BIG have qualified for the Cologne Major after dominating the tier-two circuit, winning four events and placing second in three more across the first season.
The Major will be their first tier-one event of the season, and team captain Benjamin “blameF” Bremer admits they need to change their mindset heading into the event and prove they can beat some higher-ranked teams as well.
“I’m very happy that we made it here and have this opportunity to maybe see if we can play a little bit against some of the better teams than what we have done so far this season,” blameF told HLTV on media day.
He also touched on the support he has received from the organization, the beginning of the team, and the team’s expectations for Cologne.
Listen to the interview here.
You’re here at BIG’s home Major as the team’s captain. How is the mood around the team coming into their home event?
I think we’re very happy, very proud, and very hyped for this experience together. It was a hard-fought battle to get here, I would say. Playing a lot of tier-two and tier-three, traveling a lot to smaller events, and doing really well overall this year and having a very high win percentage. So I’m very happy that we made it here and to have this opportunity to maybe see if we can play a little bit against some of the better teams than what we have done so far this season.
The organization missed out on the last two Majors before your time. Did you feel any pressure about qualifying for this one, especially considering it’s in Germany?
No, because when we started the team there was probably an under 0.1% chance for us to qualify, so there was no pressure from the organization. They told us instantly from the start that they just wanted us to build a long-term team, a team that can fight against the better teams later on. Maybe later on this year, or maybe next year. But they wanted to give us time for sure.
When we started the team, there was probably an under 0.1% chance for us to qualify
I feel like the pressure came more when we got closer and closer to actually qualifying, because now there was a chance all of a sudden, and then we were told that now you actually have a good chance if you do good at this event, and you will qualify. Then I felt like there was some pressure, but it was not pressure that the organization put on us, it was more pressure I put on myself to be honest, because I want to qualify of course. So no, there was nothing from BIG as an organization. They have been very, very good at taking care of us and just making sure that we focus on the process instead of the results.
And to ask about the season. You mentioned you won a lot of those tier-two, tier-three events, I think you won four and placed second in three of them. Is it easier, when you’re on such a good run and keep winning, to keep morale up and get people working even harder because everything is going so well, even if it is against lower ranked teams?
Yeah, for sure. I even said the most important events for us were the first two because we won the first two LANs we went to, one in Portugal and one in Sweden. We won those two LANs and it was the most important for me, because that also means that more people buy into me as an IGL and buy into the team as a whole, buy into the new lineup. Of course, if you have a very horrible start to the season then more people will say that we should do something different. But when you’re winning, most people will have an easier time buying into the project.
So for sure, I think it’s been very healthy and very lucky for us that we had such a good start because it’s made everything so much easier. The hard part is when things go bad, to see where people start changing and all of a sudden they don’t want to do [things in] this direction, or something like this.
We won our first two LANs and it was the most important for me, because that also means that more people buy into me as an IGL and buy into the team as a whole
To ask about that buy-in, the team played a much different style before you joined. Did they have some issues transitioning early on to having more freedom?
No, I don’t think so. I think I try to IGL in a way where I ask all the players how they want to play their positions, how they want to do certain stuff, do they have certain moves they like to do, and all of this feedback they give me I will implement it into a system. I will try to implement it into a whole playstyle and try to make sure that most people feel heard, and in the moment I will take the decisions [in terms of] some people being allowed to do more than the others, so I don’t think anyone has had any problems with it so far.
But of course in some games some people have more fun than others, because I feel like if there’s a certain site I don’t want to abuse more than the others. Then of course some people have more action in their spots, but I don’t think there’s been any problems in that sense. I feel like I’m very good at listening and I often have these conversations with the players to ask if they’re happy, or if they feel like they could do more, or anything like this. I also sometimes tell them that they need to do more in your spot, even when I’m not calling something in their spot, so I think for me it’s pretty healthy and simple so far.
You mentioned this being like a long-term project and that the Major wasn’t even in the plan at the start. Considering this is your first tier-one event, is it more about the result here, or is it just about gathering some VRS points so you get some tier-one invites in the next part of the year?
It’s for sure about gathering experience as a team, because when you start out playing tier-two and tier-three you need to gather experience playing against lower-tier opponents. You need to gather experience being the favorite in many of these matchups, which is also very hard. It’s hard going into tournaments knowing that you probably need to at least get second or third in order for it to be even remotely successful, and that’s a very hard pressure to have.
Now it’s about the fact that we want to do good against other teams that are around our level or maybe even better
Now it’s a different type of pressure. Now it’s about the fact that we want to do good against other teams that are around our level or maybe even better, so in that sense, I think we’re not trying to put pressure on ourselves in any other way. We just want to show the whole world that we’ve been working very hard this season, and we’re not playing tier-two and three just to lose as soon as we meet a good opponent. That’s what we want to show this event, that we can also play against teams that are around our level.
