Boombl4: "It will be a great story for us here"
Boombl4 is one of the most experienced players in Stage 1 of the Major, and that experience is something he will hope carries him through all the way to the playoffs.
Coming into the event with a very strong BetBoom team, we spoke to the former Major winner about the experience levels on his team and how that experience can be the key for them in Austin.
"LAN is a different game"
We're here at the Major, how are you feeling?
It's incredible, I've been at a Major with five different orgs, seven or eight different lineups, every time I just really enjoy it.
How has the year been overall?
It's been really hard. We have a new team, a new lineup, we've played a lot of online matches and this is our first LAN with our full lineup, we played Bounty in January with stand-ins. We're looking forward to it, let's see how it goes.
You mentioned the visa issues back in Bounty and the amount of online games since, do you feel like this is a team that was built to be better on LAN opposed to online games?
Of course, we'll be better on LAN because when we qualified from the MRQ we had some good days and we were really motivated, but after two months of online matches, we weren't feeling the best.
Now we're here at the LAN we have a really good atmosphere, I can't wait for our first match.
There's also a lot of Major experience on your team compared to a lot of the other teams in Stage 1, do you think that will be a big help for you?
It's the main reason I'm feeling confident right now, and that confidence helps my calling. Every player wants to play on LAN and we have some really experienced players in people like Ax1Le, so we'll see what happens, but I think it'll be a great story for us here.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenOn the other end of the spectrum you have Magnojez, who is the least experienced player on your team, how do you make him comfortable at his first Major?
He's the second voice in our team, but he's a rookie, so I hope he'll do the maximum he can do. He might be nervous, it's his first Major, but who knows what will happen. If he feels confident, he'll be a big star for our team.
There's a lot of expectation for you guys to do well, does that have an impact at all because you're one of the favourites to go through?
I don't want to think about us being favourites or a dark horse or anything, our goal is to go to the playoffs, so that's all we're going to think about.
You play Nemiga in your opening game, how do you feel about that?
Our last match online against them was quite bad for us, but at the last Major with Cloud9 we beat them like 13-3. I really feel comfortable against the these guys, it's another match up against a team from our region, so, I'm confident.
Looking at the experience levels on the two teams, is that where you expect your team to shine?
Yeah, LAN is a different game, so I'm looking forward to it. Our entire team has been waiting for this.
You said you want to go to the playoffs, there's a lot of CS between now and then but by the end of tomorrow you could have a 2-0 record, how important is it to get that strong start?
If we're looking for playoffs, we need to play three stages with a lot of BO1s, it's a little bit random and with MR12 it's really hard, but our main strength will come in BO3s.
We'll see, but of course, we want to end the first day with at least one match win. 2-0 will be great, though.
