For the first time ever at a major, two Australian teams are attending and competing for the title.
However, according to James ”James” Quinn their potential in Australia have been reached and they are now considering a move to Europe.
– It’s just talks, we’ll see what happens, James tells Aftonbladet Esport.

For the first time ever, a major has the presence of two Australian teams. An old trend has been for the crowd favorites Renegades to show up, but this time around we have also got to see Team Immunity compete for the ESL One Cologne title.

Both teams have already been knocked out and now Team Immunity are looking for new ways to improve.
– I personally feel that us as a team have almost reached our potential in Australia in terms of that we’re not going to improve just by playing Australian teams anymore. We don’t play Renegades very much because they don’t like to play us. We’re not sure why, but that’s not an excuse for us. We need to get better and we need to look at coming over here, Team Immunity player James ”James” Quinn tells Aftonbladet Esport.

However, James is also concerned about the negative effects a move could have for his countrymen. According to him, it will reduce the chances for other Australian teams to compete at the top level.
– If us and Renegades do move over here, that means the Australian scene goes down. That means the Australian scene doesn’t grow. We can’t get more teams overseas, it’s just gonna be too difficult for them I feel. We have to look at the pros and cons, so maybe we’re not moving over here, but definitely coming over here for a few months at the time will definitely improve us and make us a good team, he says and continues:
– You got to look at it in terms of it’s not just Immunity and Renegades that wants to do well. We want Australia to do well. Back home the support has been unreal, so most of us would be like ’Yeah it’s really cool coming over, but we also want other teams to come here’. So It’s more about supporting them.

But you are considering a move?
– It’s just talks, we’ll see what happens. Nothing is confirmed. It’s just looking to see what we could do, see where we would go.

Where would you move?
– Definitely Europe. I don’t see the point in moving to America. Yeah, they’ve got the ESL ESEA Pro League, but the way I look at it is that if I’m gonna move, I’m gonna move for a long period of time. Not just in terms of going to the ESL ESEA Pro League, then come back and stop playing in North America. And the best teams are in Europe, so you’ve got to look at it long term. If you come to Europe you get to play against the best teams and improve.

”Best-of-one is almost in our advantage”

According to many, Team Immunity are the second best team in Australia second to Renegades. James does not agree, and Team Immunity have in fact won over Renegades on multiple occasions. But in the end, it does not seem to matter to James.
– Everyone can speculate what they want. We know what sort of team we are and we know the results we have. Don’t get me wrong, Renegades are a very strong, but the way the media plays it and the community plays it, they say that Renegades are on another level. Nah, like, we are both top dogs in Australia and that’s just how it is. They can think they are number one, we can think they are number one, but at the end of the day we’re both fighting for Australia so who cares.

Do you feel the best of one format has hurt you? Since you don’t get to play a lot of games.
– Obviously coming overseas, being such a long trip for us, we want to play as many games as possible. But then we also have at look at a best-of-one. For us, especially for our first major, a best-of-one is almost in our advantage. We can pull an upset, but the way the ESL major works is that the top seed picks sides on the maps. So if they veto down to very CT-sided maps, like Virtus.Pro did – they got rid of dust2, they got rid of all these maps – and came into Cobblestone. Starting off as CT on Cobblestone is a very big advantage. So for the best of one format, I’m not happy with it, but also you have to look at the pros and cons of it. It can work in our favor, but this time it didn’t.

What have your first major experience been like?
– A major is completely different, we’ve been told that by every single pro player. Everybody says that when it comes to a major teams are just on another level, James says and continues:
– I think we played amazing against Kinguin. Ricardo ”Rickeh” Mulholland with the AWP, I’ve been playing with Rickeh for three years and that was probably one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play. So yeah, we can take nothing but positives. We only got one day to practice here, which was kind of disappointing. If we would have got more practice I think we would’ve run away with the Kinguin game.