The Cathedral of Counter-Strike Awaits
published 22 July 2025
After getting our customary loss to BIG out of the way at the start of a new season, what better way to repent for our sins than a pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Counter-Strike? Forget saving strats for the Major, we have our eyes on the Lanxess here at the best event in the calendar!
Road to the Lanxess
This Wednesday, we compete in Stage 1 of IEM Cologne starting with a familiar face in NIP. With a statement that would have gotten you called crazy just 3 years ago, we’re now the Swedish team, fielding 2 of the Ninjas’ former players in LNZ & nilo and NIP is basically Danish as they boast sjuush & snappi - the time travelers have been moving chairs again! But in all seriousness, this won’t be an easy game as NIP look better than they have done in years… meaning it’ll be all the more entertaining running through them with our Belarusian tractors.
But it’s still early in the season with 3 new faces on the team, so here’s a word from our coach on our goals in Cologne:
"The expectation is quite simple; we want to do better than we did in FISSURE Playground and take it match by match. If we can convert some of the good things we've had in practice into our official matches, then it looks promising. First and foremost, there's a want to make it to stage 2. If that happens, then we'll have to see if we have what it takes to tango with the top teams
Win or lose, we then play one of 3DMAX or MIBR, both of which we fought in last year’s Stage 1. If we win 2 BO3s in a row or 3 with a lower-bracket run, we make it to Stage 2 where 8 of the world's best teams and G2 are waiting. It would have to be an underdog run as we come in as one of the lowest-ranked VRS teams at the event, but this core has proven they’re capable of taking down some of the top dogs in the scene and our new additions are still hungry to prove themselves on LAN so it’s the perfect storm for an upset!
Watch the start of our IEM Cologne run on Wednesday 23rd at 18:00 CEST as we take on NIP!
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