hampus: "You could put three top Swedish teams together"
Despite being the lowest-ranked team in the European MRQ, Metizport pulled off the Cinderella run in order to qualify for the BLAST.tv Austin Major and become the first full Swedish lineup to do so in six years.
Ahead of the event, we sat down with their IGL hampus, to discuss the expectations for the event, Sweden's Counter-Strike revival, and his journey to stability in Counter-Strike.
"You either win the Major or lose the Major"
How are you feeling about making it to the Major?
I feel super good, I missed the last three Majors, before that I'd played three in a row. I also feel super happy to be bringing a Swedish team back to the Major, it's the first time in six years an all-Swedish team has been at the Major.
As you say, you're bringing Swedish CS back to the Major, can you expand on what that means to you?
For me, even on NIP whenever we played at Majors we always had a Danish player, it was never five Swedish. Then you see NIP and fnatic move away from Swedish CS, they say they don't believe in it and that there's no talent. They don't want to replace players from a small talent pool. For me, I don't think that's true, if you wanted to do it, you could put three top Swedish teams together.
But just doing it anyway, I've really wanted to play with a Swedish team. Obviously I played with BLEED for a year because I didn't have the option to play in a Swedish team then, but when I was in NIP I also wanted to play in a Swedish team and that's why I left.
Doing this for Sweden, for me, it's huge. I wouldn't say that many people believed in us, no one thought a Swedish team could get to the Major again, so doing it makes me so happy. I'm so proud of myself and all the boys, the entire organisation.
You mentioned NIP and fnatic there and them no longer believing in the Swedish scene, but then you have Metizport who, even before you joined, have always been doing well with Swedish teams, and other teams doing well as well, so why do you think NIP and fnatic no longer believe in the scene?
I just think that the sole reason is because the player pool is too small, if you want to make a roster change then there are five players whereas if you're international there are 50 players.
I'm pretty sure that's the reasoning, but as you said, there's this lineup, the previous Metizport lineup, Johnny Speeds, Eyeballers, Alliance, but also there's a lot of good Swedish players like Brollan and REZ in different teams. We still have nawwk out there, LNZ in HEROIC, susp and phzy on Wildcard, there's quite a few good Swedish players now... spooke in OG who has also made it to the Major, there's a lot out there.
It's sad that both of those organisations, who were Swedish for so long and did so much for Sweden, just kinda gave up.
hampus previously played for NIP. Photo: Michal KonkolIn terms of Metizport, they came onto the scene with the team of nilo, adamb, susp, ztr, and jackinho, there's been a lot of changes since then and you were one of the more recent additions, so did you feel like you had to rebuild the team when you joined?
I wouldn't necessarily say it was a rebuild. nilo was going to leave and they needed a new player, both me and isak were available so they benched SHiNE to make space for both of us.
There hasn't been a rebuild in that way, we're just trying to find our balance in how we work, and there's been a lot of ups and downs so far. We started the year off very badly, but then we qualified to the Major and after that we haven't been as good as we would've liked.
What about yourself? You were doing alright with BLEED but didn't complete the goals in terms of qualifying to the Major, so did you feel like you had a rebuilding process within yourself when you joined this team?
A little bit, obviously, I had to adapt because I'm not working with players who are as experienced as I'm used to, so some things that are very obvious to me might not be obvious to some of those guys. It's L00m1's first team, for example.
But also, I would say that in BLEED, there was so much outside noise with the salary issues and also in NIP, there was always problems, we played with different stand-ins, changing lineups, there was no stability.
Since arriving here, this is the first time since we had a Swedish lineup in NIP that I feel stability, and even back then in NIP, I didn't feel it in this way. Now I really feel like I know what's going on, I know the boss isn't going to call me to say a player is getting benched and we're getting another one.
I just feel like I'm finally being listened to. In BLEED me and Kassad had a very good relationship and I could give him input, but in NIP if I said I wanted to sign a player they would instantly never get him.
For example, when we got djL in as a coach, I knew I couldn't tell them that we should get him, I had to convince device that djL was good and then device told them to bring him in.So, here, I finally feel like I can be myself and I don't have to think before I speak. I just feel like, especially with our management, they really have my back, and I've never felt this kind of trust ever.
Let's talk about a couple of the players on the team. Plopski is someone you have a lot of history with, what was it like coming back onto a team with him and how has he changed since you last competed together?
Playing with him again is super nice, he's a super funny guy both inside of the server and outside, he's the type of guy you love to have on the team on long travel days, he makes it fun.
For the in-game part, when I played with him before he was still kinda young and more laid back on the server, he didn't take that much space and he just said what he wanted, didn't give too many opinions.
I feel like he's really matured now, he lives with his girlfriend in his own apartment, he's got a dog, it's almost like a kid, he's a grown up now and he takes on so much more responsibility than he did before and he's working super hard.
Five days into my time here, mine and Plopski's agent asked me how he's doing, and I told him that I was so surprised about how much he's changed and improved.
Playing with him again makes me so happy. For me, he could for sure be a consistent tier one player, he just needs to have a good environment around him.
Photo: MetizportYou mentioned earlier that this is L00m1's first team. His stats don't always look great considering his roles in the team, so what is it that he brings outside of stats that makes him a valuable member of the team?
I would say that he's very unselfish, he's too unselfish in a way. He's the AWPer, he needs to be the big boss sometimes and have a mentality that he will go and win rounds.
Obviously, that needs to be balanced and we've been working on that, but he's too selfless. If someone says "can you do this?" and you know it's better for you if you don't, he'll do it instantly.
He's too good of a teammate, if that makes sense. He makes it so much easier for us to play because he's a supportive AWPer, but for him to get his stats up a bit, he just needs to find how to be a bit more selfish.
adamb is the last remaining name from that breakout Metizport roster, why is that Metizport have stuck by him for so long?
Just his raw skill, he's still very inexperienced, but his raw skill is up there with anyone. I played with REZ as well and he's the same, the mechanics, sometimes it looks like you're spectating a robot.
If it would just be an aim map, adamb would be a top ten player in the world. He's insane sometimes, some rounds I've seen him do, they make my jaw drop.
He's susp's twin brother, susp will be there with Wildcard who are your first opponents, how are you feeling about that?
It will be so fun, I don't think this has ever happened before, it's only been brothers on one team. I don't think HEN1 and LUCAS1 ever played against each other, anyway.
Just imagine the dinners they have with their family later on, there'll be so much banter. I'm going to make sure we win for him.
What are the hopes for the Major?
To be completely honest, my hopes are to go far, but we have to be realistic. We were the last seed in the MRQ, so we shouldn't even be there.
So for me, there's no pressure, it's just a case of going a game at a time and seeing how far we can go. I don't want to sit there and be nervous or think everyone else is nervous because it's the Major, we know we're the underdogs and I don't think anyone would guess we would win it, but you never know, I'd just be very happy if we made it to the playoffs. That would be huge.
But, as I said, we'll go one game at a time and not think about any pressure. It's the same game, let's just see how far we can go. Who cares how far that is, you either win the Major or lose the Major.
