Losing a player of frozen's calibre will never be easy - but if there's one leader in world Counter-Strike right now you'd expect to deal with it, it's siuhy.

The young leader is endlessly impressive, and his resurfacing on MOUZ has been a blessing, so while losing frozen is undeniably damaging, one has to have faith that he can adapt and overcome.

siuhy talks to BLAST.tv about his successful year, losing his friend and teammate to FaZe Clan and why Brollan is the perfect fit for MOUZ at this event.

Credit: Stephanie Lindgren

It's the final event of the year for you; how are you looking back on the year?

It's been a rollercoaster of emotions. From GamerLegion, succeeding there, coming back to MOUZ, coming back and joining the boys again and having a good run at EPL, overall just joining the team and having everything click. I think the whole year was very successful from my point of view.

Did you expect this year to go the way it has?

Maybe I didn't expect it to go the way it has, but I'm definitely working for these things to happen.

There's been a pretty big change to the team recently, how has that affected your short term goals for next year?

Obviously there's still a lot going on with the team. We're still yet to figure out who will be the best fit, who are we looking at, we need to analyse all the possible options. Losing a player like frozen is not easy. It does change a lot depending on who you get as the next teammate now. There will be a lot of adapting to do from our side, but it's all a new experience for us. It's nice to experience, especially as we've been playing together for a long time and having a new player coming in, it does bring a little bit of freshness. We're definitely looking forward to what comes next. Our goals for next year, we're still yet to figure out, but we're definitely working on them.

Do you think you'll be looking for someone to replace frozen, who is very similar to him, or will someone in the team maybe fall into frozen's roles?

We haven't really figured that out yet. So far we're looking at all the possible options and analysing what each player will bring to the team. Will it cause role changes, will it cause players to play differently, all of those kinds of things. We're not really looking into it yet, as we are still focusing on BLAST with Brollan and trying to make the best run here that we can, so that will come in the future. For sure, we will analyse all the possible options to the best of our ability and make sure we actually do pick the right choice.

Credit: Stephanie Lindgren

Tell me more about Brollan, how did the decision come about that he'd be the one standing in?

I think it was pretty easy. Brollan was probably the best option we could get and we're really happy that we got him. He's also really hungry to play, because he's been off the active roster for around two months now, I think. He's definitely really hungry to play and he shows it on the server and he's playing exactly like we would expect him to play. I think he's a good fit. He's also the same age as us. In terms of the atmosphere, and just the vibe in the team, I think he's a really good fit to have on the team, to come in. We knew that we needed someone that would bring in short-term effects, as soon as possible and that's exactly what he brings for this tournament, and we're glad to have him on board.

How is him being on the team impacting the roles for this event?

Not a lot, actually. We did adjust some roles and positions for each player, but I think majority we kind of gave him what he wanted, to make him feel as comfortable as possible. We don't want him to be uncomfortable in some positions coming into the tournament after two months of inactivity. We just want him to feel as comfortable as possible and let him play his own game and just kind of adapt to him, as well as him adapting to us. There has been a little bit of role or position changes, but it's not major role changes. I think both us - the team and Brollan - adapted really well to what we changed.

What kind of goals have you set out for this event?

I think it's easy to say that we are in some way at a disadvantage because we're coming in with a stand-in, but if you look at other teams as well, I think the majority of the teams here are also fresh after changes or they are also with a stand-in or something like that. There's something going on in other teams as well, so I wouldn't say we're necessarily at a disadvantage because of it. We're definitely looking at the more positive side of what we can take out of it, using that factor that we do have a stand-in, we're trying to use it as a positive factor rather than a disadvantage. There are certain goals that we want to reach as a team, and I think it's very doable, especially with the way practice has been going lately. We're all just very much looking forward to the event.

Credit: Michal Konkol

Are you sad to have lost frozen? How are you dealing with the change to the team?

Personally, when David (frozen) left it was a big hit, not only for the team but also for me. I've created a really strong friendship with him. I think we click well together, he's an amazing teammate and it's definitely a person you cannot replace. It's going to be tough without him, but that's also just life and you have to move on at some point. You have to experience new things, and you have to just look at the positive side of things. Learning new abilities, as a leader especially you get to lead a different player and experience what other people are like. From my side there are benefits to it - obviously it's very sad to lose frozen like that but I'm sure he will do great, and I wish him nothing but the best in whatever he will does in the future. I think we as a team, we are prepared well for it, you could say, or we are working on it to make the right adjustment moving forward.

Do you think it might take a while to get back to that peak MOUZ level that we've seen from you in the last few months?

It's tough to say. Right now the player break is coming up and a lot of teams will have a break as well. We will have a lot of time to work with a new player, so I would say it's a pretty good time to bring in a new player and work with him, practise with him whenever you can. You have a lot of time for it. I wouldn't say it's going to be a long time. Definitely we are realising the situation we are in and we're not setting ourselves too unrealistic goals. We are definitely working on getting back to where we were, but I don't think it necessarily settles back that much. It's just a matter of bringing in a new player, adapting to the system he brings and also him adapting to us and just working forward, and reaching the highest goal possible.