Krabeni: "I always had in my head that I wanted to play for an international roster"

Ahead of the start of BLAST Rivals Spring 2026, Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke to FUT IGL Aulon "Krabeni" Fazlija. They spoke about Laurențiu "lauNX" Țârlea missing the event due to illness, the team's win at PGL Bucharest 2026, Krabeni's decision to go international, and the team's expectations ahead of the match against Vitality.

Find the video interview below with a full transcription underneath. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

Welcome to Texas, how are you enjoying your first time in America?

It's like a movie in America.

Like a movie?

When I see the streets and everything it feels like you're in a movie.

In the lead-up to this event we learned that lauNX would be missing the LAN due to illness. How are you feeling about your team's chance with coolio standing in?

We were waiting for this moment for him to play. We always joked in our team about when the time will come that coolio will play a tier-one tournament with us. We knew that one day one or us will have some problems or something and we are happy that he's going to play.

Even though he's going to replace lauNX, he's going in good positions and we're happy that he's going to play and even though he's a coach we know he can shoot.

With that, do you feel like you still have a chance to do some damage here?

Yeah, of course. I don't know if we're going to do good damage in the first game but we just hope to go to playoffs at least.

Right after Fort Worth we'll see FUT head to IEM Atlanta. Do we expect to see lauNX back in action for that event?

For IEM Atlanta as lauNX has said he will probably be ready. He is just diagnosed with something. I'm not sure exactly what it was but he's sick and he needs some time. I just hope he gets well and he will be ready for IEM Atlanta.

You come into Fort Worth after triumphing at PGL Bucharest. How did it feel to win your first S-tier event so early into your career and was it a gut punch to then head into this event with a stand-in?

It was a very good moment to win a trophy at this early stage. It's our fourth or fifth tier-one tournament and we didn't expect to win this fast. When we saw the teams [for Bucharest], we knew we had a chance to win it.

It's good that it happened and that lauNX will miss this event after that victory is something we were waiting for, but we were waiting to play Vitality. We had a good run in PGL so we were hoping to play them one day, and it happened here but not with lauNX due to illness.

Is it vindicating to win an even as an IGL considering you didn't start your career as an IGL?

Yeah I realized fast that I made a good decision in becoming an IGL. Of course it makes me feel good that I am 21 and I have had the chance to lift the trophy at this early stage of being an IGL.

Coming up in the Kosovar scene, were Bad News Eagles an inspiration to you as they broke ground in making the Major?

I remember when I was in school and they were playing in these big tournaments. Of course its motivation to watch them play in these big tournaments and you get motivated to show better or to play in the big events.

It feels good that they had a chance to play and now we have a chance to play in big events.

You decided to take your career in a different direction and join an international roster. Was it intention to go down that road or did you aim to stay in the Kosovar scene?

At the beginning when I started my career there were no international rosters to join so I had to go with a national roster. After that I always had in my head that I wanted to play for an international roster and commit my career to an international roster.

Something can happen in the next 3-4 years, maybe there can be a Kosovar-Albanian roster but for me I always had it in my head I wanted to go international.

Would you be interested in playing with makazze again as he left to join NAVI in the middle of your time with NAVI Junior?

I have in my head that we should play again be together because of our relationship, we are very good close friends and I think we'll maybe one day be back together but at the moment that I think about that. I focus on our team and he's focused on his team.

But I hope one day it will happen.

Will be looking for revenge after the loss to NAVI in Pro League?

Yeah I hope we'll get revenge and I wish to play against him in some finals or something because I just want everyone who is from Kosovo to win as many trophies as possible. I hope we can play against them in some finals so at least one of us will win.

Your opening match will be against Astralis. With coolio standing in how are you feeling about that match-up?

Against Vitality you mean?

Oh that's much more concerning with a stand-in. So against the best team in the world right now while using a stand-in, how are you feeling?

It's good that we're going to play against them. At least we'll have a reason [for losing] because we played with a coach. But, to be honest even though we're playing with coolio I see some chances we can win.

coolio has not been playing CS for two years but he's not a bad player and if he's having his day and everyone on the team is having a good day I see a chance we can beat Vitality. coolio is not bad, he can shoot. We played practice with him today and he was doing some insane clips with pistols and highlights so we have a chance.