s1n: "Ever since we started playing with JBa, it's been a transition period to make him comfortable"

M80 are in good form to begin the IEM Cologne Major, but these results may come as a surprise if you've been watching them so far this year. In an interview with HLTV, M80's German in-game leader Elias "⁠s1n⁠" Stein alluded to their struggles after adding JBa, saying:

Yeah, I think ever since we started playing with JBa, it's like a transition period where we got to make him comfortable. Make him understand what we want to see from him, and also like how we play with each other on the server.

So it took a bit for him to get used to it.

The NA squad looked to make the next step after falling just short of Stage 3 at the StarLadder Budapest Major in 2025 by adding American talent Josh "JBa" Barutt from Wildcard. JBa replaced Jadan "HexT" Postma, who was a solid piece for M80 in his time with the team.

M80 haven't enjoyed the steady growth they would have hoped for after JBa's arrival. M80 haven't appeared at many tier-one events in 2026, and when they have, they've been 1-6 in matches, only defeating NIP at the ESL Pro League Season 23 online stage.

If you were in a coma since JBa was added, you might think they have pushed on from their form in 2025. M80 have looked extremely solid thus far at IEM Cologne Stage 1, beating Lynn Vision and Sharks easily to put themselves one best-of-three away from Stage 2 qualification.

s1n also highlighted the importance of playing a Major in his home country of Germany:

We want to give German people a team to cheer for, this is the ultimate goal. That could elevate us also, once we are really there, but yeah, we got to take it step by step.

In the end, it's a Major, and it's just the cherry on top that we're going to play in Germany.

M80 will face B8 in a 2-0 match at 01:00PM today, with a chance to go flawless in Stage 1.