ShiPZ talks about his career, IGL duties and future goals.
Since 2017, SHiPZ has been a part of the Bulgarian scene in CSGO. He was a part of the most successful Bulgarian roster in history as they lifted the trophy at WESG 2018, and took home a prize of $500,000.
The WESG win was very unexpected, because just before the tournament we had a lot of problems in the team, but once the tournament started everyone got their shit together and the rest is history.
After the Starladder Major in 2019, CR4ZY saw their star duo of huNter- and nexa get picked up by G2, which forced them to rebuild. SHiPZ got the opportunity to finally join an international English-speaking squad. The roster had good results in 2019, even winning Dreamhack Open Rotterdam within days of SHiPZ joining.
After Windigo I decided I needed a new challange, the communication in English was not a problem as I played a lot of FPL, so when I got the call from CR4ZYI decided to go for a trial at DreamHack Rotterdam.
Winning DraemHack Rotterdam after just 3-4 days practice with the team was amazing as I never even got out of the DreamHack groups before so I decided to sign with them. We had pretty good results till the end of the year.
The start of 2020, was a time of backroom battles, as the three major TOs were battling to sign partner teams and set up their own franchised leagues. For B Site's league project, Flashpoint, many NA-based teams bought into the league even if they didn't have teams in CSGO. One of these teams was c0ntact, who came in and bought out the entire CR4ZY roster to play in Flashpoint 1.
The global shutdown sent the whole CS scene online, and c0ntact had it rough, playing Flashpoint 1 with a stand-in and then traveling back to the EU to play in the Road To Rio RMR event, failing to perform at both events.
Well after we got bought by c0ntact and covid-19 hit, everything changed. First of all letn1 didn't get visa for Flashpoint 1 and we had to get a standin 24 hours before travelling to LA so we got rallen, but anyway we should have at least made it to the playoffs so it was a really dissapointing result. The RMR was very unlucky too as some of the players with stuck in LA for weeks and we couldn't practice a lot.
XL: Near the end of your time in c0ntact, you were a part of the lineup with Snappi, what was the experience playing with him as an IGL? What went wrong in that roster?
SHiPZ: Snappi is a really good and experienced IGL, sadly we didn't get along very well, mainly because at the time he joined I was not very motivated to play and didn't believe in the team anymore so my approach to the game was not the best and obviously he was not very pleased and that's why we decided its time for a change.
XL: At the end of 2020, you were signed by SKADE to replace SPELLAN as the IGL of the team. How did you end up playing with them?
SHiPZ: At the time SPELLAN was no longer part of SKADE and I was on the bench in c0ntact they asked me to stand-in until they find a 5th. After playing some matches with them I saw the potential and my motivation to play and win came back. As the most experienced player, we decided I should take over the IGL role, and I already had some experience in it in Windigo as I was helping bubble a lot with mid-round calls.
XL: What is the most difficult thing about leading a team that you didn't realize would be a big difficulty when you were just a player?
SHiPZ: The most difficult thing as an IGL is that you need to think not only about your game, but about your teammates as well and the frustration of course when people do stupid mistakes that cost us rounds, it affects you more as an IGL.
On his Role as the In-Game Leader
XL: What is your IGLing style, is it a looser game plan with a focus on midround calling like Karrigan or Pronax, or is it more like Gla1ve or blameF's in-depth anti-strat and set rounds system?
SHiPZ: My IGLing style is more of a looser style and on feeling and then adapting to whatever happens during the round that way your opponents won't know what to expect.
XL: Who has taught you the most as an IGL?
SHiPZ: The person who taught me the most inside the game probably would be bubble during my time in Windigo.
XL: Throughout the first half of 2021, you had massive win-streaks with multiple 15+ Bo3 win-streaks. How was the first half of 2021, in your opinion?
SHiPZ: The first half of 2021 was the best we could hope for, we showed everyone we are capable of being a stable and consistent team, we had our downs as well, but overall I'm very happy with the results.
XL: Bulgarian teams have a reputation for being better online than on LAN. Do you think there's some truth to this? After such a long time playing online, how is the transition to LAN going to be for you?
SHiPZ: Actually I think bulgarians are better on lan it's just that we don't get much events to play at and the reputation that we are better online comes from online haters who probably lost money betting on csgo games.
XL: What do you think about the grenade drop patch?
SHiPZ: I like the update, I just don't like the timing of it. But to make this kind of update a week before one week before an RMR is kinda stupid.
XL: What are the future goals for the team outside this major cycle?
SHiPZ: The future goals of our team are to break in the top 10 and to attend as many tier-1 tournaments as possible.
While they weren't able to make the cut for the major, they still made their mark at the IEM Fall RMR, beating out the new look Fnatic and their regional rivals in Fiend. They also pushed all the teams to the limit, never getting stomped out in the match. Their future looks promising as they continue to make strides towards becoming a top contender.
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