snatchie: "Slowly, everything is going better"

Ahead of Moche XL Esports, we had a chat with Michał "⁠snatchie⁠" Rudzki to discuss Virtus.pro's struggles, the recent improvements, and the goals for the rest of the year.

Virtus.pro head into Moche XL Esports looking to build on their recent results, after finishing in second place at the ESL Polish Championship, where they beat AGO and x-kom en route to the final against Aristocracy, and reaching the closed qualifier for the Europe Minor.

In this interview, conducted during the media day of Moche XL Esports, snatchie opens up about the negative comments his team has faced, the recent improvements and his expectations for the Portuguese LAN, among other topics.

Your team seems to be showing some improvements of late. Do you agree with this?

I think that the recent tournaments went better, we advanced to the closed qualifier for the Minor and finished second at the ESL Polish Championship. We have started playing better with our new communication system, I think that was our biggest issue. We have made some improvements, changed our play style and Snax took the in-game leader role. Slowly, everything is going better.

What are the key differences between the way that the team is playing right now and the way that you played under TOAO?

It is hard to explain. Snax has some fresh ideas, we started playing more of a free style, based on communication. If we have a day when our communication is bad, we can lose to anyone, but I believe we are a good team if we are communicating at our best.

This will be your second LAN event with the current roster, and it will also be OKOLICIOUZ's first international tournament on LAN. Taking all of this into consideration, what are your expectations?

We want to take our revenge against BIG because we lost to them in the closed qualifier for the Minor. It is hard to talk about our expectations because we are the worst team at the event based on the HLTV.org rankings so we need to approach every match like it is a final. We will see what happens in the match against BIG, then we can think about the rest.

Vegi and OKOLICIOUZ are the newest and least experienced players in the team. What is your opinion about them and the way that they have been playing?

They are both good players, I have been impressed with Vegi's aim, he is looking good at entry fragging. About OKOLICIOUZ, I can say that he is really good in clutch situations. Since he joined our team, we have been winning more clutch rounds, so that is a big improvement for us.

What happened in the online match against BIG?

I think we were prepared for them, but our shots were not hitting. There were some rounds that we could have won but we did not. Maybe we were a bit nervous. If we play against them like we did against GamerLegion, I think we can take one map or even win the match. As I said, one day we're good, the next day we're not.

You have been with Virtus.pro for some months now, and things have not been easy at all. Has it been hard for the players to deal with the criticism and the negative comments?

For me, it is not hard to take the criticism, but it is hard that we do not have the results that I expected. I played in a top 30 team for a while, then I joined Virtus.pro and I had the expectation that we would be a top 10 team, and everyone knows what has happened. It is hard for me, but, after the last month, things have been a bit easier.

Talking about the Virtus.pro organisation, do they put some pressure on the team to get back up there or are they understanding of the process that the team is going through?

Every organisation puts pressure, and Virtus.pro is no exception, but I think that it is not that high. We just need to get some wins and start to show good CS and then everything will be okay.

What goals have you set out for the rest of the year?

My personal goal is to go back to my old style with the AWP. In terms of team goals, we need to start playing tier-one tournaments, getting back to the Pro League. We need to try to get some good results in those tournaments and then we can think about the next steps.