bubble: I focused 100% on the game

Fresh off of a first place finish after beating ENCE last night 2-0 in the grand final of ESEA Premier, MK's hottest asset Kamen "⁠bubble⁠" Kostadinov talked to us about his personal performance, the team's struggles, as well as some of the Bulgarians' hopes for the future.

MK's first LAN of the season will come on the 27th of August, when the Bulgarian side will take part in ESEA's Global Challenge LAN, a tournament where they will be amongst the top favored teams to take the trophy home.

First of all, I wanted to congratulate you on your steady progress as a player since being considered MVP at the first Minor in Bucharest (despite being on the losing team!) Your stats have skyrocketed since the last quarter of 2015 until now, to such a point where you are now the top rated player on MK above dream3r. Could you talk a little bit about how your game has improved in that time?

Hello and thanks for the congratz!

I did an experiment with myself. So as you know I love to go to the gym, and one day I said to myself: "okay let's try something different." During the beginning of 2016 I stopped going to the gym and I focused 100% on the game, because sometimes I felt exhausted and didn’t have the energy to be 100% focused. After about six months without going to the gym and playing better than I ever have, I found a regimen to feel confident in the gym and in the game, and now I’m doing these two things I love to do!

MK were around the 20th spot for a long time during the E-Frag.net times, but you guys fell out in May of this year and haven’t been able to jump back in. Why do you think that is?

The game has been out three years now, and everyone is stepping up a lot more than before. We were in really bad shape for a while, which is why we fell off the top 20 list, but we're much more motivated to rise as a team now, because it's harder. Everyone in the top 30 can beat each other.

Do you think coming from a region that doesn’t have so much Counter Strike tradition, your team has had a harder path than others?

When I decided to play at a high level, I gave up a lot in my personal life, but I also gained a lot.

It's hard in Bulgaria because we're in our little and poor country (which is full of haters) and it's really hard to get opportunities, which ends up taking a toll mentally. We started from nothing and won the qualifier to ESWC 2014, which is what gave us the motivation to rise up the ranks as a team and reach a higher level.

It has been unveiled that the next Major won’t be until next year. How do you feel about your chances in the next Minor?

First of all, I hope one day someone will check the case of dream3r's VAC ban, because he is innocent. Then we will qualify for a Major, I’m 100% sure. Everyone knows it’s hard to play with a stand-in. As far as our chances in the Minor, they are no smaller than before.

And if you do make it past the Minor, how do you feel about the insane amount of talent in the next Major’s qualifier (including NiP, fnatic, G2, etc.)?

As i said above in the top30 everyone can beat everyone. We believe in that, and if we play our game we can beat whoever comes in our way.

After E-Frag.net, you played in Orbit, but not for long. You haven’t been able to find a steady organization to play for since. How come? Are you still waiting for offers to come or will you have a home soon?

We already have had some really good offers but we are not in a rush to take the first offer we recieve, we already made that mistake a few times and we're really looking forward to finding a stable and known organisation which we can trust, work together without any problems, and benefit from each other. We are still open for any offers so anyone who is interested in me and my teammates can contact us via email at: [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]

This is the question that comes around every time, but… do you think you have real chances playing with dream3r? It doesn’t seem as though his ban will be lifted any time soon, and having to play with different rosters in different tournaments must no doubt be detrimental for you. Have you thought of playing with a different lineup?

If I’m not mistaken Virtus.pro and us are the only two teams which haven't made changes in the past two years. We feel stable with this lineup. We have our five, and if one of them missing it won’t be the same team. We believe dream3r's VAC ban can be removed as long as Valve don't say it's permanent. dream3r is irreplaceable, he is the young talent in the team. It’s harder to play with a stand-in, but for now this is how we work.

Have you ever thought that you might have a better chance reaching a higher level of play in a different team, possibly in North America or another European team?

It crossed my mind, but I believe in MK and that we can achieve everything. That’s why I’m still in.

How important for you is it to play in MK with the same group of guys you have played with for so long? Have you received any offers from other teams?

We have a different play style and I love it. We are not just colleagues, and what could be better than this to play the game you love with your friends? Plus our friendship helps the team a lot. And Yes, I have had offers from other teams, but never accepted.

Valve dropped a bomb today, not allowing coaches to speak to their players during gameplay. As far as I know, you guys have never had a coach, but what are your thoughts on the changes?

Well we have spyleadeR, he is a mega mind which is why we don’t need a coach :D. I do feel sorry for the teams in which the coach is the in-game leader. My personal opinion is that this rule is wrong.

MK is a team known to put in massive amounts of hours into the game. However, it seems you can never quite make that extra push to reach the next level. What do you think you need in order to compete on that next level?

To reach the next level I think we have to fix little things in the team and dream3r's VAC issue.

Does everybody on MK live off of CS, or do you guys need other jobs?

Everyone in the team lives of CS:GO. None of us are deprived of anything.

You guys just won ESEA Premier very convincingly, and had qualified for the ESEA Global Challenge. What are your goals for the end of 2016?

ESEA Global Challenge LAN Finals start on August 27th, where we will do our best to win! Second is to qualify for ESWC, where dream3r can play. We are focused on the tournaments we can play with our full roster.

Anything else you would like to add?

I would like to thank our fans for supporting us in our bad and good days.

We have big plans and goals for the team in the future. We want to reach top10, and for that we must stick together as a team. And now there are circumstances that violated the integrity of the team. dream3r is a young promising player, which he proved and it would be unfortunate that this great game would lose this player's shine. When the VAC ban gets removed, the dream will come true.