CS:GO Monthly Recap - May
The month of May has been the absolute busiest month for our CS:GO team so far. We knew we would be busy but when I look at the list of results above, I truly realize how many official matches we’ve played. It’s made it hard to make time for practice and days off – and especially the latter has been sidelined. In all of May; the team has only had 3 days off from matches and training, since everyone on and around the team are determined to take the project to the next level.
Positive Results
Winners of LOOT.BET HotShot Series Season 3 Europe Qualifier
2-0 vs GameAgents, 2-1 vs Akopalipsa, 2-1 vs SJ Gaming
Winners of Dust2.dk Power Play
We drop only a single map across the entire tournament, which was in the 2-1 grand final victory over GoldenGitte
#2 in LOOT.BET HotShot Series Season 3
Beat Pact, GamerLegion, LPSP and AGO
RO32 Starladder Minor Qualifier 1
Beat Aristocracy and GamerLegion. Out to AGO
RO8 Starladder Minor Qualifier 3
Beat Chaos. Out to Aristocracy
7-2 in ESEA Advanced
Victory over, amongst others, Tricked.
6-1 in Winners League
Advance to $15.000 playoffs
Disappointing Results
#2 Esportal Nordic Championship
Lose grand final to Lyngby Vikings
RO128 Starladder Minor Qualifier 2
Out to BoysInBlue
RO32 GG League Kielce Qualifier 4
Out to HoP
Other results
1-1 in Dust2.dk’s Power Liga
14-16 loss to Stepxhydr, 16-9 win over GoldenGitte
Daniel Vorborg
Director of Esports and CS:GO Coach
At the start of May we had a bootcamp leading up to Dust2.dk’s Power Play and during the bootcamp we had a conversation about how we wanted our mentality to change in the future. We needed to see ourselves differently. Against all teams outside of the Danish top 5 we need to see ourselves as favorites. Not because we shouldn’t have respect for other teams, but because we know that if we perform the way we know we can we will win those matches every time. At the same time we shouldn’t see ourselves as underdogs against teams at #20-50 on HLTV. Those are teams we are clearly able to play up against if we stay on our level.
This was part of us raising the demands we make of ourselves in all the work we put into our practice, the preparation that goes before our matches, and the attitude we have when we play officials.
May was also the month where we, for the first time, really got our foot in the door internationally.
LOOT.BET was the big international success and if you look at the way our match against Akopalipsa progressed; it’s interesting to see how quickly things can change. First we lose their map pick, Inferno, 16-8 and then we head to our map, Train. We’ve generally felt comfortable on Train but in this case we never really get our T-side started. First half ends with us losing 3-12 and then we head to CT-side. We know Train is CT-sided and we usually get the most rounds as CT, but 12 rounds is always hard to reach. The pistol round starts – which is extremely important when we have our backs against the wall. Akopalipsa ends up winning that and the following round, which leaves the match at 14-3 in their favor.
Luckily our team has developed a strong mindset and that has saved us many maps before. It did this time as well – the boys kept their heads cool and took the game first to overtime, and in the end to a win.
Highlights from LOOT.BET Hotshot Series
The entire match is balancing on a knife’s edge but we close it with a victory, advancing us in a LOOT.BET run that only ended in the Grand Final with a defeat to Ancient.
Even if May has mostly successes we also had a couple of slaps in the face – especially towards the end of the month. It’s always hard to never underperform and exclusively land victories, but we’re still reflecting on how to make that happen as little as possible and what the reasons are behind us losing matches we shouldn’t lose.
I believe the lack of practice days – because we’re playing so many official matches – has made it difficult for us to fix the mistakes we’re making and while still innovating our play style. At the same time I feel that after our successes we’ve started taking our less threatening opponents less seriously, which is something we cannot afford to do. It can be hard to be 100 % focused and fired up in so many official matches in a month, but we have to push ourselves to the limit to get as close as we possibly can.
As a team we are currently in a place where we have shown our potential, but also in a place where we need to prove that we belong on a higher shelf than previously assumed. This makes the coming months very exciting for us since the expectations from ourselves – and the rest of the world – has increased.
