no more than that, for practice. It's been a bit of a hectic start, but feels good anyway because I think they're nice guys to play with, really welcoming, and the organisation as well has been really good to me. Right now, I'm happy.

How are you feeling about that first tournament, are you a little disappointed with the result or happy with what you showed?

Credit: Michal Konkol

Both, you always want to do better when you're not winning, but I know that things are a bit up in the air right now. We'll see in the future how things go, I think right now we just have to play and trust our game and be good individually, and then we'll see how the future is.

Was there an element of rust you needed to shake off, individually or as an in-game leader?

I think so at least. I didn't really play Anubis that much before and had a really rough Anubis game in Finland. Happily, I came back from that and played better actually in the next Anubis game. Every time I think there's something I can work on I work really hard for it, and that's something I've been learning in the break: to work smarter, and harder actually. I think it's really benefitting me a lot.

Credit: ENCE

What was it like coming back and playing a completely different game?

I did play a lot of CS2 before joining ENCE, but of course everything is new and the meta is changing all the time and you have to be up to date with it, but it's really fun. Of course it's a lot like CSGO, but still there's some changes, meta changes and stuff like that. It's really fun.

If we talk about the players on the team, SunPayus is now one of the best AWPers in the world. What similarities and differences are there to him and device?

Hmm, I think they are pretty good AWPers, really good AWPers both of them. They're good at taking initiative and it's really important that you have your peeks that you feel comfortable doing, and that you actually calling them in really important matches. They both do it. I believe what separates them the most is probably that device maybe has a little more experience, but I think SunPayus is a little bit more structured. They both do a lot of prep and stuff, but from what I have seen from SunPayus there is a bit more structure in how he does things, whereas device is obviously also working hard but, I'm not sure, but I don't think as structured, because I didn't really see it.

In terms of the other members of the team, how do they differ from people you've played with before?

I don't think I remember playing with a player as aggressive as Maden before, so that is different for me, and I think he's doing a really good job. He's kind of the guy where you need to let him loose a bit and don't say no too much to him. I'm trying to understand how to utilise him in the best way. Right now, I think he's doing really good and I'm looking forwards to playing with him here at this event.

What about NertZ, how is he different to people you've played with before?

I didn't see too much yet so it's hard to tell, but he's just a sick individual player with really good aim who contributes to the good mood and he's a nice guy.

Credit: Stephanie Lindgren

From your limited time playing with them so far, do you feel like maybe you need to change the way you play in order to get the best out of them?

I think for me and kuben it's mostly about implementing the stuff that we have been thinking about. Where kuben is a bit more overview-oriented, with defaults and how we need to play and being on the same page and think the same way about the game, and all this kind of stuff, I'm thinking a lot about new tactics and trying to implement those. I think when we have a mix of me and kuben's playstyle, everything will be really good.

The last IGL-coach combo on ENCE were regarded as one of the best in the world, was one of you or kuben consulted about signing each other?

We talked together, me and him, and we decided it would be a good fit, and we both wanted to join ENCE. I was happy that we're both here. I did also talk to sAw before kuben and also wanted to join when he was here, because I'd heard a lot of good things from Snappi about him as well. Both of them were really good options for me, but when sAw decide to not stay then kuben was 100% my priority.

Obviously Snappi did really well on ENCE and you've done incredibly well in the past, but after the time away, are you maybe feeling some pressure that maybe you weren't feeling before?

Of course there will always be some pressure, but what I have realised is you need really good individual players in this meta. The game is not like it was before where you could have slightly worse players and still win the games, because now players understand how to take the game into their own hands and the playstyle is a bit different. You actually get a lot more one-on-one duels and if you don't win those, you're going to lose the round. I kind of realised that having really good players and a good system is two factors that are really important for being the best team.

Credit: Stephanie Lindgren

Most people consider you the GOAT IGL of CSGO, maybe Counter-Strike overall, but with the last couple of years and karrigan winning a lot, people were throwing his name around a lot more. How do you feel about the whole debate?

I don't really care too much. For me it's about proving to myself that I can be a good in-game leader in CS2. I don't really think about it, I don't see any comparisons between me and karrigan to be honest. I think it's mostly from the community, because me and karrigan are really good friends and talk good to each other. He's a good guy and a good in-game leader and I think he thinks the same about me.

Finally, what's the hopes and expectations for this event?

That's tough, actually. We didn't really have a lot of practice, about seven days of practice for the six maps, and it's not a lot, but it is what it is. We will do our best and see where it takes us, but to be honest we don't really have any goals.

If you don't have any goals here and you've had limited practice, how long do you think it will be before we see a peak ENCE?

I'll say, probably, one month of practice with the same line-up.