blameF: "I'm totally fine not being an IGL"
With mixed results on LAN since the return of Nicolai "device" Reedtz to the lineup, Astralis impressed fans with a quarterfinal finish at IEM Dallas, their first return to the stage since IEM Cologne 2022. Although the team ultimately faltered to MOUZ in the quarterfinals, wins over Liquid and Cloud9, as well as a close match versus ENCE certainly inspire confidence in the team.
Astralis rifler Benjamin "blameF" Bremer spoke with Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore following the MOUZ loss to discuss a number of topics, including device's return to the team, what it has been like to work with Christian "Buzz" Andersen and Alexander "Altekz" Givskov, and whether he sees a future in returning to the in-game leader role.
Please note that the full interview can be found below on YouTube, while the transcript has some key snippets from their conversation.
With device being back as a world-class AWPer, how does it feel to have someone on the team who can take over the server when he needs to?
It feels great, obviously. As many world-class players you can have on a team, that's what you need in order to build a top team in the world. You can see that on all the other big teams as well that, the individuals have to shine if you want to have a great team. device does that and it's great to play with.
With there being teams without a dedicated AWPer, for example, Liquid previously had a hybrid role, do you think a team can be successful in the current meta without a dedicated AWPer?
They can be successful, but I don't think they can be one of the best teams, for sure. I think the AWPer role has just become such a star-push, you can see all the best players in the world are all AWPers. Everyone who's fighting to the best in the world is an AWPer. If you're not putting up big numbers as an AWPer then I think your team’s never really going to succeed. Honestly, it’s the most OP role and every team is also trying to set up their AWPer as much as possible. So yeah, I think for sure if you don't have a good AWPer on your team, you’re going to have a very hard time becoming a consistent top team.
As someone who has worked with a lot of younger players, how have you been able to help Buzz and Altekz get accustomed to playing on Astralis?
I don't think I'm doing anything out of the ordinary to help them, but I do think that they've been doing a great job. I think our results since we got the both Buzz and Altekz together has been pretty good. We're doing some, getting to playoffs in the big tournaments and maybe winning some of the smaller online tournaments against some decent teams. So I would say that ever since we got that you get a lot of firepower with young guns as well. That was the same on Complexity, like with oBo, they just bring so much firepower, and all of a sudden they win a random round for you and that means a lot for sure. So I think they're doing good.
On previous teams you have been a full-time IGL, and obviously, gla1ve is currently doing that for Astralis, but would you ever be interested in becoming the IGL of a team?
It's not really a main goal for me. I think I always did the same on all my teams. If my team needs me to do something, I'll always do it, but it's not something I go around every day and think about like “I want to be an IGL again”. I'm totally fine not being an IGL and I'm also enjoying spending time practicing more individually rather than only watching demos of other teams all the time. So, I'll always do what my team needs to do, but I'm happy not IGLing.
Watch the full interview below:
