Back again at the Pinnacle Cup in Lund, Sweden – GrimyRannarr caught up with UK superstar Mezii of Fnatic.
How do you feel after this tournament?
Honestly I feel pretty good, I know we lost that we lost two games and got knocked out pretty early not making the playoffs, but I think with the situation we are in with the stand-in I think we have done pretty well and not like we got stomped in our games, we took it to 3 maps against BIG and against heroic we beat them the first time round. This time we took them all the way 16-13 and 16-14 so overall we can be pretty happy with the result, it is just that obviously everyone wants to go further than the group stage.
Looking at the map pool, you played Vertigo against BIG but then instant banned it against Heroic, did you just aim to play certain maps against certain teams?
Yea I think that against Heroic specifically we knew we were going to ban Vertigo against them just because we haven’t had much time to go through many of the maps yet, and thus we do not have a lot of practice and as they are really strong on vertigo we wanted to avoid that. If we didn’t ban it, they would definitely pick it, so we knew that they would pick overpass or nuke, and if we ban vertigo we can go onto those maps where we are a lot more comfortable so I think we feel more comfortable on other maps, whereas on Vertigo we are not especially against a team that are well drilled, so we thought to leave it out against Heroic, and then against BIG we felt like they weren’t on a good run on Vertigo and we just left it as we did have some prac on it. Mostly this event we stayed with our comfort picks and bans.
Would the map pool change with the new Copenhagen Flames players coming in?
Our map pool mixes quite well the CPH Flames guys coming in because in the old Fnatic lineup we were pretty good at inferno and maps like that, and I think that the CPH Flames guys weren’t and then maps like Nuke and Vertigo we were 50/50 on they were really strong on it so it gives a good mix of them us bringing our ideas to other maps and their ideas to the maps we are not strong on, so for now is a really good mix and it is something that in the future we can really have a lot of ideas and everyone feels really comfortable on how to play the map.
Looking at the full roster, Forest you brought in last minute for this event and something he does really well is his aggression and how he controls the round making the space, are you looking for someone in a similar role?
We are looking for more of an aggressive player. I have switched a lot of roles in terms of T side and on CT side I have kept most of the same roles which I am happy with. On the T side as I am the IGL now I have changed a few roles for myself so I am playing more aggressive roles on the map control part, but it would be nice to have someone that can do the aggressive roles too because in my nature it is not normally something I enjoy doing. roeJ really likes being aggressive. Me and Krimz are the more supportive roles, and if we can find that 5th player who can be more aggressive, at least in the late round in that solo side of the map and be aggressive we would look for. It take a lot of time to find players like that because they have to be quite selfless, and it is something that we are trying to find, because at the moment we have 4 players that are really comfortable in their roles, we are all on the same page and so if we can get that 5th player that fits with us, and that will go really well. We have proved ourselves currently at this tournament that we can still give a good fight even with a stand-in, we have the foundations already in place we just need to build on that now.
Talking about you changing the positions, you mentioned before you did not want you individual stats to be affected, you have had a rough tournament so do you think that you just need more time to settle in?
I think so, this event I obviously did not play well individually and I think that some games it was just CSGO. Sometimes I was just getting an instant headshot. There was a round where against Heroic they boosted CT on Overpass and I got instant double dinked by a USP, sometimes that just happens in games and you get unlucky. But for me, you can only learn so much in practice, it is my first event and first official where I am playing all these new roles on T side alongside all these different responsibilities, so experience I am going to get within officials will over time get better and better. I will get more confident with calls, with my positions and what to expect. I think that it happens with pretty much anyone that changes roles, they are not going to see a really quick increase of stats or individual plays and it just takes a little bit of time.
Looking back at past rosters, Krimz mentioned that he had some motivational problems especially with the constant roster changes, did you have something similar?
I think that it is something that is really hard to maintain motivation, that wanting to always be playing with the team when it is constantly changing. That whole period when we changed Smooya, and then the same period when we didn’t expect it but Brollan went to NIP which was super hard for us to then lose one of our star players and it is really hard to replace. That period was really hard to get through and play together because we all were going through the same thing, we wanted to win but just never had a stable roster and always had constant standings. It was really hard to create foundations within the team, for us as individuals to really stay motivated. Especially someone like Krimz who has been around for so long, who has won everything, all he wants is a stable roster that is able to compete against the top. The roster we have right now I believe that we have that and we just need to get the 5th to complete it. I feel like we have something special with this team.
Talking about old rosters, you have mentioned that communication is super important, was this something you struggled with in last rosters to have clear communication?
Yes I definitely think so, I feel like there was sometimes that not everyone on the team was on the same page, or knew how we wanted to play, this probably was down to the constant changes but we never had a set way with how we wanted to play in the team so it was hard for everything to buy into it or give their ideas. However, now we have 4 players who all want to play the same CS, have the same thoughts and with things going on they want to react the same way. It makes everything a lot easier because people can all put ideas forward and it becomes a lot easier in game. Maybe not direct communication within the rounds but it is being able to put ideas forward. Especially someone like me, someone who is coming in as the IGL. We are not going to have the most practice, especially with a stand-in, so it is important that we can always communicate and put ideas forward. In the last team we definitely did struggle with it and that is why we had some inconsistencies and especially against lower tier teams when you are on the same page you can just beat them with no struggle. It is always going to be hard but when you are on the same page it makes everything so much easier but on the last team we did not have that.
Talking about putting ideas forward, you have always mentioned you are a strong second caller in the team, has there been someone who has taken up that second calling since you are now IGL?
I would definitely say roeJ has taken up the second calling role, but also there is much more of a discussion within this team, and it is just not always me calling the rounds, sometimes it is roeJ or Krimz as well. Krimz is really good at calling individual plays but also what he wants other people to do around that. roeJ is really good at building around the full team so we have a really good balance on how to do things. On past teams I think that we had a lot of “Okay I want to do this and I want to do that” with no plan around the team so that is why it fell apart. That is why in this team we create a whole plan not an individual plan so we can create it more successfully.
Cypher is a really strong player and also volt in the Fnatic academy.
Now rolling back to UK CS:GO, are there any players or teams you see potential in?
I would have said ITB but I am pretty sure they are making changes or have made changes, so I would just say that in terms of players I have always said Cypher is a really strong player and also volt in the Fnatic academy who definitely have what it takes to make it and also be a really good player. I think the problem with the UK scene and what people need to realise, it takes a lot of time and work to make it to a high level, and I think that when things get tough it is about continuing to work not just to give up. There will always be bad games, even look at this event I haven’t played so well but it is not about focusing about that, it’s about picking yourself up and going to the next event. I think that within the UK CS players just have a bad event or their team has a bad event and they want to make changes. They focus too heavily on the stats. I feel like it is really important for players like Cypher and volt who are showing some really promising signs to continue working and not be afraid to ask questions. I know Cypher does that, he asks me questions. People are around to help so just don’t be afraid to ask, people like me are always here to help and give ideas forward. I think that it is really important to build the domestic scene as we have not had it for a while. We have recently had a big clear out from the older players that have moved onto Valorant or elsewhere, we have a good influx of younger players such as the Fambit roster, building through and making some good games against tier 2 oppositions. It is really good and we just have to continue pushing on and give chances to younger players.
