1win are through to the playoffs of the Esports World Cup open qualifier, and now only three matches stand between them and a spot at the main event. It will be no mean feat to win those matches, however, with Liquid awaiting them in the first game and the likes of FOKUS, 100 Thieves and BC.Game potentially lurking deeper in the bracket.
"I'm thinking like a realist," Vladislav "nafany" Gorshkov told HLTV when asked about 1win's chances of making the main event, although his realism was focused more on his own team's level of play. "On certain level we are doing a lot of mistakes and it really depends on how we will play tomorrow. Sometimes we can beat the best teams and sometimes we can lose to really crazy guys."
Regardless of 1win's fate in this qualifier nafany is happy with the team he now finds himself in, especially when compared to the "long road" he endured after leaving Cloud9. "We wanted to work with each other for a long time, and it happened. And after that things just got better, at least from my POV, so I'm really happy. For me, it's like a dream."
After that win you didn't really react whatsoever. It was the quietest thing I've ever seen, to be honest.
It's not even a minimum result for us, so obviously we weren't so hyped about that. Maybe we were even a bit upset about how we finished our second map. I mean, the game was kind of, I can't say easy, but it was predictable. Everything we predicted pretty well, but just some crucial individual mistakes cost us a lot of really important rounds. So that's why we were kind of shaky, I would say.
How would you evaluate the group as a whole? Before that you lost to BC.Game. What was that about? It looked like you were kind of out of the game for that one.
They were just better in my opinion. I mean, we're still a young team. We have big names I would say, but it's still not as big as BC.Game right now. I guess we just need a bit more time to get used to each other, and then maybe it will just be easier to play such games. A lot of things they did, they did on a pure skill. And as far as we're from different, like, schools of CS, we need to connect with each other, we need just a bit more time, I would say.
As you say, this team came together kind of recently. It feels like all the pieces just kind of came together at the right moment. fame ended up being available. BELCHONOKK came in and was available at the same time. Tell me about how this all came together, especially with 1win coming into the picture to make it all happen financially, too.
Look, first of all, everything was not decided till the last moment, so that's why we started practicing pretty late, because we didn't just expect that something like this would happen. We were in touch with BELCHONOKK after he was benched in PARI. I talked with him and he told me that he was interested in us, but the problem was if PARI was fine with letting him go with us, because it's a two-sided thing when you are letting a player play with a team but without an organization. I will be honest with you, he got some offers from an organization, but he just wanted to play with us and that's the main problem. But anyway, PARIVISION was like really friendly in this term. They understood everything pretty well. That's at least my POV.
After that, 1win came to us. We were chatting with fame about if he was able to play with us because, as everyone knows, VP is kind of a complicated organization. We were not really sure if everything would work out. But after that VP talked with 1win, as far as I understand. Again, I don't have a lot of insight. That's how I feel it, at least. VP let him play with TDK, and after that everything started to move. So as I said, we didn't really even expect that it would happen like this.
How happy are you that it did, though? Because it just, from the outside, feels like a miracle happening at the same time.
I mean the thing is, I'm already trying a lot. After Cloud9 the whole period was kind of hard, I would say. In BetBoom I did not really connect with the coach and, in my opinion, that's the main problem that was in BetBoom. After that I was playing with different mixes, like with Perfecto, YEKINDAR, whatever, and we did good for a mix. After that I connected with PASHANOJ, and it was really hard, this long road was like fighting with a lot of really hard things, let's say.
After that, here with groove, I mean, every piece is just connecting with each other and it's really like a dream because I didn't even expect that it will be like this. When I started to play, even with groove we tried to connect with each other even before AMKAL, but it just didn't happen for different reasons. We wanted to work with each other for a long time, and it happened. And after that things just got better, at least from my POV, so I'm really happy. For me, it's like a dream. So far I just believe that this team can do really good damage, and we will try our best.
Back in March, we spoke to you about the struggles that you were in, having put together a team without any sort of backing. 1win coming in at this moment, does it feel like the pressure's off a little bit, not having to invest so much into it from the financial side as well?
I mean, for sure it's way easier when you have a big name behind you, and obviously it's way easier when you are sure in the people who are working with you. For now in 1win, they're working with SweetyPotz, my previous manager from Cloud9 and Gambit. He's a great guy, I'm very sure in him, he's like really insane. So I'm very sure that everything will be all... I mean, not even okay, everything will be cool. And all I need right now is just to focus on CS.
As far as we are still building like a new team, we still have some struggles in terms of like different moments. I mean, 1win is trying to help us as much as they can, even like SweetyPotz, he's not a manager anymore, but he's still doing a crazy job. Even the face that we are here, it's really a huge thanks to him, he did a really crazy job with the group actually. So in some terms pressure is less, in some terms pressure is still here. But either way, it's way easier when you have a big name behind you.
Obviously you're here still competing and going into the playoffs. I'm sure the goal is to make it to the main event and then see how far you can get. Do you see chances of that being high? From here on, it's going to get quite a bit more difficult even than in the group stage.
Look, I'm thinking like a realist. I understand that on certain level we are doing a lot of mistakes and it really depends on how we will play tomorrow. Sometimes we can beat the best teams and sometimes we can lose to really crazy guys. Even the first game here, it was a bit shaky. I can't say like it was like hard, but it was shaky. Sometimes you feel, not stress, not like... You feel in TeamSpeak that everyone is not really sure what's going on because we are still trying to get used to this place, to each other.
So I mean, it's okay. I would say we will just try our best. I'm pretty sure that we can go to the main event, it really depends on how we will play. I believe in everyone. If for example I will have a good day, I think it will be pretty realistic that we can beat like any team here. If for example, ArtFr0st will have a really good day, I think he can kill everyone. So I'm pretty sure that everything should be fine.
I wanted to ask you about the experience of this whole qualifier. What has it been like from your side?
I mean, everything is crazy as far as... even like if you will look at how many chairs are here, it's pretty insane because sometimes... I mean, we played the LAN in Moscow and there was like two groups playing at one time and it was not as good as here, like 32 teams at one time playing with each other. And that's hard to even compare.
As I said to you before the interview, I really feel like I'm back in the times where I'm in Gambit Youngsters and we're playing like Copenhagen Games, because the atmosphere here, everyone is chatting. You can see, like, HEROIC playing here with Brollan, there is cadiaN with OG, there are a lot of good teams everywhere, a lot of big names everywhere, and it's pretty insane. Even the fact that right now they're playing like 6666 versus ex-Gentle Mates. I mean, even that fact that it's a pretty close game, and they already... they beat them the first time as far as I understand. I mean, that's crazy because a lot of teams can just come here and do really good damage.
Again, I don't really understand why a lot of players from Europe are not connecting with each other and not starting to play European LANs as this, for example. Because from my perspective, it's like the easiest VRS points you can get if you are a team without an organization, and it's the easiest way how you can find a really good team with a good atmosphere, with good understanding... But for some reason people just don't really want to invest in themselves. So, I mean, that's a great place. As far as I understand ESL staff did really great work and, yeah, I'm actually shocked, I would say.
BC.Game
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev
Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov
Emil 'Magisk' Reif
Azbayar 'Senzu' Munkhbold
Ayush 'mzinho' Batbold
Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas
FOKUS
Erik 'ztr' Gustafsson
Matias 'Banjo' Kivistö
Paavo 'podi' Heiskanen
Jacob 'jocab' Nerheden
Mateo 'Matheos' Prišlin
Jakub 'kuben' Gurczyński
Liquid
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
1win
Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov
Andrey 'BELCHONOKK' Yasinskiy
Petr 'fame' Bolyshev
Artem 'ArtFr0st' Kharitonov
Konstantin 'groove' Pikiner
Cloud9
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov
100 Thieves
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Jack 'Gizmy' von Spreckelsen
William 'sirah' Kjærsgaard
Alex 'poiii' Nyholm Sundgren
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander