You don't win three Majors without being mentally resilient.

There's a frightening level of almost sociopathic calmness exuding from Magisk, who looks and speak like a man who is so au fait with pressure that he has absorbed it.

"We are trying to handle [pressure] in a different way and not putting the pressure away from us but actually accepting that there is a lot of pressure on us, but we need to deal with that."

A born winner

Being in the room with him makes it startlingly obvious how he has been such a natural winner. There's no doubt in himself, or what he can do, and he hammers home his points about CSGO being a mental game. In fact, twice he told BLAST.tv that he's aware he "keeps repeating it, but it's a mental game".

Of course, it's easy to see it as a mental game when you don't have to worry about your mechanics.

"I've been [in the Major playoffs] quite a few times now, and for me it has shown that it's really about the mental side of it when you go into playoffs and being ready for everything."

Stephanie Lindgren

Magisk stresses a few times that there's nothing more important than being "ready for everything" and that "things aren't 100% going to go our way", believing that the key to succeeding isn't winning, it's dealing with your losses.

"It's really about being ready and being able to reset in the game and not spending energy on the wrong things like-" Magisk lets out an exasperated gasp, before continuing: "tilting or (sighs) "why are we losing", that kind of thing. There's no time for that. It's the Major playoffs."

He repeats that it's "the Major playoffs" a few times, as though it were a mantra, really hammering home how seriously he takes this, and showing why he is unflappable. He has a real respect for the stage he's on.

"It's not just going to be a cruise or a walk in the park because it's a Major playoffs and everyone wants it just as much as us. It's the dream of everyone. For me it's really about the mental of the team to be able to perform."

We certainly know we wouldn't like to play against someone as zoned in as he is.

The future (and why not to predict it)

Fortunately for us, it's Into the Breach who have the unenviable task of trying to topple him - and Magisk has a lot of respect for the run the underdogs have been on.

"It's going to be a difficult game even though we are going to play Into the Breach, which on paper is obviously a team we should beat. I still think it's the Major playoffs, they have nothing to lose and we have everything to lose.

"They have shown multiple times that they can beat top teams, so if we want to beat them we have to show the best version of ourselves and have a good mental attitude."

The pressure Magisk talks about earlier in this article, that they have to accept, he believes doesn't really exist for Into the Breach.

"That can be difficult to play against, that's the feeling of 'you can't disappoint anyone'. A team like us, we have a lot of people to disappoint because we have a lot of expectations from the crowd and also of course from the organisation, they want to do good, and us as players we want to do good."

And of course, to some extent he's right. Into the Breach came in with no expectations, and not even the most delusional Englishman could envisage an Into the Breach win.

But on the other hand, they've not experienced a stage like this before - and that's something Magisk is used to, at this point.

Stephanie Lindgren

"The biggest thing about home crowd advantage is the fact that you have the energy behind the crowd, but in some ways it's also more pressure," explains the Dane. "I think it's all about how you react to the crowd and how you take the energy, obviously with my experience I will take it as a good energy booster but of course it's going to be tough if we just get destroyed or something like that."

Magisk allows himself a small chuckle, showing that the robotic exterior is merely a chrysalis in which the human exists, but immediately he snaps back to the guy who has won three Majors.

"There was a lot more pressure on us at the RMR because if the ultimate goal was to be in Paris and we wouldn't even go that would of course be the biggest disappointment we could deliver. We have shown we can deal with pressure and that's obviously really good, that's something we need to take with us because we need to keep doing that and we need to keep delivering with the pressure if we want to go far in the tournament."

There's that word again: pressure. Magisk repeats it so many times during the interview, as though it has become something he has accepted to the point that it's all-encompassing.

As Bane might say: he was born under pressure. He was moulded by it.

The level of focus from Magisk is so incredible, he won't even entertain questions about who they might play in the semi-final.

Michal Konkol

"I never talk about the next match because there might not be a next match. It doesn't make sense for me to talk about. For me it's all about the first game, so that's the only thing I focus on."

We try once more to crack the shell, but he is a consummate professional.

"No, no, we can't. It's just the way it is. I don't talk about next games."

What about the possibility of winning the whole thing?

"I never talk about that. Why would I?" Magisk flashes a knowing smile. "If I already think about the end result, I'm already behind."

Allow us to, then. Magisk in this sort of mood is scary, and though an interview like this is never a guarantee - in some cases some might call it a curse - there's no way silly things like 'fate' and 'curses' or even 'coincidences' are going to stop a man this one-track minded on winning another Major.

The only thing that will stop Vitality winning a Major is a genuinely great CSGO team.

Because Magisk is not in the mood to lose. To anyone.