zorte on BetBoom Team: “We haven’t practiced with FL4MUS at all”
Daria Ushakova
BetBoom Team sniper Alexander “zorte” Zagodyrenko and GamerLegion rifler Fredrik “REZ” Sterner spoke about the current stage of the tournament in an interview at the IEM Cologne Major 2026.
REZ pointed out why best-of-1 matches are difficult for the team:
Best-of-1 is always tough if you don’t win the pistol rounds. That’s exactly what we worked on a lot before the Major. But, in my opinion, we got off to a weak start here.
In turn, Alexander “zorte” Zagodyrenko stated that he hadn’t expected to be playing at the Major for BetBoom Team:
We performed excellently at previous tournaments. To me, this seems a bit strange, because just four months ago I was relaxing at home and had no idea I’d be here at the Major. And I’m very glad that’s how it turned out. ...> We had to make some changes to our round strategies, and that’s difficult specifically for this event, since we didn’t practice with FL4MUS at all. Maybe just four practice sessions and that’s it. We have to prepare right before the game, and after it we don’t have any free time—we’re constantly sitting at our computers. It’s tough.
- Read also: REZ on the first stage of the IEM Cologne Major 2026: “You can’t underestimate anyone here”
Earlier, BetBoom Team rifler and stand-in Timur “FL4MUS” Mariev confirmed that the team hadn’t practiced with him. In addition, he stated that he is filling in for Pavel “s1ren” Ogloblin, who was unable to attend the IEM Cologne Major 2026.
Daria Ushakova
