With blameF set to debut during CCT Global Finals 2024, the team kicked off their time with their new man with a confident 2-0 win over ENCE. Sadly, they would follow that victory with back-to-back losses against GamerLegion and a vengeful ENCE, but as Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson tells us, this event is just about the team being able to gauge the progress they have made during their short time together.
Adding blameF to our team brings a big voice in terms of experience
Bo3: You kicked off your run at CCT Global Finals with a win against ENCE, it was your first game with blameF, how was it?
KRIMZ: It was pretty good, it was our first official with him and it might not have been the best individual game from me and afro but there were a lot of changes for me we're not fully there yet.
We've only been practising with blameF this week, so there were a lot of changes, but I'm really happy with how we played despite that small amount of practice. Our communication was good and we all gave our 100%.
Bo3: With the recent change in mind, how are you looking at the event?
KRIMZ: Honestly, I don't want to say this event is practice, but it kind of is. It's a case of getting to know each other a bit more, even with the people we had before because we still haven't had the longest amount of time together.
I think adding blameF to our team brings a big voice in terms of experience compared to what kyuubii had, so there's a lot of change for all of us. We're just going to take it as it comes and obviously, it's more fun to play officials than it is practice, but we'll just go game by game and not really care about results because we just want to play more together and look at the progress.
Bo3: Your opponents today, ENCE, have been struggling in recent months, have you got a take on why they might be struggling having played them?
KRIMZ: I always thought they were really good, to be honest, they have really good individuals. Maybe they haven't got the results they want, but I couldn't tell you why because in the beginning they had a really deep run and put up some really good results. Maybe it was a honeymoon period, but even from today's game I still see that they have some really nice rounds that they used against us and they play with confidence.
I don't have a real answer because it could be anything, even down to them being having four Polish players and one Dane, maybe going full Polish would help. But even then, gla1ve is a really good IGL so it makes sense to keep him.
Bo3: Are you surprised they're struggling then? It sounds that way despite this opening game looking pretty comfortable on paper, did it not feel that way?
KRIMZ: I mean, I wasn't on the board really but I feel like I still did my part in terms of communication [laughs].
The scores today weren't reflective of how it felt for us, it felt very comfortable even when they won rounds. On Ancient for example, we had a good read on them and were stacking places they would go to but would still lose the round so it felt like if we were on the ball with our aim in those rounds we wouldn't have lost them.
I didn't feel that much pressure against them but I still feel like they're a good team, they're not a bad team and might just need some more time together.
Bo3: Do you think they might be lacking in firepower? That's one thing that was said a lot in response to the addition of blameF to your roster.
KRIMZ: For sure, blameF adds a lot of firepower to us, but he also comes with a lot of structure that we need and he's a big voice and we need that when we don't have the most experienced team.
I don't know how it is in ENCE, but it could be the same story there. It always helps to get someone who can shoot really hard and also do the hard part with communication.
[MATYS] has a long way to go in many parts, but his individual skill is limitless
Bo3: blameF has been brought in to be a star on the team but MATYS is the young star of the team, what are your thoughts on his ability and development now that you've spent some time together?
KRIMZ: He has a long way to go in many parts, but his individual skill is limitless, he's really good individually, and that helps a lot. He's super smart in terms of which duels he takes and he's very reactive, it's only that he needs more experience from these officials and LANs.
It's much easier to learn quicker when you have officials and LANs, but I think he's doing a really good part on that part so props to him. As you said, he's our young star and he barely plays badly in any games. I think that if he does play badly it's because he's a bit confused sometimes, but that comes with experience.
He's a monster, he's going to be a top player for sure.
Bo3: What can you tell us about the changes to the team since blameF has come in?
KRIMZ: For me, I play some more anchor positions on CT sides than I was before and I'm a bit more supportive but I still have second lurk or main lurk positions. It's not totally different on every map, but it'll definitely take some time to get used to it.
Mainly I think it's just adding another voice so it doesn't all come down to bodyy or myself, the change made a lot of sense in that regard. I won't complain that he's really good individually as well [laughs].
Bo3: afro isn't too experienced in tier one despite his age so the only real experience on the team before the arrival of blameF was yourself and bodyy, what does the addition of blameF and having a core of experienced players do for the team?
KRIMZ: The thing I've noticed so far is that he's a very structured guy and his communication is exceptional, he explains every scenario with a lot of detail and makes it easy to understand so when you have less experienced guys it makes it a lot easier to progress with the understanding of why you do certain things on the map. Even when we go through preparation he's very involved with our coach.
We have the power and the knowledge to get to a top ten level
Bo3: blameF was just on Astralis and before that he was a part of Complexity, there's always been huge expectations placed on him because of his stats that he should be winning tournaments and be up there with the best in the world; fnatic hasn't looked like being in that position in the last year or so but do you think blameF can be the catalyst in terms of getting back to deep tournament runs?
KRIMZ: Absolutely. It's the right path to it, anyway. It's too early to say if we're going to be a top five team in the world within six months or a year and it will be a daily progress, Counter-Strike is so hard today and some maps can go by so fast. You see teams like MOUZ beating Vitality 13-3 in a grand final and it shows how hard it is to be consistent nowadays. We haven't been in that circuit in a long time but adding blameF is a step in the right direction.
Bo3: You said you may not be a top five team in the next six months, but where would you realistically like to be in that time? The Major is the end of the year so let's use that as a marker.
KRIMZ: Realistically, I think that we have the power and the knowledge to get to a top ten level, I don't see us struggling in that sense. Time will tell, of course, but that's our goal to get back there and I don't think it's unrealistic to do it.
Bo3: So would you say you'd like to be in the playoffs in Shanghai?
KRIMZ: Yeah, and consistently getting to the playoffs at tournaments we attend. We need that experience in the team, even though I've played for so long now and I'm so old it's still different from team to team.
It varies so much from when I played with the Swedish line-ups, we played for so long together and it comes naturally to a point when you play in a national team. It's both easier and harder to play in an international team, in national teams you have the small keywords that mean you don't need to communicate as much and it's easier to understand but in the international teams you can't always rely on the communications and you just need to kill people. Vitality and FaZe are both great examples of that, karrigan uploads their POVs and sometimes they're not even saying anything they're just killing, a round goes by and all you hear is four headshots.
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