“I for sure can commit to a team. I’m ready to sacrifice everything” – jL on the Hunt for a Permanent Move

Insider Gaming was given exclusive access to Team Vitality stand-in Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavicius to discuss the rifler’s return to competitive Counter-Strike, courtesy of Stake.com.

Insider Gaming asked jL about his time away from the game, creating content, his goals as Vitality stand-in, balancing life and pro play, and what kind of project he wants to join on a permanent basis.

Insider Gaming interview with jL in partnership with Stake.com

How do you reflect on your time away from professional play? Was content creation what you expected?

I feel like content creation is my passion. But I will say that I enjoyed content creation more when I was a pro player because then it seemed like I wasn’t forced to do stuff or expected to do stuff. It was kind of a bonus to me as a player to do content creation on the side.

Pro play still is my number one priority in life in terms of career. So yeah, being back as a stand-in, I’m happy. Of course, I’d like to have a full-time team, but it is what it is.

Do you understand why Ohnepixel takes so many breaks from streaming now?

No, I feel like we’re two different streamers, and I mean, of course, I understand him, but I do not relate to him at all. We’re very different streamers.

What’s driving your return to professional Counter-Strike? What would you like to achieve now?

I mean, probably a team first, that’s probably the main goal.

“I’ve had offers where it’s very well paid, but I don’t want to be a part of that team.”

jL on what he wants from a new permanent home

Do you expect to have any room at Vitality for you in the long run, maybe after you stay there as a stand-in? Are you looking for other teams in Europe? What are you looking for now as a pro player since you’re a stand-in?

I mean, right now I’m focused on the stand-in. Of course, if an offer comes, I’d like to pursue it. But for now, there’s not many goals.

I mean, in the middle of the season, no one’s going to make changes. Unless it’s a drastic change in some team or something really goes bad inside the team.

People are just focused on the season now. So, there’s very little chance for me getting a team now. So, I’m just focused on being in shape and playing as best as I can. Very simply, I mean there is also your passion CS…

You’re joining Vitality while mezii and apEX are about to have children. How do you balance life and competition?

Basically, there’s your passion, CS, and then there’s life, and you just have to be careful with it. You cannot overwork yourself.

Of course, when you’re winning and everything is going well, you have unlimited energy, but once you start losing, you’ve got to pay attention to why you’re losing, and you have to focus on your real life stuff.

It’s hard to explain, but you have to be very aware of the way that you’re going and the way that you’re treating yourself.

You mean it’s not to mix things up in a way, like taking CS things and pro things home and the other way around?

Yes, of course that’s the best-case scenario… but it’s very hard to do that because when you’re a professional player, all you do is think about CS, you play CS, you talk CS, and keeping those things aside is really hard, especially when my wife is a gamer, and she watches all the games.

So, if, for example, I had a bad game or… a really good game, we’re going to talk about it at home. Or if the practice didn’t go well, of course, we’re going to talk about it.

So, it’s hard to keep it away from home. But, best-case scenario, you would need to find time to live a life and pay attention to the people around you.

“I had a team that was good for me. I was about to join, but sometimes the contract stuff doesn’t go well, and that was unfortunate because I was ready to join the team.
The team was ready for me to join, and in the end it didn’t work out, and I was frustrated, but then I really realized maybe it was not supposed to happen, so I just let it go.”

jL on a possible move falling through

What challenges have you faced in finding a new permanent team, which is something you want? What would that project have to look like for you to join?

It is an interesting question. A team that I believe in, for sure. I’ve had offers where it’s very well paid, but I don’t want to be a part of that team.

Or there’s been offers where the team is just not there to win trophies in the future. I mean, of course, you never know with the players, but sometimes you just have a feeling that this team is fine where they are at a certain point.

So yeah, it just didn’t fit. I had a team that was good for me. I was about to join, but sometimes the contract stuff doesn’t go well, and that was unfortunate because I was ready to join the team.

The team was ready for me to join, and in the end it didn’t work out, and I was frustrated, but then I really realized maybe it was not supposed to happen, so I just let it go.

I for sure can commit to a team. I’m ready to sacrifice everything. I’m ready to put content on hold, but there were very key things in that contract or in the negotiations that we could not just agree upon and… we just didn’t go forward.

I wish I could talk in detail, but I don’t want to be that guy that just talks negatively. So, we’ll keep it at that.

End of Interview

Where would you like to see jL end up? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.

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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.