Abai "HObbit" Hasenov, a member of 1WIN, reflected on a period in his career when he played for Cloud9. In an interview with Metaratings, Hasenov explained the reasons behind the decline in his performance while representing the American club.
"Of course, expectations were high, and this was our first major mistake – we are all human. But it’s not big names that win matches, it’s the team, first and foremost. Overall, I am very happy with that experience, and I felt proud to play in that Cloud9 lineup. I was surrounded by tough, legendary players. Ax1le and sh1ro were young talents, both top-five players in the world in CS:GO at the time. ElectroNic is historically a legendary rifler; in my opinion, he’s one of the best riflers in the history of the game. Perfecto, though young, had already proven himself as a key player in Natus Vincere, and he was one of the crucial factors behind their victories. Looking back, I understand that such invaluable experience is rare in a career. I was glad to play in that lineup.
At first, there wasn’t much pressure, but it came later, when I sacrificed my roles and took on more than I could handle. As the voice in the team, I put myself in an extremely uncomfortable position. By nature, I’m used to having an impact on the game, but there was a period, about one to two months, when I couldn’t influence Cloud9’s gameplay at all. Because of this, I lost my rhythm in the game and started performing poorly. Naturally, I was concerned about it.
The experience throughout my career has taught me an important lesson: there is no comfort zone in esports. If a player starts to feel comfortable, it leads to bad consequences. I always tried to avoid the comfort zone. I understand that no one is irreplaceable. That’s why I constantly pushed myself, even artificially, into a state of constant grind."
The Kazakh esports player also commented on his current team, 1WIN, and explained why he and his teammates failed to qualify for the RMR tournament ahead of the Shanghai Major.
"We prepared intensely, focusing on those qualifiers. At the same time, we played online tournaments to gain experience and farm Valve ranking points to qualify for the closed RMR qualifiers. Overall, I believe the result was fair. We didn’t have much time, and we faced some psychological issues, specific to certain players, and they need to work on those themselves.
In this new lineup, I’d like to see myself not as the in-game leader (IGL), but as the second voice, like Zeus had AdreN in his time. For me, this is the most optimal role in the team, where I can contribute my experience and also have an impact on strategy development and the team’s progress. Being the second voice in 1WIN would feel natural and fitting, and I’d like to emphasise that I can still be a player who can deliver firepower, contribute damage, and secure opening frags. I don’t want to lose that potential."
Recently, HObbit also shared his thoughts on the major "Arsenal" update in Counter-Strike 2. Abai noted significant improvements in the game, stating that, in his opinion, the patch would have a positive impact on the online CS2 scene.