MOUZ come into ESL Pro League off the back of a torrid showing at StarSeries Fall, where the European side lost their opener against heavy underdogs NRG before exiting the tournament early doors, their only win coming over an embattled Natus Vincere.
"I'm not exactly sure what the issue was," Adrian "xelex" Vincze admitted to HLTV when reflecting on his team's showing in Barcelona. "We just didn't, of course, show up in the best way that we should, and it's hard to find what the exact reason was for it."
Ahead of his team's campaign in Katowice, xelex is confident MOUZ will recover. "We reset good from it, though, so this event should be better. We had talks about it and we opened up about stuff, how we feel about it."
The young rifler spent some time chatting to HLTV about the development of his identity as a player, adjusting to tier-one play, and MOUZ's upcoming campaign at ESL Pro League.
You can listen to the interview here
Okay, welcome to Katowice. Of course, this is where you debuted for MOUZ. What does it feel like to be back?
It's a nice feeling. I wouldn't say that we had the best performance when we had the first event here, with me as a debut, but it's just nice to be back and to see the same place because this was the first year when I went that I have been. So I'm just happy, and hopefully it will go better now than last time.
How different do you feel compared to back then? 'Cause you were so young then, you're so young now.
It's a lot different. Just overall how I look at the game already and how I looked back then at the game, just the details and my overall experience is much higher than it was back then. So it is different.
Something xertioN talked about a lot with us is developing your identity as kind of a full player. How do you think that's going now? Do you feel like you've got more of a foothold in that way?
Yeah, it was hard to say what will be my identity. It's hard to just say one thing, but it's slowly getting there, or at least I feel like I have some kind of an identity with, let's say, I like to push as an anchor a lot, be more aggressive or this type of thing. So it's slowly trying to come out, but there are still some things to... I don't know how to say it, but in some time it will probably still change, in a way.
Is part of that down to, in NXT, you didn't really have a role. Your role was just star player, right? So what's that like in tier one now? Do you feel like in a year or two you will have a more defined role and play style almost?
Yeah, I would say so. I think in probably a year or two I will for sure have an identity in that way, or an idea how I want to play the game, or how I play the game. But now it's still just... one strength that I have is of course my aim. So that's why I like to push a bit, just be more aggressive and use it. I don't really like to be passive that much, but some anchor positions force you to be. But in some time it will probably be different, in a way.
Tell me a bit more about these anchor positions. It's been quite a long time now. Are you getting used to it? Is it still always going to be that little bit uncomfortable?
I'm getting used to it already and have some good ideas on how to play it or how to switch it up. So I would say I'm getting comfortable with it already, I don't really have any issues with any of the positions. One thing that I had, it was Dust2, but because I was playing B, but since I'm playing Long, I'm fine with that too. There is not a single map that I would say I'm feeling uncomfortable, it's just still learning in the new positions, but I'm getting there, so it's nice.
How are you finding the challenge of, now that MOUZ are a properly respected team again and winning trophies and getting to the final of Porto, are people studying you a lot? Do you feel like when you're playing, people know your favorite spots and things like that? How are you dealing with teams doing that?
I still don't think I had a moment where I would feel like people know it too much, where I will be playing around, or maybe sometimes they do have a read, let's say. But as soon as I see that, I just switch up the things, or I realize that people might have had a read on me, and you just look back at it at Skybox, let's say, where did you play in the last officials? So it's a bit of a mind game at the end of the day, where you will play, how you will play, and how they expect you to play.
It's tier one, of course everybody will know what you play. So at some point they will know my play style and have some better reads on me. I think it comes with time, but everybody has a read about everyone nowadays, you know? So it's hard to be a really new guy, in a way.
And you mentioned Dust2 and B. That map has been tough for PR since you joined and everything. Has it been a big focus point coming to this tournament?
I wouldn't say that we had a really big focus on it. Of course we are practicing every map, but we know where the bit of a weakness is, in a way, so where we have to work a bit more. Dust2 B site was not the best, but they are doing a great job working on it every single day, and even on practice we are getting better at it. So I would say it confidently that it's getting better, and it's a hard position. I know it. So I'm not really judging PR about it, because it's a tough position. I just need to give him a bit of time and he will probably be really good at it.
And tell me a bit about StarSeries because it wasn't the same MOUZ. What do you put that down to?
It's a tough question to be honest. I'm not exactly sure what the issue was. We just didn't, of course, show up in the best way that we should, and it's hard to find what the exact reason was for it. Maybe because we had too many off days before the event, I'm not sure. But yeah, we didn't really play in a confident way, too, or maybe some players didn't. But we reset good from it, though, so this event should be better. We had talks about it and we opened up about stuff, how we feel about it and blah, blah, blah, so it will be better now for this one.
How important do you guys see this Pro League? Because it's in Spodek, that kind of adds a bit to it, but also the Major's around the corner.
It is important because of VRS points. We want to perform good on the event, but at the end of the day, we just have to play our Counter-Strike. Just play some good Counter-Strike and we will probably get the results that we want if we play good. But yeah, it would be nice to play in the arena, you know. It would be my first time, so I would enjoy that, but nothing really specific. Just want to play some good CS, I guess.
Of course. And just to finish, we did the Prospects interview with you about six months ago, before you started. I just wanted to check in, six months since, how did you feel you're doing in tier one? Has it been at expectation, or what's your reflection now?
In the last maybe two events, like since BLAST Open Porto, it's getting better. EWC was a bit of a rough event for me. I think it was just I got too much into my head on that event. But now I'm working better with this mental side of the game, maybe a bit, so I'm not getting that frustrated, or I'm just not getting too much into my head, even if maybe things don't go the way I want it. So that was helping me. And since I can play the game that I want, in a way, like I did in the last two events, for me individually it's helping. And I would say I'm growing, of course, every single day, and if I would compare myself to six months ago, probably I learned a lot. And I'm happy about it, and I still have a lot to learn. So I'm just looking forward to it.
NRG
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella
Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli
Michael 'Grim' Wince
Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott
Damian 'daps' Steele
MOUZ
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Adrian 'xelex' VinczePast 3 months
Natus Vincere
Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen
Mihai 'iM' Ivan
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy
Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov
Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri
Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy