DignitasVIE has recently introduced a new player to the team, and we’ve reached out to the captain and in-game leader Adam "friberg" Friberg to know more about this change and what changes are being implemented. We’ve also taken the time to talk about his past as an in-game leader and how the experience he got throughout the years is being put to good use on DignitasVIE.

Hi friberg! How are things going right now that you have Lekr0 on the team?

friberg: We've only had a few days of practice, but it feels really good to be playing with Lekr0. He's a very calm player and is comfortable playing different parts of the maps. We had some issues with H4RR3 regarding positioning for everyone, where in some maps HEAP was lurking and on others, we had to split it because no one really wanted to do it. Right now I feel that we have a more set idea on how everyone wants and knows how to play better!

And how are you integrating Lekr0 into the team?

friberg: There's going to be a couple of changes with Lekr0 on the team, especially on CT. We had to change some positions as H4RR3 was playing a lot of bombsites alone. We're going to switch some CT positions and try to develop a really good default on all maps as T, so that we have something to rely on in case our set strategy doesn't work. But then again, we're trying to renew our "strat book", get some new ideas in, work on some tactics, have some inputs from Lekr0 based on his previous experiences... it's hard to play the first few matches with a new player, we're less prepared, but it is what it is.

You have recently participated in the DreamHack Masters Spring Open qualifier. We know those can be rough, and you ended up eliminated on a 14:16 match against BeGrip. What can you take away from that participation?

friberg: When you're playing Open Qualifiers like that, you have to be open-minded. People are shooting hard and generally playing really simple CS, and we got kind of stuck in the second half of that match we lost. We were losing pistols, anti-ecos and that does not help all, especially when it's a Bo1. We couldn't get our plays in, we were not reading them well. It was a game where we tried to force a lot early since we got a lot of kills and we were really close to breaking their economy... if we had just won one of those rounds, it would have been a very different game, because we could have 13 or 14 rounds won before they had their next buy. It's just stuff that happens, we don't look at it way too negatively. Obviously, we want to win, but we know it's really hard and there were a lot of other teams that also had issues qualifying to tournaments like that. But yet again, I feel it's great that we have Open Qualifiers to allow for lesser-known teams to have a shot at qualifying for such big tournaments!

Let’s take a look back at your career - how do you see your progress as a player in these last few years?

friberg: I feel like I've grown a lot the last couple of years. When I played in NiP, I felt stagnant, I didn't develop as much as I wanted or as much as I thought I could develop in CS. When I moved on to OpTic, I became the IGL. I was trying out a new role and I noticed that there was so much more to learn about the game and leading a team. I like the strategical part of CS:GO and moving on from there to Heroic, where I tried a lot of different positions - lurking, entrying, just being in unit walking around the map, so I feel like I've played almost every role besides the AWP and it kind of made me realize that I can't tell everyone to do something because I know, out of the personal experience, that it is super hard for them to do it. Overall, I think I've grown a lot both strategically and teamplay-wise. The last 3-4 years have been the most important in my career regarding my development as a player.

You've said you started IGLing back in OpTic, which was a few years already. How do see the evolution of your leadership?

friberg: I feel like the game itself has developed a lot since the last time I was IGLing. Back in 2017 when I was IGLing with OpTic, it was a lot simpler calls like defaults, but now is way more precise, the meta is totally different. You have to keep up with the meta, watch a lot of matches to know what teams are doing well, and try to implement within your team if you think it's something that your team could benefit from. Back in the days, I was a lot less experienced, and I feel that what I did in OpTic and Heroic combined was what made me realize that I could actually try to in-game lead now in Dignitas and I feel like I've done a fairly good job so far. As a new IGL, I can't expect to be the best in the world, but I feel like I'm constantly developing and learning a lot, I'm really open-minded about it and I still want to learn so much more about my role and the game in general. That's the beauty of this game, you can play it for 20 years like f0rest has and feel like you still learn something new every day!

Do you have second or third callers in Dignitas helping you?

friberg: I'm controlling the majority of the calls when we're playing, but I'm very open-minded about someone wanting to try a play or if someone else calls something. If they do it, it's because they have a reason to do it. We're trying to implement Lekr0 as the second-caller for the team as well. When he's playing on the sites, he will have a lot of information that could be passed on and get some very good plays in. He also has a lot of experience IGLing from when he did it back on NiP.

And how is Lekr0 adapting to the team so far?

friberg: I feel like it's going really well, he's getting well integrated within the team! He's a chill guy, very calm and collected while playing, and we're having a lot of fun! We are in a really good mood in the team right now and that's very important!

Would you like to leave a few words to close the interview?

friberg: I want to thank all the fans and Dignitas for their continuing support! It is a tough CS landscape right now out there, but we are grinding really hard and we're aiming to become a top team! Even though it might take some time, you guys will see us lift a trophy soon!

Make sure to follow friberg on social media!

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