Amidst an energetic atmosphere on day two of the PGL Stockholm Major playoffs, RBM’s Dafydd Gwynn had a chance to sit down with Entropiq’s coach, Dmitriy “hooch” Bogdanov. They discussed Entropiq’s expectations for the future, escaping their underdog status, and the rise of the CIS region among other topics.
You have been working with this core for nearly two years now and have had a strong year with appearances in ESL Pro League and now the Major. What’s next for the team heading into 2022?
I think our goal is to become a stronger team. We need to understand that we can play good Counter-Strike and we need to be more calm and confident in ourselves. It is going to be tough because now everyone is going to be really hyped in tier two and tier three scenes to beat us so we need to work much more.
Our goal is to play on stage. We see the stage and the teams playing there and we have goosebumps. Our goal next time is to qualify to the stage.
Heading into this Major you were viewed as one of the underdogs and were not favored to make a deep run by pundits and the public. What’s it like being known as the underdog and do you want to change that perception?
Coming into this event I gave an interview to HLTV saying that our goal is to get to the playoffs and show the world what we are capable of as a team. I think we did but our goal now is just to become a better team. We need to prove to ourselves and to the fans that this wasn’t a Cinderella story. We worked hard and we played good CS so I think now we want to establish ourselves as a top-tier team. We need to work much more.
Does something or someone in the team need to change for Entropiq to reach their next goal or do you think the team is still capable of steady growth?
I think every person in our team can be better and there’s never a limit for development. I think it is more about hard work, talking to each other, and working our weak spots because when we fix these problems obviously there’s going to be more problems but that’s what life is about.
In the online era we have seen the CIS emerge as something of a dominant region. Was this a surprise to you to see so many CIS teams climb the ranks at this time?
Obviously yes. We always had at least one good team but now we have many good teams in our region. The guys see that you can be young and successful and everyone is just dedicated to playing this game. We have seen a lot of examples where CIS teams showed how good they can be so I think this is just the beginning.
The CIS region is interesting right now because there isn’t one dominant regional meta. Right now the CIS has aggressive teams like Spirit but also incredibly slow and meticulous teams like Virtus.pro. Where do you think Entropiq fits into that dynamic?
I think we are an aggressive team but I think it’s really important to be flexible. In this tournament we didn’t have enough experience to close the easy situations and that really hurts but that’s the game. You can see it in every game and event between the best teams in the world, so I’d say we are an aggressive team but I want us to be flexible.
Last question, who is your favorite to win the Major?
Yeah, I think the winner will be decided in the semifinals. NAVI against Gambit is gonna be a banger.
