We caught up with Michael 'Grim' Wince from our CS:GO squad to discuss the two new players who recently joined our team. Read on to find out how the try-outs worked out, their future goals and his personal journey from amateur to professional player.

Hello Michael. These last few weeks have been rough for the squad, without a fully built team and trying out players. How have you been dealing with it?

Grim: Pretty good, we've been grinding it out and putting in more work than ever before.

What were you looking for when trying out players in practices and official matches?

Grim: We were looking for people who had experience in the professional scene and looking at their communications/overall game sense as well while playing.

Roca and a2z are the most recent additions to the team. What made them stand out among all the possible candidates?

Grim: The main thing for both of those players is experience. Roca has incredible aim and we needed someone who could take over games at times and he has also been in the pro scene for a long time. a2z also has a lot of experience and brings lots of much needed structure to our squad.

Both new players already have some experience in the professional scene. How much do you think that can impact you and the squad?

Grim: Them having experience helps us by them knowing what to do in lots of situations in-game and knowing what it takes to win.

How is practice going with the new roster?

Grim: Practice is going great currently, we have been winning a good amount of our scrims, we just need to work on transferring what we do in practice into matches, which is where the experience factor comes in.

What do you think needs changing the most to finally achieve the results you want?

Grim: Currently what needs changing the most is our communications, and working together as a team, which is what we are focusing the most on right now in our practice.

Are you confident that you will be able to turn this current tide around and recover from the results of the first half of ESL Pro League?

Grim: I definitely believe we can turn it around, we just need to scrim as much as possible and be putting in a ton of individual work.

What are you personally doing to improve in the second half of EPL?

Grim: I'm deathmatching a lot more than normal to make sure my aim is up to par, focusing on using my communications a lot more and working with my teammates.

And what about the team practices, how are they going? How is the confidence amidst the players?

Grim: Confidence is great, practices have been going well and people are more motivated than ever with this new five.

What are the team’s main goals for the next few weeks and months?

Grim: The main goal right now is to not get relegated, keeping our pro spot at the relegation LAN, and try to do much better next season.

Let’s talk about you and your CS:GO career. When did you start to believe you could actually make a living out of your passion?

Grim: When I reached Global Elite in CS, I wanted to see if i could go further and purchased ESEA. From there I played the leagues and started to really try to pursue my dream as a professional player. After my first season of ESEA Open, I believed I could make top tier Main/MDL if I had the right squad, and kept putting in countless hours of work until I achieved that.

Are the bad results from the past few months affecting your drive to keep playing and improving?

Grim: The bad results aren't affecting me. I definitely believe it sucks, but I am not going to stop trying harder because of it. Got to push past it and improve for next season.

If someone would approach you looking for advice on giving their first steps towards professional gaming, what would you say?

Grim: Make sure to DM as much as possible, play a lot of PUGs at first, and try to find a squad in ESEA Open that you enjoy playing with. Watch demos to see how you should play a spot and keep improving from there.

Are there any final words you’d like to say to finish the interview?

Grim: Just thanks to Team Dignitas for supporting us so much during our first season and working with us and thank you to the fans that are still supporting us/me personally in such a rough time. It's definitely going to get better from here!

I want to thank Grim for taking his time to answer my questions in such a busy time. Don't forget to keep up with Grim on his social media:

Twitter

Twitch