BnTeT: "I want to play in Europe because every top team will be there; I've received some really interesting offers"

We had a chat with Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand to find out what his plans for 2021 are after Gen.G decided to allow their players to explore other options.

In mid-December, Gen.G placed the remnants of their roster on the transfer list as the organization began to reevaluate their CS:GO division, allowing Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta, Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen, BnTeT, and coach Chris "⁠Elmapuddy⁠" Tebbit to explore their options heading into 2021.

After previously sitting down with Elmapuddy to discuss Gen.G's evolution in 2020 and the difficulties they faced in the latter part of the year after the pandemic struck, we've now also had the chance to talk to BnTeT to get his thoughts on his first year outside of Asia and the team's roller-coaster 2020 season.

The Indonesian player discussed his time living and competing in North America, from the victories at DreamHack Open Anaheim and in ESL One: Road to Rio to the turbulent period after Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele and Sam "⁠s0m⁠" Oh left the team to pursue careers in VALORANT. BnTeT also spoke about his plans for 2021, revealing that he would rather play in Europe, where all the top teams will be in 2021, and revealed that he has received some "interesting offers" already.

How would you reflect on last year, after you moved to North America to play for Gen.G? Are you happy with the experience, from a personal and a team perspective?

Yeah, of course I'm happy for the opportunity to be able to play in America, and to play under such a great organization as GenG. It was a pleasure and it makes me more motivated for what will come next for me! I'm happy with what we achieved in 2020 under difficult circumstances.

What did it feel like to be the first Asian player competing in a major region? What differences did you feel in terms of playstyles and how do you think that you performed, all things considered?

It feels amazing, I'm so happy and proud of course, but once you achieve something that you've been waiting for, there's another goal [in front of you], and that makes me even more motivated. Back then, I think we were doing a pretty good job, we managed to qualify for the first RMR tournament and get one win. It was a good run and I think in terms of our style of play, we still had to improve a lot.

What was it like to move so far away from home to pursue a career and get hit by the pandemic so early into the switch? Is that something that affected you?

Yeah, of course there's a little bit of disappointment because we couldn't play more LAN events and I couldn't go outside that much because of COVID. It wasn't affecting me that much, but I miss the energy and atmosphere from LAN events. But yes, I think we all miss LAN events and I hope it will be better in 2021.

The team cited some language barrier issues shortly after you joined. How much did that improve over the course of the year?

I think I did improve my English skills a lot and I'm still practising to make it smoother (laughs). And my teammates helped me to improve every day, so I learned a lot from them.

Your results were looking promising in the first half of the season with the Anaheim and Road to Rio victory and a couple of deep runs. Why did it fall apart after that?

Yeah, I agree, everything looked perfect until after the Road to Rio victory, we managed to win DreamHack Open Anaheim as well, our first LAN tournament together. I'm not quite sure why we fell apart, but maybe it was because we couldn't keep up our performances with a lot of online matches.

What plans do you have now that you've been allowed to seek options outside of Gen.G? Have you received any offers yet? What kind of offer would you accept?

My plans are obviously to play in Europe or North America. I want to play in Europe because I feel that every top team will be there. And yes, I've received some really interesting offers and I'm still working on that.

Was this purely a decision from the organization, or did you also wish to try something new again?

It was a decision from the organization, but I understand it and still have a positive outlook on this situation. I think it's good for both of us.

Has the team considered sticking together and finding two new players, or is that possibility off the table?

Yeah, it is a possibility because we've been looking for players for quite some time, but we couldn't find the correct players before Flashpoint 2. We talked to some players that we could have ended up with, but unfortunately, things didn't work out in the end.