CPH Flames’ Daniel Vorborg: “We’ve shown that we can beat anyone”

Daniel Vorborg is the Director of Esports and co-owner of Copenhagen Flames. His team made waves just a few days ago as it tore through teams like G2, mousesports and BIG to claim first place in the IEM Fall EU Group A. That was an incredible underdog achievement – but according to Daniel, it had been in the making for a long time. Not only that, he’s shared with us that Copenhagen Flames intend to go much deeper than just the Quarter Finals!

Fragster: What were your expectations going into this tournament?

Daniel Vorborg: Going into the group, we felt that we had a very open group. On paper G2, mouz, BIG and FPX all look scary, but all of the teams are not in great shape right now. That’s not to say that we thought the group was going to be easy, but we knew we had a good shot if we played well.

You obviously can’t tell us all the secrets, but how did your team manage to achieve this perfect run against the likes of G2 and mouz?

There really isn’t a secret answer to how we performed this well. It’s quite simple, this is the fruit of the labor we’ve put in since we created this team. We work extremely hard, play a ton of official games, and spend a lot of hours reviewing our games. Heading in to this tournament, we’ve just had a heavy focus on our mental state, not putting weight on the games that don’t exist. It’s still just a game of CS:GO, and we play those all the time. We try and focus on what we actively need to do to perform and win, and not the tournament we are playing, or opponent we are facing.

What are your expectations going into the match versus Team Vitality?

It is definitely a hard match-up going up against Vitality, and it’s not going to be an easy feat – but neither was going 5-0 in groups. If we keep our head down, focus on what we have to do to succeed, and play our chance in the game, we have a shot against anyone. They’ve shown in this tournament as well that they can bleed, and we will do everything in our power to take the win.

For years now, we’ve seen smaller Danish team break out onto the scene and make their way to the top. Generally speaking, do you think the Danish scene is better equipped than others to produce young talent?

We have a safety net in Denmark that allows more players to take a chance, and try and succeed with something risky like a career in CS:GO, and I definitely believe that helps. On top of that, we have a lot of smaller clubs that can help provide talents with a platform to improve, but also a great national league system and news site operated by dust2.dk.

If you manage to qualify for the Stockholm Major, how will you prepare? What are your goals for the biggest CS:GO tournament on the planet?

We just take it one game at a time. We try not and focus to much on the weight of the game, tournament etc. It’s just focusing on how to improve our game, and play every chance we get to the fullest. We’ve shown that we can beat anyone, but we are not getting cocky and overconfident. We will keep our head down, and keep grinding to become as good as we can get, as fast as possible

Their strong showing has elevated them to 19th place in the HLTV Global Rankings. Copenhagen Flames will continue their journey in the IEM Fall EU tournament on October 8 with a Best-of-Three against Team Vitality. They’ve already secured at least an 8th-place finish and a minimum of 1406 RMR points, which puts them in contention for the Stockholm Major. However, nothing is decided yet and a higher placement will certainly improve their chances and their eventual seeding within the Major tournament.

Thanks to Daniel Vorborg and Copenhagen Flames for this interview!