[Exclusive] Grim: "I feel like we can make the playoffs"

After Passion UA's victory over Liquid at StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 Stage 3, we interviewed Passion UA player Michael “Grim” Wince. In our conversation with Bo3.gg, we discussed their prospects for reaching the playoffs, their preparation for matches, and what helped them defeat Liquid.

So, congratulations. Your alive in the Major — maybe some of your feelings? Any thoughts about the game?

Yeah, I mean, it feels amazing to not go 0–3, mess up some pick’ems, EMS. But yeah, we played good. We did what we spoke about after the games yesterday and brought the energy we needed to win that game. I’m proud of how everyone played today, and the energy was there from map one on both maps.

On Train you made a huge comeback from 3–9. What was the trigger to feel the game was back under control?

I think our T sides are struggling a bit right now on most maps, but we know our CT side on Train is really good and it’s a very comfortable map for us. We had full faith from round one that we could get it over the line, and we trusted the game plan. We built some confidence early, had economy basically the whole half, and weren’t really pressured in terms of buys. So I’d say the game plan went really well.

On Train you had a huge comeback, but on Mirage you almost let a 9–2 lead slip. What caused these swings, and why were you able to close out the map while Liquid couldn’t?

I’d say we were messing up a bunch of stuff on T side — sometimes nades were being missed or timings of nades were off. Obviously it makes it hard to do our strats perfectly when that happens. But we made an adjustment towards the end of the game, and I’m glad it worked out.

Did you make any special preparation for the match? Any anti-strats, or did you just play your defaults?

Not really any anti-strats. We didn’t want to do anything specific for this game — just play our game and work on what we practiced. Usually TC and JT make a game plan, they go over it with our analyst Monster, and on match day we review what they have for us. That’s basically it.

Liquid are known for strong late rounds. How did you manage to break their rhythm?

On Mirage they were giving us a lot of space in mid, and once we finally stopped screwing up our strats and were actually able to run them, it helped a lot. Like I said — nades were missing, timings were off. Once we fixed that, and when rounds broke down into 4v3s or 3v3s, we just had to look out for people hiding on sites and pressure some rotates. That worked out well for us.

Do you have any rounds you wish you could replay?

Probably the T pistol on Train. I think I whiffed like two clips of a P250, and let’s just say that’s not going to happen again.

How would you rate your personal performance at this Major so far, ignoring the tough start?

Overall, I’d say pretty good. My rating wasn’t that high against this Liquid game, but I feel like I was doing a lot on CT sides. On T sides we were all struggling. I’d say I’ve been doing pretty good at bringing energy into most of the games.

People often criticize your team for inconsistency. Today you played extremely composed. What made this possible?

I’d say the energy we bring. Sometimes we get frustrated when we’re down in a couple of rounds, but if we can stay level-headed and keep the comms up — that’s the most important thing — then we can play at the ceiling people expect from us. That’s why inconsistency happens: some games the comms are really good, like today, but in some games they’re lacking, and it spirals out of control. As long as we keep the energy up, we can come out with more wins like this.

Energy means a lot.

You advance to 1–2. How realistic does a playoff comeback feel after such a start?

I mean, as long as we’re playing, I feel like we can make the playoffs as long as we’re not eliminated. I think we’re a pretty good team when we’re at our ceiling. But like I said earlier, it’s about making that ceiling more consistent — something we’re trying to work on. I’m confident we can make the playoffs.

We interviewed Kvem, and he said that if your team wins the Major, he’ll cut off his eyebrows. What will you do?

Well, I’m already bald, so I don’t know — I’d have to think of something else. Maybe do 100 jumping jacks. Why not?