In an interview at BLAST Porto, FUT Esports' rifler xfl0ud discussed his adaptation within the team, summarized the team's performance in the EWC 2026 CS2 event, and shared his thoughts on the external criticism regarding cmtry's competitive form.
About adapting to the team and the team atmosphere
xfl0ud：As for my confidence in fully mastering the FUT system, and how much I still have to learn after recent transfers—this system is built on chaos, and there's still a long way to go. For example, at HEROIC we used keyword-heavy and short communication. Here, the style is more chaotic, almost no code words are used. Adapting to this was difficult. Sometimes the server becomes completely chaotic, with all five people talking at the same time. But correcting this is entirely in our own hands.
On the server, when hesitation strikes, everyone often starts talking over each other, and you really have to tell your teammates to shut up because nobody can hear anything amid the shouting. Sharing experiences is difficult because this core group has been playing together for three or four years. In such situations, it's me who needs to adapt to the system, not the other way around. I gave it my all, trying to offer suggestions and put forward ideas, but I have to admit that persuading this team can be quite challenging.
Regarding the results of EWC 2026 CS2 and the start of this tournament
xfl0ud: Overall, I played a pretty good tournament. In that decisive match, I didn't feel nervous, but it would be stupid to deny that everyone was under pressure. It was my first time standing on a fully packed stage, and the feeling was very different from competing in an empty venue. Additionally, our opponents were Team Spirit: when donk gets going, one person can't stop him. To counter that, you can only rely on well-coordinated team synergy. On the first map, everything went smoothly, and I was able to suppress the opponents before donk fully got into his rhythm. But once he awakened, no one could stop him.
Regarding the team's atmosphere, and the discussions that followed after making it to the finals in Paris and then starting this tournament with a loss to Legacy—we've fallen into the same pit as we did at EWC. The team continues to lose rounds even with a numbers advantage. Such mistakes are hard to fix in a day; they require long-term, diligent effort from every player. At the same time, we don't consider Legacy a weak opponent, as this team secured third place in the last tournament. We won't focus on any specific opponent but instead concentrate on our own performance. Almost all of our losses stem entirely from our personal errors.
About the community's criticism of cmtry
xfl0ud：I've played with many powerful snipers, but I've never encountered someone who cares so little about their stats. He'll be the first to rush in without any hesitation, use all his grenades, and fully embrace the support role. Typically, players, especially young ones, obsess over numbers and quickly lose motivation when matches don't go well. But cmtry is an incredibly optimistic and positive guy. He calmly brushes off rumors and harassment on social media as if they were nothing, completely unaffected by them. I truly enjoyed playing with him because I appreciate support-oriented snipers. In my eyes, his gunplay is absolutely solid.
FUT Esports lost to Team Vitality 0-2 in the BO3 series of the BLAST Porto 2026 group stage losers' bracket final. xfl0ud's team concluded the tournament in 7th-8th place, earning $50,000 in prize money.