Viperio have made history as the one of the first UK-majority teams to qualify for this stage of the Major qualification process, alongside Into the Breach. In their first match, they faced off against the giants of FNATIC, where they, despite a slow start on the T side of Vertigo, managed to take the game to two overtimes before losing 22-20.
After the marathon match, UKCSGO’s Matthew “meffew” Godsell sat down with Marco “MMS” Salomone to discuss the match against FNATIC, Viperio’s expectations for the event and how it feels to be attending such a prestigious tournament as a player.
Unfortunately, you guys fell at the last hurdle in the match against FNATIC. Is this a result you expected?
We were feeling pretty confident on Vertigo anyway, since it’s one of our more comfortable maps I’d say. We knew we were in for a chance. Going into the game our heads were held high, we are here to upset people – that’s what we’re here to do. We’re not sat here expecting to make the last Major in CS:GO, obviously we want to make it, but we are here to upset these big teams. We almost showed that we can do that, in that game just there.
Let’s talk about the start of the game. FNATIC won a handful of rounds, was that first match nerves on your part? Or was that from their pistol win and following round conversions?
I’d definitely say it’s first match nerves. It took a while for us to get rolling, it took Callum [Girafffe]Â to get an ace in the round, in like a 1v3 clutch or something? That was so hype, I was watching him do his thing, it was great. But yeah, it took us a while to get into the game and maybe that cost us a little bit at the end. We sat there, we enjoyed it, and now we know going into the other game – we need to be better starting there, in the history of this team we’ve been pretty poor starters in the game. But we really grit it, we pull it back in the middle of the game.
Obviously you guys have had a tough run of things recently, a long string of best-of-three losses. Is there anything you’ve done specifically to try and counter that coming into the RMR, or have you spent this time just taking things a bit easier?
Honestly, we took a little break from each other to reset before the RMR. We’re coming in here fresh, everyone’s up for it. Bro, when people bring up the stats and they’re like “oh you’re on a 13 loss streak,” we don’t even know what the number is, we don’t care [laughs].
We’re just here to play and enjoy the moment, the loss streak doesn’t really matter to us.
We’re just here to play and enjoy the moment, the loss streak doesn’t really matter to us. At some point, we’ll turn it around and it would’ve been really nice to do it here in the first game, but our confidence is already boosted from that performance alone.
Obviously you guys are the underdogs, does that give you the advantage in best-of-ones? Especially in this game, once you won the CT pistol you managed to win 8 rounds in a row or something.
I mean yeah, I think it’s always better to be the underdog rather than the favourite. Going into that game, we know that for pretty much every game, we’re the underdog. We know everyone is betting against us, everyone’s saying we’re not going to win or whatever. But it’s good to be underdogs, you have no pressure and you can just play freely.
Obviously at the start of that game we felt a bit of pressure, but as soon as it got to the middle of the game, as soon as we’re all sat there locked in and comfortable, the mood changes. We’re all hyping each other up, someone has a good round, someone has a good shot… y’know, I was like fucking 3-22 the whole game. I had a couple of good rounds at the end, and my teammates are sat there hyping me up the whole time.
From watching, it seemed like you guys had a lot of composure. Obviously when you won big rounds, you made sure everyone else heard you. Is that something you practice seeing as being in an environment like this for the first time, it can get a bit out of control?
I wouldn’t say we practice it, I’d say that we’re aware of it. We’re aware that our composure maybe isn’t the greatest at times, but being aware that in some situations you aren’t composed… for example in clutches, or when you have a man advantage, it’s really good to be aware that you have to be more composed, and you have one voice which you need to listen to. You’re always in a tradable position or you’re trading your teammates, that kind of thing. You’re always trying to be mindful of what’s going on and not trying to make some crazy play when you have a good advantage in the game. We’re definitely aware of composure, I think that’s a good thing in general.
I wanted to ask as well, the main reason you lost those rounds in the first half was because the CTs managed to get big multikills and there was a lack of trading. You then took a moment, and that was what spurred on the next few rounds – is that something that biscu helped with, or was that part of the overall mindset of the team?
Yeah, so when we realised that they were steamrolling us a little bit, we called a pause and just spoke about what was going on. I think Tom [arTisT] was the first person to say “listen guys, it’s getting a little bit out of hand, obviously we’re going to have nerves and that’s going to be there regardless, but let’s try and focus on what we’re doing. Don’t forget about everything, just bring it back, and focus on what we’re doing.”
From there, we started stringing rounds together. Our plan was to pause anyway so we could chop the game up a bit, so at least we’d have some time to breathe. Some games can get out of hand when you go 6-0 down. I think that really helped us and refreshed everyone’s mindset.
Let’s talk a bit less about that game itself – how does it feel to be treated as a pro player? You had your media day, you’re standing beside FaZe, how does it feel?
It’s definitely weird seeing everyone in person, you watch all these guys on BLAST streams and Major streams, and seeing them in person is definitely, definitely weird. The media day, watching FaZe… we were taking our photos, they were taking theirs, even in their photos they’re just at a level above us [laughs]. They’re the small details, and you can tell that these guys have been here for a while. It’s really cool honestly, you’ve got to just enjoy the experience as I said before, it’s amazing.
The media day, watching FaZe… we were taking our photos, they were taking theirs, even in their photos they’re just at a level above us [laughs].
Have you had the chance to speak to any of them yet? Everyone is staying at the player hotel, so have you met any of them in the corridors?
I’ve spoken to some of the SAW guys, that was just in the corridor. But none of the top, top tier teams. Ours and FaZe’s prac rooms are next to each other, one minute I came out, and the next minute all of the FaZe guys came out… I was like “woah” [laughs]. I haven’t spoken to any of them properly yet, but I’m sure I will at some point.
You now move to the 0-1 bracket. Is there a team you’re preparing for, or are you not focusing on that?
We’re not focusing on that, we’re just here to play. FNATIC are probably a team who will go through, let’s be honest. Their run of form recently hasn’t been that great, but they’re definitely a team who everyone will be betting on to go through. Putting them into the close games gives us more confidence, and we don’t care who we play. We’re here to play, we’re here to do well, and we’re here to enjoy it. That’s the main thing for us, is to have fun and enjoy it.
Any final comments?
#demodive!
