dupreeh on potential retirement: "I haven't officially made up my mind"

It's good, I'm glad that I have the opportunity to come back, that means that hopefully something was good at the first one I did back in January.
It's something that I'm very new at, but it's also something that I'm trying to figure out if I enjoy enough to continue to do. But so far, it's fun, I like the whole idea of talking about something that I know a lot about, and also that I get to see some of the teams and hopefully give insight that no one else can bring.

I learned a lot about what goes on behind the scenes. As player you just show up, you've done your preparation and you just expect people on the talent and broadcast to just show up and talk about stuff. There's a lot more thought that goes into it, a lot more structure, you need to prepare in a different way, so I learned a lot in that regard.
Also, in terms of me as a person, for so many years I've been a player, so coming in and having a new role and wanting to do well and having people praise me for a good job, that was nice. It was nice to feel like I was capable of doing other good jobs in life, because as a player you lose the idea that you could have other stuff in life than playing video games.

Hmm... I haven't officially made up my mind as to what's going to happen, my contract is officially set to end soon, so I'm still exploring what's going to happen. But, I still believe that I'm in a position in life where I need to figure out what's the best option for me, so I think that's where my thought process is. Right now, I'm just taking one step at a team, and I'll make up my mind eventually.

I think NAVI is a team that has gone from having no expectations with the roster they assembled at the beginning to winning a Major and showing really good stuff last year. They're one of the teams that has won the most trophies in CS2 and now it just feels like they're trying to figure out how to get back to that level.
Once you've been at the top and you fall off, having to reclaim that spot or at least try to reclaim it can be really tough, especially without making some kind of roster change. People maybe lose faith in the project or themselves, someone might not be giving 110% like they may have done in the beginning, so it's just a hard place to get back from.
Maybe there's also this small thing within the team that they might be worried whether they're the one to get cut, or if they're the reason they aren't playing well, and that can make people play more for themselves instead of as a team.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of things going wrong with NAVI, but their inconsistency is just hurting them a lot.

I believe so. I think that the whole EliGE for ropz thing has hurt them more than people expected, and also themselves, too. I think they probably expected to be functioning way better, also because, sure, ropz is an incredible player and he brings a lot to the team, but they won't have expected things to get that bad just by swapping one player. They still have a lot of good players inside to the team, but it's clear to see there's a lot of confidence issues.
Unfortunately, I also think there's more to it. Whether it's a player that isn't functioning in their roles, they have deeper issues than just confidence. I think the reason that they aren't playing well is obviously due to that lack of confidence, but the confidence is being taken away by more internal issues.

Looking at the top four right now, no, I don't think so. I think the top four with MOUZ, Falcons, Spirit, and Vitality is just super, super strong. They're in a league of their own right now where Vitality is the clear favourite and potentially Falcons as the second best with Spirit and MOUZ fighting for third and fourth. Time will only tell with how this tournament goes on, but obviously, Falcons have showed some really good Counter-Strike.
When G2 lost NiKo in the first place, you were thinking that they still had m0NESY to build around. Now that he's also gone to Falcons, they've just lost the hottest duo in Counter-Strike. It's hard to recover from that and to find players that can make up the gap. Sure, they can maybe be a top-eight team with what they have right now, but they won't be competing for top four.

I think the whole situation with missing out on multiple Majors, the expectation not just for themselves but also the community for the brand itself has hit them very hard. It was the same thing with Falcons at the beginning, everyone expected that because zonic was the coach and because they brought in good players from ENCE and Vitality that they'd make this superteam, but it never really panned out. There was a lot of pressure they had to deal with. I think it's the same thing for Astralis. They just can't live up to their own expectations or anyone else's. I think it just keeps breaking them.
I think there's also been a clear issue with cadiaN becoming a rifler. I believe that he's a decent caller, but him not playing AWP hurts the team a lot more than him having to play on a rifle. I just don't think that having him and device on the same team when they both thrive on the AWP would work. I don't think device rifling would work, either, they've mentioned that having an AWP IGL also isn't a suitable option.
It's the right approach to try and get someone else in the IGL role to maybe make things work a bit better.

They're probably up there, they're obviously top four. The greatest lineups I can think of is my own from Astralis, the Liquid Grand Slam roster, NAVI 2021, and now Vitality. You could also throw FaZe 2022 in there, too.

It looks like it, right? What's interesting about it, in my opinion, is that they've had such little practice together. The team obviously functions, but I can't help but think that when they get home and get to practice, will that make them better?
They're playing super solid right now, so maybe it could make them a little more consistent, but it could also be a little bit of a honeymoon. Everything is working out right now, they just got m0NESY, everyone is thinking it's going good.
So, it'll be interesting to see how that practice time effects the team. I'm not saying they'll get bad, but they'll come to the conclusion they need more consistency. They'll get better, but they won't become incredibly better, they won't just start demolishing Vitality from a couple of weeks of practice.

Vitality is by far the top team right now, but I think the top four is so good right now. MOUZ can make a really good run if they resolve their issues, maybe work a little bit on their map pool or get over that mental aspect sycrone has mentioned.
Spirit, for me, is still a huge question mark. We know how good they can be, but we know they can also be pretty bad if donk doesn't pop off.
Obviously, we know how good Falcons are. They've made three consecutive finals, they're playing extremely well, but there's only so much practice they can have. Maybe that's for the better of them that they don't have that, they just play off their instincts and it works.
I think it'll be interesting, but I think it'll be a Falcons vs Vitality grand final.