Alexey “Qikert” Golubev, the captain of the PARIVISION CS2 team, has been a professional player for ten years. Over his career, he has won numerous major championships, played in Western Europe, and transitioned into a captain role. In this interview, Qikert discusses his journey since leaving Virtus.pro, evaluates roster changes in the pro scene, compares Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev, and shares insights on how to win tournaments.
— You`ve been quiet in the media lately, so I wanted to trace your path from Virtus.pro to PARIVISION. If I remember correctly, you were the second player from the championship-winning VP roster to leave the team, after buster. Your last tournament with VP was Gamers8 in 2023. What led to the decision for roster changes back then?
— Let me try to reconstruct the timeline. I think it actually happened much earlier. I decided to leave because I experienced burnout. Probably for the first time in my 6-7 year career, I felt real burnout and realized something was wrong. Many things from other areas of life piled up, and by that time I understood that something was really off, I needed to make a decision, and this decision didn`t happen after Gamers8, it happened before the Copenhagen Major. I realized that was it, I`d finish this championship, and that’s all. I needed to rest, gather my thoughts, recharge, and then come back.
Overall, it wasn`t just my decision; everything just aligned — we realized it would be better for me, for the Virtus.pro organization, that it would benefit everyone. So, I think we parted ways normally, I`m not angry at anyone. But even after making this decision, after the Copenhagen Major, I couldn`t leave immediately — the guys couldn`t find a replacement for a long time, so I played with the team for another month and a half or two. We played an online championship, CCT Season 1 Online Finals #2, which we won, if I`m not mistaken. Then we flew to Katowice for ESL Challenger Katowice 2023, then we had FiReLEAGUE Battle 2023, where we even managed to play with mir because n0rb3r7 had some issues. And then Gamers8 2023 happened.
It was actually disappointing… Throughout all these tournaments, things were going so well for us, we were winning everything during that period. I wasn`t training that much then, still recovering. I was still involved in the team`s life, of course, but not as much as before. I felt that I shouldn`t overwork myself. I think I still performed well, despite not putting in full effort. In any case, I wanted to win, and we won essentially everywhere we needed to. The guys got a lot of ESL points for that, invitations to other tournaments. And, you could say, we parted ways well.
Gamers8 2023 was so close and frustrating. It felt like we were one step away from winning it, because there was no lower bracket, you just arrive, play one bo3, win — you`re good, you advance. Lose — you`re out, loser. We beat FaZe Clan, then there was a game against G2, and it was so close, it felt like we were ahead everywhere, but a couple of unfortunate moments happened, and that`s it, we lost. But still, it felt like we entered in good shape, it just happens sometimes.
— So, overall, there were no disagreements with your teammates? You won a Major with them, and now you`re parting ways…
— Yes, everything was okay. The guys showed a good upswing after that, I remember. I watched their games, there were many online matches after Riyadh, and they were showing themselves really well. Plus, they got a slot for BLAST, and they beat everyone there too. But I would say that at that moment Virtus.pro was definitely a top-5 team, even from top-2 to top-5. And they were performing really well, it was nice to watch them. And at that moment, I had already moved to the ITB team.
— We`ll definitely talk about them a bit later! When you left the main roster, you had a long break. Tell me, how did you rest and what did you do? And what is the best rest for you? How do you try to forget about CS for a while?
— When I unofficially left, we were still playing, so it was kind of an incomplete rest. Semi-rest and esports trips to tournaments, I still needed to play and so on. But then, when I got full rest, I just didn`t even sit at the computer. Maybe for two weeks I just slept for 10-12 hours. Lay in bed, and you could really feel how the overfatigue from 5-6 years of non-stop grinding in CS had accumulated, because I hadn`t really missed any tournaments since 2017. Of course, there are vacations and so on, but they are not long enough to really feel that it`s real rest, to truly recover.
This time, having slept properly, rested, not sitting at the computer for a month, I realized that real life is also beautiful. It`s interesting to live outside of CS, outside of the computer, to do some other things. Immediately a lot of time appears for those areas that were previously given little time: friends, family, some desires to do something, sports, health. I think during this month I managed to cover all those areas that the esports schedule simply didn`t allow before. Because when you constantly have these flights, tournaments, practices and non-stop esports mode, you can only focus on this task. Not on friends, not on family, not on relationships, not on health… Full focus was on CS.
I think somewhere in the long run I changed this approach. Because when you spend a very large percentage of time specifically on work in one area, you enter a routine state. And it accumulates one way or another, and then it becomes more and more difficult. It may seem that everything is okay, we are winning, but it still leads to burnout later. I concluded that you need to combine CS and other areas of life.
I myself am a person who doesn`t really believe in burnout, that it exists, but I experienced it in the moment (laughs). I rested really well, saw my family. I still live in Kazakhstan, and due to the poor internet conditions there, the location itself doesn`t allow you to be an esports player there. I always live either in bootcamps or away from home. This is also not easy: family, friends are very far from you, and this also adds up. At that moment, when I was resting, I was able to fill the void, gain what was missing. And, perhaps, it mostly concerned emotions. Maybe I didn`t really manage to rest energetically and physically, but emotionally I rebooted 100%.
— And so we came to your joining ITB. In your entire career before ITB, you had never played in English-speaking teams, and here you also decided to become a captain, which we will definitely talk about later. How was the decision made to leave the CIS and try to play in Western Europe?
— Probably, at some point, I just started missing CS. I have a workaholic personality type, no matter how much I rest, I still start to miss the thing I`ve been doing for a long time. I started missing it, this offer appeared, I thought it would be interesting to find out what it`s like to play in an international team. Just, probably, interest and some faith that there weren`t completely, roughly speaking, no-names, there were well-known players who had already shown themselves, who had certain experience. Before that, they also had a good breakthrough at the Copenhagen Major, they performed well, reached the playoffs. There was some faith in the roster, plus this very interest that I had never tried anything like this, and I love getting into the unknown. Even leaving Virtus.pro is a kind of journey into the unknown. I`m just a lover of the unknown.
— So, you can be called an adventurous person?
— Yes, yes, yes. Very adventurous (laughs).
— And how did you feel in the English-speaking environment? I remember you wrote that it took you about two weeks to get used to the English language. Do you know it well?
— Probably, well enough. I`ve always had a predisposition that the English language is very interesting to me. I was an excellent student at school and constantly sat on English forums, watched videos, movies and so on. Then I got into esports already at 17 years old, and there, whether you like it or not, you travel around the world — you still communicate with people in English, and the knowledge of English only strengthened.
At first, it was probably not easy. Unusual that I`m constantly speaking English. Probably, it even got to the point that I started dreaming in English. After a couple of weeks, I even started thinking only in English. That`s how the connection to the team happened. But then it became easier and easier each time, and as a captain — because you talk more than others — it became even easier. Plus, spoken and in-game English are different. For in-game English, you don`t need that much skill. In the game plan, it was simple. I had periods when I played a lot of FPL, and it wasn`t much different.
— So, the advice to guys who really want to learn English but can`t, is to study pop culture?
— It turns out, probably, yes. In general, I think it all depends on interest, because I was interested in learning English from childhood, but it just so happened that there was initially a predisposition to a foreign language.
— Do you watch movies and series in the original language?
— I used to watch with subtitles. Now I still watch something in Russian. But even when I hear English speech, the understanding hasn`t disappeared anywhere. The main thing is to maintain the level, not to forget that the English language exists. Because as soon as you forget about it, the skill drops.
— Why didn`t ITB manage to show themselves well? The best result, if I`m not mistaken, was 3-4 place at Thunderpick, where you lost to SAW. As far as I remember, it was a very обидное (disappointing) defeat on Vertigo. In general, what was the main problem?
— Good question. I also thought after that: “Damn, why didn`t we take off?” I came to the conclusion that still somewhere because of too different cultures, different visions of CS, it didn`t work out to fully work together. We gathered in an international team of seven, including the manager, people from different countries, from different cultures — this is very decisive.
In an international team, it`s difficult to come to some certain truths. When I joined, I only had about a week to prepare some material for the team. I was doing everything in a hurry, sleeping 4-5 hours, just so that we had at least something before the championships. Such trainings, such analyses — these 7-8 days are still not enough to play tournaments. I would say even a month is not enough, and here it was 7-8 days, constant officials.
I think we just didn`t have enough time to work something out. And when you sign up for tournaments like this and play them almost like a mix with some preparations, the process is harder. After all, the team`s confidence, atmosphere, and so on come from the results.
But it was forced, I think. We won somewhere, probably 60 to 40 or 65 to 35, but still it wasn`t enough to establish ourselves as a team. There were talks that the organization might fall apart, which was also a certain negative background for the players. It seems to me that we did everything we could, somewhere it didn`t work out. I call it “not stuck together”. The players didn`t stick together. There are such coincidences when players immediately stick together in roles, in atmosphere.
For this roster, it was precisely time that was needed for everything to stick together, and training. But it so happened that it just turned out to be neither fish nor fowl. But still, it was a really interesting, awesome experience. Probably, it`s that adventurer in me speaking, but in ITB I was again convinced that there is actually nothing difficult. Although from the outside it may seem that the first time in an international team, and also as a captain — it`s a challenge. But no, there is nothing difficult, we ourselves choose the level of difficulty in our heads.
— You said that you had little time for different preparations. Can you elaborate on how this work generally happens? For example, you wake up, launch CS, go to Dust2 and come up with rounds there? How does it all happen?
— Initially, of course, we agree on positions, who is comfortable playing where, who is what type of player in terms of psychotypes — this is also important: who is active, who is more passive, who is a clutcher, who prefers to rush first. First, it goes like this. And there is also a dialogue with the coach, what and how we will add. Specifically in ITB, the coach initially trusted me to do it in a way that would be comfortable for me. It seems to me that this is really important — that it is primarily convenient for the captain, because I will be calling during the game, leading the team.
Everything was okay with this, the coach helped, also suggested his things — Trace was our coach then. I suggested my things, using previous experience with Virtus.pro, which I believed in, which I considered meta, which created the impression that you could win through them. And, perhaps, this was one of the critical mistakes in my career. The Virtus.pro style — it`s still not suitable for everyone. It`s a very difficult style, for the mastery of which you need a lot of time. I needed to focus then not on my previous style, which we used to play, which I believed in, through which I won championships with the guys, but I needed to choose a new one for the players and for the international team. The key point is for the international team, because mostly… Can I say that structured teams are the old Virtus.pro, Team Spirit, NAVI… This is structured, academic CS, where a lot is analyzed.
To play such CS, you really need a lot of time. It was necessary to choose something simple, where you just trade frags, like Snappi or karrigan call. You just fight, agree, and that`s it, without an excess of details. And when you take CS, which is built on details, it really needs a lot of time. But this was also an experience for me. Because I had no other examples of how to play CS. I chose exactly this one. I think YEKINDAR had a similar story when he moved to Liquid and became a captain — that he also tried to pull off the same adventure. Take all those things that helped win championships in Virtus.pro, and transfer them to Liquid, and it didn`t quite suit the players. It seems to me that I cosplayed him (laughs).
— You talked about team styles, and I have a question. We have, conditionally, two styles: the one you attributed to karrigan and Snappi, and this complex, structured approach. Can these styles be compared and say which one is stronger in the long run? Or does it all depend only on the team and the players who are in it at the moment?
— It always depends on the players and the team. Someone has played all their life according to preparations, according to precise discussions, so that everything is exactly according to plan. And someone played in such a freestyle, pressed to some certain arrangement, and then showed their skills, individual play, decision-making. What kind of players and team, that`s the style you need to choose. You can`t choose something specific.
— It turns out, you worked in both the CIS and Western Europe. Have you found any key differences in working with players from your region and from Western Europe?
— Yes, 100%. Probably, first of all, it`s the language and presentation of information, and in general thinking. Conditionally, when you play in the CIS, you can say some specific information in two or three words so that people immediately understand. In international teams, you say everything more or less generalized. Well, and what I`m leading to: the level of communication in the CIS and in international teams is 100% different. Even not in CIS and international, but in monolingual teams and international ones. Well, where everyone is from the same country with the same mentality. This affects the presentation of information and how thoughts are conveyed. This is the main difference.
Second is, of course, different mentalities for everyone when you are in an international team. And third is the approach, probably. As I noticed, in the CIS everyone is like factory workers: they sweat very hard, go to their 12-hour shift, train, try their best. Not in all CIS teams, of course, I judge more by Virtus.pro, PARIVISION, and AVANGAR as well, how we trained — very, very much.
In Europe, there is such a concept as not to overwork, to be fresh. I`m not saying that they don`t work, don`t try, but still you can feel that there is a difference. This is actually a cool topic they have, that they are focused on psychological health, on their freshness and try to maintain this balance. Conditionally, as it was in my previous teams: all emphasis on result, on training, overworking. And in Europe — although I haven`t played much in European teams, I can only judge by ITB — they strive for balance, so that everything is competent both in the work plan and in terms of rest.
— When I talked to FL4MUS, I asked him about working with Snax. In short, then he answered me that, most likely, Snax could perceive GamerLegion only as a step to tier-1 and did not claim anything in that team and did not tryhard. So, did you also perceive ITB only as a step in your career or did you really want to stay playing in Western Europe?
— When I left VP, I wasn`t in the best individual period. And I was playing from the scenario that now I won`t be invited anywhere and life will continue as usual. And if I am invited somewhere, then I will seize this chance and fully invest in it.
The second scenario happened, and in ITB I invested really heavily, regardless of the fact that it was an international team and that we were not doing well in places. I didn`t consider it as a step, because initially I thought that I wouldn`t be invited anywhere at all, I would disappear from esports, and that`s it. Therefore, I considered ITB as my only chance, I invested fully.
— I remembered your post, which you published two weeks before leaving ITB. You wrote that you understood why teams can win tournaments in streaks. Will you reveal the secret to ordinary workers?
— I wouldn`t say that it`s a crazy secret. The first is the factor that the team has been playing together for a very long time. Then it develops a kind of playbook, reactions, preparations, that everything is already honed, each player already knows how another player will act in some decision. This is probably one of the main points for achieving success. Synergy is first. Second is individual skill, individual skill is always very important. If your team is average in terms of individual level, even in shooting, in decisions, then you won`t get streaks, because everyone can shoot and make decisions at a basic level.
Third, there must be a good atmosphere, everyone should always get along well. I mean that everyone communicates with each other, everyone understands where to separate work relations, where — friendly ones, and that there is some kind of harmony, so that there is a good habitat for work. I myself realized that no matter how much you work, no matter how much effort you put in, if the atmosphere is bad, no 140 hours in CS in two weeks will help. This is very important. But if the habitat is favorable, then, consequently, progress will be made. Fourth is freshness, probably. This European balance that you need to be able to work and you need to be able to rest. Without these four points, it is very difficult to be in a team. And fifth is experience. Experience actually decides a lot. When you have players aged 18-20 years, who have not played so many matches on HLTV.org, the difference with players who already have one and a half to two thousand maps is colossal. Experience decides a lot.
— Literally, judging by that post that I mentioned earlier, it seemed that everything was going very well. You even were going to raffle ITB merch on your Telegram channel, but then bam…
— But bam… (Laughs)
— Yes, yes, bam — and we get information that you are no longer in this team. How did everything change so quickly and what happened?
— As I said, there were talks that the organization might break up, that someone might be taken away, and this affects decisions — if I work a lot, bring something, and the organization breaks up, someone is taken away… I don`t want to fall into this pit. Plus, I wouldn`t say that we had good results, they were satisfactory, considering how much time we played. And then an invitation to PARIVISION came: they showed me what nicknames could be, and I thought that the offer was good, it would be a sin to refuse. Yes, playing in an international team is interesting, a new path and so on, but everything can always change when you are offered really promising, strong, experienced players.
In ITB, we didn`t have that many experienced players. Probably, only rallen — 29 years old, quite experienced, understands everything well. He has already played a lot of scenarios in this game and knows how he can win. And the other guys were 20-21 years old. Yes, misutaaa, Bymas played in other teams, but they still came there as newcomers and didn`t manage, I would say, not to enjoy, but to get the experience that is needed. One way or another, I loved them, it was not an easy decision, but I came to this… Again, adventure, uncertainty. Not to say that I like jumping from team to team, but here it became interesting to try again.
— We have come to your transition to PARIVISION. Who was the initiator? Who first offered you to join the team?
— Oh, I don`t know if I can say this or not. Let`s say it was both a player and the management. I think you can say it vaguely like that.
— Were there any other offers from other teams?
— Then there was still one offer hanging from another CIS team, but it had not yet formed and… I would even say from two. One was not completely formed, the second — not formed at all, the third one was some small one…
— But these teams exist now?
— Now they do, yes. But out of the three options, the transition to PARIVISION looked the most promising, with faith in the future, 100%. There was no need to even think, immediately. (Laughs)
— As far as I understand, you joined the roster as a regular player, because Jerry was the captain then?
— Yes.
— Did you initially understand that captaincy ambitions would have to be postponed? Or did you still hope to become an IGL again in the future?
— I did not refuse the role. But after captaining in ITB, I realized that I lacked some experience working with other captains. I was interested to see how others work, because throughout my career we played with Jame. He has been my captain all my life. And when I moved to ITB, I realized that this experience is still not enough for me to be a captain in the next team. I wanted to be a second caller for now. In principle, I have been performing this role all my life, I am comfortable with it. I decided that it would be better to watch how everything works, gain some experience.
Plus, it was also good for me, because, as I said, I didn`t really rest physically, and with the transition to ITB, I again plunged into this vat of overworking. And again, probably, I was a little shocked (laughs) and thought that I would be a second caller, this is interesting for me. It was again a challenge, an interest in raising individual play.
— In May 2024, Jerry left the main roster. Did you immediately offer your candidacy as a leader? How was everything decided?
— It happened so quickly that I didn`t yet have a great desire to captain again then. With Jerry, I gained very good experience, saw a new branch, what a captain can be. This gave really great experience, a new vision of how to play CS. Thanks to Jerry for that. He showed very good qualities that a captain has, it was really useful. And when Jerry left, I had a thought: maybe become a captain? But I still kept it on the shelf for now, because I thought that I needed more experience working with another captain to then become a full-fledged one. That`s how I looked at it more. But such offers were made, I stated my position, everyone said: “Okay,” and I continued to be a second caller.
— You already mentioned this, and I also wanted to say about this: players who, so to speak, come out from under Jame`s wing, begin to lead teams. You are a captain, YEKINDAR was a captain in Liquid for a while, electroNic took over the captaincy from Jame in VP, and SANJI even became a coach. What can you attribute this to?
— This is an effect of the fact that we worked very much, discussed a lot, invented a lot, constantly talked about CS. Thanks to this, game intelligence increased very much day by day, year by year. I think when you already have such a large base of knowledge, understanding, it would be a sin not to become a captain or a second caller. I think you won`t be able to be a support player who is silent, just takes his plants and listens to someone.
— In general, the AVANGAR school raised you well. After a series of changes, the roster that we see now began to form. From the team you joined, no one is left. On November 5, F_1N left the roster, and just three days later dastan joined you. Why didn`t it work out with F_1N?
— Probably, different views on CS — this is the most basic thing. F_1N is a cool coach, but he needs more experienced players. He does his job, but his strength manifests itself when all experienced players are around him.
— But what about F_1N`s work in Gambit Youngsters? Together with them, he managed to achieve success, and then nafany and company could not be called experienced guys.
— Yes, but at that moment it turned out that he, it turns out, had at that moment, probably, the top-1 rifler, almost top-1-2 sniper and one of the most experienced players, and at that time of the online era also one of the most individually strong — HObbit. As I said, it happens like this — they stuck together, that everything goes like clockwork. Well, and interz in his role is also a specialist, a suitable person, a piece of this puzzle. Everything stuck together so perfectly for them, that it would be a sin not to win there (laughs).
— You didn`t say anything about nafany…
— Nafany, of course, captain, space creator.
— How was the process of choosing a new coach after F_1N left you? Did you initially realize that continuing to work with dastan was the ideal development?
— Probably, yes, we just saw that dastan is one of the most suitable coaches for this roster, that he very strongly influences the formation of players, and in general on their vision, inclines them to the side that allows you to win championships. These are,
Finley Holt