Endpoint is no stranger to bringing in Israeli talents to improve their team. Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko is no different. The rifler has been on the roster for 10 months and boasts a 1.13 HLTV rating. A core part of their team now looks to claim the ESL Premiership Trophy.
Before the Grand Finals started UKCSGO spoke to HeavyGod about their victory over Ex-Coalesce and what his expectations are against Raptors EC.
How was that game? The first map was very dominant, in the second map you had to claw your way back into it. What are your overall thoughts?
We played really well first game, we demolished them. They had no chance actually, we just played our game really well. On the second map, we started a little slowly and the comms were off. We then bounced back on the CT side and as you saw we managed to win every round. We did what we had to do and did good.
When you say comms were not good, was it because you won map one so dominantly that you relaxed a little bit?
Yeah maybe, it is an option. I just think that we think we were not 100% connected and made a few small mistakes. We then fixed these in the second half and everything was perfect. I am actually glad we went through it like this.
Looking at this matchup, did you expect it to be so one-sided?
Obviously not. I don’t know much about the opponents so I just come as a regular official. We tried our best and showed the results.
Looking for the finals now, you are looking at Raptors EC. What are your thoughts going into that one?
We will try our best of course. They are a pretty good team. Hopefully we can show it and win the trophy, it is really important for me and for the team it is a boost of confidence. Just improving and improving.
Earlier today AwaykeN was unstoppable on the AWP, and their rifles were also on fire. How are you going to shut them down?
Well, I think we will play our game the best, to the strengths, not the weaknesses. Have good comms and do the starts perfectly.
Looking lastly, you are from Israel. It is very different playing LANs here rather than at home, and are there many differences in the team playstyles?
I have only played one LAN in Israel and it was a decent LAN I guess. 144hz monitors, here it’s 240 so it is an improvement. The environment here is different, you have more fans, more people sitting watching the game, and the area is way bigger. I really enjoy it.
