MIBR bounced back from an opening day loss to FURIA at StarSeries Fall with a victory against magic in the lower bracket, but it was a close one that Linus "LNZ" Holtäng wasn't ecstatic about. "Today was actually one of those days where it didn't click," the Swede told HLTV after the match, "where I feel like there's a lot of rounds we just shouldn't have lost."
MIBR's in-game leader also spoke about the addition of Tomas "tomaszin" Corna, whom he says can be very aggressive and shoots hard, and gave his view on the race forming for the second Americas Stage 2 Major spot in the VRS.
So it's day two of StarSeries Fall. We're here in the studio with LNZ, who just beat magic. The first thing I want to ask is going back to FPG 3. You almost made it to the final. Here, you started with a loss against FURIA 2-1, got one map off them. Now you got a victory. Where do you see the team's form as we start to ramp up into getting to the Major?
I think the form is a bit unclear still, because, like you said, at FISSURE we had a really good event, and I think we were coming in quite hot, and here as well. But I think it's still very early in the team, a lot of things are maybe a bit random. Things we haven't had time to talk about yet, so sometimes it will click, sometimes it will not. And I think today was actually one of those days where it didn't click, where I feel like there's a lot of rounds we just shouldn't have lost, which we wouldn't have done, and that we didn't lose in FISSURE, right?
So I think it's still very early days, and we have a long way to go, I think, if we want to be a top 10 team, which we're always almost closing in on the rankings. But it's still a long way, and I think everyone knows it, but it's also understandable.
You speak of these early days. Tell me a little bit about tomaszin and bringing him onto the team and how this whole process is going.
I think Tomas is doing a great job adapting to our system. We added a lot of stuff. I think we almost added most of our playbook from before and even more than we had. Of course, it's a bit hard for him to get a grasp of it so early. I think it's still less than a month of him being here, right? But I think we all enjoy having him here. He has a fighting spirit that we maybe didn't have before in his role, and he can be very aggressive, and he shoots really hard. I think it's just about us finding him in his old form in our team now, in our system, which will take a bit of time, but I'm confident we will do it.
How did the whole process of bringing him on go? Is this something that you were involved in, coach, management? How did you come to the decision that he was the right player for the team?
I think MIBR looked for him already when I joined in January, so we knew his name, right? And I think they were very much aware of him, and in South America he was kind of known as the next talent, right? So I think it was quite an easy pick for us to get an upgrade in terms of individual skill and, like I said before, fighting spirit. And yeah, in South America, most of the people know who he is.
What would you say are the next steps for him when it comes to the integration? There's obviously a lot that he has to process when it comes to, as you say, playbook and stuff like that. But what are you trying to do? What's the conversation you're having with him to kind of make him as comfortable as possible?
I think it's maybe improving on the team play kind of stuff. Helping out with the micro things, like calling spacing, and saying, 'Hey, let's swing here together.' It sounds basic for everyone, but when you're new to a team you kind of don't focus on that because you are thinking, 'Okay, on this strat, in this default, I'm doing this.' And then it's new voices, and you have to, in some maps, have a new role.
So those kinds of things sometimes lack, which is also understandable, and I think it's more fundamentals that maybe he didn't have before in BESTIA because they were maybe not playing on the same level, and those we just need to integrate with him.
You are here now at StarSeries, and I know you are playing a couple more events here as well in October. Are you going to use this time to get a lot of practice in Europe, play a lot of teams here? What's your calendar looking like right now?
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure, but I think we're going to have a little small break after this tournament, and then we have, like you said, Stake in October, and we'll have a bit of practice with the new lineup, so that we can focus on the fundamentals and everything that we learn from these tournaments and then the last push before the Major. And obviously we're trying to go to Stage 2 from the Americas, so that's kind of the focus for us.
And how do you see that VRS race right now? Where you're positioned, you are kind of high up there. That FISSURE really helped as well. Do you see that as a pretty good possibility of you making it into that Stage 2 and kind of getting a leg up in the Major?
Yeah, I think it's a real dogfight now for the second Stage 2 spot that is between FURIA, 9z, and us, right? I think FURIA is maybe more secure than anyone, right? And Legacy, of course, is also already in Stage 3, if I'm not mistaken. And then it's between us and 9z, and we beat them in FISSURE, and it's always a dogfight versus them.
So I think it's whoever gets the most points or keeps their points the most will make it, right? But I think we're on a fairly similar level. They had a bit better period recently and during the Major than us, and then now we beat them, and who knows what will happen in the next events and who gets the most points.
And when you lost at FISSURE it was against Legacy. Here it was against FURIA. I know you're the Swedish guy on the team, but for the other guys, is there a little bit of fire when they're playing against Legacy or FURIA, or is it just another game for you?
I think maybe at the start, when we were playing them for the first time, it was a bit more emotions, but now we played them so many times that we are kind of just comfortable doing it. But of course I can feel that they want to win more, right? And then when shit is happening in the game, and it's chaos, then it's maybe a bit harder to find the calmness, right? Which I think is normal, and I kind of like it, to be honest. It's really fun to play CS that way.
Would you say that maybe even if you've played them a lot, do you also have in mind that we're talking about that VRS race and a lot of these teams are kind of in the race with you, so is there that incentive that these are big games, not just because of the national thing or whatever, but also because you're in that race together?
Yeah. I usually try to make that point that in a lot of games we play, we have a lot of good chances to get good VRS, right? And even if the Major is in three months, a win now can be huge for us later, right? And I think it's not the only thing we focus on, of course, and it's not the most important thing to get the VRS. It's always focused about the process and the team, right? But the points will always help, so if you can bring that extra hunger to get those points, that's always good.
And the game against magic today, they're a team that was kind of known for playing a lot online, and now they're starting to play more LANs. A lot of young guys starting to get a little bit more experience. What was it like going up against them? Do you think a lot of teams maybe don't prep against them a lot and just kind of think, 'Oh, it'll be a free game,' or whatever, or do you see them as a threat and prepare just as well as you regularly would?
I think both us, but most teams on the higher levels will always prepare the same. I think maybe most teams would also agree that they play maybe a bit more loosely than other teams. And maybe a bit... not random in the way that it is random, but random in the way that they can be playing on both sides of the map at the same time, which is not really normal for the higher-tier teams, right? So I think when you check the prep, maybe you're thinking that it's going to be a chaos game, so maybe you don't focus too much on the prep and what to see, but just that you're ready for what they do, basically.
And just to finish off, when you came after the FISSURE event, what was the hope or what were the goals that you hoped you would get here in Barcelona?
What I hoped for the most was just that we would ride on the same kind of wavelength, right? But I also spoke with the team about how I think it's maybe also sometimes unrealistic to do that, right? It's not always going to be the same at every event you play. Setups are different, mindsets are different. Sometimes it's jet lag, and it can be all kinds of different factors that make you not play the same as in the last event.
So the focus was still just on the process because even though we played really good and almost won against Legacy, who's top four in the world, we can almost lose to a magic who's playing with a coach. We need to always be focused, and sometimes it's just worse.
magic
Svyatoslav 'MaSvAl' Masko
Vitaliy 'sFade8' Marushka
Andrey 'AW' Anisimov
Abdurakhim 'mo0N' Issa
Nikita 'tenzy' Kochenyuk
Danila 'eksiver' Yurkov
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
Tomas 'tomaszin' CornaPast 3 months
Linus 'LNZ' HoltängPast 3 months
MIBR
Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng
Lucas 'nqz' Soares
Felipe 'insani' Yuji
Carlos 'venomzera' Eduardo
Tomas 'tomaszin' Corna
Nestor 'LETN1' Tanić