fnatic have had a ESL One Katowice spot secured ever since their controversial quarter-finals finish at DreamHack Winter 2014, where the team decided to withdraw after events best known as "boostgate".

The Swedes have been placed into group A with a second seed alongside Na`Vi and FlipSid3, while their first match will be against the Australians from Vox Eminor.

KRiMZ

KRiMZ's fnatic are going into ESL One Katowice as favourites

Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson has agreed to fill out fnatic's pre-interview, which naturally mostly revolves around ESL One Katowice, but also some topics not specifically related to the next major.

In case you missed our previous pre-interviews, click through the table below for respective articles:

1. How confident do you feel with your preparation going into ESL One Katowice? Are you having a bootcamp or only practicing online? Is there something you focused on in particular (like new maps, individual form, scouting other teams)?

ANSWER HERE. We have been practicing online for a long time now so we feel very prepared for ESL One Katowice. We have something planned for this event so i cant give any details ;)

2. What do you think about your group? Can you go through each team and tell us how you think you match-up against them? Which two teams should be advancing to playoffs out of Na`Vi, fnatic, Vox Eminor and FlipSid3?

ANSWER HERE. I think we have a good group for us. We have faced Na`Vi on lan so many times so we shouldnt be so surprised with their tactics. I have never faced Vox Eminor but i have seen them play and they have big potential to make it out of the groups. Flipsid3 is a pretty new team and i dont know what to expect from them.

3. What is the minimum placing your team will be satisfied with in Katowice? Do you feel any pressure to succeed, will you be extremely frustrated if you fail to reach your minimum goal?

ANSWER HERE. If we reach the final we have reached our goal. But as always we want to win the whole tournament. Of course i will be very frustrated if we dont reach the final but if you fail it gives you more to fight for.

4. The professional scene has probably never been as competitive as it is now going into this major, but who do you think will end up in the top4 (in no particular order)? And who do you see as the most likely surprise, whether to win it all or get out of the groups ahead of some big favorites?

ANSWER HERE. I think Virtus pro, Titan, EnVyUs and urself will be in the top 4. But i wouldnt be surprised if Flipsid3 would make it to a semi/final because they are a new team and you dont know what you get from a new team.

5. Is there a player or two in your team who you will hope to make the biggest impact in order for the team to achieve its goal (whether in terms of fragging, calling the shots, awping, motivating the rest)?

ANSWER HERE. I always enjoy when JW destroy teams. And he have so much impact on the motivation and our gameplay. I really like when pronax gets his “A-game” on calling beacuse he outsmarts everyteam and he lead the team to victory. But as my first answer i want to see JW smash his enemies.

6. After a slump at the beginning of 2015, you seem to have found your previous form recently, did you change something in particular or are the inidividual players simply performing better?

ANSWER HERE. I wouldnt say we have found our previous form but close to it. Near the end of 2014 we didnt play as we used to but for all teams it goes up and down. Me and my teammates brought our inidivual skill on the table last months and just crushed our opponents. We also did some few changes in our antieco rounds beacuse we have lost to many of them.

7. Now that things have calmed down from the last major’s “boostgate”, what do you think about how that all played out? Would you have done anything differently if you had to do it again? Do you some have hidden tactics prepared this time?

ANSWER HERE. This is a past chapter for us and were focusing on the future. A couple of new boosts maybe haha, to be serious yes we have something planned.

8. There has been an increasingly high number of online leagues and cups lately. How did participating in them affect your team, do you think it helped in preparation or damaged you somehow? And how does it affect the scene in general in your opinion?

ANSWER HERE. All the online matches have helped us for our way to Katowice. We had many victories and few losses. In our losses we have sat down after the match and went through what we did wrong and fixed them. But its from team to team how it feels with online games before a big lan tournament.

9. What does your team think about the changes to Overpass and Cobblestone? Are the changes for the better or worse? Have you practiced them?

ANSWER HERE. We all miss de_train, but its good with new maps especially now with the updates and other fixes on them. We have tried the new maps quiet a bit but theyre new so i it can go either way.

10. Do you like the current state of the pistols, Tec-9 and CZ-75 in particular? Would you make any changes to them or are they all finally balanced enough for competitive play?

ANSWER HERE. I would decrease the ammo in the tec-9. And cz-75 is taking to long to switch up. So decrease the ammo in tec-9 and speed up the switch on cz-75.

11. Reportedly the sticker money from the previous major, DHW, was split according to how many of each team’s stickers were sold. Which way would you prefer it this time, an even split between all legends/challengers or distribution per selling amount? Or perhaps you would like to see a part of it added to prizemoney?

ANSWER HERE. Im fine with how it is now but with a mix of now and a part of the money should go to the prizepool.

12. What is your stance on the current tournament system in the majors? Ever since DreamHack Winter 2013, the system has remained the same with a BO1 group stage, as well as a playoff spot securing a place in the next major. Would you change it in some way or keep it the same going forward?

ANSWER HERE. Its almost random in every BO1 so i would like to see BO3 in the groupstage. I mean if you loose both pistolrounds its kind of hard to win, and pistolrounds are very random.

13. Since the start of 2015 the prize money in most tournaments started rising fast. Although no single tournament “outweighs” the majors yet, do you think that time will come? ESL One Katowice will be a huge event nevertheless - do you expect the viewership record will be broken? How many do you estimate will watch the grand final this time (record is around 500,000 from DHW)?

ANSWER HERE. I think this year will be the biggest for CSGO so definitely it will come a bigger tournament with more prizemoney than 250,000$. I think it will be round 6-700,000k viewers. Thank you for the interview!

How confident do you feel with your preparation going into ESL One Katowice? Are you having a bootcamp or only practicing online? Is there something you focused on in particular? We have been practicing online for a long time now, so we feel very prepared for ESL One Katowice. We have something planned for this event so I can't give any details ;). What do you think about your group? Can you go through each team and tell us how you think you match-up against them? Which two teams should be advancing to playoffs out of Na`Vi, Vox Eminor, FlipSid3 and yourselves? I think we have a good group for us. We have faced Na`Vi on LAN so many times, so we shouldn't be so surprised with their tactics. I have never faced Vox Eminor, but I have seen them play and they have big potential to make it out of the groups. FlipSid3 is a pretty new team and I don't know what to expect from them. What is the minimum placing your team will be satisfied with in Katowice? Do you feel any pressure to succeed, will you be extremely frustrated if you fail to reach your minimum goal? If we reach the final, we have reached our goal. But as always, we want to win the whole tournament. Of course I will be very frustrated if we don't reach the final, but if you fail, it gives you more to fight for. The professional scene has probably never been as competitive as it is now going into this major, but who do you think will end up in the top four? And who do you see as the most likely surprise, whether to win it all or get out of the groups ahead of some big favorites? I think Virtus.pro, Titan, EnVyUs and ourselves will be in the top four. But I wouldn't be surprised if FlipSid3 made it to a semi-final, because they are a new team and you don't know what you get from a new team. Is there a player or two in your team who you will hope to make the biggest impact in order for the team to achieve its goal? I always enjoy when JW destroys teams. And he has so much impact on the motivation and our gameplay. I really like when pronax gets his "A-game" in calling, beacuse he outsmarts every team and he leads the team to victory. But as my first answer, I want to see JW smash his enemies. After a slump at the beginning of 2015, you seem to have found your previous form recently, did you change something in particular or are the inidividual players simply performing better? I wouldn't say we have found our previous form, but we are close to it. Near the end of 2014 we didn't play as we used to, but for all teams it goes up and down. Me and my teammates brought our inidividual skill on the table in the last months and just crushed our opponents. We also did some changes in our antieco rounds, beacuse we have lost too many of them.

JW vs. dignitas

KRiMZ is looking forward to JW "smashing his enemies"

Now that things have calmed down from the last major's "boostgate", what do you think about how that all played out? Would you have done anything differently if you had to do it again? Do you some have hidden tactics prepared this time? This is a past chapter for us and we're focusing on the future. A couple of new boosts maybe haha, but to be serious, yes, we have something planned. There has been an increasingly high number of online leagues and cups lately. How did participating in them affect your team, do you think it helped in preparation or damaged you somehow? And how does it affect the scene in general in your opinion? All the online matches have helped us in our way to Katowice. We had many victories and a few losses. In our losses we have sat down after the match and went through what we did wrong and fixed it. But it differs from team to team, how it feels with online games before a big LAN tournament. What does your team think about the changes to Overpass and Cobblestone? Are the changes for the better or worse? Have you practiced them? We all miss de_train, but it's good with the new maps, especially now with the updates and other fixes on them. We have tried the new maps quite a bit, but they're new, so it can go either way. Do you like the current state of the pistols, Tec-9 and CZ-75 in particular? Would you make any changes to them or are they all finally balanced enough for competitive play? I would decrease the ammo in the Tec-9. And CZ-75 is taking to long to switch up. So decrease the ammo in Tec-9 and speed up the switch on CZ-75. Reportedly the sticker money from the previous major, DHW, was split according to how many of each team's stickers were sold. Which way would you prefer it this time, an even split between all legends/challengers or distribution per selling amount? Or perhaps you would like to see a part of it added to prizemoney? I'm fine with how it is now, but it would be better with a mix of now and a part of the money going to the prizepool. What is your stance on the current tournament system in the majors? Ever since DreamHack Winter 2013, the system has remained the same with a BO1 group stage, as well as a playoff spot securing a place in the next major. Would you change it in some way or keep it the same going forward? It's almost random in every BO1, so I would like to see BO3 in the groupstage. I mean, if you lose both pistol rounds, it's kind of hard to win, and pistol rounds are very random. Since the start of 2015 the prize money in most tournaments started rising fast. Although no single tournament "outweighs" the majors yet, do you think that time will come? ESL One Katowice will be a huge event nevertheless - do you expect the viewership record will be broken? How many do you estimate will watch the grand final this time? I think this year will be the biggest for CS:GO, so a bigger tournament will definitely come with more prizemoney than $250,000. I think it will be round 6-700,000k viewers. Thank you for the interview!

Timo "⁠Spiidi⁠" Richter and Tobias "⁠Troubley⁠" Tabbert have split questions aimed towards the only German team at the event, PENTA, whose interview will be released later today.

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