nitr0 on NRG's changes: "We just needed a change to the scenery"

Not really, we're not really happy with it just because we didn't win it and that was the expectation. At least to come in the final.
But, we didn't really have much practice going into it, we had like two or three days of actual team practice, because we didn't really know what was going on with the team until the very end of the player break.
There's just so much to cover with six maps and having a new player who hasn't played in a while, so we understood going into it that it would be very difficult and more of an individual tournament, so to speak.
However, when we got knocked out BLUEJAYS, the result was disappointing. We should be beating them any day of the week even if we made roster changes or not. That was the part that hurt the most.

It's just always an event that has a lot of teams that don't go to big tournaments, and with how our last season went I felt like we could win it as long as we all played well.
We knew that it would be difficult going in, so to say we were 100% going to win it would be crazy, but we at least expected to get to the final and put up a good fight.
Losing to BLUEJAYS was the part that stung, especially because it was so early. We should've beaten them at least.

It was actually both. We didn't know who we could get for a while because of organisation things, we had an idea but it was 100% set.
A lot of the decisions weren't in our hands, so it came down to the last second. I can't say who we were going to get and change, but it was last second that it was all happening, and ultimately we had Frag coming up and it cut into us even coming back to practice with people still making decisions.
That's pretty much why we had no practice going into Frag, and it's just impossible all the basics on all the maps in that time, even if we had worked for 24 hours a day. It was very difficult, but it's been nice to get practice now.

It's not anything against oSee, he's a great player and one of my favourite teammates, but we just needed a change in scenery.
Even back in Liquid in 2020 when I left, it was the same. I felt like we weren't going upwards, we were either stagnating or, seeing as we were the best team back then, declining. So I just felt like it was the right choice to leave back then, and this time, unfortunately, it was oSee.

Obviously yes, it's a concern, they have to prove themselves whereas others players we've had have already gone through that experience and that's something you can only go through by actually being there and playing at tier one events.
I can't say they're going to 100% be how they are online or at smaller LANs, so it's just one of those things where we have to wait and see and try to help them as best as we possibly can with all of the experience we have.

I didn't actually know XotiC personally, from my end. Jeorge knew him and he vouched for him really hard, he said he thinks he's one of the best players. We spoke to him and he's a really chill dude, it's just a lot of personal stuff on his end that I can't go into.
The reputation, I understand it, but at the end of the day he's a human and he has problems. Everyone has problems, so it's just a matter of timing for him.
He had another job that he was already pursuing and had built up, so it was definitely a difficult decision for him, but he made that decision and he's been really good for us so far.

I'm feeling alright. There's definitely so much to work on, replacing two people is really hard because you have to start from the beginning and go over every little detail. It's a lot of work, but you understand that whenever you do make two changes.
When you make one change it's not as hard because you just work with that player and you can slot him in, especially if it's a player where you're replacing the same role, like how M80 are doing with reck and HexT. It's a lot easier for them to do that and be better in the short term.
For us, we're making spot changes, an AWP change so he needs to learn what we want from him, and there's a lot of conversations that need to happen for that and a lot of repetition. It's been a lot, and it's going to continue to be a lot for a while.

It's so much better than practice. Everyone is laser focused in officials, whereas in scrims you might get a little lazy.
We also have a mini bootcamp coming up because of BLAST Bounty, so we'll be flying out a little earlier, and then fly back a little earlier because of an ECL Cup whenever we get back. It's a busy schedule, but that flying overseas and getting together with the guys will be a good experience.

Not really because we don't know who we're going to play yet. We know it will be a really difficult team because we're such a low seed, which we understand.
It's just mainly about getting good practice and then trying our best in the match. If we lose, we don't lose too many VRS points, and if we win we'll gain a lot of points. We have a gameplan going into it, so it should be pretty good I think.