blameF: I’m Happy That I’m Not In-Game Leading Anymore
After giving up the IGL duties, the new Fnatic star can focus on what he does best: Shooting people on the server.
In mid-May, Fnatic announced the blockbuster signing of Benjamin “blameF” Bremer from Astralis, marking a significant addition to their roster. The Danish star, known for being one of the highest-rated players in recent years, was quickly given the star positions on the team and the label as a “franchise player” tasked with leading the iconic organization back to the top of Counter-Strike.
We have had the chance to interview the Danish superstar about his move to Fnatic, stepping away from the IGL role, and his reflections on some of the issues from his time in Astralis.
- The transfer went pretty smooth. The talks with the organization were good and I think our vision aligns pretty well together. I thought before joining that I could fit pretty well into the team, so it’s a good opportunity for me to join Fnatic, blameF says to Pley.gg.
- My individual goal with Fnatic is to return to the big stages of the game – and I think that should also be the team goal, for us to be competitive at the top of Counter-Strike.
No More IGL’ing
The transfer to Fnatic also means that blameF has given up the IGL responsibilities he had at Astralis, allowing him to return solely to a rifler role. This change is something blameF clearly appreciates.
- I'm happy that I'm not the in-game leader anymore. It makes me able to focus more on my own game and shooting people, which is what I'm enjoying the most – the role change allows me to do that now.
BlameF has been trusted with the in-game leader role on several teams in the past, including Astralis following the benching of Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander last year. In our interview, blameF reflected on his time as an IGL and the criticism he faced.
Do you feel the criticism of you and your IGL’ing in Astralis was justified?
- I think, as the in-game leader, you have to take a lot of responsibility. When I was in-game leading the initial team with b0RUP and Buzz, I think we overachieved a lot with the semifinal at IEM Cologne and the results we had there – also getting to the semifinal in Shanghai [CS Asia Championships]. But with the new lineup with stavn and Jabbi, we definitely didn’t achieve what we were supposed to do.
- And as an in-game leader, I think I have to look inward and see that I probably didn’t do a good enough job to make everyone aligned and stuff like that, blameF concludes.
