“It genuinely makes me smile and warms my coronary heart.”
The ESL Impression Season 8 Finals concluded at DreamHack Stockholm 2025 with BIG EQUIPA taking residence the gold. The victory was bittersweet, because it additionally marked the ultimate ESL Impression season and the top of the ESL Impression circuit. Esports.gg spoke with Wrenna “Stx” Trampel of workforce Sakura Esports about what it took to achieve the Season 8 Finals, the shutdown of ESL Impression, and extra.
Sakura Esports’ journey to the ESL Impression Season 8 Finals
In her interview with esports.gg, Stx shared that Sakura Esports fashioned final November and has spent the previous yr constructing consistency with the identical 5 gamers and their coach. The workforce dedicated to an intense grind, taking part in over 100 maps and collaborating in a number of tournaments every week. Generally, Sakura Esports gamers even devoted themselves to seven-hour sport days.
“A couple of month in the past, nearer to the event, we had an insane sport schedule,” she stated, including that Sakura Esports competed in a number of tournaments every week. This meant back-to-back matches with little downtime. Their apply schedule differed from most groups as they centered on taking part in as a lot as potential somewhat than structured routines. Once they did apply, they spent about an hour on offline technique or idea. This concerned discussing concepts and refining them collectively.
Stx defined that she approaches this like rubber duck debugging, which entails strolling teammates via concepts and asking them to determine potential flaws. For instance, she works with Raven “raven” Sol on bomb web site methods to determine an opposing workforce’s doubtless strikes. They then take a look at concepts in apply and assessment them to search out weaknesses. Sakura Esports gamers additionally do video-on-demand (VOD) critiques of their video games to research selections and proper particular person errors.
The significance of LANs like DreamHack Stockholm 2025
“Aside from that, we attempt to be according to our scrim companions,” she continued. “Apply in North America can, if you happen to’re taking part in at our stage, really feel such as you’re taking part in the identical groups so much, which does not actually assist for range of gameplay. The final week’s been good as a result of we’re in Europe. So we obtained to play European scrims and see plenty of newer concepts and other ways to play the sport.”
As Sakura Esports’ in-game chief (IGL), Stx’s biggest power is her potential to shotcall and her spatial consciousness. She will be able to observe enemy numbers and positions to make sensible selections, particularly on the defensive CT-Facet. This helps her teammates isolate enemies and take them down. Stx additionally stated that her consistency in sustaining her efficiency even on days when her intention is not at its finest attributes to her workforce’s success.
Talking of playstyles, Stx additionally noticed how European groups method video games in comparison with North American ones.
“Even simply taking part in regular, they’re pressuring B-Website tremendous arduous on Overpass and like smoking and popping via with only one individual. So one individual is completely glad to simply get set as much as go run out and promote their life if they’ll get a kill,” she defined, referring to European groups.
Stx continued, including that whereas North American gamers do take aggressive or dangerous performs, these actions don’t at all times match the general workforce technique. European groups, in the meantime, coordinate their strikes to align with a spherical’s name and targets.
“I prevented taking part in ESL Impression for some time as a result of I did not actually need to get hate and stuff like that, however the individuals who assist us — they actually assist counteract that.”
Stx
Stx on ESL Impression and CS2 esports
As famous, ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) lately suspended the ESL Impression circuit to re-evaluate the right way to assist girls’s Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) esports scene. Regardless of this, Stx famous that Europe and South America do nonetheless have some leagues and tournaments for girls. Examples embody Brazil’s distinctive occasions like one involving an plane service plus Europe’s Feminine Professional League and the Tradeit League FE Masters. She stated these competitions aren’t as massive as ESL Impression, however they nonetheless present invaluable alternatives.
In North America, the scene is way smaller, with largely community-run occasions like Brace for Impression. Subsequently, Stx hopes that bigger organizers, resembling BLAST, will step in to create extra alternatives for North America and even Asia.
As for parting phrases, Stx informed esports.gg what competing within the ESL Impression circuit means to her.
“I prevented taking part in ESL Impression for some time as a result of I did not actually need to get hate and stuff like that, however the individuals who assist us — they actually assist counteract that,” Stx stated. “I am fairly certain most of our dad and mom are waking up in North America at like 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. to observe our video games, which is admittedly wonderful. And tons of pals and persons are exhibiting as much as assist us. We’ll finish a sport, and I will have like 20 Discord notifications from pals that I did not even know have been watching or have not talked to in a pair months. It is very nice. It genuinely makes me smile and warms my coronary heart.”
That is all for now. Whereas ESL Impression’s return is unclear on the time of writing this text, we do know that since its inaugural season, it has succeeded in championing the ladies’s scene in CS2 esports.
