The State of the ‘Underground’ – an introduction

Up until now, we have tried to limit the content published on our website to our partner network. In fact, our experience dates back to 2019, and we have operated as an affiliate programme practically from the very beginning. We will continue to publish articles about our partners; that won’t change. We will also continue to publish content about our affiliate programme participants in parallel.

A new format…

For some time now, we have been using a format of four articles a day, including an interview which we have tried to publish on Fridays at 8 pm. The interviews were limited to participants in the affiliate programme. And that won’t change either.

In light of a few allegations against our project and our activities, suggesting that we are supposedly ‘biased’ on the ‘Underground’ scene, and well… in a way we understand these allegations, but in a way it’s a bit of a paradox. For how can one draw such conclusions without realising that this is what a partnership programme usually entails? If we have been operating within its framework all along, then writing articles about teams, tournaments or conducting interviews with people who aren’t entirely connected to the team or tournament we’re working with would be a bit of a slap in the face to our partner – after all, why join an affiliate programme in the first place? That’s why we’ve decided on a format that will appear only once a week, and that’s if all goes well.

If a partner does not breach the rules set out in our partnership terms and conditions, we see no grounds for terminating our cooperation with them. Since 2024, we have terminated only two partnerships, and the reasons for this are publicly available to every user. In both cases, the parties breached the partnership programme’s terms and conditions.

We will not attempt to form or present our own opinions on a given situation; rather, as readers, you will form your own opinions based on the data we present. And of course… in a way, you could still say that we remain ‘biased’, as we will likely invite people who ‘favour’ us. Well, no – we will try to keep an eye on our own backyard and invite people to have their say on a larger forum. Furthermore, participants will be able to nominate someone for the next round, which will take place week by week – at least, that is the plan.

Nominations

As well as making a nomination, they can ask up to five questions of their own, which we will ask on their behalf. Participants will be able to refuse to answer a question. However, if they decide to answer, we will add 5 zł to the pot, which we will donate to charity at the start of the following month. We are referring here to answers to questions prepared by the nominator. Let’s say we have 4 participants in a month and none of them answered a question; in that case, we will transfer 100 zł to the relevant charity.

Participants will also be able to refer to answers, questions or other material, whether published on our website or elsewhere.

The format is currently being developed, which means the rate may change, mainly upwards. Any contentious issues regarding our activities will also be clarified in this format (i.e. Stan Podziemia). If you have any reservations, accusations or allegations against us, and our sources confirm them, we will be happy to discuss them. Interviews and content in this format will mainly be in text form. Unfortunately, producing video content, even a simple interview, is not possible at the moment due to the even longer preparation time required, and as you may or may not know, we are, in a sense, technically responsible for the operation of Immunity: Return, which also takes up a lot of time.

Take part…

We encourage anyone who would like to raise any issues suitable for this type of format to get in touch via our social media channels. One of the conditions for participation will be mutual respect and polite discourse. In none of the interviews did we moderate the participant’s answers; we merely corrected spelling and grammatical errors. This is precisely the approach we are taking to this format.

In the coming days, there will also be an update to the affiliate programme terms and conditions, which will exclude this format from ‘affiliate content’. We will endeavour to present a detailed plan and the rules in the near future.

You might well say now that we’re copying our competitors. Well, unfortunately, we can’t agree with that 100%, as we’ll be publishing the material in this series without any satire; besides, one’s perspective depends on where one sits, and we’ve somewhat grown tired of the suggestion that we’re ‘in cahoots with someone’. Over the course of our year-long work, we have accumulated quite a lot of material for articles showcasing the grey, gloomy side of the underground scene. However, we never really saw the point in publishing this sort of material, as it was usually our competitors who did so. However, when opinions or accusations are levelled at us, simply because if we collaborate with a particular entity, we must speak positively about them or always side with their views, we’re afraid we have to disappoint you, because that’s not the case, and the new format will prove it.

As the owner and founder (since 2019), I’ll add: I thought such a format would never be necessary. However, our underground scene, which has never been friendly towards players or new teams, has risen to a new level… a political level, where some are playing a game of who has more dirt on others. We hope we won’t receive any letters from anyone accusing us of ‘defamation’ for this, as these are, unfortunately, the grim realities of our scene, which we hope will be addressed.

One person, so much controversy?

It would also be fitting to introduce myself. Well, I’ve been active in the Underground since around 2015/16. I started, like everyone else, as a player. In 2019, the idea of creating a media portal, together with my own team, took shape. Since then, I have organised, among other things, three editions of the Superion Cup. I currently also serve as vCEO of Immunity, where I am responsible for the technical support of the tournament, and as such, I am not the decision-maker (in full) on contentious issues.

The ranking – how does it look from our side?

We are surprised by the opinions suggesting that the ranking we publish is run by us. The ranking is and has been run by our partner, Underground CS2 Community. Underground | CS2 Community is responsible for all scoring, the scoring system and changes to the ranking. As a partner, we are responsible for publishing the ranking to a wider audience. We provide technical support for the project, but we have never had any involvement in the scoring process or the actual functioning of the ranking. And sure, you might say that since we publish it, we are responsible for it. Well, not exactly, because that would be like saying that Team A is our property just because we publish content about them on our website as part of a partnership.

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