MUTiRiS: "We'll need some time and we'll suffer"
SAW pulled off one of the most inspiring underdog stories of 2024 as they made the semi-finals of IEM Cologne.
However, in the months that followed, two of their star players benched themselves, setting SAW back to square one after all their growth throughout the year.
Despite a glimmer of hope as they won ESL Challenger Katowice towards the end of 2024, the Portuguese team have already faced a setback in 2025, they were eliminated by BIG in the first round of BLAST Bounty.
Prior to that match, we caught up with their captain MUTiRiS to discuss recent changes to the team and the time it will take for SAW to get back to the top.
"It's really sad because we worked so hard to reach the level that we did"
Let's start with the changes you made in the last few months. People were surprised to see arrozdoce and ewjerkz depart the team, can you take us through what happened?
Basically, a month after Cologne, one of the players said that he didn't want to stay with the team after the end of the year, and then closer to the end of the year one of the others said that he wanted to be transfer-listed.
For me, as a player and a captain, it's really sad because we worked so hard to reach the level that we did, and it took a lot of time to get there. But right now that's our reality.
The organisation and the players that are still in the team, we tried as much as we can to stay positive, and right now it's in the beginning and we're really happy to have Ag1l with us who we already won a tournament with.
As for shr, he's a new kid that needs a lot of experience because he comes from a very different background. He's going to need some time, but he has a lot of potential.
As you said you won a tournament towards the end of last year, considering what was happening with the team at the time, how good did it feel to get that win?
It was unbelievable. It was like a rollercoaster in those times, so we didn't expect to win and we just wanted to enjoy playing CS.
Everything clicked at that tournament, I think that we were very good and the best team there. We showed that in the server, so it gave us a lot of motivation to keep working and to come with another hunger for this new year.
Photo: Michal KonkolThat tournament shows that there is potential in this team but as you said, the team will need some time, how much time do you think will be needed?
I think it's difficult to put an exact time on it for when we will bounce back. It all depends on the new guys and how they level up and our work ethic for everything.
Right now, we need some time and we'll suffer a little bit, but we need to stay confident and work a lot. Let's see in the next tournaments the face that we show, because it's really important that we start well.
If we don't, we need to see positive things to work on, and that's what I expect. I don't expect to win or to do a very good job, I expect to just have the feeling that we're improving, and with time we'll be there.
How much of a boost is it that you still have the points to receive invites despite those changes?
It's amazing because right now we'll get to be a t the best tournaments, and that opportunity is really good for us, it means that we did a good job before. It's amazing for us, but we just need to prove ourselves at those tournaments and win some games to keep the invites. That's what we're aiming for, to do damage.
What are your hopes for the first six months of the year?
I don't really know, we haven't set a lot of goals because we don't know how we'll react to all the changes. Right now, I just want to enjoy playing and I want to feel that we're improving.
When we're improving, it's just a matter of time and then you're going to reach the right level. When you look too much at results, it's really hard because you can have a good result or a good tournament, but if you don't practice well then it's only a matter of time until you start losing again.
