Ta1nz is the owner of the Gloris eSports project (formerly Hevind Esports) and, for the past few months, the owner of Underground CS2 – an ‘underground’ project and a rival to ‘Underground | CS2 Community’, also known as the Green Underground. Still haven’t got confused yet? Good! We asked Ta1nz over twenty questions, and he took the time to answer them for us.
1. Hi Ta1nz. To start with, please introduce yourself to those who don’t know you yet.
Hi, I’ve been active in the underground scene for some time now and have the honour of running the Underground CS2 project – a community bringing together CS2 players and esports enthusiasts.
2. Let’s not beat about the bush: in the underground scene, opinions about you are split – people either like you or hate you. In your opinion, where does this hatred from some people come from?
As for the people who hold a grudge against me or hate me, it’s this: a group linked to the management of the former Clutch Masters community — who see me as their main enemy and villain — and a few of my former players, whom I probably, to put it bluntly, gave the boot at some stage whilst they were playing for my organisation. For the most part, I’m generally well-received.
3. You’re the owner of the “Underground CS2” project; what does this role involve? What do you get up to on a day-to-day basis at “Red UG”?
I try to stay active and help our community whenever needed. Whether I get a query from an “ordinary user” or one of our partners has an issue — I’m always more than happy to try and resolve the situation. I also handle all collaborations, both current and new ones. In the tournaments we organise, I also like to pop into a meeting in my role as an “admin”. And perhaps most importantly, I set (or at least try to set) the narrative and direction for the whole project.
4. We’re long past that “boom”, past the biggest hype for your project; how do you intend to encourage users to interact on your Discord again?
That’s right, at the start that ‘boom’ was indeed huge, down to many factors, such as simple curiosity about ‘something’ new, and the fact that the community — or at least the lion’s share of it — was weary and bored with the current state of the underground scene and the bunch of lazy slackers from the other administration, who only made an attempt to pull themselves together once they felt our breath on their necks and their situation was becoming increasingly critical by the day. Nevertheless, increasing numbers of people are joining our Discord, and this is happening without any major, mass promotion at the moment.
5. Where did the idea to link up with Axide.pl come from in the first place, and how did it happen? Did you take the initiative yourselves, or was it Axide.pl who suggested this solution?
I can’t tell you now which side it came from or who reached out first; I simply don’t remember that detail. All I know is that, from our point of view, this alliance was the most sensible decision we could have made. A partner who, at that time, guaranteed us balance and a level playing field in our small ‘media market’ was worth its weight in gold, especially when you consider that Superion was heavily involved in supporting the Discord server run by Kalinho, for instance by publishing a ranking whose rules and underlying structure we had strongly criticised. Axide can also be critical of its partners; they’ve already given us a few gentle jibes, which we naturally take as a form of feedback. What else shows that they aren’t blinded or fixated on any particular point? The very fact that they were able, within a few hours, to reliably and publicly terminate their collaboration – for example, with Hussars – explaining from A to Z the reasons behind such a decision. Transparency is key.
6. Aren’t you afraid that some of your content might harm Axide.pl? After all, you publish content on underground.axide.pl, not on underground.pl?
I’m glad you asked that question. We might have such concerns if we were publishing controversial content on Fragownik. However, the situation is different; we have nothing to do with the Axide editorial team, we have separate editors and a completely different style of articles and interviews. Axide.pl is not responsible for what we publish on our site, just as we are not responsible for what appears, for example, on Fragownik. Axide is our publisher, and that’s all. I hope I’ve clarified this point, as many people confuse the two different entities.
7. What do you think is the biggest problem facing the Polish underground scene, and why? How can it be solved?
In my opinion, the biggest problem is simply the longevity of teams. Most teams tend to make rapid changes to their roster, disband, or switch organisations. You can count the teams that have been playing together for a very long time on the fingers of one hand, because in most cases it goes like this: things might go well for two months, then one small argument, one poor performance, and they’re looking for a new player. Arrogance also plays a big part; some people assume that once you have a high ELO on Faceit, you can mock or clip the wings of players weaker than you.
8. Is there any chance of normalising relations, or ‘making peace’ with the ‘green underground’, or is there no chance of that from your perspective?
The offer was sent to Kalinho about two weeks ago. Not just empty talk, but concrete details, including specific ideas on how it would work. The reply was brief: “I’m not convinced at the moment; we have better cards on the table; I need to consider whether all this is worthwhile.” So either I’m missing something, or we’re dealing with an unprecedented, downright astronomical level of arrogance and hypocrisy. How can one talk about waging “war” or dividing the community, yet at the moment of greatest need, put one’s own private interests and petty schemes above all else? So let me say it again — we extended a hand in reconciliation, and it was rejected.
9. You are also the owner of Gloris eSports; could you tell us the story behind why you decided a few months ago to change the team’s name from Hevind eSports?
It’s simple — the desire to rebrand in itself, as well as the desire to start afresh and distance ourselves from that particular logo and team. Towards the end of Hevind’s existence, we were constantly under fire because one of our players had undermined the integrity of the rankings. That’s why I decided there was absolutely no point in sticking with it any longer.
10. At the moment, you only have an academy squad; what happened to the main squad? Can you tell us what the split with the former main squad was like?
The split took place under normal, amicable circumstances. I also had a long chat with the team captain; we agreed on certain points, but not on the key ones. Despite everything, I thank them for those nearly six months of playing in our colours. As for the current situation, we’ll be left with just the academy squad until the end of the year.
11. If I recall correctly, Dappy played in the main squad/academy squad, and I think he was with your teams for about three years. What happened that led to your parting ways?
When I parted ways with the MAIN squad, I automatically parted ways with Dappy, who is currently a pillar of that team. There was absolutely no point in me trying to persuade him to return or play for the academy when he’s currently in a well-established squad playing for Rising and Intermediate. We’re still in touch, of course, and our relationship hasn’t changed in the slightest.
12. Organisations and teams that have been around for more than six months can be counted on the fingers of two hands. Do you have any advice you’d give to owners?
First and foremost, be patient. That’s a mistake I used to make very often as a CEO. I wanted results too quickly; I wanted success too quickly. I also believe that a CEO should interfere as little as possible in the team itself and in the decisions made there.
13. At one point, on the Underground profiles – of which you are CEO – we could read a sort of dig aimed at us. We were bombarded with suggestions that we were supposedly ‘biased’, and yet here we are… conducting an interview with the owner/chairman of Underground, with whom we don’t even have a partnership. How did this happen? Where did these jibes come from? Do you think we’re still ‘biased’?
This isn’t specifically about Superion, the Galaxy Cup or the Oldboys Kwidzyn team. If someone makes drastic mistakes, is arrogant and conceited, and on top of that isn’t honest with their audience, then sooner or later we’ll take an interest in it and publicise it. Superion took the risk of running a disastrous, unreliable ranking, so we decided to issue an appropriate statement regarding this precedent. As for the CEO or editor-in-chief of your editorial team, I have absolutely no bad blood with them. My team has been working with you for some time now; he once had the pleasure of playing in my team, and we’re also connected through a very good friend of mine. So personal matters don’t play a major role here; nevertheless, I believe the decision-maker is slowly realising that they backed the wrong horse in this race. But all is not lost! Teams that have previously collaborated with Kalinho’s Discord are also making transfers to us, so anything is possible!
14. At some point, you parted ways with Light, I believe – how did that collaboration end? With his departure, one of Horizon Esports’ partners also left you, and things got interesting on that team’s social media… how would you comment on that?
It was the same as with my former main squad. A normal, calm conversation. We came to the conclusion that together we wouldn’t achieve anything major, that perhaps we’d already hit a ceiling. It might sound trite, but it literally came down to our vision and the future of the project. Light said that if nothing changed, he’d leave; I decided not to stand in his way – in fact, I even suggested it to him myself later on. Horizon ended the partnership in their own style.
15. Out of pure curiosity, is the content on underground.axide.pl published by you, Underground, or by someone delegated? How should we treat the content from underground.axide.pl? As your collective opinion, or just Underground’s?
I’ve already answered a similar question today, but I’ll emphasise it once more. We don’t have shared editors, we don’t have a shared message or daily narrative. The only thing that unites us is the beautiful, blood-red colour. To put it tongue-in-cheek, you could give the example of two identical pots standing side by side. The pots may look similar, but their contents are completely different.
16. Is there any one element you’d borrow from the rival Underground? Is there any one element you’re proud of and think that if the competition were to borrow it, it could be their ‘trump card’?
What could I possibly envy them for? Perhaps a member of their administration, specifically Hiroshima. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with him on several occasions, and out of the whole bunch of nodding yes-men, he seems the most clued-up. To be honest, I don’t know what he’s still doing there. The other side loses out to us primarily in terms of media presence and narrative creation. In this respect, we are literally light years ahead of them. It’s worth mentioning that we achieved this in three months, whilst they’ve been stuck on Discord for so long, at a time when we’re actively operating on three fronts: our website, which you mentioned today, our X profile, and Discord. And what else is there? They’re trying to copy a lot of things from us, but as far as I know, we might be publishing an article on this subject in the near future, so I won’t spoil it!
17. We currently have two underground scenes; what would you say if a third were to emerge? Who do you think might run it, if you had to guess based on your connections?
I suppose we still live in a free country, although I’m thinking about that more and more, but yeah… anyone can set up a project, after all. There could even be twenty underground scenes. The only problem is when it comes to verifying the project and its authenticity. It’s one thing to decide overnight to set up a Discord server and give it a cool name just because the name is cool, but it’s quite another to get permission to revive a project from the very people who created it in the first place. There’s a subtle difference between inheriting a Discord server in a sorry state after Husarz, who’d already banned most of the people there, and getting a ‘licence’ to run the project from people who are generally well-regarded within the community.
18. It seems that, in a way, your ‘battle’ with the opposing underground has shifted to the organisation of tournaments, and this is, of course, very good for the Polish scene. Will you be focusing on your tournament in the near future, or might we see something other than a tournament soon?
We have some interesting plans, but we’ll keep them to ourselves. Yes, they really do deserve credit for finally managing to organise a small tournament – albeit just for partners – after Kalinho’s eight-month tenure. Light and I organised a tournament a week after UG launched, and we’re currently just about to draw the groups for our next tournament, the Ground Games Cup.
19. The Polish underground scene has recently seen a flood of tournaments. Some less professional, others more so. They all tend to boil down to a common denominator: the Galaxy Cup – the competition. Which tournament is closest to this organiser’s heart?
The Galaxy Cup currently has no competition in the Polish underground scene, because it seems to me that it’s growing with every edition, and the field is becoming too small to accommodate them all. As for typical underground tournaments, I’ll say without modesty that our Ground Games Cup is worth following, followed by the Immunity League, which is transparent and, in short, well-organised and well-thought-out. If my old mate Light doesn’t lose his drive and creative flair, his Summit Clash is also a tournament worth recommending, and you have to give Light credit for the fact that when he puts his mind to it, he can deliver. So, as things stand, there are three – or rather two – tournaments – not counting ours at UG – that I can recommend to our readers. All other tournaments where the rules are unclear, where the organisers are hiding in the shadows, where you fear there might be another drama or scandal – I wholeheartedly advise against them. It’s better to spend that money on something else than to venture into the unknown.
20. At one point, you were at the epicentre of a certain ‘drama’, if we can call it that. Namely, match-fixing. Could you tell us what that scandal looked like from your perspective?
The question has been poorly phrased and could be interpreted ambiguously, so I’d ask you to rephrase it. I wasn’t involved in any match-fixing; it was simply that, during one of the tournaments, I received information from Hiroshima that an attempt to fix the outcome of matches was taking place. I immediately passed everything on to the administration, and then, based on the evidence provided to us, we banned all those about whom we had reliable information that they were involved in this scheme. Two of these players are banned from playing in both partner tournaments and ours, from UG. By the way, our competitors banned everyone, and in the end they couldn’t even be bothered to post a clarification clearing Kyze of these allegations. What a mess.
21. During the “heyday” of the Polish underground scene, HUB was all the rage – a sort of underground version of PPL. Do you think such an idea would work nowadays, or is the community too toxic and divided for it to succeed?
We’re currently working on just such a solution. Details will likely follow soon.
22. One last question, a bit of a light-hearted one. If you don’t play CS, what do you like to play?
It’s true, I hardly ever play CS anymore. When I do have some free time, I play – or rather, grind away at – Hearts of Iron IV… It’s a game where time really flies by like nowhere else. I’ve also taken a liking to the new Battlefield, which I’m playing as well. The third title – though this is purely out of nostalgia – is CS:Source, on some FFA servers, although there aren’t many of them, or even just to fly around on an empty map and reminisce
23. Thank you for your time. Would you like to say hello to anyone? I wish you the best of luck in developing your projects.
I’d like to send my regards to the whole community, regardless of which side you’re on. Don’t let yourselves be divided by a small group of incompetent, envious people for whom only personal success and interests matter. I invite you to our community, where everyone can feel at ease, where no one is excluded for their way of thinking, a different opinion or a low Faceit rank. And what can I personally promise you? That I will never betray my beliefs and ideals, and that I will never become as greedy and arrogant as the competition, and that each of you will always be able to count on my support. Thank you to the entire Superion editorial team for the interview, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my modest but hard-working administration team for their efforts in building a great community.
Thank you once again for taking part in our interview and for agreeing to be featured in it. It is worth noting that the participant himself approached us with this request to take part. We will not be verifying some of the participants’ answers in this format. Whether the participant answered honestly is something you must decide for yourselves.
Nomination
Today’s participant was nominated for the next instalment by “LuKas03”, also known in the community as PegahMaGabow.
Clarification regarding the Underground | CS2 Community ranking
For the sake of accuracy: the Underground | CS2 Community ranking is merely published by our editorial team on our website. It operates on a similar principle to the Underground content, owned by Ta1nz, on Axide.pl. We are merely the “publisher”. Therefore, just as Axide.pl bears no responsibility for the Underground it collaborates with, we bear no responsibility for the Green Underground ranking. Especially since this relevant information has been displayed on the ranking page for many months. We are not responsible for calculating the ranking or the rules governing its calculation.
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