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nkl: "iNation and E-Frag are the biggest challengers"


NAME: Nikolay "nkl" Krustev
COUNTRY: Bulgaria Bulgaria

TEAM: HEADSHOTBG
 

With Belgrade Gaming Festival around the corner, GosuGamers' Counter-Strike coverage team turns to a promising talent from the Balkan scene. We catch up to Nikolay "nkl" Krustev, HEADSHOTBG's newest recruit who joined the team earlier this year.
 
The interview topics start at HSBG's attendance of DreamHack Bucharest and continue on to currently relevant ones. Why didn't they attend more international events after the competition in Romania? What are Bulgarians' expectations from Belgrade Gaming Festival? What is the current state of the Balkan CS scene? Why are sponsors not that interested in investing into Balkan Counter Strike teams. 
 

The interview was conducted by Blaga"blg-" Marius on November 7th.
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Last time we saw you in action was at DreamHack Bucharest, where your team did great even if you didn't pass the group stage. Looking back, what were your expectations of the event? How did you prepare for it? 

We just practiced a lot before Dreamhack Bucharest with most of the top teams. I think we played good in the group stage, but lost the most important situations like 1v1s, 2v2s, etc., and that was decisive for the first match against n!faculty. In the second match against them we were more motivated and actually had a 5:0 lead, but again, these 2v2 rounds along with some individual mistakes cost us the win. Nevertheless, we felt that we are developing ourselves.

After Bucharest we didn't see you at any other international events. Why is that? 

We did not participate in any international event because we decided to first stabilize our game first and be the best Balkan team just like in 1.6. Then maybe we will be more pumped as well and may do something at international events.

Will we see you at any major events this year?

I guess you will, we will give our best!

You'll also be going to Belgrade Gaming Festival which will take place this weekend. Thoughts on the event?

We decided to practice for this tournament online only because most of us are working or studying and don't have enough time for bootcamp and stuff. We are playing a lot though. About our expectations: In every single match we are playing for the win. It does not matter whether it's online or LAN.

Who is going to be the biggest challenger you will face there in your opinion?

My opinion is that will be iNation and E-Frag, but I do not undervalue the rest of the teams. There will be a lot of good players, who knows who will be the cherry of the cake?

Have you visited Serbia before? What do you think about the country and Belgrade in general?

I have been there three or four times at least. The people in Belgrade are so friendly and nice and that's maybe one of the cities I've been to that looks so preserved and old-time.

You represent the Balkan CS scene. What is the state of it currently?

The Balkan scene... In 1.6, where I come from, there were a lot of teams and a lot of tournaments in Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, too. But I don't think the teams here ever reached some "top" level goal at international events.

The Balkans had a lot of teams playing Counter-Strike 1.6 and many players have still not made the transition to Counter-Strike: GO. Why do you think that is?

Maybe lots of the 1.6ers who are not transitioning tried the game at least once and to them it looked so strange and confusing, just like how I feel right now in 1.6. If they play more than one or two mixes they will see the positive side of the game.

Can you comment on the low number of serious organisations in the Balkan scene and sponsors lack if interest?

As I said most of the teams didn't reached the "top" level and did not achieve anything at some big international event.

What can you tell us about HEADSHOTBG as organization? What's your experience with them?

I am playing for HEADSHOTBG since they created their CS:GO team and I did not anything negative from them or something like that, we're just trying to keep the relations between us good. They are helping us a lot with attending tournaments, gears, PCs, etc.

Anything you would like to add as we are ending this interview?

I would like to thanks to our organization HEADSHOTBG for the fact that they trusting and supporting us, our sponsors Ozone.bg and last but not least the guys who are cheering for us and supporting us. I wish good luck to gosugamers.net in their development of the CS:GO section.

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