One of the underdog teams that made it to the playoffs of the IEM Cologne Major 2026 is BetBoom, who ran the whole gauntlet all the way from Stage 1.
Standing-in for the team is Timur “FL4MUS” Marev, who we had the chance to talk to during the pre-playoffs media day. Check out the full interview below.
FL4MUS: It was my minimum that I’m going to be satisfied with, Stage 3. Not the playoffs, I was not expecting. I was, I would, I had the mindset, like, I would like to be in the playoffs, but probably, Stage 3, like, since we’re not practicing, because we didn’t practice at all before the major, new positions, I thought it’s not going to be that realistic. But time passed, and we showed really, really good CS, we gained our level of confidence, so, yeah, I’m happy.
No, for sure not. Before the major, I didn’t know that I was coming in. BetBoom contacted me, like, two days before the major, so I just packed my things and went.
That was, like, crazy as well.
S1ren is more of an anchor, he’s a more quiet guy, and d1Ledez is, he’s louder, for sure, and he’s not that type of an anchor that S1ren is, yeah.
I mean, in Russian teams it’s just easier to play because of the language, because there is no language barrier at all. When you’re playing in English-speaking teams, usually there are zero players from actually English-speaking countries, and that creates a language barrier inside of the game. Sometimes, when you need to say something very, very fast, it’s kind of hard.
FL4MUS had a lot of praise for his IGL, Boombl4. Credit: © ESL
It’s fine, it’s fine. Yeah. I think Boombl4 is more calm. I mean, I cannot describe, because there are different types of in-game leaders and players overall.
I will just say that Boombl4 is emotionally stable. He is relying on his teammates, he is trusting in his teammates, and he has really good reads inside of the game. He knows when this round is good to do, or when, for example, when we need to go to the side where there is going to be one or zero people, he has those reads, and that’s really impressive.
FL4MUS: We played Falcons, Vitality, and Spirit. So, we played all of the grand [finalist prospects].
Bruno: So G2 then?
FL4MUS: No. No, if we’re going to get to the final, I would like to play Spirit or Vitality. I cannot decide.
Featured image credit: @ BetBoomTeam on X
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