JBa: "The most important part is that I'm growing as a person rather than as a player"

The 20-year-old American is maturing as he spends more and more time on the road with Wildcard.

Josh "⁠JBa⁠" Barutt was the man for Wildcard with 31 frags and two crucial 4ks as they went 2-0 in Texas.

The team's big result in the past six months came at the Major in Shanghai, and the team have looked revitalized in their second Valve-sponsored event together.

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JBa: "Playing on stage was more nerve-wracking. I could hear the crowd clear as day"

A key narrative in China was JBa's inexperience — Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz famously said the RMR suited him because he could pretend the hotel rooms was his room at home — but six months later he has "grown a lot."

"stanislaw has been through the same stuff," JBa says as he credits his father figure in Wildcard. "He's kind of helped me face these challenges."

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30 bomb at the Major. How did that feel?

It felt really good.

Tell me a bit more about that Deagle 4k. You almost looked like you surprised yourself.

The first three shots, I whiffed completely. I didn't think I was going to kill four after that. The coach called that for me, to sit Heaven with everyone else Outside and... just, my aim worked. Got four.

I also wanted to ask about your development as a player. How much do you think you've changed since Shanghai?

The most important part is that I'm growing as a person rather than as a player. I'm adulting more, living away from home constantly, getting out of my comfort zone constantly, and it's helped with my confidence in and outside of the server immensely.

Has that been tough? What was that like?

At first, it was definitely tough being away from home. With, CS it's been the first time I've been away from home. At first, it was really challenging and tough, being out of my comfort zone. But I think I've learned a lot, especially from stanislaw. He's been through the same stuff when he was younger and he's kind of helped me face these challenges as they come.

We know stan has moved to lurk roles this year, has that impacted you at all? What's that done for the team?

It definitely did impact me a bunch. You can probably see it from how I was playing. I've always been a lurker, slash pack player, and since he took that over I've been trying to learn every new role. I definitely had a bit of a hiccup in my performances but I think I'm finally getting it.

Is it the natural thing that you want to be that anchor-lurker player? Do you see yourself long-term being the passive piece in a team?

I do, I think it fits my playstyle. I'm not the most vocal player on a team. I'm a pretty quiet person, it fits me well. Your anchor-lurker has to have good aim, and I think I have that [smiles]. So yeah, I do see myself in those roles long-term.

For the team, 2-0 is a good result. Did you expect to be here?

Back in Shanghai we did the same thing. So, we didn't expect anything less.

As the season unravelled, it's hard to gauge a team when you're playing such top opposition all the time, how have you internally reviewed the season?

The beginning of the year was obviously really great. And it quickly went downhill really fast. We did a lot of role changes. Every single player, we all had individual issues. It was like fixing a lot of little, micro, issues throughout the rest of the season. But I think this final bootcamp we had before here, we understood everything we needed to fix. Every individual had to fix their own issues, by themselves. Nobody else is going to do that for them. Everybody realised that, stood up, and we're fixing that now.

How would you rate the team now? 2-0, but double overtime, so do you think that bootcamp has transferred to the server?

It has definitely, yeah.