electronic on Jame: "I was always interested in his way of thinking"

electronic was full of praise for his new in-game leader.

Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov joined Virtus.pro in what was an unexpected move after PGL Major Copenhagen, with the 25-year-old taking the spot of Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov.

Expectations for the Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali-led team skyrocketed immediately, and Virtus.pro made ESL Pro League playoffs via the last chance qualifier.

Their round-of-16 opponent was GamerLegion, who the Russian squad dispatched in a two-map series after winning both maps 13-11 while electroNic finished the game on top of the scoreboard.

After the victory, the Russian superstar sat down with HLTV to discuss his integration into Virtus.pro, their expectations, and why he wanted to play alongside Jame.

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Editor's note: electronic's answers in this interview were translated by Russian-speaking HLTV staff.

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Congrats on your victory, it must feel good to enter the Round of 12 on your debut tournament?

Yes. It feels nice of course, but our goals are much greater. Our ambitions are very high, so this is not enough for us. We just want to show our maximum, and then improve from tournament to tournament to show an even better game.

It was quite a tough game against GamerLegion. Did they surprise you in any way?

I probably wouldn't say they surprised us, we were ready for everything they were up to. I wouldn't call it unexpected, but I was surprised that they left Anubis in and decided to play it against us. They don't have much practice on this map, at least in officials. But we happened to be stronger. Besides that, there were no surprises or anything uncommon during the game.

TheMongolz are your next test. How far can you make it at this event?

Our expectation is to play as many games as possible to feel that team spirit, team vibe, team play, and show a decent result accordingly. Maybe we will be able to get to the final, and maybe even better.

You have played a few games with VP now. How have you adapted to the new system?

I try to just play my game and do as told. It doesn't always work out. Sometimes, I do what I want while talking that through with Jame and the rest of the team in advance. But we also try to combine my experience and their game to create something even more fearsome than it is right now.

Given you were previously an IGL, would you say you have a say in the team's style?

I think so. We talk to each other a lot about the game: what can we change, what should we add, what should we keep... As I said, we're now looking for the optimal state of the team, what roles I will be playing, and what exactly is needed from me in-game.

You previously said that you wanted to play with Jame. Why is that?

We've competed a lot against each other, starting from 2016-2017. Now we're on the same team, but I was always interested in his way of thinking and what he offers to his players. He achieved some level of success with every roster he played for, so he deserves respect as an IGL for sure.