In the fourth instalment of the ‘State of the Underground’ series, we were joined by Husarz. Each participant has the right to nominate the next person for an interview, to whom they will also ask five questions of their own. This time was no exception. Husarz chose LertyArea. We asked the creator of, amongst other things, the Feather Cup and a former Counter-Strike team player about, amongst other things, his involvement in both Underground-style projects and the most controversial figure in our scene.
[R] Hi Lerty, please introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi there, I’m Kamil, known to many as Lertyarea. I organise the Feather Cup tournament and commentate on CS matches.
[R] You’re the owner of the Feather Cup – can you tell us about your plans for 2026? How many Feather Cup tournaments will we get to watch?
As for this year’s plans, we intend to hold just two editions, but that doesn’t mean there’ll be a lack of excitement or action. The first edition this year is the Feather Cup Winter Edition, which we’ve already announced with a prize pool of 2,000 PLN. Additionally, we’re planning a LAN edition in 2026; it could be in the second, third or even fourth quarter. I can’t give exact details yet, but I hope this LAN will be a revolution on the UG scene.
[R] What is the relationship between the Feather Cup and the projects under the Underground banner?
Feather’s relationship with the real (green) Underground looks really good, mainly because I know the people I’ve been working with for years. The others, the red ones, are a different story. They’ve been criticising us since Feather’s inception, writing articles about us which, in my opinion, are meant to discredit us, although recently it seems to me that they’ve apologised to us in a way.
[R] In a way, we can read a few reports suggesting that this red UG is trying to undermine your tournament. A year ago, in T-1, you saw DR Esports leave the tournament, a team that was quite close to this Underground. What happened there? A breach of the rules?
DR Esports is one of several teams that had a dispute with us, but as you can see, there’s always something wrong with these teams. DR Esports parted ways with us because of walkovers. They were late for their matches, after which they left the tournament in a rather vulgar manner, taunting the administration and mocking the official apologies. In fact, Superion itself severed ties with them, and DR Esports itself was banned by ESEA for cheating a few months later.
[R] In an article by this very underground outlet, quite serious allegations of bribery were made against the administration, claiming that Saganek had tempted the admins with cash. Will you comment on these claims?
This is a prime example of how the ‘reds’ won’t even bother to check a story properly once they get hold of it. The article was completely distorted, and the information unverified. In their own post, they cited my post, a post on the esports meme site ‘x-ie’, and, according to unofficial reports, Saganek himself. The entire article is manipulated and designed to discredit the tournament.
[R] If you had to pick the most controversial person in the Underground, who would it be?
It’s hard to choose; we’ve got loads of such people in the community, and incidentally, I reckon I’m one of them myself. My choice would be Pegah.
[R] Now, perhaps the other way round – who do you work best with? (person/project)
Looking back at the whole of 2025, the collaborations I remember most fondly are those with Tisco, Eox and Hiroszima.
[R] During a certain edition/season, we were able to see your website, I believe; will it be back?
Indeed, we did have a website; on our X, the description still says ‘under construction’. The site has been under development since the 2nd edition, and we’re getting it ready to go live. I’m pleased with how the site will function and how much it will make our work easier. As for its disappearance, this is due to a change in the person building it and the hosting provider. The site itself (I hope) will go live later this month.
[R] What do you think is the problem with the Polish Counter-Strike scene, and why don’t we have a TIER 1/2 team?
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s all about money. There is no Polish tier in our community due to a lack of organisations capable of sustaining such teams. We used to have Polish teams like PGE Turów, AGO, Thunderflash, Anonymo, etc., but they’ve all ceased operations. Now, years later, the only projects that exist and are active on both the Polish and international scenes are Phantom. The VRS system itself severely limits the creation of our own tier in Poland; we have loads of great players, but they aren’t managed properly and it usually ends up with them playing in ESEA mix teams. I could say more, but that’s a topic for a separate article.
[R] In your spare time, when you’re not organising tournaments, do you play any games?
I don’t have much time to play, unfortunately – studies, tournaments and commentating involve a lot of sacrifices, and you have to balance that with work, family and friends. However, at the start I played for Pandemonium as an igl, where we managed to reach the Arma to Rising playoffs, where we lost, I believe, the promotion match. I’m currently coaching a small team that isn’t part of our community, and in my spare time I manage to play a bit of CS or Valorant.
[R] From your perspective, is it natural that two projects with the same theme don’t get along, fighting over partner teams or followers? Isn’t that what competition is all about?
As I understand it, we’re talking about UG. To answer the question directly, on the one hand yes, on the other hand no. Two teams are competing for the same thing and share the same theme, but when it comes to the underground, it’s different. To understand why there is a struggle, you need to understand the lore, but here, unfortunately, there is a one-sided misrepresentation on the part of the red-flagged regular players. Using money to try to prove something that is an illusion and a problem for one person, and attributing it to anyone who has a different opinion and spins conspiracy theories about some kind of war.
[R] Do you have any advice for future Counter-Strike 2 tournament organisers?
It’s best to run your first tournament with a small prize pool for free, unless you have a bigger budget. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, and always try to organise tournaments in a way that allows you to grow and introduce new elements until potential sponsors come along. Setting up a league is hard work and you won’t get very far on your own; find a trusted person, or better still a few, who will reliably help you with the tournament.
[R] Where do you think the trend of topping up the prize pool came from, and who started it? In the Feather Cup, you’re topping up the pool again this season. In Immunity, there was 900 zł more in the pool than the profit from entry fees. It’s certainly a good move to attract teams, but surely it doesn’t pay off for the organisers?
Let’s start by saying that it never pays off for tournaments, or rather for the organisers. The “trend” began right at the inception of the underground scene, if we’re talking about tournaments within that community. I can’t remember which league started it, but I think that back then, the tournament that put the most money into players’ pockets was the Gepard Lethality League – the first tournament at the time with a prize pool of 2,000 PLN. The other side of the coin is that a tournament needs something to attract players, ideally a large prize pool and other incentives such as points towards the Cybersport.pl ranking. The prize pool is the toughest part, because having an attractive prize pool is at odds with the entry fee: either we have a high entry fee and 16–32 teams, which gives us around 1,000–2,000 PLN, or we have a low entry fee, or none at all, which means few teams, unless they’re beginners. I myself have spent a fortune over these eight months of Feather.
[R] Do you get the impression that something is missing from the Polish scene? For example, some kind of association like the ESIC for the underground scene? An organisation that would stand out for its professionalism and approach, and would focus strictly on the players?
The Polish scene lacks Polish organisations; Polish organisations alone, with the current players and teams we have, could completely transform Polish esports. I’m not talking, of course, about organisations like teams, which are also very important and necessary, but about leagues and tournaments like PLE or ESL Poland. Currently, there is no such league in Polish esports, although we now have the fledgling Betclic, which has announced four major tournaments for this year and may be our salvation, but there are also many sad aspects to this, for which Valve and the lack of Polish organisations are to blame.
[H] What is your vision for the Feather Cup in 2026?
My vision for 2026. I plan to take the Feather Cup to a higher level than any other league in the underground scene. We’re changing the visual design; we want to establish more partnerships that will help us organise better tournaments and offer players even more extras, as well as expand our server network, which is slowly growing and will undergo its first beta tests this coming weekend. Our most important plan for 2026 is to organise a LAN event, an optimised LAN; we’ve been preparing for this for two months and have big ambitions, whilst at the same time trying to remain realistic and not bite off more than we can chew.
[H] What do you think of the current commentary scene in the underground?
That’s an interesting question, and I’m really glad I was asked it. Let’s start by saying that the situation in the Polish underground scene has been thriving all year round right up until now. What do I mean by that? This year has seen many casters develop significantly and given them new opportunities, including luffa, piaskes, bambik, and myself. The older guard of commentators are slowly leaving the underground scene and want to move up, which results in a lack of interest from current casters in underground matches.
Many new commentators are just starting out, and I’ll probably get flak for this because not everyone has to like my commentary, but as someone who’s been in this for two years, I can see how the newcomers comment and how the more experienced ones do. Getting to the point, the situation is amusing, because the new commentators aren’t particularly outstanding; they’re new, have no experience, and nobody knows who they are, yet they commentate averagely and demand the same fee for a match as commentators like Piaskes, BSG, Nietzsche, etc.
I find it amusing, but it’s a free market and free will; if someone’s paying them for it, why not? All in all, the biggest problem in the underground scene is the lack of new commentators; the older ones want to move on and are doing so – Szata is now commentating on Phantom. Luffa, Piaskes and Bambik have moved on to HLTV matches and rarely commentate on the underground scene; the situation at Arrmy itself really isn’t looking too promising with the commentators, due to a lack of time among the current squad, of which I am a part.
[H] Why were you and Feather Cup so often targeted by the ‘red’ community?
This is due to my personal conflict with Tainz, who tries at every turn to discredit me, remove me and convince people that I am a bad person who only harms the underground.
[H] What would you like to change in the Polish underground scene and how would you like to achieve it?
People’s involvement. Two years ago, when the underground was just starting out, everyone was involved; they took part in tournaments en masse, made mixes, formed permanent teams, everyone watched every match, and everyone could develop together. Today, people couldn’t care less about streams, which, in my opinion, is what’s holding back the development of the whole underground the most. Starting with tournaments that lack recognition and struggle to secure partnerships – which are essential for developing the league – right through to commentators who can’t make a name for themselves and are hardly recognised.
Then there are the teams whose players likewise have no chance to make a name for themselves, and actually the last point and the third are very much linked, which also causes the second point. As they say, one doesn’t rule out the other, and in this case, not even the third. How do I want to achieve this? It would be a bit unfair of me not to share this, but I don’t want to give my rivals too much of an advantage, so I’ll put it as simply as possible.
Creating things for the public and for the players, investing your time in building the brand rather than creating ever-larger scales which they won’t be able to surpass later on without the help of sponsors – the Galaxy Cup is a perfect example of this. Finally, I’d like to add that this isn’t hate or anything offensive towards the Galaxy Cup, just the cross they’ve found themselves bearing and the situation they need to find a way out of – and it’s, at least in my view, a tricky one. The lads are doing a brilliant job and I hope they manage to reach the level they want to achieve.
[H] If you were to compare both editions of the Galaxy Cup, which one do you think was better and why?
It’s great that we’re touching on the Galaxy Cup again. Saying which edition was better is a bit like asking which fast food was better, and you really need to break it down a bit more. As for the atmosphere at both LANs, it was brilliant at both, but I definitely remember Łódź better.
[R] Thank you for accepting the invitation to this interview. Would you like to add anything else?
I’d also like to thank you for the interview invitation. On a personal note, I’d just like to address Polish players – not just the competitive ones, but the casual ones too. Your viewership of Polish tournaments and teams is one of the main factors that could save our esports scene. Your involvement makes a huge difference. Best regards, and I wish everyone a lovely day.
Thank you for accepting the invitation. We would like to remind you that for every answer to a question from the previous participant, we add 5 zł to the charity pot. We will transfer this pot next month to the designated charity. We will transfer the pot from December 2025, as well as from this and future material, in a week’s time. If the invitation is not accepted, we will end the cycle and start a new one, selecting the next person from the underground ourselves.
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