ESL sat down with Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas from Virtus.pro to discuss the expectations of his team as the defending champions from IEM Katowice for the upcoming ESL One Cologne.
We're only one week ahead from ESL One Cologne and teams are definitely at their performance peak after so much preparation for one of the biggest events of the year. Last weekend was reserved for Gfinity where Virtus.pro won the first place against some of the best teams from Europe and North America. Everything seems perfect for them when it comes to defending the ESL One title in Cologne next week.
According to Taz, ESL One will be the hardest group stage of his career. The Virtus.Pro player points to the new map rotation and says how he thinks the luckier teams will advance.
"Still, with that said, we will do our absolutely best to give great games," assures Taz, adding it only gets harder to place first with the number of good teams attending and the changed rules compared to last event.
By turning back to IEM Katowice which was held on his home turf, Taz tips his hat in the direction of the fantastic crowd, stating it was one of the reasons Virtus Pro won the title. Being on the live stage, however, has its negativies as well.
"I love to play in front of our fans, but I think it also brings more pressure.", moreover he says that without fans there is no sport.
On the question if he still gets nervous about playing big events, Taz feels that once you reach that point where you don't feel any more pressure then it's time to retire. "Maybe it’s not ‘nerves’ in a bad way, but more excitement for a game, and I feel it now like never before", he also said that he still has many goals to achieve and he can't wait for the tournament to begin.
One of the hottest subjects in CS:GO community recently has been the changes made in the map pool for the competitive matches, where Cache, Cobblestone and Overpass were included. Taz took a moment to comment on that as well.
"Cobblestone and Overpass are not ready to be played in competitive tournaments", says the Pole and adds: "Overall I like the idea of adding new maps that were already tested in other tournaments such as season or cache, but I think adding these two new maps might downgrade the event level not only from a gameplay side but also from an excitement side."
Photo: ESL
Read the full interview at ESL Gaming.
Source: ESL Gaming
