Pujan ”FNS” Mehta, Steve ”ReltuC” Cutler, Tarik Celik, James ”hazed” Cobb, Peter ”ptr” Gurney.

CounterLogic Gaming qualified for ESL One Katowice after beating Titan in the offline qualifier.

And the North American team are confident as they enter the first major of the year.

– We took away from MLG and the qualifier that we can actually compete with these guys, and not only that but we can beat them many times, AWP:er Peter ”ptr” Gurney tells Aftonbladet Esport.

During MLG X-Games, the CounterLogic Gaming squad pulled off the perhaps biggest upset of the tournament when they beat LDLC. One of the key players behind the victory was AWP:er Peter ”ptr” Gurney who, as the team prepares to enter the ESL One group stage in Katowice, says that beating the French powerhouse was a big step for the team.

– We’re taking everything in steps. At MLG we beat LDLC and that was a big game and one step. We lost out in the groups which is sad but still ok because we learned from that, he tells Aftonbladet Esport.

”I’ve always felt confident”

And during the offliner qualifier they once again beat one of the big European teams as Titan was sidelined, another step for the new CLG roster.

– We took away from MLG and the qualifier that we can actually compete with these guys, and not only that but we can beat them many times. It was huge.

Personally, ptr made some highlight reels as he pulled off crucial rounds. But he says that confidence has never been an issue for him.

– I feel very confident but I’ve always felt confident, I’ve never really been ”oh this guy is better than me” but it’s a good reassurance that I did that on a big stage. But I obviously need to repeat it.

”Anything after groups is a bonus”

Now they’re looking forward to a group containing Ninjas in Pyjamas, Keyd Stars and Hellraisers.

– We feel great, we’re confident and prepared. It’s a really good group to get out of, a lot of great teams but everyone can beat everyone in a BO1. You have the randomness factor, so we can go 2-0 or 0-2 but I like the group and our chances.

You face Hellraisers in the first game, how have you scouted them?

– We’ve watched a lot of demos of them, we’ve noticed they’re trying to out aim and not trying to tactically do anything. They’re known for their aimers, we’ll see how prepared we are.

And what would you be happy with performance-wise this weekend?

– Get out of groups, anything after that is a bonus. Because that’s another step we’re taking. After the qualifiers we were like ”we’re up here” and if we get out of groups then ”we’re up here”. If we get out of groups we get to the next major so anything after that is just more proving ourselves.