Snax: "I just need to find my confidence again"

Despite a tough start against SK on day one in Saint Petersburg, Virtus.pro pulled off an amazing run in the group stage, first defeating Gambit 2-1 before sending home the No.1 team, FaZe, after a tight finish to the decider.

We managed to get a hold of Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski after the upset to find out what had changed in the Virtus.pro camp at EPICENTER. We also walked through the Poles' wins in St. Petersburg as well as Saturday's semi-final with G2.

We've got to start with what led to this event, which is the troubling period over the last couple of months, what changed at EPICENTER? What made you step up for this one?

We came to this event with a lot of troubles, we had another slump in our history. Maybe my post was a little bit like a kick in our asses to improve more, because we were looking for errors in each other and we couldn't take it to ourselves, we just kept fighting with each other.

Now it seems much better after ELEAGUE, we didn't have good results after ELEAGUE but we had a really good talk there, it started to seem like we understand each other again. We just focus on the game now and everyone wants to win, so that's why we're playing good at the moment.

The VP camp was all smiles as they edged out FaZe

Your first match against SK wasn't very encouraging, but the Gambit series showed there were sparks left in Virtus.pro, what pushed you over the edge?

I can say what is on my side, I don't know exactly, I don't want to say only things about me. But after my in-game leading, I tried to step up my game, I tried to find solutions, and I think I found a solution after the Gambit match. I saw how was playing before, I saw the HLTV gallery and found out that I was sitting differently than before and my hand wasn't free on the mousepad.

In the first and second match, I wasn't there that much, that's why SK beat us so much I think. All of us are talking more about what we should do, TaZ says at the start what we're going to do but all of us are trying to help him in it.

Starting 2-16 on Mirage against FaZe must have been crushing, were you still confident on Cobblestone considering FaZe rarely play it?

I think [TaZ] did good work before the match against FaZe, it was pretty insane, we lost the first map 16-2 but we came back even after that crushing from them. We knew we had two good maps versus them, maybe Nuke isn't, I don't know, they're playing it as well, but for sure they were thinking that it was our best map.

We knew Cobble was also a great map for us and we were hitting our shots from the start, we were feeling more confident, even my game was much better than yesterday or two days ago. I'm still trying to find myself, now I'm lacking focus and calmness in-game, but I'm getting there and my team is helping me as well. I think we're on the right way, we'll see.

Tell me about the last round on Inferno. FaZe were en route to taking the match to overtime, but you turned it around in the last 10 seconds, what did that situation look like from your point of view?

There were like 20 seconds until the end of the round and I was in middle, I was going back to B but the guys said we should save, because they were on the B bombsite and we were split up, I was on A and they were on B. But we got two kills within a second, I killed someone in small pit and I think byali killed someone on B and that's why we won the round, they were in shock and we managed to win.

In the post that you mentioned earlier, you criticized NEO and TaZ, and NEO has stepped up here. What can you say regarding NEO's performance so far at EPICENTER?

People think I said it only to bitch about my teammates, I only said it about the rating, I didn't say bad words about them overall. I like these guys, we've been playing together for four years straight. Like I said in the first question, it was kind of a kick in our asses to improve, we see that NEO is playing a lot better.

Also, TaZ is finding himself in the in-game leading position. Everything seems to be working now, pasha is a good sniper, byali is playing well as well, I'm probably the worst in the team now, but I think I can do a lot of stuff, maybe not fragging but communicating and supporting the team. We'll see, I just need to find my confidence again and that's all.

pasha has been a constant in the last couple of months despite all the issues, why do you think he was never as affected compared to the others?

It was probably because of my in-game leading, we changed stuff in the team, that pasha will be a full-time sniper, so we managed to find ways for him to do. He's also trying to do his stuff, like saying 'Okay, I will go pick here' and then some of us are adapting to it, like TaZ now.

I think pasha knows what he should do, he's more confident about his game, his AWP is so strong, I think he's probably one of the best AWPers now. I could compare him to FalleN even if he's not in the best shape. What can I say, pasha improved a lot and everyone seems improving, so if we keep it that way, we can be at the top again.

Moving on to the playoffs and the upcoming G2 semi-final, what can we expect VP against G2, who looked like a really strong force in the groups?

Yeah, G2 seems really strong. I don't remember when we last played them, it was a very long time ago. I hope it's going to be a fantastic match to watch, three maps. I want 2-0 of course, but for viewers it would be perfect. I think we can keep up our game and it's going to be a close match.