iM on skipping BLAST Bounty Summer 2026: “Online tournaments, especially right after a break, are such a pain.”

We knew about the possibility of substitutions from the very beginning, but then, during the break, it was as if nothing was happening—no communication, nothing like that. Then we found out that we’d be staying together, I think, for at least one more season. And I think everything will be fine. Because, as I already said, we didn’t play that badly. We had our ups and downs in the first season. We also won two tournaments, which isn’t bad at all. And I think, over time, we’ll play even better.

We didn’t want to play online. I’ve said this so many times already. I think everyone says something along these lines. Online tournaments, especially right after a break, are such crap. Pardon my language, but they’re such crap. Good teams suddenly lose to who knows who. And then they play in a tournament and get knocked out. I think it’s a good way to play because you can get a few official matches to practice—after all, they’re different from training sessions. But you can also skip that and hold a longer boot camp to prepare for, say, bigger tournaments.

Usually, changes are a bit of a hindrance, at least in terms of team chemistry, so to speak. Look at these guys from The MongolZ—every time they make changes, they play the same way. They have the same chemistry. They have the same core, the same playstyle. And, obviously, they play very well. We definitely shouldn’t underestimate them and need to play the same way we did against them when they had Senzu and mzinho.