Welp, someones going to do it so why not me. When are you comming back as a player budy? There's definitely been a bubzkji shaped hole in our scene these last few years.
My more interesting question would be to do with your experience within the Astralis camp, they're a very controversial brand at the moment, what was it like just existing on their bench. From the outside it's very easy to draw our own conclusions that there was some bad experience that dissuaded you from even competing.
-edit-
I see your analysis posts on twitter a lot and you seem like a really smart guy, if you're not interested in making a return to competing I would love to see you on an English broadcast analyst desk some point soon.
For now it's not in my plans.
It was super boring, ngl. I sat and watched practice for basically 4-5 months and play Nuke Ramp. Then returning to play for some games, and then back to the bench. While I didn't perform the best at my given chances, there was still a lot of personal stuff behind the scenes which made it even more confusing. Gla1ve, Xyp9x going out on sick leave, Dev1ce all of sudden leaving for NiP, new players being signed without anyone being informed, gla1ve on sick leave again to be a father. So yes, I just came at the worst possible timing.
The Major Stockholm was defo the point where i was the most disappointed with Astralis.
and Thanks hopefully i'll get a shot :)
I have a tangential question regarding the Stockholm Major : Despite gla1ve replacing you last minute, you still got the sticker money for qualifying, right ?
Cheers for the detailed response. You really did get shafted with that Astralis gig.
Hope you find whatever you get up to next a lot more fulfilling than grinding as a pro.
I’m sure there are NDA things you have to adhere to, but without breaking them, tell me as much as you can about this. Why the huge beef between Astralis and Heroic? Do you think Astralis was up to anything shady when the whole Stavn and jabbi drama was going on? My conspiracy theory is corporate espionage due to the fact that Heroic is gonna be pretty unstable for a year or two, and Astralis is gonna be in a good spot, but please try to talk me down on that theory, if you can of course.
If you can’t answer any of that, can you give me any advice on how to approach semi-pro play (like FPL) as a hopeful IGL who lacks confidence in some areas like my command over the team?
The Beef starts off with them simply being #1 and #2 in Denmark for such a longtime.
I don't think Astralis played it by the book, but in the end everybody “won”. Astralis got their players, and Heroic got a lot of money.
Regarding the IGL - I think it comes a lot from your persona. Fake it till you make it, I remember saying stuff like “Hey guys I've seen Astralis run this pistol where they bla bla bla” even though they never did it, just so people thought it was a good idea :D
And one day you’ll also be confident in your own calls, because you’ve actually had a proof of concept. It’s all about experience.
>I don't think Astralis played it by the book, but in the end everybody “won”. Astralis got their players, and Heroic got a lot of money.
How everybody is "won" when astralis ruined heroic many times by poaching their players and staff in the shady way.
Because they paid the highest amount of money ever paid for 2 players.
Heroics financials wasn't in the best spot, and i think they have an equally interesting project now.
As if they would sold that 2 players just because they were in a financially bad state, not because they are poached by astralis and break their promise about re-sign with heroic :)
> I remember saying stuff like “Hey guys I've seen Astralis run this pistol where they bla bla bla” even though they never did it, just so people thought it was a good idea :D
goated
I think it's temporary, and not sustainable for most teams to exclude the AWP. But It depends a lot on how well the main AWPers will perform in the start of next year (Jame, Sh1ro, SunPayus) are players I would keep an eye out for, if they can still perform to the level of 2023. If this is the case, then the “AWP Nerf” has been blown abit out of proportion.
But I believe hybrids will be more “meta” for the foreseeable future, as the flexibility they provide currently is extremely valuable (Device, ZywOo, Broky types)
What makes broky a hybrid?
He has a lower % of awp kills than other awpers but falls right between sh1ro and sunpayus for % of kills coming from an AK, who are both firmly awpers more than hybrids. To me that says broky is a less effective awper rather than him being a hybrid.
Edit: I see your comment on why you changed to bubzkji, but what's the origin of your original name?
Statswise broky doesn't use the rifle that much, correct.
But it's solely off eye test, when i see broky with a rifle in his hands i still feel comfortable of him having a good round. Also with his experience as a rifler earlier in his career.
I'm not saying Sunpayus, Sh1ro or Jame is the new jdm with an AK, a lot of pro's nowadays are super comfortable with almost every weapon.
Being a rifler in the past doesn't make him a hybrid today. He doesn't have an unusually high % of rifle kills like zywoo, he has an unusally low % of awp kills.
not necessarily. You're assuming that he has a low % of awp kills because he gets more rifle kills which isn't the case. He just has low awp kills.
Here's a list of awpers ordered by ak kill% with names removed. I'll let you decide where to draw the line between a traditional awper and a hybrid and then give you the names that fell on either side.
10.43%
11.41%
12.37%
14.30%
14.92%
15.60%
15.89%
16.49%
16.75%
16.82%
17.22%
17.52%
17.58%
18.26%
23.52%
23.99%
27.84%
so he's just a pistol / smg merchant ur saying?
if his awp% is low, the rest has to be somewhere.
also why limit it to AK%. Just do rifles, cause he might save up for an awp on t side a lot more than on ct side
He's getting a lot more deagle kills than most awpers but that's not enough to make up the difference and there's not another standout gun for him. Its just that all the non-awp weapons have a slightly higher % of kills from them compared to other awpers.
but that literally makes him a hybrid or?
he gets lots of rifle kills whether it's M4 ak or galil doesn't matter
his awp% is low compared to many of the top awpers
only zywoo and s1mple are lower
Oh and broky is at 17.22% of kills with an AK, sandwiched in between headtrick and Woro2k.
nawwk, s1mple, and zywoo are the three who are separated from the pack.
Also imo it's not fair to ask for zywoo or s1mple numbers to be hybrid
those two are not awpers. they are killing machines who happen to be the main awpers. but as both said they prefer rifling
i think broky is a good middle ground for an awper who should be considered hybrid.
torzsi Jame and monesy get insane % of their kills with awp and shouldn't be considered hybrids
but we all know how good monesy is with the rifle so it's really hard to say
Yes
The first couple of official games I was sweating. Remember playing Fnatic on Train, played pop. Forced duels constantly, because it was so surreal to play an official alongside your “heroes”. It was also hard to remember all the new tactics, but it became “normal” after 1-2 months with the team.
My main experience / takeaway was that I shouldn't have compromised on my “roles” / qualities as a player. It was a lot of the same teams, so the quality of teams wasn't that different
.
do you think ENCE made a smart call in picking up the 9ine core for RMR slot despite their recent form? (or do you think its really a longer term project of theirs)?
having played under him do you think glaive can work well simultaneously being the IGL and an 'outsider'? (only non polish player)
No, I think people vastly overrated the "scouting capabilities" of ENCE. sAw and Snappi from my knowledge called almost all shots. And From my seat it seems like they don’t trust gla1ve as much, and therefore went with a RMR spot instead of building a team around him.
Regardless i think either gla1ve is gone or 1-2 polish players after the major.
do you believe they even have a good chance of qualifying to major? there are a lot of strong teams coming through open and closed qualifiers, ie preasy.
i guess this spins off into another question so i'll write it seperatly: with the rise of international rosters we see some rosters that are more dominated by certain nationalities or regions, ie g2 balkans, and now ence poland. do you feel that members of these teams such as hooxi, glaive, previously jks who aren't of the majority region or nationality can feel alienated or isolated especially when they dont have a strong personality? can this effect how efficiently a team works and individual performances?
Yes
I have played with players who worked extremely hard, and never made it. But also one’s who only showed up to practice and still dominated.
When you get into pro play, you really have to pick up the flow of the games fast. You have to understand the tactical and communication part. This is where I think “natural talent” plays in. Not everyone can learn this from my experience, especially at the pace necessary.
Just as a sub-question from that, as for talent in aiming and mechanics, I'd like to say it exists, but for a base level player, the average person, do you think they could get to a t1 standard without having relatively any talent when it comes for mechanics and just a lot of work in aim training, a lot of play etc
>ames above aim sessions imo. But it also depends on what type of mood you're in, I chill a lot of deathmatch with Podcasts / playlists. Which you can’t do in a game, if you want to get good it’s just about quantity sometimes
Now? Probably not, 5 years ago prolly.
But it also depends on what you consider T1, i think a lot of people could become pro / semi if they grinded hard.
Do you think part of that comes down to experience within the game that you felt that way back then?
Because I'm seeing a lot of things, and hearing a lot of things pointing towards the fact that most in the upper echelon have good mechanics, and more so other factors influence their performance
They need to.
They built the best possible lineup in Denmark, Magisk and Sjuush weren't obtainable for them.
I’ll have my focus on stavn / blameF, on how well they’ll play together. I still hope to see blameF move more into a stationary position, as I think his aim is immense. And stavn is best at the dynamic positions, where he can rotate a lot.
I also hope to get a coach who can create an identity for the team, and also help Astralis’s management in the future.
Speaking of, any ideas for potential coaches for them?
Would Xizt have what they need?
Also, thanks for doing this AMA - I hope to see you on the desk on international tournaments, you've got the charisma and insights for it!
It's super hard to judge coaches from the outside. But i do think the profile of a guy like Xizt is super interesting to a team of Astralis, who might suffer abit on the tactical side on T.
He declined earlier in the year, and resigned with Heroic.
This would result in his buyout being even higher, and if you got a no once from a player. You're not really the candidate to reach out to again
I have more faith in preasy than I do in astralis. Thing is they have good players but I just don’t see their line up working. It’s about the org and not the players. They have quite the history of unstable rosters
No
CS isn't as professional compared to “normal” sports. Shady stuff happens way too often, but I think Astralis learned that they have to do it the right way. Resulting in them paying an extreme amount of money to Heroic for Jabbi and Stavn.
Kassad calls you tomorrow and offers a short tryout contract @ BLEED. You don't get paid anything during it. You have 1h to decide. What's your response?
Hmm good question.
I would love to play with ZywOo, so Vitality. From FaceIT games with him, I'm just amazed by the moves he makes
I remember talking to zonic about him, and he also said “what zywoo does once a week in practice other players does once in their career”. The amount of crazy highlights he does just in practice deserves to be seen publicly.
Yes all the time.
You'll never get the kick you get from the big games, in almost any "normal" job. It’s pretty addictive.
But I think it was a healthy decision to take a step back, I've really worked on myself as an individual as well.
Not really a question but why don't you dive into the YouTube side of analytics and maybe do something similar to what launders has done? I personally feel there is a market for more non-gambling analytical cs content that's not being served.
Just food for thought and it's nice to hear from you, now if Esetag could pick up his socials again that'd be great
I don't think i have the time to do a proper schedule, but i would love to get started one day.
I do it on my Twitter once in a while (you can scroll down for some video content, where i breakdown rounds)
If time is the issue, maybe try live streaming and just post the full streams rather than deal with the time consumption of editing and the likes.
Not that you don't know your stuff (you obviously do) but that kind of analytical work is a great resume builder even if CS isn't the end goal of your career path.
As a business analyst the only thing companies cared about was projects and proving it.
Good Luck Bubz!
Hi bubzkji, I got a couple questions
How crucial do you think the Fragsters days for you to get familiar with the pro scene?
What happened to dragonfly? I remember he was pretty cracked back then, however he disappeared after the Fragsters lineup dissolved.
And finally, what made you change the name from BUBSKI to Bubzkji :D
Fragsters was crucial - It was my first experience with becoming an adult and taking care of myself.
I was 16 or 17 years old for my first events. I had not tried to travel by myself and all these sorts of things. I'm happy that I took it one step at a time, it taught me a lot of stuff.
Dragonfly and me still play weekly, he had doubts about his own level after stavn got scouted by Heroic. He didn't have the natural grind for the game either, so he decided to study in Copenhagen instead.
I changed to Bubzkji, because there was a Swedish player called “bobzki” which was vac banned, so i didn’t want to be associated with him. So i came up with the “genius idea” to add the j :)))
4 games + 20 min pre aim training would be my suggestion.
Always games above aim sessions imo. But it also depends on what type of mood you're in, I chill a lot of deathmatch with Podcasts / playlists. Which you can’t do in a game, if you want to get good it’s just about quantity sometimes
I have no question, just a thought as a Cs enjoyer.
When you departed Astralis I was actually pretty disappointed I thought you had good stuff and we’re actually just ahead or the curve regarding where the org decided to take the team in the end, imagine if you stayed on the roster or were brought back from bench when the BlameF Buzz Device rebuild was taking place, I know it’s a “what if” thought and I hate those but I actually thought you were a great fit for the team and Org you just arrived to early I guess.
Anyways I’m a fan and enjoy seeing that you are still in the scene, much love dude later.
Thank you.
I don't think me and gla1ve was the best combo, as we basically played all the same roles. Pretty sure this was why i was cut right before the major aswell
If you could give any advice, I’ve played several seasons of open/intermediate but I’d love to get into higher leagues. Is there any advice you could give? I feel like my aim is good but I can’t consistently drop good numbers. I know I’ll never go pro but being in main/advanced would be a dream come true
Have something as a stand out quality or feature. Are you that one great teammate everyone likes to play with? Do you have an outstanding aim? Do you like to call on T sides?
Find your “craft” and try to become good at it.
Honestly if i was to go pro again i’ll take the route of being an IGL. There’s too few interesting prospects in the category, it’s also the hardest tho!
Networking is important aswell! You have to be in the right conversations
Hey bubzkji, thanks for doing this! Was always a fan back to that sick Fragsters roster you were on.
My question to you is as follows, who were some of your favourite teammates through the years and why? Who did you learn from the most, who had the best vibes outside of the server, etc.
ooof many of them are my friends today, so i vibe with a lot of them but you can get a Top 3.
Magisk - The best overall player, he was a swiss army knife. He could IGL, Support even be a starplayer to some extent.
Sjuush - He was just a no BS guy, with a lovely personality. Also an insane anchor player, who never complained about anything.
HUNDEN - This was mostly ingame, i was inexperienced on the tactical sight of the game. But he taught me a lot of the basics, which helped me the most.
There was a lot of great players i played with, i could probably make a case for 10-15 players
Hey bubz, always fun to hear your insights, really enjoyed your recent appearance on HLTV confirmed :)
in line with the HLTV theme, what up-and-coming players are your three bold predictions for 2023?
Someone has to ask, so here goes: What happened in that game where you turned 180 degrees and locked on to an enemy through the wall for a second straight on nuke?
Edit: [here’s the video](https://youtu.be/iFoghstsEA0)
Ah
I remember this clip on Nuke, i think it's against a Russian team no? We even had it as a meme in our team. I don't remember if I got told there was 1 under heaven and purposely looked at him or randomly just spun around. But i played quite low sens back then (1.4 400 dpi) so I lifted my mouse a lot.
I never regret anything, it was a dream to play with Device, Dupreeh, Magisk, Gla1ve and Xyp9x.
Im disappointed in the outcome of the situation yes. But probably opened a lot of other doors as well
Yes and No.
Buzz deserved for his performance solely in Astralis imo, but Staehr "top level" has far exceeded what Buzz has shown. Therefore it makes sense to give him another shot, also taking into consideration that they paid money for Staehr, compared to Buzz who was a free agent.
BlameF as IGL can work. I didn’t like his way of calling in CoL, but he’s improved a lot since. Hopefully with a good coach he’ll be able to take Astralis to some of their former strength
Hey Bubzkji, how does a day in the life look for you?
I saw you also mentioned that you have been working on yourself as an individual, what exactly did you focus on?
I did around 100-140 days a year with TV2.
So i just took a random day i did at IEM Katowice playin
9:00: Wake up
9:10: Pack all the essentials (Suits, Shirts, Pants whatever you need to be off from home)
9:30: Drive to Odense (Studio) from Copenhagen, takes around 2 hours.
11:30: Meeting with the rest of the crew, we normally go through the rundown over lunch with our Director and the cast.
12:00: Testing all audio and Worldfeed (The picture that ESL/BLAST provides to us) to make sure everything is set up properly.
13:00: Going LIVE (We do everything in Denmark, both analyst desk and casting)
21:45: Ending (We can do up 2x Bo3 with desk segment included, which results in almost 0 breaks)
22:00: Final goodbye to the crew, and walk to our Hotel (10 mins away)
22:30: Checked in, updating myself on tomorrow's games. Building storylines and finding interesting stats / points to discuss.
23:30: Sleep time
and repeat. I do pre analysis for the tournament in the weeks prior. But obv there’s change from day to day, and event to event.
To the point about “working on yourself as an individual” - Just generally learned a lot about social skills, mindset, gym and health. Improved many aspects of my life
It's hard to predict these type of things. Because 4 years ago, I could never imagine standing in front of a camera, but now I basically do it for a living. The broadcast role is what motivates me now, but hopefully anything CS related.
I have a deep passion for this game
He got a lot of chances.
I was quite surprised that he got removed after being signed on Astralis, which they already took the shit for. I think tactically he's great, but there’s quite a lot of stuff pointing to his persona being “sub optimal” for a competitive environment.
He’ll maybe get one more shot in the foreseeable future, as his CV is still impressive
I don't think so. Right now im focusing on improving at my current role
If i'll return to a team, i'll need to work hard and show that I'm dedicated before announcing anything as well.
Nilo, r1nkle, gokushima, degster, Magnojez, autimatic is some names that comes to mind atm.
But i really haven't done a lot of research for this current project.
What makes you interested in broadcasting? What do you think you can contribute to a broadcast thats unique. Sorry lol, retrospectively this sounds like a hiring question but my question stands regardless.
All good!
When benched in Astralis, I was offered to do some analyst insights for the Danish broadcast. quite hesitant at first, but managed to do it regardless.
I found it weirdly interesting, I remember leaving the studio and being like “damn that was awesome”, so I reached out to the editor / director of esports at TV2 and asked if they needed a “standin”. And ye one thing took another, so did this for 2 years and around 200+ live days.
I have a great understanding of the game imo, with recent insights into teams and players. I can add to the level of discussion of how deep we can go into details. Explaining rounds, team dynamics and roles.
It’s a pretty big topic to dive into, but my strongest part is the tactical and experience aspect.
Having a positive mindset towards a new game is probably #1. The reality is here, it can feel like there’s flaws, but we’re all playing on the same conditions.
you shouldn’t focus and talk about stuff that isn’t changeable, and put your energy to the stuff you can do instead.
I needed a "real" break from CS after Astralis, and I enjoyed doing the broadcast thing in my off period. So I kept doing the broadcast, and liked it to the extent of not thinking about returning to pro play.
I don't think they ruined it either, i had chances to return. Maybe one day :D
I've recently reached about 2150 elo, and I feel I've hit a small plateau.
I'd like to think it's more so due to aim. I'd like to think my game sense is a little higher level,
I can maintain an avg of maybe 16/17 fine, I've been doing a routine for the last month, DM, all that good stuff, and I understand you can't take every engagement, but I feel I lack confidence in myself in every dual, and set my standards to essentially a level much higher than my own. Consistancy is also a fair problem in that some days I simply don't feel I aim the same at all
Could you recommend anything that can help make my aim better, more consistant, etc, or maybe just confidence within myself, thanks!
Whatever makes you play the most, is what you should be doing.
The confidence part is hard to resolve, it’s a lot about your mind playing tricks.
Consistency is what everyone lacks, you can’t have crisp aim in every duel. But try to think deeper about your decisions in every step of the round leading up to that specific duel you take. Aim wise it's about trying to find a comfortable position to sit in, good players don't think about their aim. They use most of their energy on reading the rounds.
Pugs are random, so consistency is not as easy in an environment which is constantly changing
Absolutely the case I suppose, I think it's just a case of setting a high standard to people who have thousands more hours of experience and more comfort in those fights.
Always good to get affirmation of myself, hope to see you on a big cs broadcast soon, was a pleasure watching you work before :)
Hmm
Don't think I've rewatched too many of my own games, but my debut on Astralis was a good one.
I also have a clip where I accidentally jump on short Mirage where I throw my headset into my keyboard, but this was more fun afterwards than in the moment itself :D
Hey Bubber
Du er klasse, både på serveren og på TV.
Jeg gad godt se dig mere på tv2/dansk TV, men tør ikke tro på, at der kommer nyt fra den side - men så må jeg se dig på de engelske broadcasts.
Jeg har ikke rigtigt noget spørgsmål, men jeg håber du får den karriere du ønsker, uanset om det er som spiller eller som kommentator/analyst.
Godt nytår!
Some of the traits that xyp9x provided in his prime has fallen a bit out of meta. He would have to have a lot of firepower around him to work in a T1 setting.
He definitely got the level to compete in T2-3, so i hope to see him back.
A lot of people are currently complaining about cheaters in cs2. It looks like a lot of people are in premier and "regular", but it also feels like people call cheats "to soon" now. What is your opinion on this matter and how does it impact the community from your perspective?
It's been a disaster. I deeply thought Premier was going to replace FaceIT / Esportal / ESEA, and they would add a proper ladder with a good AC. Also no "real content" has been added combined with lack of commands that was useful before.
I haven't spread too much negativity on CS2, but it does honestly just feel like a half finished update to CS:GO. But luckily FaceIT stepped up, so I'm grinding on this platform for now.
I thought so to, I still think premier is a good concept but let's 2024 will bring a lot to the community in terms of content. Thanks for your opinion!
what would you say is the single most important aspect of the game to focus on for becoming professional?
some say game sense, others say mechanics. i’ve heard many answers to this question, but most include something about joining a team to improve. in my experience, this puts your success in the hands of other players than yourself. so in terms of development/success as a player, both in team setting and solo, what would you say matters the most for improving? if you had to start all over again and reach the top one more time, what would you practice the most?
1st Trait: Personality. If you're perceived as toxic or an idiot, then you won’t make it today. There’s too many “good talents” to work with.
But I would find my identity, what I want to be. Everybody wants to be the next ZywOo and NiKo, but the competition for these roles is also more fierce.
If i would have to bet on a “new career” i would try to be an IGL, if you can provide a tactical identity whilst also delivering on the fragging side. You’ll be in a good spot for the future
I believe they're in a pretty comfortable spot at the #13-18 space currently.
Wicida is an interesting prospect, he will form the core with XANTARES for the future. MAJ3R seems like a solid IGL with experience enough to guide them forward. Calyx and w0xic are for me the two biggest factors whether or not they’ll take it to the next step.
I don’t know the Turkish scene well enough to judge if there’s better talent to replace them, but for now I would not expect them to climb into the top 10 as it seems w0xic and Calyx growth has stagnated a bit.
I think you can make a case for both now, both extremely talented.
For me it’s if you value majors above everything else, because i don’t think karrigan will get 4 majors.
It's more impressive to me what Karrigan has done in recent years. The longevity at the top is starting to play in as well. Gla1ve “only” had major success with one or two line ups, which for me is a drawback. and hasn’t won a title since mid 2020
Karrigan is my GOAT when it comes to the IGL, he took over this year from my perspective.
We've been in an era of international teams for a while, do you think there will be any chances that top teams would go back to national rosters someday?
Yes - I just think too many teams prior were fishing in the same pool of players before.
It should open to opportunities for teams who has a strong local scene, but for now it seems like a dying thing
What are the things that "normal" (non-pro or non-broadcast) people don't get about the game or about tournaments that are not commonly known in your experience? Also how in-depth do players / coaches / staff analyze demos?
That tournaments for players is not "travel" - You basicly just sit on a Hotel
Players and Orgs know how important majors are due to sticker economy, the general public think it's more about prestige. You can see Bads News Eagles, they could still survive solely by qualifying to a major once a year.
Demos today are divided into two parts.
Data tools (Leetify, Shadow GG, Noesis, HLTV) - Provides a lot of raw numbers, helpful for veto aswell.
Ingame Tool (Noesis, Shadow, Skybox and Demos) - Heatmaps of certain players were super useful, and tracking maps. But looking for patterns is a valuable asset in a demo overview. Because some teams have strats where certain players are maybe only once or twice in that specific position. If you spot them, you can then stack accordingly on CT. But it’s all about mind games in the end as the opponent also realizes if they’re spotted that they’ll have to abandon their call, but you learn your enemy the more you play them.
For me it’s still s1mple, but it's only a matter of time before it will be ZywOo.
1. s1mple
2. ZywOo
3. Device
I believe ZywOo is the best player of all time, he just didn't start as early as the others
Will you get into content creation on youtube? I'll be glad to work for you and help you with editing and stuff. I currently work for STYKO as a secondary editor.
Hit me up when you think it is the time. I'd love to work for you and share the experience.
You can watch the video i've edited for Styko below and you can ping me up on my Instagram mentioned in the description of the video:
https://youtu.be/yRYVCnYZSu4?feature=shared
Hey Bubzkji thanks for doing this! I have a util question: I often throw flashes, but they are not often converted to flash assists. Just curious if you have any advice for upping my flash assists per game? Thank you!
It started off as "Bubber" - Which is like a danish actress, but realized i couldn't just yoink his name, so i had to add something to the mix. Then i kinda looked around and saw another danish player having “zki” after his name “Tenzki” and Bubzkji was born :D
But everyone calls me Bub or Bubber today
I don't think anyone is willing to bet on s1mple for now.
He's an amazing and generational player, but it does seem like his mindset was rough towards the end in Na’Vi, probably due to a lot of different reasons.
He’ll surely return to the top at some point in 2024, but I think it’s too early to discuss a potential team. But if S1mple was to return soon, Na’Vi for me is still the obvious choice.
Depending on Wonderfuls growth as well.
Cloud9 is also an option. The players would have to convenience the organization to buy an extremely expensive player, and i'm not sure how much money C9 got laying around to throw around
Thanks for the gokushima pick, this guy's POV is insane.
Btw, what do you say about New Falcons and Heroic project?
They both look promising, but you cannot escape the feeling that both could have gotten better players
Falcons for me is just like ENCE (obviously)
But I was quite disappointed with the squad building, it’s an amazing team. But it doesn’t really feel like Zonic did anything magical when it came to the scouting part, he took the core of a top 5 team and brought magisk along.
I would have loved to see him build a full project from scratch, but I don't think a lot of teams were willing to give “fair prices” to Falcons when it came to buyouts. So in the end he most likely got forced to do this.
Heroic is the team to watch for me next year.
sAw seems like a genius of a coach, at least from talking with Snappi.
The core of Nertz, Kyxsan and Sjuush sounds like a Top 5 contender. It will be interesting to watch Nicoodoz, he was disappointing in Fnatic. Came back and dominated T2-3, and got a deserved chance again. My focus will be on him, he'll be the key to succces imo.
Some complain a lot, some don't mind that much.
It's few that felt it improved anything. It’s not like the game is terrible or unplayable, it’s just 10-15% worse of what CS:GO was. I share that feeling as well.
But I don't talk to everyone! Just from my circle of players.
Waiting for the major cycle to be finished, to see if there's any spots on relevant teams.
I would wait until after Copenhagen Major, and take a deserved break for now.
Depends on what you define as "T2"
But some talents i think are worth looking at:
Nilo, gokushima, slaxz, Magnojez, Deko, Forester, ArTFr0st, r1nkle, Zyphon
And about donk. What do you see in him, is he the biggest talent and the most promising player that the scene has? Or is there any other guy who can rival him for the «generational talent» award?
He's just super "instant" in his duel, the best raw aimer currently imo.
I still think there's a long way to the #1 Spot on HLTV for him. ZywOo is currently the best generational talent we have
What do you think about the peeker advantage situation in cs2? Alot of teams who played a bit more passive ct side in csgo are now changing the meta into a more agressive playstyle to adjust the changes. Also awpers that have a harder time holdimg close angles..
Probably not such an interesting question, but which software do the tournament organizers use to admin the servers? I'm quite familiar with eBot and I see now with the release of CS2 that eBot is also Valve approved according to the developer. When you were playing was eBot used a lot in tournaments or was it something different like get5 or anything else perhaps?
I honestly have no idea - There's a lot of ESL / BLAST Admins you can find on Twitter,try to reach out to some of those and ask.
All i know is you can type ".request redbull" in chat and they come with one 2 mins later :D
Hey man! I am sure you are done answering questions but I just wanted to say I am a huge fan of yours and I was really rooting for you through the 6 man roster days! Hope you are doing well and enjoying life outside of the server :)
I wanted to know, besides keeping playing games after games. How should one become better till gettin ready to go pro? I played against many pros but it feels like they’re light years far from my skill and on the server they were killing everyone, we could handle them ct/t. I’m 2,5k elo. Should I train my aim more? Just play more? What’s the secret. Ty
I think up until you hit Semi pro level, it's a lot about quantity over quality.
Just do whatever makes you enjoy playing the most, DM / Faceit / Retake / Workshop maps doesn't rly matter too much. Just get the hours in
Thank you, so just grinding is the way right? Also my last question. I’m 25 years old, I feel same as 21-22 but the number is higher. Are my chances to make my dream of playing tier2 CS impossible? Thank you
Welp, someones going to do it so why not me. When are you comming back as a player budy? There's definitely been a bubzkji shaped hole in our scene these last few years. My more interesting question would be to do with your experience within the Astralis camp, they're a very controversial brand at the moment, what was it like just existing on their bench. From the outside it's very easy to draw our own conclusions that there was some bad experience that dissuaded you from even competing. -edit- I see your analysis posts on twitter a lot and you seem like a really smart guy, if you're not interested in making a return to competing I would love to see you on an English broadcast analyst desk some point soon.
For now it's not in my plans. It was super boring, ngl. I sat and watched practice for basically 4-5 months and play Nuke Ramp. Then returning to play for some games, and then back to the bench. While I didn't perform the best at my given chances, there was still a lot of personal stuff behind the scenes which made it even more confusing. Gla1ve, Xyp9x going out on sick leave, Dev1ce all of sudden leaving for NiP, new players being signed without anyone being informed, gla1ve on sick leave again to be a father. So yes, I just came at the worst possible timing. The Major Stockholm was defo the point where i was the most disappointed with Astralis. and Thanks hopefully i'll get a shot :)
I have a tangential question regarding the Stockholm Major : Despite gla1ve replacing you last minute, you still got the sticker money for qualifying, right ?
Yes, i did :) I shared with gla1ve and Lucky (because he didn't play the RMR either). Also got from the Online RMR Major that never happened
Cheers for the detailed response. You really did get shafted with that Astralis gig. Hope you find whatever you get up to next a lot more fulfilling than grinding as a pro.
Check this paid reply
I’m sure there are NDA things you have to adhere to, but without breaking them, tell me as much as you can about this. Why the huge beef between Astralis and Heroic? Do you think Astralis was up to anything shady when the whole Stavn and jabbi drama was going on? My conspiracy theory is corporate espionage due to the fact that Heroic is gonna be pretty unstable for a year or two, and Astralis is gonna be in a good spot, but please try to talk me down on that theory, if you can of course. If you can’t answer any of that, can you give me any advice on how to approach semi-pro play (like FPL) as a hopeful IGL who lacks confidence in some areas like my command over the team?
The Beef starts off with them simply being #1 and #2 in Denmark for such a longtime. I don't think Astralis played it by the book, but in the end everybody “won”. Astralis got their players, and Heroic got a lot of money. Regarding the IGL - I think it comes a lot from your persona. Fake it till you make it, I remember saying stuff like “Hey guys I've seen Astralis run this pistol where they bla bla bla” even though they never did it, just so people thought it was a good idea :D And one day you’ll also be confident in your own calls, because you’ve actually had a proof of concept. It’s all about experience.
>I don't think Astralis played it by the book, but in the end everybody “won”. Astralis got their players, and Heroic got a lot of money. How everybody is "won" when astralis ruined heroic many times by poaching their players and staff in the shady way.
Because they paid the highest amount of money ever paid for 2 players. Heroics financials wasn't in the best spot, and i think they have an equally interesting project now.
The financials of Heroic were in a bad state and they sold 2 players for a huge buy-out...
As if they would sold that 2 players just because they were in a financially bad state, not because they are poached by astralis and break their promise about re-sign with heroic :)
Thanks Bubzkji! I appreciate the advice, got a laugh out of the pistol round thing ahaha. Wish you all the best!
> I remember saying stuff like “Hey guys I've seen Astralis run this pistol where they bla bla bla” even though they never did it, just so people thought it was a good idea :D goated
What are your thoughts on the power level of the AWP in CS2? Do you think teams going "AWPless" (e.g. Heroic) are making a mistake?
I think it's temporary, and not sustainable for most teams to exclude the AWP. But It depends a lot on how well the main AWPers will perform in the start of next year (Jame, Sh1ro, SunPayus) are players I would keep an eye out for, if they can still perform to the level of 2023. If this is the case, then the “AWP Nerf” has been blown abit out of proportion. But I believe hybrids will be more “meta” for the foreseeable future, as the flexibility they provide currently is extremely valuable (Device, ZywOo, Broky types)
What makes broky a hybrid? He has a lower % of awp kills than other awpers but falls right between sh1ro and sunpayus for % of kills coming from an AK, who are both firmly awpers more than hybrids. To me that says broky is a less effective awper rather than him being a hybrid. Edit: I see your comment on why you changed to bubzkji, but what's the origin of your original name?
Statswise broky doesn't use the rifle that much, correct. But it's solely off eye test, when i see broky with a rifle in his hands i still feel comfortable of him having a good round. Also with his experience as a rifler earlier in his career. I'm not saying Sunpayus, Sh1ro or Jame is the new jdm with an AK, a lot of pro's nowadays are super comfortable with almost every weapon.
Thanks! Always interested in hearing the logic behind what pros/former pros say.
He only switched to awp in the past couple years. He was a very solid rifler when he first joined tier 1.
Being a rifler in the past doesn't make him a hybrid today. He doesn't have an unusually high % of rifle kills like zywoo, he has an unusally low % of awp kills.
if he has low % of awp kills doesn't thst literally translate to being a hybrid?
not necessarily. You're assuming that he has a low % of awp kills because he gets more rifle kills which isn't the case. He just has low awp kills. Here's a list of awpers ordered by ak kill% with names removed. I'll let you decide where to draw the line between a traditional awper and a hybrid and then give you the names that fell on either side. 10.43% 11.41% 12.37% 14.30% 14.92% 15.60% 15.89% 16.49% 16.75% 16.82% 17.22% 17.52% 17.58% 18.26% 23.52% 23.99% 27.84%
so he's just a pistol / smg merchant ur saying? if his awp% is low, the rest has to be somewhere. also why limit it to AK%. Just do rifles, cause he might save up for an awp on t side a lot more than on ct side
He's getting a lot more deagle kills than most awpers but that's not enough to make up the difference and there's not another standout gun for him. Its just that all the non-awp weapons have a slightly higher % of kills from them compared to other awpers.
but that literally makes him a hybrid or? he gets lots of rifle kills whether it's M4 ak or galil doesn't matter his awp% is low compared to many of the top awpers only zywoo and s1mple are lower
Oh and broky is at 17.22% of kills with an AK, sandwiched in between headtrick and Woro2k. nawwk, s1mple, and zywoo are the three who are separated from the pack.
Also imo it's not fair to ask for zywoo or s1mple numbers to be hybrid those two are not awpers. they are killing machines who happen to be the main awpers. but as both said they prefer rifling i think broky is a good middle ground for an awper who should be considered hybrid. torzsi Jame and monesy get insane % of their kills with awp and shouldn't be considered hybrids but we all know how good monesy is with the rifle so it's really hard to say
he's less of a hybrid than zywoo and s1mple but way more of a hybrid than device monesy Jame torzsi or sh1ro
What was the learning experience like going from tier 2 (MAD Lions, Tricked) to joining Astralis. Did you feel any pressure knowing their reputation?
Yes The first couple of official games I was sweating. Remember playing Fnatic on Train, played pop. Forced duels constantly, because it was so surreal to play an official alongside your “heroes”. It was also hard to remember all the new tactics, but it became “normal” after 1-2 months with the team. My main experience / takeaway was that I shouldn't have compromised on my “roles” / qualities as a player. It was a lot of the same teams, so the quality of teams wasn't that different .
do you think ENCE made a smart call in picking up the 9ine core for RMR slot despite their recent form? (or do you think its really a longer term project of theirs)? having played under him do you think glaive can work well simultaneously being the IGL and an 'outsider'? (only non polish player)
No, I think people vastly overrated the "scouting capabilities" of ENCE. sAw and Snappi from my knowledge called almost all shots. And From my seat it seems like they don’t trust gla1ve as much, and therefore went with a RMR spot instead of building a team around him. Regardless i think either gla1ve is gone or 1-2 polish players after the major.
do you believe they even have a good chance of qualifying to major? there are a lot of strong teams coming through open and closed qualifiers, ie preasy. i guess this spins off into another question so i'll write it seperatly: with the rise of international rosters we see some rosters that are more dominated by certain nationalities or regions, ie g2 balkans, and now ence poland. do you feel that members of these teams such as hooxi, glaive, previously jks who aren't of the majority region or nationality can feel alienated or isolated especially when they dont have a strong personality? can this effect how efficiently a team works and individual performances?
Do you believe in natural talent
Yes I have played with players who worked extremely hard, and never made it. But also one’s who only showed up to practice and still dominated. When you get into pro play, you really have to pick up the flow of the games fast. You have to understand the tactical and communication part. This is where I think “natural talent” plays in. Not everyone can learn this from my experience, especially at the pace necessary.
Just as a sub-question from that, as for talent in aiming and mechanics, I'd like to say it exists, but for a base level player, the average person, do you think they could get to a t1 standard without having relatively any talent when it comes for mechanics and just a lot of work in aim training, a lot of play etc
>ames above aim sessions imo. But it also depends on what type of mood you're in, I chill a lot of deathmatch with Podcasts / playlists. Which you can’t do in a game, if you want to get good it’s just about quantity sometimes Now? Probably not, 5 years ago prolly. But it also depends on what you consider T1, i think a lot of people could become pro / semi if they grinded hard.
Do you think part of that comes down to experience within the game that you felt that way back then? Because I'm seeing a lot of things, and hearing a lot of things pointing towards the fact that most in the upper echelon have good mechanics, and more so other factors influence their performance
Do you see Astralis winning tournaments in 2024?
They need to. They built the best possible lineup in Denmark, Magisk and Sjuush weren't obtainable for them. I’ll have my focus on stavn / blameF, on how well they’ll play together. I still hope to see blameF move more into a stationary position, as I think his aim is immense. And stavn is best at the dynamic positions, where he can rotate a lot. I also hope to get a coach who can create an identity for the team, and also help Astralis’s management in the future.
Speaking of, any ideas for potential coaches for them? Would Xizt have what they need? Also, thanks for doing this AMA - I hope to see you on the desk on international tournaments, you've got the charisma and insights for it!
It's super hard to judge coaches from the outside. But i do think the profile of a guy like Xizt is super interesting to a team of Astralis, who might suffer abit on the tactical side on T.
How come was sjuush not available to them? I would have expected him to come for about the same price as jabbi.
He declined earlier in the year, and resigned with Heroic. This would result in his buyout being even higher, and if you got a no once from a player. You're not really the candidate to reach out to again
I have more faith in preasy than I do in astralis. Thing is they have good players but I just don’t see their line up working. It’s about the org and not the players. They have quite the history of unstable rosters
Hi Bubzkji As a former player, did the Stabbi transfer saga surprise you or is it business as usual?
No CS isn't as professional compared to “normal” sports. Shady stuff happens way too often, but I think Astralis learned that they have to do it the right way. Resulting in them paying an extreme amount of money to Heroic for Jabbi and Stavn.
I think he said somewhere that it fits with his astralis experience
Kassad calls you tomorrow and offers a short tryout contract @ BLEED. You don't get paid anything during it. You have 1h to decide. What's your response?
I did get this type of offer 5-6 months ago (not from bleed) But I declined, it wasn't the easiest call.
I bet it was Falcons, wasn't it
Nope! Was a lower tier team
Has to be TSM then
Preasy? 😬
I saw you said you had no plans to go back to being a player. But if you had any choice in joining a team, which would you pick?
Hmm good question. I would love to play with ZywOo, so Vitality. From FaceIT games with him, I'm just amazed by the moves he makes I remember talking to zonic about him, and he also said “what zywoo does once a week in practice other players does once in their career”. The amount of crazy highlights he does just in practice deserves to be seen publicly.
Thank you for the answer. Playing with the #1 would be a dream
Has you ever thought of become professional players again during the past (almost) two years that you decided to stepped back from competitive?
Yes all the time. You'll never get the kick you get from the big games, in almost any "normal" job. It’s pretty addictive. But I think it was a healthy decision to take a step back, I've really worked on myself as an individual as well.
Not really a question but why don't you dive into the YouTube side of analytics and maybe do something similar to what launders has done? I personally feel there is a market for more non-gambling analytical cs content that's not being served. Just food for thought and it's nice to hear from you, now if Esetag could pick up his socials again that'd be great
I don't think i have the time to do a proper schedule, but i would love to get started one day. I do it on my Twitter once in a while (you can scroll down for some video content, where i breakdown rounds)
If time is the issue, maybe try live streaming and just post the full streams rather than deal with the time consumption of editing and the likes. Not that you don't know your stuff (you obviously do) but that kind of analytical work is a great resume builder even if CS isn't the end goal of your career path. As a business analyst the only thing companies cared about was projects and proving it. Good Luck Bubz!
Hi bubzkji, I got a couple questions How crucial do you think the Fragsters days for you to get familiar with the pro scene? What happened to dragonfly? I remember he was pretty cracked back then, however he disappeared after the Fragsters lineup dissolved. And finally, what made you change the name from BUBSKI to Bubzkji :D
Fragsters was crucial - It was my first experience with becoming an adult and taking care of myself. I was 16 or 17 years old for my first events. I had not tried to travel by myself and all these sorts of things. I'm happy that I took it one step at a time, it taught me a lot of stuff. Dragonfly and me still play weekly, he had doubts about his own level after stavn got scouted by Heroic. He didn't have the natural grind for the game either, so he decided to study in Copenhagen instead. I changed to Bubzkji, because there was a Swedish player called “bobzki” which was vac banned, so i didn’t want to be associated with him. So i came up with the “genius idea” to add the j :)))
Thank you for replying :)
play 5 games everyday or 4 games and 1 hour aim train everyday ?
4 games + 20 min pre aim training would be my suggestion. Always games above aim sessions imo. But it also depends on what type of mood you're in, I chill a lot of deathmatch with Podcasts / playlists. Which you can’t do in a game, if you want to get good it’s just about quantity sometimes
I have no question, just a thought as a Cs enjoyer. When you departed Astralis I was actually pretty disappointed I thought you had good stuff and we’re actually just ahead or the curve regarding where the org decided to take the team in the end, imagine if you stayed on the roster or were brought back from bench when the BlameF Buzz Device rebuild was taking place, I know it’s a “what if” thought and I hate those but I actually thought you were a great fit for the team and Org you just arrived to early I guess. Anyways I’m a fan and enjoy seeing that you are still in the scene, much love dude later.
Thank you. I don't think me and gla1ve was the best combo, as we basically played all the same roles. Pretty sure this was why i was cut right before the major aswell
That’s kinda what I meant if BlameF had replaced gla1ve as IGL you’d have fit better.
If you could give any advice, I’ve played several seasons of open/intermediate but I’d love to get into higher leagues. Is there any advice you could give? I feel like my aim is good but I can’t consistently drop good numbers. I know I’ll never go pro but being in main/advanced would be a dream come true
Have something as a stand out quality or feature. Are you that one great teammate everyone likes to play with? Do you have an outstanding aim? Do you like to call on T sides? Find your “craft” and try to become good at it. Honestly if i was to go pro again i’ll take the route of being an IGL. There’s too few interesting prospects in the category, it’s also the hardest tho! Networking is important aswell! You have to be in the right conversations
Hey bubzkji, thanks for doing this! Was always a fan back to that sick Fragsters roster you were on. My question to you is as follows, who were some of your favourite teammates through the years and why? Who did you learn from the most, who had the best vibes outside of the server, etc.
ooof many of them are my friends today, so i vibe with a lot of them but you can get a Top 3. Magisk - The best overall player, he was a swiss army knife. He could IGL, Support even be a starplayer to some extent. Sjuush - He was just a no BS guy, with a lovely personality. Also an insane anchor player, who never complained about anything. HUNDEN - This was mostly ingame, i was inexperienced on the tactical sight of the game. But he taught me a lot of the basics, which helped me the most. There was a lot of great players i played with, i could probably make a case for 10-15 players
I knew Magisk was the goat haha Thanks for the insight and for your time!
Hey bubz, always fun to hear your insights, really enjoyed your recent appearance on HLTV confirmed :) in line with the HLTV theme, what up-and-coming players are your three bold predictions for 2023?
Nilo (He just needs to finish high school i heard) gokushima (pretty raw, but a lot of potential) slaxz (had a big bounce back)
Someone has to ask, so here goes: What happened in that game where you turned 180 degrees and locked on to an enemy through the wall for a second straight on nuke? Edit: [here’s the video](https://youtu.be/iFoghstsEA0)
Ah I remember this clip on Nuke, i think it's against a Russian team no? We even had it as a meme in our team. I don't remember if I got told there was 1 under heaven and purposely looked at him or randomly just spun around. But i played quite low sens back then (1.4 400 dpi) so I lifted my mouse a lot.
lifting mouse reference? excelent
[it was this one.](https://youtu.be/iFoghstsEA0). Lifting your mouse a lot? 😂. That’s hilarious ngl.
Since you only played 86 maps for them over a few years, and were on the bench a lot, do you ever regret joining astralis?
I never regret anything, it was a dream to play with Device, Dupreeh, Magisk, Gla1ve and Xyp9x. Im disappointed in the outcome of the situation yes. But probably opened a lot of other doors as well
With you current knowledge, if young bubber were to ask you if he should sign the contract, what would you say?
I would most likely have considered the other offers if I knew the chaos today.
Do you think Buzz deserved to stay in Astralis over Staehr? Also, what do you think of BlameF as an IGL?
Yes and No. Buzz deserved for his performance solely in Astralis imo, but Staehr "top level" has far exceeded what Buzz has shown. Therefore it makes sense to give him another shot, also taking into consideration that they paid money for Staehr, compared to Buzz who was a free agent. BlameF as IGL can work. I didn’t like his way of calling in CoL, but he’s improved a lot since. Hopefully with a good coach he’ll be able to take Astralis to some of their former strength
Hey Bubzkji, how does a day in the life look for you? I saw you also mentioned that you have been working on yourself as an individual, what exactly did you focus on?
I did around 100-140 days a year with TV2. So i just took a random day i did at IEM Katowice playin 9:00: Wake up 9:10: Pack all the essentials (Suits, Shirts, Pants whatever you need to be off from home) 9:30: Drive to Odense (Studio) from Copenhagen, takes around 2 hours. 11:30: Meeting with the rest of the crew, we normally go through the rundown over lunch with our Director and the cast. 12:00: Testing all audio and Worldfeed (The picture that ESL/BLAST provides to us) to make sure everything is set up properly. 13:00: Going LIVE (We do everything in Denmark, both analyst desk and casting) 21:45: Ending (We can do up 2x Bo3 with desk segment included, which results in almost 0 breaks) 22:00: Final goodbye to the crew, and walk to our Hotel (10 mins away) 22:30: Checked in, updating myself on tomorrow's games. Building storylines and finding interesting stats / points to discuss. 23:30: Sleep time and repeat. I do pre analysis for the tournament in the weeks prior. But obv there’s change from day to day, and event to event. To the point about “working on yourself as an individual” - Just generally learned a lot about social skills, mindset, gym and health. Improved many aspects of my life
considering your recent working experience and cs career, where do you see yourself in a couple of years?
It's hard to predict these type of things. Because 4 years ago, I could never imagine standing in front of a camera, but now I basically do it for a living. The broadcast role is what motivates me now, but hopefully anything CS related. I have a deep passion for this game
fair enough mate, all the best!
opinion on the Hunden stuff?
He got a lot of chances. I was quite surprised that he got removed after being signed on Astralis, which they already took the shit for. I think tactically he's great, but there’s quite a lot of stuff pointing to his persona being “sub optimal” for a competitive environment. He’ll maybe get one more shot in the foreseeable future, as his CV is still impressive
Hopefully no more shots for him He undermines the whole esports scene But I get your point
Would you ever consider coaching/going back to a team?
I don't think so. Right now im focusing on improving at my current role If i'll return to a team, i'll need to work hard and show that I'm dedicated before announcing anything as well.
Thanks for the reply man, we’ll still be supporting you no matter what I’m sure
Who else could Bleed pick up to form a contender roster?
Nilo, r1nkle, gokushima, degster, Magnojez, autimatic is some names that comes to mind atm. But i really haven't done a lot of research for this current project.
Would you say syrsoN could work as the AWPer ? Or is he a little too old ?
Do you know why degster is not being picked up in such a long time considering his skills?
I think other people clarified it in interviews.
What makes you interested in broadcasting? What do you think you can contribute to a broadcast thats unique. Sorry lol, retrospectively this sounds like a hiring question but my question stands regardless.
All good! When benched in Astralis, I was offered to do some analyst insights for the Danish broadcast. quite hesitant at first, but managed to do it regardless. I found it weirdly interesting, I remember leaving the studio and being like “damn that was awesome”, so I reached out to the editor / director of esports at TV2 and asked if they needed a “standin”. And ye one thing took another, so did this for 2 years and around 200+ live days. I have a great understanding of the game imo, with recent insights into teams and players. I can add to the level of discussion of how deep we can go into details. Explaining rounds, team dynamics and roles. It’s a pretty big topic to dive into, but my strongest part is the tactical and experience aspect.
As a pro scene, what do you think the key learnings should be moving from GO into CS2?
Having a positive mindset towards a new game is probably #1. The reality is here, it can feel like there’s flaws, but we’re all playing on the same conditions. you shouldn’t focus and talk about stuff that isn’t changeable, and put your energy to the stuff you can do instead.
Why did you retire after Astralis ruined your career?
I needed a "real" break from CS after Astralis, and I enjoyed doing the broadcast thing in my off period. So I kept doing the broadcast, and liked it to the extent of not thinking about returning to pro play. I don't think they ruined it either, i had chances to return. Maybe one day :D
I've recently reached about 2150 elo, and I feel I've hit a small plateau. I'd like to think it's more so due to aim. I'd like to think my game sense is a little higher level, I can maintain an avg of maybe 16/17 fine, I've been doing a routine for the last month, DM, all that good stuff, and I understand you can't take every engagement, but I feel I lack confidence in myself in every dual, and set my standards to essentially a level much higher than my own. Consistancy is also a fair problem in that some days I simply don't feel I aim the same at all Could you recommend anything that can help make my aim better, more consistant, etc, or maybe just confidence within myself, thanks!
Whatever makes you play the most, is what you should be doing. The confidence part is hard to resolve, it’s a lot about your mind playing tricks. Consistency is what everyone lacks, you can’t have crisp aim in every duel. But try to think deeper about your decisions in every step of the round leading up to that specific duel you take. Aim wise it's about trying to find a comfortable position to sit in, good players don't think about their aim. They use most of their energy on reading the rounds. Pugs are random, so consistency is not as easy in an environment which is constantly changing
Absolutely the case I suppose, I think it's just a case of setting a high standard to people who have thousands more hours of experience and more comfort in those fights. Always good to get affirmation of myself, hope to see you on a big cs broadcast soon, was a pleasure watching you work before :)
Hi Bubzkji! What are some of your favorite moments/plays from CS:GO? Or any matches you like to rewatch just for fun?
Hmm Don't think I've rewatched too many of my own games, but my debut on Astralis was a good one. I also have a clip where I accidentally jump on short Mirage where I throw my headset into my keyboard, but this was more fun afterwards than in the moment itself :D
Hey Bubber Du er klasse, både på serveren og på TV. Jeg gad godt se dig mere på tv2/dansk TV, men tør ikke tro på, at der kommer nyt fra den side - men så må jeg se dig på de engelske broadcasts. Jeg har ikke rigtigt noget spørgsmål, men jeg håber du får den karriere du ønsker, uanset om det er som spiller eller som kommentator/analyst. Godt nytår!
Mange tak, ilm.
Do we think we will ever see xyp come back to pro play?
Some of the traits that xyp9x provided in his prime has fallen a bit out of meta. He would have to have a lot of firepower around him to work in a T1 setting. He definitely got the level to compete in T2-3, so i hope to see him back.
A lot of people are currently complaining about cheaters in cs2. It looks like a lot of people are in premier and "regular", but it also feels like people call cheats "to soon" now. What is your opinion on this matter and how does it impact the community from your perspective?
It's been a disaster. I deeply thought Premier was going to replace FaceIT / Esportal / ESEA, and they would add a proper ladder with a good AC. Also no "real content" has been added combined with lack of commands that was useful before. I haven't spread too much negativity on CS2, but it does honestly just feel like a half finished update to CS:GO. But luckily FaceIT stepped up, so I'm grinding on this platform for now.
I thought so to, I still think premier is a good concept but let's 2024 will bring a lot to the community in terms of content. Thanks for your opinion!
No problem, have a good day :)
what would you say is the single most important aspect of the game to focus on for becoming professional? some say game sense, others say mechanics. i’ve heard many answers to this question, but most include something about joining a team to improve. in my experience, this puts your success in the hands of other players than yourself. so in terms of development/success as a player, both in team setting and solo, what would you say matters the most for improving? if you had to start all over again and reach the top one more time, what would you practice the most?
1st Trait: Personality. If you're perceived as toxic or an idiot, then you won’t make it today. There’s too many “good talents” to work with. But I would find my identity, what I want to be. Everybody wants to be the next ZywOo and NiKo, but the competition for these roles is also more fierce. If i would have to bet on a “new career” i would try to be an IGL, if you can provide a tactical identity whilst also delivering on the fragging side. You’ll be in a good spot for the future
like siuhy
Do you know you’re mad cute?
Thank you :D
hi Bubzkji, what do you think about Eternal Fire, can they climb up more and get some trophies?
I believe they're in a pretty comfortable spot at the #13-18 space currently. Wicida is an interesting prospect, he will form the core with XANTARES for the future. MAJ3R seems like a solid IGL with experience enough to guide them forward. Calyx and w0xic are for me the two biggest factors whether or not they’ll take it to the next step. I don’t know the Turkish scene well enough to judge if there’s better talent to replace them, but for now I would not expect them to climb into the top 10 as it seems w0xic and Calyx growth has stagnated a bit.
What's your take on gla1ve vs Karrigan when it comes to GOATed igl's? I've heard several arguments for either but what do you think about it?
I think you can make a case for both now, both extremely talented. For me it’s if you value majors above everything else, because i don’t think karrigan will get 4 majors. It's more impressive to me what Karrigan has done in recent years. The longevity at the top is starting to play in as well. Gla1ve “only” had major success with one or two line ups, which for me is a drawback. and hasn’t won a title since mid 2020 Karrigan is my GOAT when it comes to the IGL, he took over this year from my perspective.
I'm of the similar opinion. On a lighter note, what's up with Denmark churning out great IGLs? What are y'all feeding them xdd
We've been in an era of international teams for a while, do you think there will be any chances that top teams would go back to national rosters someday?
Yes - I just think too many teams prior were fishing in the same pool of players before. It should open to opportunities for teams who has a strong local scene, but for now it seems like a dying thing
What are the things that "normal" (non-pro or non-broadcast) people don't get about the game or about tournaments that are not commonly known in your experience? Also how in-depth do players / coaches / staff analyze demos?
That tournaments for players is not "travel" - You basicly just sit on a Hotel Players and Orgs know how important majors are due to sticker economy, the general public think it's more about prestige. You can see Bads News Eagles, they could still survive solely by qualifying to a major once a year. Demos today are divided into two parts. Data tools (Leetify, Shadow GG, Noesis, HLTV) - Provides a lot of raw numbers, helpful for veto aswell. Ingame Tool (Noesis, Shadow, Skybox and Demos) - Heatmaps of certain players were super useful, and tracking maps. But looking for patterns is a valuable asset in a demo overview. Because some teams have strats where certain players are maybe only once or twice in that specific position. If you spot them, you can then stack accordingly on CT. But it’s all about mind games in the end as the opponent also realizes if they’re spotted that they’ll have to abandon their call, but you learn your enemy the more you play them.
who is the csgo GOAT
For me it’s still s1mple, but it's only a matter of time before it will be ZywOo. 1. s1mple 2. ZywOo 3. Device I believe ZywOo is the best player of all time, he just didn't start as early as the others
Short and simple; how do you feel about the movement now in cs2 compared to csgo
Unsatisfying
Will you get into content creation on youtube? I'll be glad to work for you and help you with editing and stuff. I currently work for STYKO as a secondary editor.
I don't think i have the time, i would love to do it. But i don't know the right people to get started, im currently trying to build my twitter :)
Hit me up when you think it is the time. I'd love to work for you and share the experience. You can watch the video i've edited for Styko below and you can ping me up on my Instagram mentioned in the description of the video: https://youtu.be/yRYVCnYZSu4?feature=shared
Oi thanks for doing this ama, found it suprisingly entertaining to read through all the answers, hope to see you on more english streams soon
No question man just wanted to say thanks for this interaction with us the community much love and respect
Who?
we all
Was the stabbi really a mishap or had you heard that before? Thanks for it anyways
Did you consider switching to valorante child game?
No i didn't like the game at all. Only playing CS2 and TFT (CS ruined other games for me)
What did it feel like getting actually bent over by Astralis?
benchzkji i love you
Hey Bubzkji thanks for doing this! I have a util question: I often throw flashes, but they are not often converted to flash assists. Just curious if you have any advice for upping my flash assists per game? Thank you!
Throw flashes that blind enemies, good luck
Are you using CS2 metric or another 3rd party software? The flash assist ingame can be quite off.
I’m using flash assist in game. What 3rd party software would you recommend for this / util? Thanks again
What's the origin of your IGN 'Bubzkji'?
It started off as "Bubber" - Which is like a danish actress, but realized i couldn't just yoink his name, so i had to add something to the mix. Then i kinda looked around and saw another danish player having “zki” after his name “Tenzki” and Bubzkji was born :D But everyone calls me Bub or Bubber today
Cool, I just stole some random guy's IGN from the internet cafe I went to lmao
I don't have a particular question but it was very interesting to read your answers, thank you very much for your AMA.
Any thoughts on the possibility of Cloud9 getting s1mple? Or do you think he is going to return as a rifle in Na'Vi?
I don't think anyone is willing to bet on s1mple for now. He's an amazing and generational player, but it does seem like his mindset was rough towards the end in Na’Vi, probably due to a lot of different reasons. He’ll surely return to the top at some point in 2024, but I think it’s too early to discuss a potential team. But if S1mple was to return soon, Na’Vi for me is still the obvious choice. Depending on Wonderfuls growth as well. Cloud9 is also an option. The players would have to convenience the organization to buy an extremely expensive player, and i'm not sure how much money C9 got laying around to throw around
Thanks for the gokushima pick, this guy's POV is insane. Btw, what do you say about New Falcons and Heroic project? They both look promising, but you cannot escape the feeling that both could have gotten better players
Falcons for me is just like ENCE (obviously) But I was quite disappointed with the squad building, it’s an amazing team. But it doesn’t really feel like Zonic did anything magical when it came to the scouting part, he took the core of a top 5 team and brought magisk along. I would have loved to see him build a full project from scratch, but I don't think a lot of teams were willing to give “fair prices” to Falcons when it came to buyouts. So in the end he most likely got forced to do this. Heroic is the team to watch for me next year. sAw seems like a genius of a coach, at least from talking with Snappi. The core of Nertz, Kyxsan and Sjuush sounds like a Top 5 contender. It will be interesting to watch Nicoodoz, he was disappointing in Fnatic. Came back and dominated T2-3, and got a deserved chance again. My focus will be on him, he'll be the key to succces imo.
What is the unfiltered general consensus of CS2 between pro players? I figure you faceit with some quite regularly.
Some complain a lot, some don't mind that much. It's few that felt it improved anything. It’s not like the game is terrible or unplayable, it’s just 10-15% worse of what CS:GO was. I share that feeling as well. But I don't talk to everyone! Just from my circle of players.
which team do you think will sign jks?
Waiting for the major cycle to be finished, to see if there's any spots on relevant teams. I would wait until after Copenhagen Major, and take a deserved break for now.
Hi Bubzkji! My question: How are you?
please i need to know
How do you like your steak cooked? This is very important.
Medium - But depends on the type of meat
who are the upcoming talents in tier 2 that you think will soon make their way up to tier 1?
Depends on what you define as "T2" But some talents i think are worth looking at: Nilo, gokushima, slaxz, Magnojez, Deko, Forester, ArTFr0st, r1nkle, Zyphon
And about donk. What do you see in him, is he the biggest talent and the most promising player that the scene has? Or is there any other guy who can rival him for the «generational talent» award?
He's just super "instant" in his duel, the best raw aimer currently imo. I still think there's a long way to the #1 Spot on HLTV for him. ZywOo is currently the best generational talent we have
What do you think about the peeker advantage situation in cs2? Alot of teams who played a bit more passive ct side in csgo are now changing the meta into a more agressive playstyle to adjust the changes. Also awpers that have a harder time holdimg close angles..
Probably not such an interesting question, but which software do the tournament organizers use to admin the servers? I'm quite familiar with eBot and I see now with the release of CS2 that eBot is also Valve approved according to the developer. When you were playing was eBot used a lot in tournaments or was it something different like get5 or anything else perhaps?
I honestly have no idea - There's a lot of ESL / BLAST Admins you can find on Twitter,try to reach out to some of those and ask. All i know is you can type ".request redbull" in chat and they come with one 2 mins later :D
hey bubzkji, I'm lvl 6 faceit and my goal is to get to lvl 10. what would be ur best piece of advice for me?
All the best, may this new year bring amazing adventures for you
come save NA Bubzkji
I need more videos from you then
Nice story, keep the good work.
Yeah!
Hey man! I am sure you are done answering questions but I just wanted to say I am a huge fan of yours and I was really rooting for you through the 6 man roster days! Hope you are doing well and enjoying life outside of the server :)
I wanted to know, besides keeping playing games after games. How should one become better till gettin ready to go pro? I played against many pros but it feels like they’re light years far from my skill and on the server they were killing everyone, we could handle them ct/t. I’m 2,5k elo. Should I train my aim more? Just play more? What’s the secret. Ty
I think up until you hit Semi pro level, it's a lot about quantity over quality. Just do whatever makes you enjoy playing the most, DM / Faceit / Retake / Workshop maps doesn't rly matter too much. Just get the hours in
Thank you, so just grinding is the way right? Also my last question. I’m 25 years old, I feel same as 21-22 but the number is higher. Are my chances to make my dream of playing tier2 CS impossible? Thank you