Retro Interview – as the name suggests, this is a ‘retro’ interview, a bit of a no-brainer. In articles of this kind, we’ll be focusing on people we worked with a few years ago and who aren’t necessarily still working on their projects. The questions will mainly concern the past, but there’ll be a few tidbits about the current scene.
InTrALEX is the founder of Speedrun Esports. One of the first teams to partner with us, back in 2019. Alex suspended his project a few years ago. Despite this, we’ve stayed in touch with him, and you can read the results in this article.
We don’t have such a good relationship with every former partner, so if the owner of a project that no longer exists is reading this – but with whom we collaborated between 2019 and 2022 – please get in touch via a private message to our email address or on Facebook if you’d like to feature in an interview like this.
Email: kontakt@superion.gg
** the originality and context of the statements have been preserved **** errors have been corrected **
[R] Hi InTrALEX, to start with, please introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello everyone, my name is Alex, better known in the CS:GO world as InTrALEX. I was the founder of Speedrun Esports from 2017 to 2020. At the moment, the project is on hold.
[R] Speedrun Esports operated for just under three years, from 2017 to 2020. Can you tell us why you decided to wind it down back then? Is there a chance of a comeback?
On the one hand, a bit of burnout; on the other, not enough time to divide my attention between managing the team and my private life.
[R] Looking at the current state of the Polish underground scene, what is your opinion? A step forward or a step back?
It’s hard to say, given that I haven’t been following the teams’ progress closely for a very long time. There are a few individuals who have made a name for themselves and are now playing for serious organisations.
[R] What do you think is missing for players in Poland who want to break out of the so-called underground but are still stuck there?
From experience, I know that people really lack perseverance and humility; they don’t want to train much, but they just want to win.
[R] Three years ago, there were sort of twice or even three times as many teams in the Underground. Why do you think teams disappear from the scene more often than they appear?
I reckon the lack of free tournaments is the main problem here; now you have to pay for everything, and it’s not cheap.
[R] What has running a project like Speedrun taught you?
Oh, I’ve learnt a great deal, particularly about understanding, pursuing goals, and managing people – which helps me in my professional life – as well as a great deal of patience, so nothing but positives.
[R] Currently, our scene lacks Counter-Strike 2 tournaments. There aren’t enough of them to ensure they’re well-organised; you can find something to criticise about every tournament these days. Why do you think that, whilst there were high-quality underground tournaments in CS:GO, there are none in Counter-Strike 2?
I don’t really have a strong opinion on the matter; there’s always something to criticise about any tournament, whether amateur or even professional, be it poor organisation of the event or even sub-par computers at LAN events. I remember a few underground tournaments where there was a lot of cronyism, and an admin would kick out his mate’s opponents just because they’d lost a match, or even a lack of a server (though I never had a problem with that, as I was always happy to lend mine). It’s hard to find a flawless tournament.
[R] What do you think of the CYBERSPORT ranking?
A very cool alternative to HLTV, if I may put it that way, and a very motivating project; after all, I stopped running SpeedRun when this ranking started adding underground teams – I reckon everyone would want to see their team in a certain spot.
[R] Which team or project did you work best with between 2017 and 2020?
I think it was the NewaPower team; we became mates with them during the Polish Amateur Esports League, which we won, and since then we’ve often trained together or helped each other out with tactics, or even mixed our line-ups at weekends and played for fun – those were the days
[R] If you could go back in time, what would you do differently in Speedrun?
I made plenty of good and bad decisions; I learnt a lot from that team and we left our mark on the underground scene. I think I could have focused 100% on managing the team. I have no regrets and it was a brilliant adventure; I met lots of great people as well as seeing the darker side of things
[R] How important do you think social media is for underground teams and tournaments?
Social media is an essential tool for any team that’s aiming for more than just playing. It makes it much easier to track the results of potential players, or even sponsors.
[R] Why did you decide to collaborate with our media portal then?
I think it was time to promote the team a bit. Superion looked like something more serious than just an editorial team.
[R] Thank you for your time. Would you like to add anything for your fans?
Thank you too for remembering us; don’t give up on achieving your goals.
English 
Polish 