Into the Breach have proven their worth at the RMR so far, despite their opening loss against NAVI. The harrowing loss in double overtime only made them stronger, as Cai “CYPHER” Watson powered the team to a quick win over Sprout in their 0-1 match, continuing their winstreak into the third matchup versus Virtus.Pro, who they defeated 16-13.
CYPHER sat down with UKCSGO’s Matthew “meffew” Godsell to discuss their second upset win, as well as his development as a player under the ITB banner dating back to 2021, and how it feels to be given a chance like he had.
Congratulations on the win against VP. What were your expectations going into this match?
We knew it was going to be a rough game… it’s VP, right? Honestly, we just played our own game and we knew that if we focus on ourselves, we’re confident and we’re shooting back, we can win against mostly any team here.
Does that mean the gameplan ahead of this match was more focused on yourselves rather than your opponents?
I think it was a mixed bag. T side was mostly our own game, what we’re used to, and what works. For CT side, Juve did some really good anti-stratting on how they default, giving us ideas of what would be good against them.
It’s unbelievable, to be honest with you […] playing against the best and being able to show that I can do it.
Let’s talk about the first half and your incredible T side showing. You’re the highest rated player on T sides so far, and the third highest in opening kills – how does it feel to dominate pro players like this?
It’s unbelievable, to be honest with you, I guess I’ve not really be ‘in-form’ before this event, so now that I’m hitting form, it feels really good. Especially now, playing against the best and being able to show that I can do it.
Mirage is historically one of the VP core’s stronger maps, were you happy with the veto?
We were really happy with the veto, we were hoping for Mirage or Vertigo – those are the two maps we would’ve been really happy with against them. We’ve been practicing it ahead of the RMR and we were really confident with how we were playing. We’ve been super good in prac, as well as the officials leading up to it.
So ITB as a team – you’ve only been playing together for 64 days according to HLTV, does this mean your playbook is quite shallow, and has that proved problematic in a matchup like this?
Not really, I think that everyone here has been putting in so much work individually to bring their own plays, Thomas brings strats and it’s the same with rallen. Everyone has their own individual gimmicks and adding the strats on top of that, is really good – especially on T side. I don’t think we’re shallow in that regard.
You mentioned rallen. Playing with him, CRUC1AL and Thomas, who have been around in tier 1 and tier 2 for a while now, how does it feel to play alongside them for the first time?
It feels really good. Playing with CRUC1AL, he’s someone you can rely on, you know? He can always bring out unbelievable rounds, sick flicks, and everything like that. You’re just like, “Holy shit, how do you do that?” Right? rallen is someone who has so much experience, and he can read a situation instantly. He’ll always make mid round calls, which will work. It’s always good to have someone like that in your team.
It felt like I was in the Matrix –Â CYPHER after a record-breaking performance against Sprout
Last night, you had an unreal performance against Sprout. Is that the life game token redeemed?
I hope it wasn’t a life game [laughs]. I hope it continues, but I felt like it was a little bit of a life game. It felt like I was in the Matrix. Every time I ran up onto a site, they just weren’t hitting me, and all of a sudden, two are dead. I don’t really know what was going on, but I’ll take it.
I’m so thankful for that, if he (Adam9130) didn’t give me a chance then I don’t know where I’d be.
Turning the clock back to when you first joined ITB when Adam9130 was IGLing, how did that come around? You were playing in Main at the time, so it was obviously a big chance and step up for you.
Honestly, I feel like Adam [Adam9130] has given me a shot at being in the tier four, tier three scene. I’m so thankful for that. If he didn’t give me a chance, then I don’t know where I’d be. I think I was in Main for 4 seasons just before I was picked up, I was in an Advanced team which folded… without Adam giving me that shot, I wouldn’t be here.
How valuable was that first experience for you? It was your first time playing tier two competition consistently, did that develop you as a player?
Yeah, of course. He’s the person who has taught me the most about CS with how he helped me individually. He kind of developed my playstyle, because before I joined the team, I was someone who just held W at people, right? But he told me about risk percentages, and how to think smart basically.
Let’s talk about the differences between the past iteration of ITB, and the current iteration. What are the biggest changes?
The new rrosteris all I can hope for right? Everyone clicks, everyone plays so well, we have more consistency as a team. The only team that was consistent in the past was when we had draken and RuStY, right? That wasn’t for very long, because we had three different AWPers in four months, or something like that. It was very rough, but the increased consistency helps a lot.
You’re into the best-of-threes now, does this give you a confidence boost?
It depends on the maps, best-of-ones are always good against the top teams, because upsets can happen as long as you shoot back and read the game right. But we are confident in best-of-threes, again, our map pool is quite deep for the short time we’ve been together, so we’re quite confident.
Speaking of the event itself, this is the first time you’ve been treated as a professional player with media days, etc. How does it feel?
Honestly, it’s surreal. I was chilling at the bar with Extinct, and all of a sudden I see s1mple and Twistzz walk behind me… I was like “what’s going on?” It’s just insane… I had a little bit of a fanboy moment, but that’s now gone and I’m here to play. It’s a surreal experience.
You’ve managed to beat Gizmy in terms of stats for the event so far, anything you’d like to say about that?
L bozo, fuck that guy [laughs].
Punico requested a question: how was the gym?
Honestly, I went in their for fifteen minutes on the first day… I had a twelve minute walk, three minute break, and I was done.
Any final comments?
I’d like to thank ITB for sending us to bootcamp before this, and for their continued support.
