Grim: "I think hallzerk's a top 20 player this year"

Complexity didn't go far at the BLAST.tv Austin Major, but Michael "Grim" Wince made it to the final day as he played at the showmatch featuring a full NA team vs. streamers.

Dust2.us' Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore caught up with Grim after the showmatch to discuss this experience, his thoughts on getting knocked out of the Major in Stage One, and whether or not Complexity have plans to play at a smaller NA LAN this year.

You can watch the full interview below on YouTube, or read the transcription underneath. All the questions and answers were slightly edited for clarity.

So, tough loss against the plucky European underdogs, especially losing to ohnePixel, how's that feeling?

It feels incredibly devastating [smirks]. I honestly couldn't be more pissed off, they came with a good game plan, and they got us good. No, in all seriousness, it was a fun match, and we did actually want to try in the end, but I think we ended up trolling a little too much, and let way too out of hand. But it was really nice playing with Gooseman.

Definitely, playing with Gooseman is a unique opportunity. What is it like playing with the guy who invented Counter-Strike?

It's surreal, because obviously, CS basically has been my life for the last 11 years now. So, to be able to play with the guy that actually created the game is very, very awesome for me. We were all trying to hype him up, set him up for some plays, and I think we were calling too much strats, it was a bit of a struggle [laughs]. But it was awesome to play with him, I loved it.

We had n0thing, Skadoodle, all those guys getting back, and it was great to see. How was playing with EliGE again? Was it good to play with your former Complexity teammate?

Yeah, I enjoyed playing with him, it's a lot of fun. We were cracking up a lot of jokes on the stream, so hopefully you could catch them. But yeah, it's always nice to play with EliGE. We're still friends, and he's taught me a lot about the game. So, I don't really like hearing all this, like, negative stigma about 'Grim can't play for EliGE,' or any of that stuff, because I think EliGE is a great player, and I think he's taught me and all of our teammates on Complexity a lot of stuff we didn't know before, specifically with mechanics.

Now talking about Complexity, it's been a while since the team fell out in the first Stage of the Major. Part of that comes down to, of course, having junior as a stand-in, and having adreN, who you're still testing in the coach role, but obviously fell short of expectations for one of NA's best teams. What do you think went wrong for COL at the Major?

It's basically our mid rounds. We got a lot of chaos in our mid rounds. Sometimes we got a 5v3 and we just ended up keeping going, and then, all of a sudden, it's a 3v3 again, or 2v3, something like that. So, we just need to stay a little more composed, and I'd say in the clutches, it was mainly just about being on the same page.

We were not on the same page. We already talked about it on our group chat over the break, but we just got to be better about trusting each other, especially when the round gets close in some of those pressure games.

I believe you're heading to Europe after the break is over, to play in the EWC, and hallzerk will be able to play with you guys again anywhere except for NA. Is it going to be good to have him back in the starting lineup?

Yeah, it's going to be great. Obviously, we missed hallzerk. I think junior is still really good, but obviously, hallzerk as the main AWPer is who we'd all want to play with. I think he's had a very long vacation, so hopefully, he's coming back grinding and showing us what he can do. Honestly, I think he's a top 20 player this year, and if he keeps it up, I think he can have a shot at making it.

What's Complexity schedule looking like next season? Obviously, we've heard a lot of NA news about these events that are going to have VRS. We heard about the DreamHack BYOC that offers a spot into the ESL Pro League. We've had NiP going to FRAG Vegas and earning a lot of VRS points. Do you think Complexity will play more of those NA LANs?

Oh yeah, we definitely wanted to play the last FRAG, but I think we got a last-minute invite in Melbourne, and obviously we had to choose that over FRAG. Right now we're going to FISSURE, and we'll do a one-week boot camp before FISSURE, Cologne, and BLAST. Depending on how good we do at those events, we might not even need to play FRAG or the BYOC, but obviously, if it goes pretty bad, we're definitely going to consider playing those LANs.

But I think COL as an org is going to try to be at a FRAG this year, unless obviously, our points are too big. We wouldn't want to risk it or anything. But they do want to support NA, and going to a FRAG is supporting NA. So, we probably will go that, just depending on points. We have a busy start coming up.