twist: "I feel like Sweden is for sure coming back to the top"

The Swede is happy Alliance is getting more chances to show their worth at bigger events.

HLTV spoke to Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson after Alliance's semi-final exit at XSE Pro League Guangzhou at the hands of 9z.

The Swedish rifler spoke about making the most of Alliance's opportunities to play at bigger events, which came after a rise up the VRS following several strong results at tier-two tournaments before the IEM Cologne Major.

"We know we can go far as soon as we get the chance, and I think we showed it now," he said. "As soon as we get the opportunity to get our hands on these tier-one teams competing in all the good tournaments, we can beat them. But we're going to need more practice, more tournaments to play, and I think we can do really well and reach the next Major."

The 31-year-old also spoke about his lengthy career and Alliance recovering from the loss of Liam "⁠MaiL09⁠" Tügel, stating he hopes the team can stick with their lineup as they look to continue building Sweden's scene back up.

"I feel like us and EYEBALLERS especially have a pretty good thing going on," twist said. "There are new up-and-comers in Sweden as well, but it's a bit spread out. People are joining international rosters, and that's okay. But I feel like Sweden is for sure coming back to the top."

Commiserations on the loss. Tell me about this match, what went wrong for you?

I feel like we couldn't play our game on Ancient CT side. That side should have been much better for us. We failed some protocols and things like that. But overall I'm proud of the boys.

How do you evaluate your performance at this event overall? How much does it mean for you to make playoffs?

It means a lot. We came here to play in an S-tier tournament; we don't have our expectations too high, since we haven't had this full lineup with bobeksde [for long enough]. But we came in and reached the semis. It's overall a good result, even though it sucks not reaching the final.

bobeksde put on a very decent performance. Did you activate him somehow, or did he just pop off by himself?

We tried to activate him, of course, let him do his own thing sometimes, with me supporting him with anything he needs. So it's a bit mixed. We haven't been able to practice much at all. We played one Glitch tournament; that was kind of practice for us, and we managed to win it. Now we came here and reached the semis. Yeah, not much practice.

Tell me how you felt about parting ways with MaiL09. Was that a big loss for your team?

MaiL09 is talented for sure. It sucks switching lineups all the time. I hope we can stay with this one for a while. bobeksde is an amazing player, but we feel like we had that with both as well. We know we have a strong core in this lineup, so we knew we just needed a star player who's dedicated and has the talent. We have a strong core, that's it. We feel comfortable that if anyone leaves, we can replace them.

You said it sucks to change lineups, but your core is very long-lasting; the last change to the other four players was about a year and a half ago, which is quite unusual. How do you keep this longevity to the core, and how much does it help you?

Big shout out to Loda and Kelly [Alliance's co-owners]; without them, this wouldn't be possible. We believe in each other, that's it. We know we can go far as soon as we get the chance, and I think we showed it now. As soon as we get the opportunity to get our hands on these tier-one teams competing in all the good tournaments, we can beat them. But we're going to need more practice, more tournaments to play, and I think we can do really well and reach the next Major.

You're one of the veterans remaining from the very beginning of CS:GO. Five years ago you stepped down from a big org, and ever since you've been grinding tier two and tier three. How hard was it to take a step back, and how eager are you to go back to tier one?

I'm eager (laughs). It's really fun to be here getting interviewed by HLTV, getting all this attention and playing at the big tournaments. That's what every player strives for. It did feel kind of demotivating, but when I got benched from NIP, I didn't just sit there. I tried to get back, of course, with different lineups. I also had some things on the side I needed to take care of for the future.

So it feels good to be back, and it feels good to be with a team that's so hungry, so dedicated and so lovely. I love my team. This is by far one of the best teams I've ever had in my career.

What are your team's goals for this season specifically? Maybe other than making the Major, do you have anything specific in mind?

No, the Major is the number one priority. We want to go to as many events as possible, especially these kinds of events. But we'll see. We have BLAST Bounty coming up now, and after that we'll see what we do. We want to play the biggest tournaments, make it to the Major, and just overall be good.

I have the impression that in the last couple of years the Swedish scene is making its way back. Do you feel the same?

Yeah, I do. I feel like us and EYEBALLERS especially have a pretty good thing going on. There are new up-and-comers in Sweden as well, but it's a bit spread out. People are joining international rosters, and that's okay. But I feel like Sweden is for sure coming back to the top.

Do you believe there will be a full-on Swedish team contending among the big dogs in the near future?

I do believe that, I do believe that.