stanislaw: "This team can be one of the best in the world"

It's a huge boost, I feel like ending the year in that fashion gave us a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum that we want to build on.
it really helped us grow as a team, we found out a lot of our weaknesses. At the end of the day, going through a period of time where you're playing against some of the best teams in the world is going to make your team grow quicker.

It was very important for us when we were building the roster to make sure that all the roles fit in the way we wanted them to.
As much as I love the idea of having homegrown talent, the reality of the situation was that the options for us were better in Europe than they were in NA. We have talented players in NA, but having done a lot of scouting myself, it was night and day when I was comparing them to Europeans.
I'm happy that we were able to jump on the opportunities that were presented to us, susp being let go from Metizport was huge, he's a really good prospect. phzy being available to us for free was also huge, as soon as I watched his demos I was extremely impressed and shocked that he was a free agent.
Them being from Europe and both being Swedish has it's bonuses, they can speak in their native language and help each other when it comes to dealing with homesickness. They also bring a tonne of experience from EU to our NA playstyle.

I think it's a respect thing, to be honest. Back then, I don't feel like the team respected each other.
I feel like we're a lot more open here. The Swedes are very eager to learn, they're very humble and they work very hard. I think that makes everything a lot easier.
In my experience before from the other side, they weren't humble or eager to learn, they were in the position of power to teach. Back then, maybe it was right for them to feel that way because they had more experience than me.
But, as time has gone on and I've grown up as both a leader and a person, it's a lot easier for me to deal with these kinds of issues now, I wasn't as well equipped back then. I've done a lot of growing since then, so I'm happy with the dynamic we have now and I have to give a lot of credit to the Swedes for being so open and respectful.

There was a moment in time when I was let go from EG after the Stockholm Major where it really hit me hard, mainly because I wanted to rebuild the team with the right pieces, I felt like oBo and MICHU weren't the right pieces and they were stepping into big gaps left by Ethan and tarik.
I just feel like our team specifically got dealt a really bad hand, because I felt like we were the best NA team at the time and then COVID hit and it was difficult for us to deal with the travel and being in Europe for months at a time.
A lot of us handled it very differently, and as soon as one person couldn't handle it any longer, which was Ethan, the dominoes began to fall. Ethan was a crucial part of our team, and once he left it was very hard to replace him and the same goes for tarik. Losing them both was really tough.
It hit me hard to be let go from that project, I was fighting as hard as I could to make the best out of the situation, but the reality of COVID, the economic situation of Counter-Strike back then, and the problems we were having within the team meant that I just couldn't do it.
Because of that I got let go, and I had to do a lot of self reflection and just thinking a lot about what I wanted to do next. I thought about quitting, I thought about leaving esports completely, but after a few months of doing nothing and reevaluating, my first step was to start streaming and that reignited the spark that I have for CS.
From there, I started a pug team with some friends, so I was having fun but also getting my motivation back to play. We were just getting better and better, so I wanted to take it seriously again because the fire was really burning at that point. That's when Forsaken happened and I was able to pick up some good players, including JBa who I still play with now.
It's been a crazy journey for me, a little over a year since that all happened, so I'm really happy with the progress we've made and I really want to build on our momentum from last year going into this one.

I've really come into my own as an IGL, and having the team that I have now, I feel very good, very confident. Not only in myself but in the team, and that's the most important thing.
I really feel the potential within this team, and I think we've shown a little of that in the past year. I think this team can be one of the best in the world, we just need a little bit more time and exposure to different kinds of environments. I'm as motivated as ever and I just want to keep on pushing forward with this team.

I think he can be one of the best riflers in the world, honestly. His mechanics have impressed me since day one, so for him the struggle was always going to be how he adapts to the environments we're put into.
His first couple of LANs were shaky, he was dealing with being away from home for the first time and he has dietary restrictions that make it harder for him to acclimate to different countries. China specifically, where they use a lot of peanuts, was hard.
For him, exposure therapy has been excellent, playing in front of crowds and throwing him into the deep end while helping him as much as we can. We're always making sure he takes the initiative to learn, and he's doing a good job in that. He's always been humble and eager since day one.
He's nervous to try certain things, flying by himself for the first time was difficult so we did that together, but he deserves a lot of credit for the growth he has made. It's not easy to be in his position, a young kid that hasn't traveled a lot on his own, but he's doing a great job and he's grown a lot in the last year.

It's huge to have the opportunity. The current system, the way it is, it kind of scares me. As soon as you fall out of the top 24, I think you'll struggle to find some tournaments to play, and you have to be really selective about the ones that you do choose to play in.
I think this year is going to be trail and error, not only for the ranking system but also for tournaments as well and teams.
It does make me nervous, specifically for North American Counter-Strike. I feel like he teams that don't have the financial backing to be able to play in Europe for extended periods of time will struggle. A team like us will be spending a lot of time in Europe this year, which means we won't be able to stay in the domestic scene and practice against those teams to raise the competitive level.
I hope that as the year goes on, we fine tune the system to make sure that there is a lot of opportunity for everyone, regardless of the region you're in.