Interview with Apeks jkaem: “Arguably, EU RMR is harder than the Major Challenger stage in terms of teams.”

As many CS:GO fans know, Apeks have had a phenomenal season so far, and they could climb even higher in the rankings table if they continue the great performances, especially at the upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major.

That’s why we decided to sit down with Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad to talk about Apeks’ recent successes and what’s behind them, the current vibe in the team, goals and plans for the future, and more.

We worked really hard to qualify for Paris

Fragster: Let’s start with your recent performance in Paris Major RMR, where you finished 6th and qualified for the Major Challenger Stage. What’s the mood within the team now? Did you expect such a successful run, considering the strong line-up? 

jkaem: The mood within the team is of course pretty good now. It’s the first major for 3 out of 5 players, and it’s both me and STYKO’s first Major in many years. This was our goal this season, and we worked really hard to manage to qualify for Paris.

I would say we expected to qualify, we knew our potential was pretty high. We had felt it in practice games, and also in some of the online tournaments. So I personally expected to qualify at least.

Although you lost the match against FaZe Clan, you showed up in outstanding form and the whole match was pretty close. How did you feel playing against them? What was the hardest part to overcome? 

I think against FaZe we didn’t expect to win, so we just went into the game very light-headed. We knew we had no pressure, and we knew nobody expected us to win. It was best-of-one and we were sure we could put up a close fight, which we did.

At the start of the game, we took them off-guard a bit with being aggressive and just being in their face, but then they adjusted and got a couple of rounds. And when we swapped to the T-side they just dominated us, they were taking over the game and we couldn’t find any answers.

I think they have a lot of experience in these types of situations, so they were for sure using that.

Now that you qualified for Paris, what are your expectations from the Major? How do you see your chances there? 

I don’t have any set long-term goal for the Major. The first goal was to qualify, so we did that. Now my next goal is to make it to the legends stage, which is very doable.

You could arguably also say that EU RMR is harder than the challenger stage in terms of teams, but yeah. So I would say the goal is legend stage atm, and there is for sure a fair chance of us making it there.

We are much better than most of teams in online tier 2-3 area

Let’s get back a little to your performance at the recent CCT West Europe Series #2, where you finished second after the defeat by Monte. Although a great result for Apeks, probably also a disappointment for you guys to lose in the Grand Final. Did you expect to get as far in this event? 

I think every time we play online tournaments, such as CCT etc, we always get far. Monte, we are having some issues against, they are playing solid. But yeah, I think we are much better than most of the teams in the online tournament tier 2-3 area, so I for sure expected us to go far in CCT.

In the Grand Final match, you knew that your opponents are just as strong on Anubis as you are. And they probably knew it as well, which must have made it obvious to them that you were going to pick Ancient since it’s your second-best map. Weren’t you afraid of falling into a trap when you picked this map? Judging by the score, it’s clear that they carefully analyzed your games and knew exactly what to do to counter you. So why not surprise them with some other pick or perhaps even Anubis?

It’s been a while since that CCT final vs Monte, so I don’t really remember what exactly was the reason for our picks and bans etc. But we for sure had a plan, and we all trusted it so it doesn’t really matter IMO. That day they were playing better, shooting better, and we couldn’t beat them so it was a fair win for them.

What would you say was your team missing in that Grand Final in order to beat Monte? 

I don’t know as I forget these kinds of things when it’s online tournaments. It was the two best teams in the tournament vs each other, so I think the final was deserved, but as I said earlier, they were better on that day and deserved it.

Main goal achieved

Apeks went from being ranked 129th in November 2022, to being a top 50 team today. The peak was reached just recently after your qualification for the Major, when you hit 31st. What has changed since Fall? Is it the result of intense training and preparations? Would you say that the addition of IGL kyxsan contributed to this success? 

I am not gonna go into details about why I think we managed to become a much better team, but I will say that we have done 100% some good roster changes. And the last addition of kyxsan was also the same.

We as players, the coach and staff, and the org took the right decision with the previous team, and made the right decision with picking up kyxsan.

With that in mind, do you guys aspire to become a tier-1 competitor in the near future and compete in top-tier events? Did you set any particular goals for yourselves in this regard? 

My goal after the last few years was always to bring Apeks to at least 1 major, and so in one way I have achieved my main goal for me. But now when I am here, I want to continue and go back to playing tier 1 again. And with this team, I know were are capable of it, we just need to earn it and grind hard to get into that circuit.

You used to play for very strong teams like FaZe Clan and Renegades. What do you think Apeks needs more of to get there and become a tier-1 team? 

It’s different. We were partner teams always when I was playing in big teams, so even in bad periods we had secured good events, now there are a million online tournaments which can be draining and exhausting at times. But I think if we grind hard enough, and want it enough, the chances are there.

Now, the main focus is Major

A lot of CS:GO teams play just 6 of the 7 available maps. You guys seem to play all 7. Why? Does it make it easier for you, or harder because you have one more map to train on? 

I wouldn’t say it’s harder, I would say it’s pretty smart because you can change the veto depending on your opponent. Which is why we do it.

What about communication, Apeks is an international roster with players of six nationalities, including your coach. Is this a problem for you guys at all, and if so, how is the team dealing with the language barrier?

I don’t think there have ever been any issues with communication and language. Of course, people would have better comms if they spoke their natural language, but I would say it’s not a problem at all. Most of us speak fluent English.

What’s next for Apeks? What are your ambitions for the upcoming tournaments and this season further on?

Now the main focus is the Major. All the other tournaments are just distractions at the moment. I only care about the Major.

Alright. Jkaem, thank you for your time!

Apeks will compete at the Paris Major starting with the Challengers Stage. The competition starts on May 8.

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