CRUC1AL: “We’re here to win, and I think we’ll pull it off against paiN.”

CRUC1AL: It’s great to be back competing; so far, I’m really enjoying playing with this roster. Basically, they just messaged me and said they needed a stand-in—and here I am. In my free time away from the team, I kept training, just not at a competitive level: I played FACEIT and DeathMatch, that’s all.

The hardest part of joining the team was adapting and getting familiar with all the internal processes and strategies, since the guys have been playing together for quite a while and have a lot of pre-prepared plays. Despite all that, they’ve given me enough freedom to express myself. It turns out that sometimes I do my own thing, and sometimes I do what they’ve come up with, so there’s a certain balance. We’re here to win, and I think we’ll pull it off in the match against paiN.

biguzera: To be honest, I don’t even know how to explain why I’ve been playing for paiN for so long. I just identify with this club now; I’m comfortable here, I feel at home, and I’m happy to be part of the organization. Of course, every player dreams of making it to a Major, but right now we need to focus on specific qualifiers. Our main motivation is simply that we love Counter-Strike, our work, and this lifestyle—that’s all.

We aren’t particularly familiar with Gentle Mates or their style, but we know they have some strong players on their roster. Lately, our results at tournaments haven’t been great, so to win today, we just need to focus on ourselves and remember the kind of Counter-Strike we love to play.