At the end of May, Outsiders brought about changes to the team in the wake of the departures of Mareks “⁠YEKINDAR⁠” Gaļinskis and Timur “⁠buster⁠” Tulepov, bringing in K23 duo Petr “⁠fame⁠” Bolyshev and n0rb3r7 to fill the gaps.

The team didn’t waste any time to get busy, attending three tournaments in as many weeks as they plowed through the competition at the ESL Pro League Conference in Jönköping, placed last at the Roobet Cup, and finished runners-up at ESL Challenger Valencia to Movistar Riders.

Now playing their fourth and biggest event of the bunch, IEM Cologne, the new lineup around Dzhami “⁠Jame⁠” Ali has advanced through the Play-in undefeated, beating Imperial and BIG without too much trouble.

Afterwards, HLTV.org got to speak to n0rb3r7 about his experience getting up to speed with the new team and the increased level of competition, as well as the German event, where the 21-year-old is playing for the very first time.

Can you tell me about what the transition has been like from K23 to Outsiders?

Before I joined Outsiders, they were talking to K23 about fame. They only wanted fame from K23, and maybe after they signed him, they instantly decided to pick me because they said there is nobody who can join them.

You’ve been playing for quite a while on the tier-two scene, and this is the first time in a long time that you’ve gotten to play against teams of this level. How has it been to get the call up?

Actually, when they picked up YEKINDAR, before him they were talking to K23 about buying me, but K23 said that it’s too much and they didn’t let me go. So I was really happy when my coach said that Outsiders want me, so I was like ‘wow.’ It’s really nice because maybe a few years ago I was watching Qikert’s playstyle and I said ‘I want to play with him.’ And right now I’m here, with Outsiders, with Qikert, Jame, and I’m really happy.

What about Qikert did you like?

Maybe in 2018 at the ELEAGUE Major I was cheering for AVANGAR. That’s why I said I like the guy and that I want to play with him.

Tell me about the period since you joined the team, how difficult was it to adapt to them and this level?

In the beginning it was really hard because it was too much information in the team. We played a lot of praccs day by day at the bootcamp without days off, and it took maybe one month to get used to Jame as the IGL. After maybe the first LAN it went kinda easy.

Is Jame very different to what you’re used to in terms of in-game leading or in general how the team is run?

In general. Jame has the biggest brain, and for me in the beginning it was kinda hard to understand him, but right now it’s easy.

Is it the slow playstyle, or why was it hard?

Yes, it’s about the slow playstyle and preparation for matches.

You went to the Conference and didn’t have any problems going through there, and then went out early at the Roobet Cup, and last week you placed second in Valencia. How happy are you with how things have been going so far?

Of course we wanted to win in Valencia, but something went wrong and we choked on Vertigo, but maybe it’s because of the crowd for me, they were cheering for them. I really wanted to win in Valencia, in their home town, but it’s okay, it’s better to lose in Valencia than at the RMR or here in Cologne. We will fix the mistakes and we will do better.

So far you’ve been pretty convincing here and advanced to the group stage. What are you looking to achieve here going into the main stage?

In the main stage, of course to go to the playoffs because it has been my dream to play in the LANXESS Arena, since I was 15 maybe, and right now I’m here and I have this chance. We will do our best to go through to playoffs and try to win this.

How good are your chances?

I think we have good chances to go to playoffs. I think we have time to fix some problems that happened in the game versus BIG, and if we fix this in this short time I think we can make it to playoffs.

Who do you see as your biggest competition?

FaZe and NAVI, maybe? And Cloud9, as well.