FORZE’s in-game leader Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov took shots at Monte’s rifler Sergiy “DemQQ” Demchenko—both on the server and in an interview—after his squad defeated Monte 16-6 on May 9 in the BLAST Paris CS:GO Major Challengers Stage. Jerry accused DemQQ of playing with cheaters on the controversial team Akuma in 2020 and said he felt extra motivated because of that before today’s match.
“The only case here that gives me energy is that DemQQ was playing in Akuma, in the RMR in 2020, and he was probably playing with the cheaters, everyone knows that,” Jerry said in a post-match interview with HLTV. “But no one can prove it because it’s Counter-Strike, we don’t have an institute to detect cheats because they might be really good. That was the only motivation, I think, because when you play against an ex-cheater at a Major you have to win. [laughs] About handshaking? I think it’s just their choice and we don’t really care.”
Related: BLAST Paris CS:GO Major: Scores, standings, and results
FORZE and Monte have been clashing since the Europe RMR in April when Monte defeated them and didn’t shake hands with the Russian players after the match, as reported by HLTV. Although Jerry said he doesn’t care about the handshaking, he told HLTV on May 9 it felt “pretty good” to defeat Monte in the “higher stage.”
This match between FORZE and Monte in the BLAST Paris Major Challengers Stage was pretty important because FORZE are now one win away from qualifying for the Legends Stage and sent Monte to elimination territory. They played on Ancient and the Russian squad won thanks to a dominant CT side (12-3), which allowed them to play calmly on the Terrorist side.
FORZE and Monte will play their first best-of-threes at the BLAST Paris Major tomorrow. Should FORZE not win, they’ll have one more chance to advance, while Monte will be eliminated from the competition if they lose again.
