We caught up with Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev on the first day of EPICENTER 2019 as the team prepare to make their debut for Virtus.pro.

The ex-AVANGAR team will have a baptism of fire under Virtus.pro as they will face mousesports in their opening match at EPICENTER. The international squad traveled to Moscow with confidence running high after moving up to fourth in the rankings following three consecutive tournament victories.

AdreN is positive about returning to Virtus.pro

During the first day of the event, we spoke with AdreN to discuss the feeling of rejoining the organisation he made his CS:GO debut with, the preparation for EPICENTER and the changes he has brought to the squad since his arrival.

How did the to Virtus.pro move take place?

The entire thing happened as a little bit of a surprise for us. It was a usual evening in Almaty, we arrived at the AVANGAR office, where we met our CEO, who explained the whole situation. He said he wanted to be upfront with us and that, if we wanted to transfer, there was a deal on the table and he wouldn't be against it.

We later met with the head of ESFORCE Holding, had a conversation about the specifics and went through with the transfer.

Personally, how significant is this transfer considering you were part of the original Virtus.pro CS:GO roster back in 2012?

Outside of my removal from the roster back in the day I'm positive about the organisation and the move. I even remember way back in 1.6 when I was standing in for the team and we won a tournament. We were also able to beat the NiP squad that had an undefeated map record. It was the first team that I started playing CS:GO with.

At the CS:GO Asia Championships 2019, buster mentioned that the team would finally have a break after ECS to relax after the busy schedule you had post-Major. Did you manage to get some rest?

I wouldn't say that it was rest per se, it was probably more of a situation where we took a little step back from Counter-Strike and played less than we had before those tournaments. We didn't stop playing entirely, we just dedicated less time to Counter-Strike and trained more individually than as a team. This also helped take the psychological pressure off the team towards the end of the season.

You mentioned the team focused more on the individual component coming into EPICENTER. How prepared do you think you are?

If I'm honest, I can't say anything with 100% confidence, but I know for sure that if we get a feel for the game from the get-go, then I think this could be a very good event for us.

At BLAST Pro Series Moscow, Jame mentioned that your addition to the team was very significant as you brought changes to training and discipline. When you joined, what were some of the main issues you identified that needed fixing?

When I arrived, I saw that the guys played a lot, and I wanted to transform that volume into quality. I did my best to share my experience and knowledge that I had taken in from Zeus when we had played together in Gambit, because before he joined, that team had an approach similar to the one the AVANGAR guys had before I came in.

I brought in more discipline to different aspects of the team; I added a more systematic approach to preparation Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev

I brought in more discipline to different aspects of the team, added a more systematic approach to preparation, in that when you're practicing for something, you need to have a system where you do similar things every day, with a slight variation - it's difficult to describe. I also thought that we needed to take our minds off the game occasionally while simultaneously understanding that Counter-Strike is our life. These were the main things I brought to the team.

You were added to AVANGAR as the fountain of knowledge, the elder of the team, so to speak. The younger players must have come to you for advice on different aspects of both life and the game. Did you ever feel a degree of pressure considering the players looked up to you in this way?

Talking about the game itself, the players are all young and they have a good understanding of the meta, so they see the game just as I do or as other professional players and teams do. We play matches, there are demos and, generally, there are a lot of opportunities to watch and learn.

It's more about situations that take place at tournaments or in-game, along the lines of how I dealt with a specific situation or what to do when there is some sort of an argument within the team. I have more experience dealing with these situations, and I act as the person who has been through it and I explain what the best course of action is.

Other than that I don't really feel any pressure; I feel young even comparing myself to the guys because they treat me as an equal.

We shouldn't think about who we're facing, we just need to understand the opponents' approach and what they like to do while focusing on our own game Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev on the match against mousesports

Touching on EPICENTER, your opening match will be against mousesports, who are currently on a hot streak with three consecutive titles under their belt. How do you weigh up your chances against them?