Having joined the organisation as a member of it’s academy squadron, Krimbo is now well established as one of the stars of BIG’s main team.
With two of his former academy teammates now joining him on the main roster, Krimbo will continue to star as BIG adapt to their new roster rebuild.
At BLAST Premier Fall Groups, we spoke to Krimbo about this rebuild, what s1n and prosus bring to the team, as well as the addition of mantuu and having an AWPer capable of filling syrsoN’s shoes.
The roster has just gone through pretty big changes, how are you feeling about it all?
I am feeling good about it, of course we did this change with the long term in mind, we don’t expect to win tournaments right away, but I think this is a change that will help BIG grow in the long term.
syrsoN leaves behind pretty big shoes to fill, are you happy you’ve managed to find someone like mantuu to do so?
Of course, I am really happy with mantuu. He is a great teammate with a great personality, and he is also a really good player. I am happy to have him on the team, but let's not forget that we had hyped after syrsoN, and he did a great job as well. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out in the end together, but I think he still showed his abilities in a lot of games. I think he just needs some more time. With mantuu we have a more experienced player, who has also played at a top level for a long time, has attended many LAN events, and isn’t new to the scene. We wouldn’t have picked him if he hasn’t proven already that he is the right fit and that we will achieve things together.
s1n has previously spent time with the main team and performed well, what does he bring to the team?
For me personally, s1n is a really hard working and dedicated person who is obsessed with what we are doing and the game itself. He will take over as IGL now with tabseN’s help, so tabseN can get more freedom that he can use to focus on his game. He is also a really sick player, he has led the academy team for a long time after I got promoted to the main team.
As for prosus, he’s a relatively unknown quantity to fans of tier one, what can you tell us about him?
David is more of a silent player, he is not really known yet. When you get to know him he is completely different and he is not the same person as you see in public. Both him and s1n are really good friends of mine and we have grinded our way to where we are together. We played on the same team for over a year and I have known them for a really long time. He never gave up, he is one of those guys who was always the second choice in the academy team, for example most of the time it was s1n who was helping the main team out but he never gave up to get his own chance.
When you joined BIG it was as a member of the academy team, how does the academy prepare you for tier one?
For me it was a whole new thing, because I took over a lot of responsibility by leading the team, calling, being responsible when you fail or lose games, placing more pressure on your own shoulders than your players. This not only helped me in understanding the game in different ways, but it also helped me as a person as these are skills that you will need in life as well: responsibility and leadership. Being a good example to others.
You’re now one of the most experienced players on BIG and likely to be a star on this new roster, is there an added sense of pressure now?
Of course there will be a little extra pressure and I will feel more responsible to help s1n and prosus. S1n already has experience, but for example, prosus is playing his first big LANs now and like I said I have to be a good example and help them in case they don’t find their way into the game for whatever reason. I don’t feel too pressured because they are really skilled players and we have picked them for a reason. We really believe in them and they have showed their abilities in the past, of course its a bit different now with tier one and crowds, but it will all be things that they will experience and we believe in them.
With big changes and two players stepping up to tier one, it could take some time to get off the ground for this team, what sort of expectations have you laid out between now and the end of the year?
Like I said, we don’t expect to win tournaments right away. We are building for the long term by promoting two academy players. We are calling in English, so we will just try and find our groove for now. For me the most important part is to see consistency and progress, and get better step by step. Of course there is a new game coming out, so that is also something really exciting because the game you have played for seven-eight years is going to be gone. When Counter-Strike 2 comes out I think a lot will happen, maybe everyone has to learn new mechanics. We will see what happens there and it will be a big advantage to have young and motivated players on your team who are ready to grind and get to the top in a new title. Overall we are aiming for consistency and progress.
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