
In the latest episode of the All About Counter-Strike podcast series, host James “BanKs” Banks discussed how rifler Timur “FL4MUS” Mariev has influenced BetBoom Team’s performance, and also assessed sniper Santino “try” Rigal’s move to Legacy.
I’ve been following BetBoom Team, especially since I’m a fan of Boombl4, and I’ve been thinking: what if FL4MUS had stayed on the team after the Major? And you know what? All four other players who played with him would feel the same way, regardless of what they say in interviews or to anyone else. They’re surely thinking, “We were among the top 8 teams at the Major.” Yes, maybe it was luck, or maybe the team played without pressure with a stand-in. And yet, how did the team end up with such a poor result at the 2026 Esports World Cup with just one substitution? Even if that player performs well, it doesn’t change anything.
I expected roughly this result from the team, given the group they were in. I only watched their match against Team Falcons; I didn’t watch the game against MIBR because it wasn’t particularly interesting. In the end, the team ended up in exactly the situation I had predicted.
When try joined the team, I said he was exactly the sniper they needed, especially given how arT plans to use him—and try himself obviously wants to play that way. It doesn’t matter what his stats are; I just enjoy watching try play, so I fully support this roster change. This is exactly what could bring the team back to the top, where it once was.
In the previous episode of the podcast, James “BanKs” Banks defended Team Spirit, discussing their match against JiJieHao at the 2026 Esports World Cup in Counter-Strike 2. In his opinion, due to the best-of-1 format, the team might run into bad luck, and mistakes carry more weight.
Photo by KKM.