blameF: "Before the tournament obviously the confidence was pretty low"

10-6-2022 23:42

Having just sealed a spot in the grand final, Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer sat down with HLTV to give some insight on his teams' run.

The Pinnacle Cup Championship was a prime chance for Astralis to play their way into some form, having experienced a shaky year so far at best.

They have taken full advantage of the opportunity, making their way to the grand final via the upper bracket and looking like the team in the best form at the event whilst doing so.

blameF is comfortably the highest rated player at the event

With a convincing 2-0 victory over BIG under their belts, albeit a BIG playing without Karim "⁠Krimbo⁠" Moussa, Astralis star blameF spoke with HLTV about their run at the event and how he feels about the roles within the team.

Congratulations, how does it feel to be in the grand final?

It feels great, after a rough period for us as a team we finally get some results that we can be a little bit proud of. It’s definitely not the biggest of the tournaments that there is of course, but we’re still happy that we can be in the final of any tournament.

Regarding the veto, it seemed brave to let Dust2 through the veto, BIG are considered by many to be the best team in the world on that map, but it paid off. What was the thinking there?

We knew no matter what map we left open, that they would be the favourites coming into it, but Dust2 was the one that had the biggest surprise factor because they beat us a lot on it. I think they beat us three times in a row, so it was just the surprise factor, they might not have prepared as much.

Was there a specific game plan on the T side, because you put up an incredible number of T rounds?

I don’t think there was any “game plan” like that, we just won a lot of the correct rounds. Of course we also played a good T side, but we kept winning those rounds where they were half buying and had to eco afterwards, and when you win those rounds you gain so much momentum and all of sudden we all have 8-10k. We had so much leverage, in the sense we could take so many chances because even if we lost a round, we had money to buy.

Looking to the final itself, against either BIG or Heroic, are you confident?

We have a good chance I think, but with how we have been playing lately… before the tournament obviously the confidence was pretty low, so I don’t want to go out and say we think we are going to win it now.

It’s going to be a tough matchup whoever it is, just because we beat BIG today doesn’t mean we will automatically win it tomorrow if they beat Heroic. We just have to focus on playing good CS, like we are right now.

Talking more generally, recently gla1ve has mentioned that the team has been experiencing role issues, but you seem to be playing well and posting great stats. Have you found the right roles for you?

Both yes and no, I think recently I have, like this tournament for example. After Dallas, we sat down as a team and I said I think we should change around some roles and structure it a little bit differently, we have been doing that this tournament and I think it has been showing a lot. I’ve got some new roles, other people have some different roles, and I think it shows because our T side has been way better in this tournament than other tournaments. What we talked about has really helped us, and I think it’s the right direction moving forwards.

You’ve had some standout games recently where you’ve lost, the 40-bomb on Vertigo from the Major comes to mind; how do you feel after games like that?

I don’t really care about it honestly, because I know there are some games where I get frags because other people drop me weapons and stuff like that. Like yesterday, k0nfig dropped me an M4 and I dropped him a deagle on the last round of Nuke, and I think I got two or three kills on it, but I know that it doesn’t mean I am three times better then him. It just means my team believes in me.

I of course have a lot of the good positions, especially on CT side where I think a lot of my kills come from, so I just try to follow my role in the team and the stuff that gla1ve has called.

pog

2022-06-10 23:43

BLAMEF the most humble player in 2022

2022-06-10 23:45

1 reply

hes great yeah

2022-06-11 14:25

whys the confidence up now they only beat some tier threes?

2022-06-10 23:46

2 replies

big is tier3? LMFAO

2022-06-11 11:52

imperial t3 ??? lol

2022-06-11 13:45

worst baiter ever

2022-06-10 23:47

3 replies

No, he is baiting both in server and in interview Better baiter than anyone here

2022-06-11 00:38

And what's wrong with this "baiting"? "Yes, you won the match, but you didn't win it the right way" ... 🙄

2022-06-11 08:57

He is a lurker ffs. He plays outer positions that often leaves him alone.

2022-06-11 11:35

"How we have been playing recently" - If i drop another 1.5 rating over 3 maps and my team tries to help me and stay above 1rating

"Before the tournament obviously the confidence in baiting was pretty low"

2022-06-10 23:48

lmao its a tier 3 tournament man

2022-06-10 23:52

Wtf are these comments, HLTV at its best. The dude is one of the best rn in the game and he’s humble af Idk how anyone can bash someone like that

2022-06-10 23:58

36 replies

cause he's not the best at winning the game, he's consistently the best performing player in teams that lose everything. His rating is good, but if you take away eco kills and exit frags he's not that great. Good rating =/= "one of the best" and you learn that once you learn about rating formula and realize that it can be stat padded. It's not a perfect metric and I hope more people stop using it as such - it's quite flawed as such.

2022-06-11 00:09

32 replies

Being the best player in a team that is struggling is somehow bad lol? And if u imply he doesnt get anything besides eco kills or exit frags you're obviously entirely disingenious in ur opininion of him as a player. In fact he gets more entries than any1 else on the team currently: hltv.org/stats/lineup/players/openingkil.. The fact that he makes bitches like you cry on hltv cause he said something as mild as "the confidence was low before this tourney" is just hillarious tbh

2022-06-11 00:16

4 replies

based statistical find I think blame is playing a role where yes, sometimes he baits. But that doesn't change that statistically he gets entries as well and goes massive in a lot of rounds. HLTV's ultimate scapegoat. Go back to last 6 months and you see that he goes for the 2nd most entries behind k0nfig and has the highest % won by a fair margin. Back to s1mple, when he was highly rated and not winning they said it was clearly his fault and he is baiting. s1mple has not gotten better or changed as a player and yet baiting comments are gone now that he wins (not because of a change, because he has 4 extremely talented players and a coach around him), now they found blameF.

2022-06-11 00:30

No, just pointing out the stat that he has never won anything, every team he has played in lost more than they've won. That's a stat, a history over few years unlike what you've posted for few months. I did not imply eco kills are the only thing he gets, but he definitely tryhards to pad those stats on anti-eco like no other player does - rushing like he never does on gun rounds. I do not appreciate you being so slimy to push an insult towards me when I did not say anything related to it. He's just a stat padder who does not play to win. That's simply it, Danish people do want to suck on his wewe meanwhile Stavn wins twice as much rounds all by him self compared to baitF with a lower rating than baitF. Just pointed out that basis to praise BaitF is rating - but rating does not win games.

2022-06-11 00:31

stavn is a completely different role from blameF, but I agree that he's a better player. blame was on heroic where he was by far the best player, picked up by complexity who had a terrible team atmosphere for a while and was constantly shifting through players with little support or normalcy with location of practice or regiment. he then got picked up by astralis who at the time as a team was a heavily declining team and has also made roster changes. I think comparing him to stavn for winning stuff is slightly unfair considering the situations these players have been in.

2022-06-11 00:37

I compare star player carry potential, stavn is worth 2xbaitF As for poor atmosphere on Complexity - who created that? Cause how many players needed vacation after? When baitF was on heroic they were like tier 3, right? Kinda proves my point that he's consistently best RATED player in teams that never win anything. And people still look at rating while almost any other player with rating 0.2 lower than blameF has won way more in life. Stavn has been in a very VERY poor situation and still is, Astralis is a team everyone loves in Denmark, while they hate Heroic. Also cheating scandal - Stavn has room to break down. Stavn's brother committed suicide, it's a thing outside of the game but it's a thing that can break a man. He's still chin up and getting better while baitF plays same exact game for all these years almost without changing anything. It's the difference between seeing space to improve and thinking that you are great and just doing aimbotz and dm.

2022-06-11 00:51

Why would you take away eco frags and exit kills? Aren't these pro's supposed to do great on these as well? BlameF is soooo good at it! And? What's the problem?

2022-06-11 09:01

26 replies

You are not supposed to be great at padding stats, you are supposed to be great at winning - instead he saves with the bomb in hand and in the back of the site. My point being, if you compare baitF to any other player and take away exit frags and anti-eco frags from both - baitF will loose the most rating probably by far. That's baitF's best quality, having the highest % of rating to be 0 impact stat padding. Out of all players, I doubt you'd find a better stat padder than baitF, at least I tried with few likely candidates and it's not even close. Issue is that he's never proactive on gun rounds, he's never one to take initiative BUT when it's anti-eco he rushes until he gets a multikill every single time. To me that's sad to watch, man is hurting for that rating instead of playing to win. Asstralis will never win anything relevant with him in star roles, maybe some tier 2 tournament or some lucky run where good teams could not make it. Man is consistently best RATED player in teams that lose everything. That's a stat for you. If you do not understand a problem of a player not playing for a team win but playing for his own stats then we've got nothing to talk about you and I. He's hyped af when he gets a good round but silent af when someone else does it, only fist bumps on winning maps or matches. Meanwhile he jumps out on any 4+ kill round from him yelling like an ogre. I understand you are proud of your countryman being good at something and he is, just Asstralis is using him the wrong way. Also, Stavn is 10x better and impactful than baitF and he has a lower rating. He single handedly wins more rounds than baitF but has lower stats. How does that work? Well, read formula for rating. Stavn won more than baitF likely ever will - and Stavn is 6 years younger than him. Both are star roles, tho baitF should not be in star role.

2022-06-11 11:09

25 replies

As mentioned elsewhere: hltv lo ... eeeh ... users are concerned with "stats". These pro's couldn't care less. As many kills as possible = damaging opponent's economy. Fairly simple to me.

2022-06-11 11:19

Considering that baitF keeps loosing way more than winning maybe he should try to win instead of playing the economy game? If he's playing the eco game but I doubt it, and he's not hunting for kills unless it's anti eco, kills he gets on exit are people hunting him and people hunting him are ones who can afford to lose it. Economy game is fine to be a part of CSGO, but if one player is constantly the one with highest rating (mind you, a flawed formula) in teams that never win anything then there is something to be mentioned to people praising that rating like it's a holy grail and not a formula that's pretty flawed and generally pretty useless.

2022-06-11 11:37

if so, what about NiKo ;)

2022-06-11 12:07

Well thats great. Atleast he helps astralis from not losing anti ecos and force buys. Losing an anti eco and force buy will have an indirect impact on the next 2-3 rounds in terms of economy. So his proactiveness in such rounds indirectly gives Astralis 2-3 rounds

2022-06-11 11:34

11 replies

2-3 rounds they lose cause he won't activate on the flank to alleviate pressure. 2-3 extra rounds for him to save

2022-06-11 11:38

10 replies

He is a sh1ro or jame kind of a rifler. There is no rifler with his playstyle thats why no one sees what he brings to the team. Ropz has a similar playstyle but his impact is more felt bcoz he has amazing teammates. The problem with astralis are blamef's teammates especially k0nfigs inconsistency. If u notice, when k0nfig plays well, blamefs impact would be felt and in those games its almost always a one sided astralis win.

2022-06-11 11:44

9 replies

1) ropz is way more proactive and actually plays to win, blameF is not to be compared with him as he usually just sits in an off angle and hopes win will come to him 2) "when entry plays well team wins" is a classic, when brute force yolo madlad entry has a good run then team wins. That applies to any team ever, you play 5v4 basically and win chance for that is ~80%. BlameF's team mates struggle without team play, in Astralis or in other teams he played. Cause we can't only take Astralis into consideration but other teams as well.

2022-06-11 11:48

8 replies

Now faze are winning so u dont see the real ropz playstyle. I remember his mouz downfall days and in losing rounds. Its the same as blamef. Im not saying its a bad playstyle. Thats their role and they play it to perfection. Do u really think that gla1ve would just sit and watch if he didnt like what blame brings to the team with his playstyle

2022-06-11 11:53

7 replies

1) ropz knew mouz was a sinking ship and he just endured his contract duration as they won't let him go. Attempts were made as suggested by Karrigan, even back then when Karrigan moved to Faze they knew they will join again. 2) as for gla1ve, there's WAY TOO MUCH dysfunction within that team. I'd argue that cohesion has dropped out of Asstralis since Zonic left. Xyp playing entry, gla1ve keeps using his awpers as anchors, biggest stat padder in star roles - it's bad. I do not think as is they can win something relevant or be relevant in conversation of being the best. They need a proactive star and a coach that can tell gla1ve where to put what.

2022-06-11 11:57

6 replies

Astralis are trying every combination of roles before they realise that blamef is just a better form of xyp9x in same roles(xyp9x is having a good tournament, maybe they figured out the roles?) . Blamef is so good at CT sides that people expect him to do the same in T sides. That is the reason for these criticisms. Just imagine astralis CT sides without blamef.

2022-06-11 12:00

5 replies

His CT side rating is like 1.4, most players with 1.2 would win you more rounds than he does. Also for trying all combinations - that's not how it works. BaitF got all his roles from col 1-1, everyone moved to allow that. Man is playing the same CS he did 5 years ago.

2022-06-11 12:03

Why do you care about his rating when you agree that he is as much important to a team in CT side as any other top rifler. Rating is just a number, what matters is what he brings to the team. He is the best CT side player in the world not because of his rating, but because of what he brings to the team

2022-06-11 12:08

No no, he's the best rated CT sided player because he has the best CT side rating. I don't care about his rating but when talking about baitF there's nothing more to talk about cause he ain't winning games despite having such high rating. People with CT rating that's 0.2 or even lower than baitF's rating win more games and carry their teams for the win. He just can't. I've got no problem with his rating as I understand that it's inflated and people are dumb to call that the best player cause of that. I've got no problem with that at all. I've got problem with seeing a player not playing to win which can be seen in his stats too.

2022-06-11 12:16

I agree that there are players with 1.2 rating like niko who have the same impact rating as blamef. But thats the point. Even in terms of impact rating he is the best(CT side). It does not matter how much his actual stats are inflated, impact rating does not lie. He has 1.3+ impact rating for a 1.4-1.5 rating while others have 1.2-1.3 rating for a 1.3+ impact rating. Still the impact is among the best. Blamef is also a smart player. Every pro player plays to win. If blamef isnt going for a 1v2 he is saving to win the next round, while some players go for the 1v2 and lose anyway

2022-06-11 13:20

Impact is also flawed, not a perfect stat and can be inflated. Check math. "Every pro player plays to win" - well he does it the least out of all top 30 teams or so (I cay that cause that's those I know of, it's likely way beyond that). He plays to win duels, not to win games.

2022-06-11 13:34

Wait what did stavn win exactly? As far as I remember the last tournament heroic won was pro league an year ago(online tournament). They will not win a t1 LAN tournament ever with this roster.

how much more is that than what baitF did? 6 years younger at age of 19 while baitF had years and years to grind it but only ended up grinding rating. He had a chance to build a strong team and he built the worst working atmosphere that made almost everyone who went trough complexity to take a few months break from playing even after contract ended. 0 respec

Apart from jks who wasnt even supposed to be in the team due to role clash with blamef I dont see anyone who suffered there. Rush and poizon suck so I dont see what u r talking about. Also age doesnt matter, the number of years of experience in tier one matters. Stavn and blamef have been around for almost the same time and stavn has acheived slightly more in the online era. On LAN they are pretty much the same

2022-06-11 11:47

"slightly" as in actually winning an important tournament and actually being ranked as a No1 team? People underestimate what it takes to be No1. 8 hours of aimbotz a day won't get you there. On lan baitF won against actual Astralis, that's his accomplishment.

Insaid slightly coz every team suffered during the COVID times and there wasnt much competition. Btw BIG clan was ranked No1 during covid. Please...

2022-06-11 11:56

Being ranked No1 means you are the best at it at that time and they did play a good CS. If it was easier to be fist then, why didn't more people do it? It's such a weird excuse.

There werent any teams. Teams making roster changes which make them lose points in rankings. Dont get me wrong heroic were a top 5 team then, just like now and they will always be a top 5 team getting eliminated in quarters or semis.

2022-06-11 12:04

There were teams with lack of drive. Heroic was top 1 for a bit, top 3 for like 6 months. I don't get you wrong, I am not a fan of Heroic. But Astralis won't do better than top 10 with current team and setup, even that's a stretch.

2022-06-11 12:13

I agree that current astralis wont do better than top 10. I just dont think its because of blamef. P.S - nobody is a fan of heroic :)

2022-06-11 13:22

They are probably fans of them selves I guess? Makes me sad for Stavn cause I see a truly great player with great flexibility on the highest of levels. People bash of Refrezh there and sure he is underperforming on lan, but their biggest hurdle is Cadian on the awp. But there's time, I'm really looking forward to Stavn's evolution. As for Astralis, they won't be more than top 10 contended no matter what's around blameF as long as he is in star roles. Cause him in star roles is not a recipe to win.

2022-06-11 13:38

because he made jks his bitch at CoL and people are mad at that

2022-06-11 01:13

People forget fast

2022-06-11 04:08

Almost everyone who went trough CoL had to take a break from the terrible working environment, in a team that baitF made, lead and was one responsible for the environment.

2022-06-11 11:45

How to be like BlameF?

2022-06-11 00:12

Baitf

they can beat Heroic imo, if k0nfig and baitF are on level with some support outta farlig's awp they can pull it out in my plans

2022-06-11 00:23

I hope Heroic show them what a real team looks like and absolutely destroys them

2022-06-11 01:42

they probably will but lets see what this mix astralis can do

2022-06-11 12:34

I didn't know Heroic had to play BIG today. Guess they have to beat them first before they can play Astralis

2022-06-11 15:48

they did eventually and i think they will against astralis too prolly 2-0/2-1, astralis myb pulling out their map pick

2022-06-11 18:11

It should stay as that , you are playing vs tier 4 teams

2-1 Astralis, blameF will get 100+ kills and MVP, trust me guys

2022-06-11 01:44

BaitF

2022-06-11 02:07

carryF

2022-06-11 02:53

blameF haters still malding that he's the only fucking player on this team that delivers every single time

2022-06-11 05:14

2022-06-11 11:26

its rare to see a faze fan without spitting nonesense about other teams. based

2022-06-11 13:09

godF

2022-06-11 06:47

Very humble guy, no ego despite carrying astralis every game and agrees that the team gives him good positions

2022-06-11 07:00

BlameF Legend, haters crying when he does good which is like every game hahahah

2022-06-11 08:33

Mad respect for blame, hope the team is able to win the GF and continue to improve in the future, all 5 have been playing well here.

2022-06-11 08:43

Feels like danes often have low confidence.

2022-06-11 09:23

imagine having low confidence while being a pro lmao

its hard to tell how dumb this org is or who exactly is to blame, bubt when it smells like rotten cheese you dont need more details

2022-06-11 12:01

Finally Astralis is winning rounds on the T-side, maybe the new roles will finally make them atleast competitive with TOP teams. It's also really nice to hear that blameF understands that he has the best numbers because he is supposed to, ppl drop weapons for him and stuff, it's good to know that he doesn't has that big of an ego.

2022-06-11 13:33