blameF: "I don't really care what other people say, I just care what my team thinks"

In July 2022, Astralis made it from the Play-In of IEM Cologne to the playoffs of the event ranked 12th in the world. A full calendar year later, the legendary Danish lineup returns to the cathedral of Counter-Strike from identical circumstances, making it out of the Play-In phase to the playoffs from the 12th rank in the world. While the roster has changed since then, one member of the team who hasn't gone anywhere is Benjamin "blameF" Bremer, despite having moved to the IGL role. Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore of Dust2.us chatted with the 26-year-old ahead of their clash with Danish rivals Heroic.

Please note that the full interview can be found below on YouTube, while the transcript has some key snippets from their conversation.

You gave an interview to HLTV where you said that you think your individual level will suffer now that you have taken over as IGL proper from gla1ve. How have you felt about your individual performance, has it suffered or are you happy that it is holding up to a level that meets your expectations?

It definitely has suffered a bit. I feel that it is hard to focus on the individual when you constantly have to look at the teammates and tell them what to do, and tell them what nades to throw in every execution so it definitely has suffered. I'm playing a lot of Counter-Strike so I am not expecting myself to be one of the worst players all of a sudden just because I am being an IGL but yeah, I think it has suffered a little bit but I am doing my best to still perform a little bit on the server.

How do you feel about still being called baitF, even though you go for so many entry attempts? It's been a meme for such a long time it's almost old now, how do you feel that it's evolved and become old?

For me, I don't really care honestly. I only care what my teammates say, but yeah I know for sure that when I was in Complexity, I didn't go for many entry attempts. I was playing with oBo, RUSH, k0nfig, poizon, just all over aggressive players and I think that also made me a more passive player because it kind of made sense in that team. Someone had to be the guy throwing the nades and everything so yeah I think that team maybe defined my playstyle a little bit. I came to Astralis and I wasn't IGLing anymore, I think I was actually going for a lot of entries and I was doing a lot of like that. I didn't get much credit for it maybe but I think I definitely was doing that and I got a lot of credit for it in the team at least. We have a new lineup and I've changed my role again because now again I don't think I'm doing many entries, maybe a little bit, but not that many because we have more new guys that wanted those positions that you play forward on the map, especially with map control. Just a lot of defaults, I'm definitely the guy who throws a lot of nades for them, setting them up for whatever plays they want. I think it's changing a lot depending on the team but you know I don't really care what other people say, I just care what my team thinks.