Wiktor ”TaZ” Wojtas. Photo: Adela Sznajder, Dreamhack.

This week CS:GO fans from all around the world have witnessed the first ever Dreamhack Masters tourney in Malmö, Sweden.

Overall things have gone very smoothly and Virtus.Pro player Wiktor ”TaZ” Wojtas praises the organizers:

– The event is great, one of the best I’ve ever attended, the veteran says.

The Polish CS:GO giants Virtus.Pro haven’t exactly had a dream start to the year. However, even though they started off losing a large part of their matches, the experienced LAN squad seemed to have a reawakening at IEM Katowice and MLG Columbus, making it to the playoffs at both tournaments.

Virtus.Pro star Wiktor ”TaZ” Wojtas met up with Aftonbladet Esport. As he looks back to the beginning of the year, the word that comes to mind is ”slump”

– I think we were in a slump, but it wasn’t like we stopped hitting our shots or anything like that.

– Ever since we won CEVO, we tried different things, for example different people leading the team as I just didn’t want to continue with it. We tried Filip ”Neo” Kubski, we tried Jakub ”kuben” Gurczyński and we tried Janusz ”Snax” Pogorzelski, who is currently our in-game leader. We just tried to find a solution which would last in the long run. Sometimes in order to take a few steps forward, you need to just go down.

”Dreamhack just set a new milestone”

As of late, things are looking better. And now they’re heading towards their third tourney playoffs in a row.

– We’re playing with confidence now. A lot of players are getting into shape. It feels good. Tough we only have a plan A, not a plan B or C with different strategies and things like that. We just play with the flow of the game and feel comfortable with it.

Aside from their efforts to restructure the team, the organizer’s hard work in Malmö have also helped a lot. TaZ mentions the hotel location, the practice conditions and tournament schedule as some of the great things at the event. He says it feels like the players have everything they need.

– The event is great, one of the best I’ve ever attended, the veteran says and continues:

– This is a huge step for tournaments and I think Dreamhack just set a new milestone with allowing teams and players to practice like this.

How important is it to have all these things set up for you and the team to perform on top?

– It’s extremely important to practice comfortably and get into the right mind set.

– I just think that at this event all of the teams should feel comfortable and if you’re well prepared you will succeed.

Today, Saturday, all the quarter final matches will be played. As night falls, Virtus.Pro are set to battle Ninjas in Pyjamas, in front of the Swedes home crowd.

– Obviously among all the teams we could’ve gotten in the draw I think NiP are hardest team, TaZ says and continues:

– But we’re not afraid of them, we feel comfortable playing against any opponent at this event. As I always say: We don’t fear any team, other teams should fear us, because if they’re lucky we’ll be off our game and it will be a close match, but if we’re on our game there is no team that can fight us.

”They spend all nights watching demos and preparing”

The road to playoffs have been full of twist and turns. During group stage, the Chinese newcomers of TyLoo came from nowhere and knocked out the standing major champions Luminosity Gaming. TaZ hopes to see more great deeds in the future from his eastern CS:GO colleges.

– It was crazy to see TyLoo eliminate Luminosity, and you could see that the Chinese guys have good aim and their rifling skills are really, really good. They barely had a single bad spray or misshots.

– I think this will be very important for asian CS:GO, as all those players over there will very, very fast start to develop their aim to a level which will be on point with the western teams. In terms of strategy, you can see that League of Legends and Dota2 coaches spend all nights watching demos and replays to get ready for games. It was the same with TyLoo.

– I think it’s really good for the scene. It will start opening eyes in Asia and China, and if you open the Asian audience’s eyes to CS:GO, then you’ll see the viewership numbers jumping like 10 times, prize pools getting bigger, more tourneys will come to Asia.

It would be pretty amazing to see an arena filled with Asian fans.

– I think it’ll be a huge step for Counter-Strike.

– Chinese fans are crazy. It’s always a really great feeling to go there and see how they’re treating you like a rock star. It’s a one of a kind experience which all players, especially the young ones, should have a chance to get.

”In my opinion Virtus.Pro is the best organization out there”

In terms of CS:GO growing, a new trend has been for players to go out on their own and form their own organizations. So far this year we’ve seen the creation of both Astralis and GODSENT.

In 2015 however, TaZ and his team mates signed for two years with Virtus.Pro. Since then CS:GO has grown immensely and many have begun to wonder if the players are still happy with their contracts. TaZ says he can’t go into details, but still comments briefly:

– Virtus.Pro is the best organization I’ve been working with through my whole 16 year long career, TaZ says and continues:

– I can even say that in my opinion Virtus.Pro is the best organization out there. There’s no better treatment of players, they’re honost and transparent, we’re always in open dialog and it’s just good to feel safe and comfortable in practice and when playing big tournaments.

A while back, the Virtus.Pro organization received a huge investment. Has this affected the team in any way?

– I can’t go into detail about that, but I can tell you the plans are really big and the plans are for esports to grow, not only for a team to feel good. I think that’s something great about Virtus.Pro as well.