“It’s always good to be back in Australia. I didn’t spend a crazy amount of time here, but I have spent a lot of time with Australians.”
For a country he has barely spent any time in, Australia is something of a second home for Apeks’ Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad. Anyone who has followed the peaks of Australian Counter-Strike loves him for his time in the core of Renegades and 100 Thieves who made two consecutive major playoff appearances in 2019.
More recently, however, it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster for jkaem. Achieving a semi-final again at the last CS:GO major in Paris was one of the highlights among many mixed results. Coming into ESL Challenger Melbourne, the situation was less than ideal: The team’s form has dropped significantly since its Parisian highs, but there’s still plenty of spark in jkaem.
“There’s no doubt right now we are going through a difficult period,” jkaem says to Snowball Esports. “A lot of LAN tournaments going out in last place, a lot of issues within the team [and] roster changes.”
If you’re thinking that it must be a difficult request to play (let alone have to travel halfway across the world) in those conditions with a lot of pressure and expectations, you wouldn’t be mistaken. “It kinda affects a team” he elaborates. “It affects anything that has to do with CS—people stop enjoying it.”
But it’s the build-up of small issues for jkaem that is causing many of these problems. “If you take it all the way back to Paris, where we kind of had our breakthrough, think about the people who were in the team. JL: Major winner [and] MVP, kyxan [with Heroic]: always a really good IGL. Kuben: [A] really strong coach, [and] had a really clear vision of the game.”
“We’ve started from scratch.”
Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad, Apeks
For such an accomplished player, surprisingly, jkaem hasn’t managed to win any notable major tournaments—which is all the more reason winning in Melbourne would be a dream for the 30-year-old. Unfortunately, it’s something he will have to wait for a little longer after a brutal exit in the semi-finals, as Apeks were unceremoniously dumped from the event in a 0-13 loss against MIBR in the final map after giving up an 11-3 lead on map two.
So what was their plan coming into Australia, with motivation at an all-time low and little preparation? “Before this tournament… we just said like, ‘Fuck everything else, let’s just go to Australia, have a good time.’ We’re good enough to win so let’s try to win” he said.
Hopefully for our honourary Australian, a change of fortune is around the corner.
Jkaem and Apeks return to competitive Counter-Strike 2 in ESL Challenger League Season 47 Europe before preparing for the end-of-season run to the Shanghai Major.
