9z's purple period saw the explosion of Luciano "luchov" Herrera onto the tier one scene.
After grabbing two EVPs at PGL Astana and XSE Pro League, he was right up there in the Rookie of the Year race, with a 1.20 rating over the first seven months of 2026.
Since then, things have been tougher, with his rating falling to 0.95 since August. But against TYLOO, the aggressive rifler was back to his best as he broke the 2.00 rating mark.
"My play style really depends on confidence," luchov told HLTV. "When the team is connected, that helps me a lot to play better. When we are separate and disconnected, I usually take more bad decisions."
After two games, the team have a 1-1 record in Katowice, and the goal is to play in the iconic Spodek arena before they leave Poland.
Listen to the interview here
That was a fun Mirage for you. How did it feel on the server?
Yeah, I think we feel really good, really confident, and that was a thing that we missed in the last match, so it's important for us for the next matches.
How is the team feeling after the summer period that was so good and then a few group stage exits? How is the team feeling coming into this event?
We talk a lot because we were trying to find the problem, and I think we are trying to make it better, because it was hard to play the first semester like that and then come and lose like 3-0, 3-4, or 5,. That was really hard for our confidence, but we are leveling up now.
What do you think the problem was? Was it teams getting used to you and teams respecting you a bit more when it came to prep? What do you think?
I think the other teams start to study us more, really. But I think the big problem was the break. We took the break, like a break. And then we come back, poor individually, and that affects the team a lot.
How's your own form feeling now? I guess it's the same for everyone on the team, but are you feeling like you're coming back into your groove a bit now?
Not yet. It was only one match that we played good, and we need to make it better if we want to make it to the playoff.
And is that the goal here now, to make the playoffs?
Can you repeat?
Is the goal to make playoffs?
Yeah, of course. We came here with the goal of making it into playoffs and playing in Spodek Arena. So that's our aim right now, and then if we reach that, of course we want more.
Tell me a bit about your style and how you found teams adapting to you individually. Has that been something you've noticed in the last few months?
Yeah, I think when the team is connected, that helps me a lot to play better. When we are separate and disconnected, I usually take more bad decisions and play more anxious, so for me it's very important.
And in your role as well with the aggression, are you still as confident in your aggression now as you were a few months ago?
Not like the first months. My play style really depends on confidence. I have to improve that, because I need to be useful also without confidence sometimes. So yeah, it depends on it.
TYLOO
Yi 'JamYoung' Yang
Dongkai 'Jee' Ji
Jingxiang 'Mercury' Wang
Qianhao 'Moseyuh' Chen
Su 'Zero' Jingshen
WeiJie 'zhokiNg' Zhong
9z
Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez
Franco 'dgt' Garcia
Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer
Luciano 'luchov' Herrera
Matias 'HUASOPEEK' Ibañez Hernandez
Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima
Luciano 'luchov' HerreraPast 3 months