NAF: "That's all Counter-Strike is: confidence, good communication, and good vibes"

Before we came to this event in Singapore, we knew that we wanted to give it our all and try our best and kind of have a good performance as it's the last two big events of the year with the Major being the next one. We had pretty lacklustre practice for the event, we only had about a week because I had to go back to Canada to get my visa, so, unfortunately maybe the practice wasn't the greatest but we just did everything that we could.
We hoped for a better result playing at the event and as you can see, in the first game we played extremely well. We had a dominant CT side against them putting up 12 rounds winning the follow-up pistol concluding it into a 13-0 game. So I don't really think you can start a tournament any better than that. We followed up on the second and third map where we definitely kind of just fell completely flat and the G2 were just overall the more sound and better team in those maps. If I recall correctly, the maps weren't really that close, I think they both ended 13-6 or 13-7. They played great.
After that we ended up playing Vitality. I remember we started off on Anubis. We're able to get our Anubis pick as Anubis is our best map against them, and we were able to edge that out 13-11. It was very close, but at the end of the day, we still got our map win.
Then, we went on and played the second map. If I recall correctly it wasn't really too close of a game there.
On Nuke, we definitely had the opportunities. I obviously made a big mistake on one of the key rounds when they're on a Glock eco. I ended up dying to Glocks on Ramp and we were unfortunately not able to recover that round and obviously that was a big blow in terms of not being able to convert that round as we ended up losing the map 13-11 and ended up being eliminated from the tournament.
Obviously, it was just stupid mistakes, small margins that unfortunately cost us from at least getting into the quarter-finals and being able to play on stage. That was devastating to kind of ended it in that fashion of course.
That's pretty much how the event went for us. We just went 0-2. Didn't get to play more.
We can only hope that we can improve and not make silly mistakes especially going into the Major.

You can always chalk it up to a honeymoon phase when we first build a lineup. Of course, you're usually expecting a lot of teams to start strong when they're formed.
I think we somewhat expected a rough patch to come into play. We have a new IGL and someone that's stepping up to the role in Twistzz, a rookie in ultimate, and myself and jks sharing some similar roles.
So, obviously people have their doubts, but within the team, jks and I have been doing pretty well in the roles that we've been given, and in some areas we've made some swaps here and there.
With Twistzz becoming an IGL and becoming a completely new player in terms of picking up the role, he's been doing a pretty good job in my opinion. He's really dedicated to it and he has years of experience under his belt, and in terms of playing with very highly talented IGL's he had karrigan in FaZe which was obviously a very successful team, so he has a lot to go off.
So yeah, of course I think we somewhat expected a rough patch of form and we've had a lot of quarter-final finishes so sucks to kind of go out in groups and kind of take a step back in Singapore, for sure.
But we just need to continue moving forward. It's not like we're playing the games and getting blown out completely in a lot of the games. As you can see from a lot of our results, a lot of them come down to close games. Even when we are losing the games, like I mentioned, even in the Vitality one getting eliminated, it was just a one round pretty much preventing overtime and two rounds for us to be eliminated.
I think that's the big important thing that's also helping us when we think and we look back on the games. A lot of the games are close, and with our team and how the short time frame that we've been together.
I think a lot of it just has to do with time. Our map pool definitely just needs to be worked on with a lot more time and practice of course.
Of course, it can be somewhat annoying not being able to push over the finish line, but at the same time, there are positives just due to how close these games are, especially versus the top five teams. We have to continue moving forward and just keep on trying.

I don't think we're lacking any confidence from the prior events that we played or anything like that.
The RMR is a big event and I think that's obviously where teams will feel the most pressure. It's the biggest event, but at the same time, it's stickers, it's revenue, it's money for organisation and players and all that.
We're playing in the American RMR. It could be a lot different if we were playing in a European RMR, as that is obviously very stacked and more competitive
We failed to qualify for the prior Major, but looking back at that one, we were a very young team even during that time and back then there was only three or four slots, whereas now there's seven. 
So, I think with the team that we have and the calibre that we have, being Team Liquid, we should be qualifying, especially when there's seven slots to qualify for the Major. I think that somewhat relieves the pressure of being favourites and knowing that there's so many opportunities and spots to get into the Major.
It's not like it matters if we go 3-0 or 3-2. if I remember correctly looking at it, all the North American slots are all opening stages spots and none of them are for the legends spots.
We just need to keep up the confidence, and just make sure that we're ready to play on the day as Counter-Strike is always just a game where you could show up at one event and be complete ass, and you can show up to the next one and be the best that you've ever been.
So, we just need to go in there with a positive mindset and just be full of confidence. That's all Counter- Strike is: confidence, good communication, and good vibes, I guess you could say.
But like I said, there's a lot of slots. So, we have a lot of opportunities and I believe no matter what with how we're performing and how we're doing, I believe we can qualify and once we get past that hurdle of the RMR we'll just have to see when the Major starts and see if we're there and if we are ready to show up.

Once we are through the RMR, I think the goal is just to make playoffs. We played a lot of events where we do make top eight or around there and at those events a lot of the best teams are there. So obviously, we have the potential to make playoffs.
So, I'd probably just say, just obviously the main goal is to get through the RMR and solidify our spot in the Major and once we get there, we can look at it and I'm sure we believe that there is the possibility of playoffs.
Of course, it's been a shame that we've only been able to make quarterfinals somewhat and not really, make a semis or anything like that. It’s disappointing for me. I think the last semi that I made was in Katowice in 2023. So, to not even make it throughout the rest of 2023 and 2024 as a whole and not even have a top four under the belt is obviously disappointing.
I'm sure we all have had higher expectations to do better, but we're just going to see what we got and show up and try our best. It's the Major that's where the real players perform and that's where they show up. So, I'm excited personally.

When ultimate came into the team, we saw that he was an extremely confident player and I think that can be rare at times when you pick up rookie players.
His confidence remained within the team even though he was surrounded by a lot of talented players that have achieved a lot in Counter-Strike. No matter what he wasn't shy or nervous when it came to expressing his opinions or believing what is his best way of playing and what his comfort zone is, and we allowed him to have that freedom.
I think that's the best way to bring a player in, not to shove a bunch of shit down his throat and tell him that he should play like this, because if you tell him to play a certain way then that's not his way of playing, then that's not what makes him great.
Of course, at the start he's playing really well and you can see it with the eye test, and all that with the shots that he's hitting, and his positioning that he's a very aggressive player. That's very important to have no matter what. You're aggressive, you're confident. That's a lot of what Counter-Strike's about.
But, after a while you need to understand and adapt that tier one players will slowly start to understand you. They'll find their ways to counter you and that's where tier one Counter-Strike comes into play, and that's where he will learn a whole new understanding of how it's not about just being super crazy aggressive.
If you're going to be aggressive, you need to find the right time, and you need to find the right rounds to do it. You need to just look at the game and look at the board and just see what's going on with the teams and what they're doing. You need to find the gaps. You need to find the openings. It's all about timings.
Of course, tier one teams operate in completely different way to how tier two teams operate. So, especially when you're playing more tier one land events and everything like that, the game is played completely different.
So, of course, we're going to try our best to teach him and show him the ways at tier one, and of course, with practice and time, that's all been helping. I think that's one thing that he's starting to grasp and to understand that he needs to do better at and we're obviously the experienced players.
So, we're going to show him and try our best to tell him the right way of doing things and somewhat keeping his own play style.

I know he's not super happy about it and he's doing everything that he can to make sure that he's performing for the team. But, at the same time, if he didn't have any value to us I don't think he would be here, or I don't think the players the organisation would want him here, but there is a lot of great qualities about him that he brings to the team.
I think he's really smart and he brings a lot to Twistzz about ways of how we should play and all that. And yeah, I don't know. I think he's talented. He’s smart. he brings a lot of qualities to our team and I think at times maybe it's a little hard because we created a whole new team so the system is somewhat different and the chemistry is not there and all that stuff.