Before the IEM Cologne 2023 Playoffs kick in, we sat down with a CS:GO analyst  Aleksandar "kassad" Trifunović, to break down the performance of participants of the event as well as evaluate the quality of the most notorious transfers made during the last player break. 

— At this point, we have seen Play-ins, Group Stage matches. Who is the most likely to lift the trophy at the end of the weekend?

— Listen, it has been a very exciting Group Stage. And we have a nearly perfect Playoff. Only FaZe is missing, but Astralis was playing really well, and they deserve the spot. In my opinion, because I watched pretty much all the games, I think ENCE has been playing the best Counter-Strike, and they're ready to win. I have them picked out as winners as well.

— Before the tournament, you have made some predictions. It was just after the shuffle window, and those predictions were made for the sake of internment. But were you disappointed in BiG, Liquid, Imperial, or suspired by Monte, Astralis, and Apeks? What team has surprised you the most during the event so far?

— I didn't expect ENCE to be playing so well. Obviously, G2 is playing pretty well, considering the fact that they struggled in BLAST and before it in Pro League and Major – we remember the results. Now they're playing well. 

As far as the surprises go, the negative one is definitely Liquid. I expected more, but it was expected from them to have this type of learning phase and growing phase. Fnatic played reasonably well. For example, afro was showing up some talent. The disappointment was definitely Into the Breach. 

I have to say that I'm positively surprised by GamerLegion. After the first game, I didn't think they would make it, but they played a good Counter-Strike. They just barely got eliminated.

The best roster shuffle we saw from Cloud9, and with Ax1le back, they also have a stronger chance. It is one of the best right now, considering the shuffle. 

It’s all ups and downs, but it's always like that in a post-player break period.

— But should we expect some miracle from the C9 in the Playoffs?

— Everybody at the event, between the players and behind the scenes, said they were the scariest team to play against. They have a lot of patience, a lot of firepower, a lot of skill. And, you know, it is their first game together officially after the player break. Yes, they played with Buster and everything, but it's their first game officially with Ax1le. So it might be a problem. They're playing Vitality; it's not going to be easy. It's still the stage, still 14,000 people. I won't be disappointed if they don't win, but I would also like to see them succeed.

— NAVI went through the most drastic changes. Has the team become faster with AleksiB, like in-game? And what do you think about their performance in Cologne?

— That’s the most exciting thing, simply because of s1mple and the fact that NAVI went international. They added some skilled players. Overall, the whole game wasn't what I expected at the beginning, but it has been just a start, right? 

It sucks that you don't have more time to go into an event like this because this is the event of the year for me. And I wanted to see them in the playoffs, obviously, it's s1mple, you always want to see that guy on the stage, so that's something that we're gonna miss this year. But overall, I would give them a passing grade, but we still need at least a couple of months to make a proper judgment on their level and possibilities.

— Can Aleksib be working in the B1ad3 system? Like all the time before, he was in his own system.

— I believe this is his last chance as an IGL to make it work. I do believe that he can do it. I always did. He's the type of IGL who likes to micromanage a little more rather than play loose. But that's fine, too; that can be successful. B1ad3 is definitely one of the top-tier coaches and always has been. If they make their visions align, they will work together fine. But that's the case: we don't know because we have no insight into what's happening in the practice room.

— We cannot interview you and don't speak without North America's scene. What can you tell us about the quality of changes in Liquid and Complexity? What do they have to work on after the event?

— Complexity has made a step in the right direction. I don't think the leadership in that team is holding up to the highest tier of CS, but that needs to be looked at at the very least in the future. Elige is one of the best, if not the best North American player ever. The thing is, they made a decent change. But they need at least one or two more. Who is that going to be? I don't know. They could bring a European and maintain most NA players, so it should be fine. 

And as far as Liquid goes, it was super surprising. They kind of lost some of their North American culture, but the state of CS in North America is like that. The one thing I didn't really agree with is giving YEKINDAR the IGL role and all the team keys simply because he will be losing his value as a player individually. He can deliver a lot more. He doesn't need to be an IGL. I'm still going to go with it. That was a mistake. He should be the vocal player, he should be the entry, but he should not be the IGL. There are a few different options that can help him. So far, it's not the best, but it's too early to judge.

— What about South America? Was it a good move to sign Fallen for FURIA?

— Yes, it was. But they still have the old problem. Fallen is too much of a nice guy to dictate how he wants to do it. He should be doing it because he has the most experience and the most knowledge of all, if not all the players out there, right? 

If you bring that guy, just let him do his thing. Right now, there is a bit of a clash between the coach and arT and polar philosophies, so if they fix that, that can be dangerous because they have Yuurih and KSCERATO out there. So they just need to look at that first before doing anything else.

— From Buzz to Regali, Cologne introduced a whole new bunch of new talented players. Who is the best rookie so far for you?

— Best rookie? If you consider him a rookie, Afro played very well in this event, even though he didn't get to the Playoffs. The Astralis duo, Buzz and Staehr, played all right, it was all about the dev1ce, but still, they have other players in their team.

— G2 got caught quite a fuzz after Blast, but here they are in Semis. Do you still think that Niko has to kick himself? 

— I never said he should kick himself. I said that he should, maybe, bench himself, but they are in a very rough spot right now. Yes, they played well; they will stay together if they win the event. But If they don't win the event, I will stick with my thing that there's supposed to be a change there. Leadership change, in-game leadership change – and I'm gonna stick to it. Even if they win the event, it can backfire for them, but winning an event like this is always the most important thing. It's the best event of the year, so it's a rough spot right now, but I want them to win.

— Heroic is top-1. Is it true for you, and how much Cadian has to do to make you believe in it?

— I don't think Heroic is top-1. No one is top-1 right now. Many teams can contend for that, like Vitality, Heroic, and at some point, even ENCE. FaZe is always a dangerous team, so there isn't a team you can point to as the #1 team. 

Cadian built the team from nothing, and he is the one that deserves the most credit for it. But they still have to overcome the hump of semifinals and finals to get that number one spot so we can talk about the number one team, Heroic.

— More often than not, teams recruit new players from their academy rosters. For example, Astralis. In a few years, will the path to the big stage only be through academy rosters? 

— I would love to see that. The fact is that Mousesports has four players that came from the Academy team; only Frozen has already been there. Obviously, you've just mentioned Astralis, and there's NAVI. It's the way to do it, right? If you have an academy league, which we don't have anymore, but if you had had that, the players would be developed, especially when CS2 comes in. It's a healthy way to do things. We're just not doing it right now.

— Speaking about CS as esports, it just became known that Valve updated the rules for holding competitions in CS2 for 2025. They are erasing the franchising leagues like ESL or Blast. But is it wise to ban them when it's already semi-open and teams receive large sums? For example, ENCE got seven-digit profits from it. What do you think about it?

— Well, I am always for an open circuit or at least semi-open. ESL has a decent thing going on. I think they were about to widen it even more. And BLAST was completely shut down. They barely allow anyone to go in, and I think that's the wrong thing to do because there are many teams, for example, ENCE, which doesn't have a BLAST spot, and it’s one of the best teams on the planet. 

Cloud9 doesn't have a BLAST spot; they're also among the best teams. And there are also those young teams, right? Remember Apeks, Into the Breach, GamerLegion, and Bad News Eagles; all these teams are playing well. Giving them a few more opportunities would go a long way. Somebody will take the hit with some money, which is inevitable, but it should be in the right direction at the end of the day.

— And the last one is from my boss. We couldn't avoid your tweet about how becoming the best version of yourself comes with a lot of goodbyes. Can you elaborate more about it? Now, from the perspective of being a better one, you can give some advice to others in advance.

— Sometimes you have to realize that some people around you are not very good for you and they don't bring the best out of you. Sometimes friendships end, and sometimes relationships end. You just need to find people that are the best for you, are happy for you all the time, and are just going to be there for you. And in that process, you will have to say goodbye to some people you never thought you would say goodbye to for you to become the best version of yourself.

So I guess that's a very important lesson you learn later in life after 30. It's not when you are young you make mistakes, and you realize these things. It does come with a lot of goodbyes to people and other stuff that you thought was right for you, but they're not, not really. Or at least not anymore.