cxzi on leaving PA: "I just didn't really like the direction of how I was playing"

Dust2.us' own Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore caught up with Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk following his opening match at Fragicago 2024, where he is playing with Wanted Goons as a ringer along with Tommy "Axed" Ryan. The two spoke about the Wanted Goons LAN squad, cxzi's time with Party Astronauts, and cxzi's outlook on the future of CS2, among other topics.

To start, that match against Kunai was a lot closer than expected. What happened that you were taken to the limit by an [ESEA] Main team?

On Mirage we just got eco'd four times. I mean we had no practice or nothing, we're just having fun filling in for the boys and yeah just playing for fun.

You and Axed filling in for Wanted Goons, how did you guys find your way on this team? What was the process by which they were able to get you guys as ringers for Fracicago?

So I saw something on Twitter where they lost someone and I was like hey I'm in the area, I'm like 25 minutes from the venue I can play and then they lost another person then I was asking around and Tommy said he'd play because he's coming anyway so that's how that all kind of happened.

Is it exciting for you to be able to sort of run around and just crack heads as opposed to having to play a much more structured CS in the top of ECL or at DreamHack events?

Oh yeah definitely, like the last LAN I played was against Falcons and The MongolZ and compare that to this it's a lot different and just more fun just to run around have fun you know not really have any stressful moments or anything like that.

Now looking at the professional side of your career, you just left Party Astronauts after nine months, what led you to leave that team after being with them for such a long time?

We were having a lot of success qualifying for events and stuff, but we didn't make the RMR though there are other teams that didn't make it either.

I just didn't really like the direction of how I was playing on the team and like what my role was. I'm more of a person [that] wants to be in the star role not really secondary star spots. I played overall better in those main roles and that's like why I wanted to go back to those roles.

At the same time you left the squad we saw WolfY leave on the same day. Was that premeditated? Did you guys know you were going to both make the announcement at that same time?

I knew WolfY was going to leave after the RMR no matter what and I was going to after we didn't make the RMR, so it was kind of planned but it wasn't really. It was just me and him both left at the same time no matter what for the most part.

To what extent did your result at the RMR closed qualifier do that? Was that sort of a make-or-break moment for you to stay on that team? Or were you already considering leaving Party Astronauts before that qualifier?

I would say it was probably the nail in the coffin, just probably in the fashion how it was and it just kind of became broader in the sense of how the roles were impacting the team and it's probably better for them that I went my own way and then it's better for me that I went my own way and explore the options of me going back to the roles I want too.

So what comes next for you? Are you in the process of looking for a new team for next season or are you planning on taking a break? What comes next for cxzi in his career?

Kind of just waiting to see what happens, there might be changes depending on what happens at the RMR in the next upcoming months and honestly with the new Valve stuff who knows what teams are going to be around and if anything happens I'm not too sure. It's all up in the air, but I'm looking for the next project or opportunity and yeah I'm always going to be around.

You, WolfY, and Viathan leaving Party Astronauts have left significant holes in their roster that will be difficult to fill. Do you think that squad has a future without you guys in it?

I feel like they can, it just depends on how their identity is formed. When we were on the team the identity wasn't there and we got away from when Adam and I were both on that team we were qualifying for events and stuff like that and then the identity changed fully with losing RUSH and everything like that, parting ways of chop. So if they can find their way and find their style they can definitely qualify for events again.

Despite Party Astronauts being as successful as they were, the squad obviously was never able to find an organization to join during your tenure. Was there interest or what was the process of finding or trying to find an org and why was it ultimately unsuccessful?

There was interest for sure, it was just kind of always the wrong time. We had a bunch of events and we were talking to different teams and or different organizations and stuff and we had some deep talks with certain orgs, but a big thing is that a lot of people think Party Astronauts is an actual organization too. '

When we go to the Challenger events they always have "We're proud of your organization," or whatever on our paper and it's like it's not an organization it's a name, so that's maybe a thing to add onto that too.

Now with you leaving this team it's been around two years since you played for your last organization. Has it been a challenge for you to stay in the scene while being orgless for such a long time?

I wouldn't say so, everybody knows what I can do it's just more of like the timing of stuff and I was on Party Astronauts for a while, but there were not really many changes between like the Nouns team for like that kind of role or NRG they end up going with autimatic.

There hasn't been really many opportunities for that to happen so that's more of what it is.

When we were at the last Fragicago CS2 had just come out and a lot of the players we talked to were kind of hesitant about the future of the game and the changes to the scene. How are you feeling about the state of the future of the game as a competitive esport right now?

I don't know it's kind of all up in the air. I don't really know everything about the new system or how it's going to be for 2025, it could be good. But it also could be really rough for tier-two or tier-three teams in North America especially because they could technically close the qualifiers or just do invites only.

If they do that I don't see any North American teams getting actually into these tournaments besides like M80 or COL, but at that point if they lose if they lose enough they won't get those spots again so honestly who knows what's going to happen.

In closing out with this event how do you feel about your chances with coming in as a complete pug roster? Do you feel confident in making playoffs and how far do you think the squad can go with such a disparate mix of pieces?

We're just hoping to make it out of groups and make playoffs or whatever. I'm just happy just to play and I'm sure all those guys are too. We're just looking to have fun and see what happens.

cxzi and Wanted Goons have since found their way into playoffs and are facing off against Take Flyte in the quarterfinals.