We sat down with Dorian "xertioN" Berman at the BLAST Open Porto media day to catch up with MOUZ's in-game leader, who gave us his take on a variety of subjects, from a very successful group stage in which the team qualified straight for the playoffs at the Super Bock Arena, to Adrian "xelex" Vincze and Oldřich "PR" Nový's performances.
"There are definitely some levels for them to still go to understand the game the same way as the core members do," xertioN says of his teammates. "But at the same time, I think they are putting in work daily, and I am really happy for them when they are playing like that."
xertioN also spoke about his relationship with Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás, calling him "by far the best teammate I have ever had," and how the Hungarian AWPer is finding his form again, as well as who he hopes to play in the semis. "I would be down to play both teams," he says of FURIA or Vitality. "I think both teams are equally as good at the moment. For us, it doesn't matter who we have to face, because anyways to have to beat anyone to win the trophy."
From the outside it looked like a very successful group stage, what was your assessment of your run in groups?
Yeah, definitely. I think the group stage was pretty smooth sailing. Of course, against Falcons, the first map on Nuke was a bit of a disaster for us stats-wise, but I do think that game came down to some small kills. Overall, in terms of CS gameplay, I would rate it very high; it's been a while since we had such a convincing group stage for this team, so I'm really happy to pass through to playoffs with flying colours.
It must have felt good in that Falcons series to come back so convincingly? Because you were so good on the last two maps.
Yeah, for sure. We also talked about it within the team that we want to prove that we deserve to be in the playoffs. Maybe 9z and Inner Circle were not the best two teams to play. I think 9z is a very hard team for any team to play against with their style, but we managed to dismantle both of them.
In the Falcons game, we just wanted to see where we stand against a better team, and it worked out really well. As I said, I think on Nuke they played really well on their CT side, but at the same time I think they got a lot of the important kills. I definitely feel like they got a bit outclassed on Ancient and Inferno afterwards, and that's something that we take with pride, that we could do that.
xelex and PR were top of the scoreboards across the series against Falcons. That must give you a little bit of pride because they are young players that you are leading, and it must also make you feel good for the future, that your two more inexperienced players are doing so well.
Of course. It felt really good, and it still feels nice to see… their potential, in a way. They are going through a feedback phase at the moment; of course, there are definitely some levels for them to still go to understand the game the same way as the core members do. But at the same time, I think they are putting in work daily, and I am really happy for them when they are playing like that.
Of course, I am also happy for myself as a leader, but I am even more happy for them that they are able to get this confidence booster, and that we are also able to praise them really easily when they have games like this. Watching it back, it's just phenomenal to see how well they can play, these two.
I think that for them it's about work on the mental side, and some work also on the individual side, how to play situations. So far it's going pretty well, and yeah, I am really happy for them.
Another player who is playing well at the moment is torzsi, it feels like he has had a bit of a renaissance at the start of this season. What do you put that down to? You play with him and get to see him day in, day out. Why do you think he has seen that upturn in form recently?
I have known torzsi for so long, and I think that in the beginning of his career in MOUZ he was one of the best prospects in the world. Also, when he joined the main team, the potential that he had was really high.
I think torzsi relies a lot on the vibes in the team, and if you have people that he doesn't connect with, it's really hard for him to perform. In the last roster that we had, when he had a bit of a slump, he was connected to everyone, but I think it just came down to his happiness in the moment. I think he was maybe going through a bit of a tough phase in his life.
I think right now he is enjoying the game a lot more. He and I have a great connection; I think he is by far the best teammate I have ever had. It's just such a great feeling to have someone who is so hardworking and passionate about CS, so I am really relieved and happy to see him succeed. I think me taking over the IGL role probably helped him a little bit. I have known him for so long and also know how to use him as an AWPer, but I think most of the credit goes to him and our sports psychologist.
I wanted to talk about MOUZ in general. You won the BLAST event at the start of the season, had a little slip-up at EWC, but it feels like you have been very quickly left out of the best team in the world conversations. Where do you see MOUZ at the moment in the hierarchy?
I don't like to really rank ourselves, because I am super confident and think that on any given day we can beat any team in the world at the moment, especially because the dominant Vitality is not so present right now. I think Spirit are playing incredibly well, but we saw in Malta that we could dismantle them a little bit. I think it's anyone's game at the moment.
To be honest, I think it's a bit silly the names I am hearing that people consider at the top, I think that they are putting people who are not supposed to be there in the list, at least in my opinion. I think we are definitely one of the best teams in the world; we are super confident to say it at the moment. I think winning in Malta, going to the quarters in EWC, and now guaranteeing the semi-finals is a very good start for a team that people thought would drop out of the top ten, potentially.
I think that people have to give us more respect. I know teams give us respect on the server; I feel it, and if the community, fans, or analysts want to give it or not, it's not up to us to decide. We are just going to do our best to continue proving that we are one of the best teams in the world.
Looking forward to the semi-final, it will be either Vitality or FURIA. How do you feel about those two teams and how you match up with them?
I feel good about playing both. I think with Vitality, of course, we have so much history. Now they have a stand-in; they look a little bit weaker, but I think on the mental side they definitely have an edge when they play us sometimes. That's something I would like to test out with the new roster, so I would be really excited to play them.
With FURIA, I think they are a bit of an inconsistent team. When they don't look good, they can look a bit poor, but when they look good, they sometimes just have these games where they run over opponents. I would like to see how it would be to play against them with the Portuguese crowd and get to experience that, also for the young guys. For us, we played against FURIA at IEM Rio, and it was the most crazy experience probably of my life to play against.
I would be down to play both teams. I think both teams are equally as good at the moment. For us, it doesn't matter who we have to face, because anyways to have to beat anyone to win the trophy.
With jL as a stand-in, do you see Vitality playing much different? Do you think he's just slotting in one-for-one with mezii?
I would say I think they play pretty similarly on their T sides, but at the same time on their CT sides he adds a little bit more of an aggressive element. As they have said, he doesn't like to sit still, and that's something that we also saw when we played with him. He has great qualities as a player, and he's also a really good teammate, and it will be interesting to play against him now that I've been his teammate once. But I'm not putting too much thought into it at the moment.
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
Oldřich 'PR' NovýPast 3 months
MOUZ
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Ádám 'torzsi' TorzsásPast 3 months
Dorian 'xertioN' BermanPast 3 months
Adrian 'xelex' VinczePast 3 months
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo