JUGi: We want to take the trophy

Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen's first LAN with HEROIC was IEM Katowice 2017, where the Danish team surprised many by placing top four after just a couple of days of practice. In the meantime, the team has been playing in online leagues and has been having decent results leading up to DreamHack Austin.

JUGi wants to become one of the best AWPers

In an interview before the event, we talked with JUGi about his first teams in which he played with Andreas "⁠MODDII⁠" Fridh and Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen, the leadership of Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer and Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen, and getting experience.

Even though many CS fans didn't know about you until you joined Heroic, you've been turning heads in lower Danish teams for quite some time before that. Tell us bit about your 2015-2016, what was your mindset like then, were you always aiming to become a professional player?

I started out in madjicK, which was my first team, I had no experience within the competitive scene of CS:GO at that time, but I started to grow a lot as a player in madjicK/Reason Gaming due to the fact that many of my teammates had a lot of experience in Counter-Strike already. In my time in madjicK and Reason gaming, the competitive scene was relatively new to me, I did not aim to become a professional player back then.

After a short break from the scene I made a comeback and teamed up with my current teammate niko and my ex-teammate Haste, and joined the organization "Revival". A bit after that niko and I joined Alpha, and, later on, we joined Tricked Gaming together. Tricked was my first real step into becoming a professional player, at this time I realized I could make a living from my hobby. Now I want to aim big and want to become one of the best AWPers someday.

You joined Heroic in late February of this year and you were on your way to Katowice for IEM just a couple of days later. What were your thoughts going into that event, did you feel pressure—it was your first big tournament after all?

We had like 2-3 practice days before IEM Katowice, and I think the group we got was one of the hardest Heroic have ever had, but we still managed to take first place. I handled it fine, playing under pressure, even though it was my first big tournament against tier 1 teams.

Snappi mentioned that Heroic were at IEM Katowice "to get experience". What did you learn—both as a team and personally—from that event?

I learned a lot from Katowice, as I mentioned before it was my first time I faced tier 1 teams on LAN, everything was more intense because our group was so close. We had a 1-2 score and needed wins against Na`Vi and Virtus.pro in the last two matches. Before the matches we talked a lot about that we should not be afraid and that we just had to play our own game and take our chances.

How do you approach personal improvement? Do you focus more on just playing the game, do you watch demos of other players or do you do think something else is the key to good play?

I do a lot of aim-training every day. I like to see how other AWPers take their peeks and bring some of the peeks into my own playstyle.

You've played with HUNDEN in the past, someone that has gotten a lot of credit from Danish players for his IGL skills and ability to develop players. You are now playing with Snappi, can you contrast the two in terms of leadership? 

I think both Snappi and Hunden are really good IGLs, they have a lot in common. I really enjoy playing with a player like Snappi, he’s a really nice guy, wants everybody on the team to feel good in-game and out of the game, much more than other IGLs do.

JUGi alongside HUNDEN at ESWC 2016

You played alongside MODDII in one of your very first teams - madjicK. Did he play a role in your move to Heroic? Did you want to play with him again?

I played with MODDII in madjicK and Reason Gaming, I always liked to play with him and knew I could learn a lot from him. I think it was the whole team who wanted me in Heroic, not just him, but I’m happy to play with MODDII again!

You've had a boot camp to prepare for DreamHack Austin? Where do you hope to place at the tournament?

Our boot camp went well, we focused a bit on team-building and we are prepared for DreamHack Austin. As far as the tournament, is concerned the first step is to reach the playoffs, but we are hungry and we want to take the trophy back home.

Your transfer from Tricked to Heroic made headlines as you were benched after expressing your desire to leave. Was it hard for you to find yourself in such a situation, which could see you spend one year on the sidelines?  

I had never experienced something like that before. I cannot describe the feeling that I had, just the thought that I couldn't play for one year... It was a dream of mine to be able to play on bigger stages. Now,  I am just more than happy that they found a solution.

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.