The last couple of months haven't been easy for Rogue, as they started out with changing two players to get the former MK duo into the lineup, Viktor "⁠v1c7oR⁠" Dyankov and Kamen "⁠bubble⁠" Kostadinov.

They struggled to get good results, but at the ESEA Season 23 Global Challenge the team finally showed up and won the whole tournament after a terrible start versus LDLC in the group stage.



After a tough journey, cadiaN is finally back in the Top 30 Ranking

The Danish in-game leader, cadiaN, has been interviewed by Dust2.dk about the event, and how it has been in Rogue so far. He thinks the potential is there for something big.

First of all, congratulations with the win at ESEA GC. You get into the event through a cancellation, did you even have the time to prepare for it?

"We had very few practice days leading up to the tournament, but before the tournament we had already agreed to play between Christmas and New Year to keep us in good shape toward January."

On top of the great win and nice prize money, you will be on the HLTV Ranking the first time. What does that mean for you as a team?

"This means, of course, tremendously much as it has been our goal since we started the project. It's not a good feeling to check HLTV daily, feel that you belong to the top 30, but recognize that your results have not justified it.

We are really pleased to be on it; we do still feel that we can overtake some teams with a good result in Leipzig. We see ourselves climbing up the rankings over the next few months."

Does it also mean something special for you personally?

"I am happy to be on the list, it means that the project that we have started has not gone totally wrong, and that there's a future in it.

I have been on the list before, including SK (16), and obviously I hope to get up there again, so on that front it is not a feeling of something new, but a sense of 'home' that we do have to fight hard to keep."

You started the team with Maniac and HS, but later replaced them with v1c7or and bubble. What was behind these replacements?

"We, the 3 Danes, didn't feel that HS and Maniac adhered to the expectations we had. I actually think that both players can work on various teams, but the composition did not work with us.

We expected more of Maniac's experience in-game, but although he brought a lot of experience outside the game, especially analysis-wise, it didn't feel like we got the benefit of it in the game itself.

HS has a high individual level, we tried various solutions to achieve it but we had to realize that under the framework we wanted, it would not work.

We lacked some aggressive players when I was actually the only "aggressive" player. Tenzki and glace are both able to get formal skills, and they work really well in loose play styles, where you have to take decisions by yourself, but honestly I feel they are best in clutches, and at communicating and using their grenades wisely. Therefore we benefited a lot from getting two Bulgarians into the team because they love to run first - especially v1c7or makes almost claim to the role."

What have the two Bulgarians brought to the team?

"They have brought a lot of firepower, they are clearly a gain individually from my perspective. They've also given us a good cast of characters, we now have a good 2nd AWPer in bubble if desired, as well as v1c7or who loves to run first.

We saw in MK that they were really good LAN players, so it's also something we have attached great importance to and which finally paid off at ESEA Global Challenge."

You got on a really bad start, but ended up being crowned the champions anyways. How did you turn it around?

"To be honest, we had the chance to money-f*ck LDLC so many times, and made a lot of small mistakes which cost us in the end. Plus the good old excuse that my PC was running extremely low, but you can always say so when you go 6-20.

After the match v1c7or surprised me. Since APM he has said that I must continue to play well and go crazy with the AWP. He said to me a countless of times after the game, that I should not be upset by the struggle, and that we would get things turned around. He particularly mentioned his last ESEA LAN where they lost the first match to a Brazilian team and then they won the remaining matches and the event, so he saw no reason why we wouldn't do so.

So I greatly appreciated the support, even though I've been to LANs and disappointed before. It's never fun when you feel that you let your team down, so it was really nice with some encouraging words."

Both during the event and before it, glace drew criticism for his performance. What does he contribute with in this Rogue team?

"I both doubt and hope that he wasn't directly criticized at this event, because the man played a very beautiful tournament. He contributes with a lot of things, which may not always be obvious to others, and he has undertaken some role changes, which is not always fun but often necessary to get the whole thing to go up into a higher level. Now we stand with our first trophy together, glace and I - after almost one year together... So you could say, that it has paid off!"

Is the criticism unfair?

"He probably hasn't lived up to his level in every tournament, but I am convinced, that he comes back strongly enough to show, why he is here at this level. Forums HLTV/reddit, and for that matter dust2 also, can sometimes be hard on people - you shouldn't focus so much at that."

How much pressure do the organization put on your shoulders?

"Honestly, I feel no big pressure from Rogue. We are constantly trying to become a better team and make the best possible results."

You've finally got your game rolling. What's the next step for this team in order to continue to improve?

"People should respect each other more, and then we have a bootcamp at a time - otherwise I feel we're working on the right things such as:

Optimization of the map-pool

Follow-up of metagame

Correcting internal errors

Watching demos together"

What should we expect from you at Dreamhack Leipzig?

"The goal for DH Leipzig is to advance from the group and thus reach the semi-finals. I see this as a realistic goal and it would make us continue the good streak we're currently on."

How far can this team go?

"It's a good question, a very good one... I obviously feel that the potential is there for something big, because all players can fill their roles really well, and when momentum is there, we are strong. We have people who can all step up, we also have players who generally are solid, good tactics, communication is about to follow suit and individually we should be higher than we currently are, in my eyes.

Time will tell how far we can go. People talk so often about where you've been, where you can potentially reach over and the like. Facts are; currently we are the 28th best team in the world, so we deserve nothing more or less. We have some internal struggles, that we would have to try to get a handle on, to take the next step. However, I am convinced that with the newly added confidence solves these problems easier than before."