jL on playing for Team Vitality: “I’ll definitely be there for these two tournaments, and we’ll see how things go from there.”

apEX and mezii’s wives are expecting babies. One of them is due right during the BLAST Open Porto in Portugal—that’s a tournament I’ll definitely be playing in. apEX is next in line to welcome a new addition; his child is due in October. At that time, I’ll be competing at PGL Bucharest in Romania. So, if everything goes according to plan, I’m guaranteed to play in Porto and Bucharest. There’s also a chance I’ll play in the EWC playoffs if mezii’s baby is born a little early. There’s still a chance I’ll be invited to the EPL or some other championship. Nothing’s 100% certain yet, but I’ll definitely be at those two tournaments, and we’ll see how things go from there.

I’ll briefly explain what’s going on in my life and why I still haven’t signed a contract with any team from the Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3 scenes. The reason is very simple—we just couldn’t agree on many terms. These things happen. I really wanted to return to the Tier 1 level and could have done so last winter or this summer. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you plan, but now I’ve got the chance to play with ZywOo, ropz, mezii, flameZ, and apEX.

This is literally a dream come true. Even at the start of my career, I knew about ZywOo, ropz, and s1mple. I really wanted to play with s1mple, and I got that chance. Playing with s1mple himself is an experience that opens your eyes to a lot of things. Now I’m eager to see how ZywOo and ropz play. It’ll be interesting to watch flameZ play—he could very well be the open-fragger of the year—and to find out why apEX is such a great IGL. And, of course, to watch mezii as he becomes the support player of the year. I’m incredibly excited about this opportunity and grateful to Vitality for reaching out to me. By the way, they were also really surprised that I haven’t been playing for any team yet. The guys asked about my status, and I told them I’m still a free agent. I told them all the details—after all, we have a trusting relationship, almost like brothers. They were thrilled to have me on the team, so now I’ll be fulfilling my dream and playing alongside my favorite esports players. We’ll see how it all turns out.

Right now I’m in great shape, which is clearly visible on my streams. I consistently rack up 20, 30, and sometimes even 35 kills. Of course, there are matches where I get 0 or 5 frags, but that’s just how CS is—sometimes you have a bad match, sometimes a good one. My main goal is to effectively fill in for mezii and apEX in their roles. Of course, I’m not planning to copy them exactly; I’ll bring my own style to the game and add a bit more aggression here and there. I won’t play as aggressively as apEX, but I’ll make my own contribution. Right now, the team is starting to train for the EWC. I’ll be watching the practice sessions, learning, communicating with the guys, and getting a feel for the process so that my integration into the roster goes as smoothly as possible. Right after the EWC, we’ll be heading to BLAST in Porto, with the group stage kicking off in Copenhagen. If we make it to the playoffs, we’ll fly to Portugal. It’s a very beautiful city—I’ve played there for Team Liquid before. Overall, my goal is to be a great teammate, a reliable substitute, and to bring my own unique flair to the team’s gameplay.