JBa: Crowd cheating was "cool to see and also annoying"

One of the highlights of the Opening Stage of the Perfect World Shanghai Major has been the standout run from Wildcard Gaming. The NA roster has been punching above its weight class, going 3-0 in the RMRs and winning back-to-back elimination series against Virtus.pro and Passion UA to grab an unlikely spot in the Elimination Stage.

Josh "⁠JBa⁠" Barutt, the sole player representing the United States still competing at the Major, spoke to HLTV after Wildcard’s win against Passion UA, and talked about the unfamiliar effect that the crowd was having on him.

JBa said that playing in the hotel room during the RMRs felt more like he "was playing at home," as compared to the stage "where it was more nerve wracking." JBa added that he could "hear the crowd clear as day."

"A lot of crowd cheating happened in the FURIA game, which is new to me," JBa told HLTV. "That's never happened to me before, so it was cool to see and also annoying." JBa even recalled a specific instance when the crowd screaming gave away FURIA’s A push.

Regardless, JBa says that Wildcard will continue to play without pressure as they take on the bigger teams in the Opening Stage, since "the majority of people put us 0-3 in this stage."

Wildcard’s Opening Stage run starts against the decorated FaZe Clan roster at 12:00AM.