Jacob ”Pimp” Winneche tror på vinst i BYOC-kvalet – ”100 procent”

Team Dignitas were on the verge of securing a spot for ESL One Cologne but were ultimately defeated by FlipSid3 Tactics.

Recently the team went through changes and next weekend they compete at Dreamhack Stockholm for a spot to the next major.

– Losing to FlipSid3 should never have happend, and hopefully will never happen again, Dignitas player Jacob ”Pimp” Winneche tells Aftonbladet Esport.

The Danish squad of Team Dignitas has been struggling to remain a top team in the CS:GO scene. Their results as of late have been in a steady decline and steps have been taken to turn the trend.

”We needed some more experience in the team”

Late July it was announced that 1.6-veteran Danny ”zonic” Sørensen had been hired to coach Team Dignitas. The announcement was however badly timed with the birth of his child, and because of that it took several weeks before Zonic could start working with the team.

– He still hasn’t come 100 percent into his position, but he started to watch some games with us, participated in a few practice session, and started to give out some advice. If it will help us in the long run remains to be seen, but as of now it feels great, Dignitas player Jacob ”Pimp” Winneche tells Aftonbladet Esport.

Playing under the leadership of a coach has been a completely new experience for Pimp. For a long time the team thought a coach wouldn’t be able to help them. Eventually it was their lack of experience that changed their mindset.

– It came as we felt we needed some more experience in the team. Our average age makes us one of the youngest pro teams in the world, and adding on experience felt crucial for us at that point, Pimp says.

”It never really got any better”

Team Dignitas sent out another announcement two weeks ago. Nicolaj ”Nico” Jensen had been dropped from the squad and replaced with the former Swedish Fnatic star Andreas ”Schneider” Lindberg.

– It’s not a secret that Nico haven’t been performing to his standards of 2012/2013. We gave him a lot of time, but unlucky for both us and him it never really got any better, Pimp says and continues:

– In Denmark right now, there are no talents ready to play on this level. We have a decent talent pool, good aimers etcetera, but none of them with the experience, nor the in game understanding, to really join a team like ours. Team Solomid and Dignitas is pretty much what Denmark has to offer right now. Thats why we looked towards other nationalities and Schneider was quickly someone I saw could be a great option for us. A player with experience, a player who fights and a player with the needed firepower.

”Losing to FlipSid3 should never have happend”

Unlike Mousesports, Dignitas are not considering a break to work things out and practice. Instead they are jumping straight into competition at Dreamhack London this weekend and Dreamhack Stockholm the weekend after that. The latter one serves as the offline qualifier for the upcoming major in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

— We simply preferred to go to an event with Schneider before the all important major qualifier. To meet him, talk with him, get to know him better and play with him on LAN. It’s important so we don’t jump directly into a major qualifier with a guy we barely know and haven’t played a single lan match with.

At the last offline qualifier Dignitas were on the verge of securing a spot for ESL One Cologne. They took a 12-3 lead in the deciding match against FlipSid3 Tactics, but the eastern european team were able to come back and win.

– We timed it horribly. We had vacation before the major qualifier, so we weren’t ready at all. No shame in saying that losing to FlipSid3 should never have happend, and hopefully will never happen again. That’s not being disrespectful, but simply how I think about our team. We’re much better than that and we just have to show it.

Next weekend at Dreamhack Stockholm they get a chance to prove themselves and fight for a spot at the next major. In the group stages they’ll battle against Cloud9, Team Immunity and MixCat. Dignitas are heavy favorites to move through the group and Pimp seems confident.

– I think we have a more than decent chance to do so. In the end it doesn’t matter who we face from the group in which matches, we have to qualify. If we can’t secure a top 2 finish in the group we got, then we’re simply not the team I think and believe we are.