sycrone: "We're more ready to tackle what is coming than we were last year"

I feel like we have a better starting point than we did last season. Last season we had just lost what was arguably our best player, and we spent the whole of last year getting some very valuable experience for our young roster. I feel as if we're more ready to tackle what is coming than at the start of last season.

It wasn't guaranteed it was going to happen during the Major, it was still something that was going on in the background. But now and going into our bootcamp, it's a huge boost. Everyone on the team and in the organisation enjoys working with Jimpphat.
I think that it also changes the narrative a little bit, in that every time there are other teams poaching talent, MOUZ are the first to sell. This is also a sign that we can keep the talent we have.

Internally it's something we talk about. MOUZ are investing more than they have previously, they just built the new facilities in Hamburg which are top of the line. Also, being able to keep someone like Jimpphat on a competitive contract is a big tell.
I know that we also want to compete against the other top teams and be part of that mix, but it will come in time. It's not just about changing the narrative, it's about doing it and deserving the spot.
It will come, but if you're asking whether it's important, I think it can be a good thing in terms of the perception other teams have of us.

We would like to be in that mix, definitely. I also think it helps a lot if you are a player on our team and you're looking at what else is out there, that your own perception of MOUZ is that we have a great team here.
Also, if at any point we have to attract talent, that they also consider us to be part of the mix and that MOUZ is where they would want to be.

I think there are a couple of things that speak for that, but also a couple of things that speak against it.
Some of the biggest strengths is that we have a good starting point, even though they took away Vertigo which was a part of our map pool. We're in a decent spot with all of our maps, we have a good idea of how the team wants to play and how our roles play out on the server, which is a benefit compared to other teams who still have to figure out these things. It's not just getting positions down, it's understanding how you want to play.
At the same time, something that is important for a team that has stuck together is to try and keep things fresh and coming in with new ideas, new approaches.

I think it's fair to say that we struggle, but to take an objective stance, we have quite a young team and not really any on the server experience in terms of how to handle those kinds of matches.
I think the experience part is a big part of why it was a hurdle for us at times, but I think it's also something that we learned a lot from. We were also working on it whenever we went out of playoffs or felt like we didn't show up as a full team or as individuals.
If you look at the season as a whole, there were times where we showed signs of improvement, and especially towards the end of the season I think you could still argue it, but you could also see that we had taken steps forward.
This season, it shouldn't be an excuse for us anymore.

One of the big goals we set for last year was to also win in an arena setting, which we're yet to achieve. But I believe that once you do it the first time, it becomes much easier to do a second time. We still have to make that happen.
I will never take it for granted that we won those events, even though it's in a studio environment, it's not like we didn't put in a lot of effort to succeed in those times, or even get out of groups at most tournaments we attended.

The environment obviously changes, but the meta also changes a little bit on stage. The sound is different, you can run more and use the bass of the stage to locate where enemy people are.
Just when things get more chaotic, I think we get a little more stressed than other teams, but that's the moment where you realise "This really matters to me, I really want to do good here," and that's probably why you feel the pressure.

I don't think any team found a way of playing consistently on Vertigo. We're one of the few top teams that put time into it, not that it helped us at a lot of tournaments. I found it to be a difficult map to be consistent on and to enjoy. It had run it's course.
Now with Train, just like any other team, we're at the same starting point. In that sense, it hasn't really weakened us, also because other teams made roster changes and they have to figure out how they want to play on all of the other maps, too.
So, I wouldn't say it's weakened us, but for the time being we're only really playing five maps in the pool and that's something we have to work out.

I've played it quite a bit with my friends and spent some time theorycrafting on it. They recently made a change to push the T spawns a little bit back, which makes it more similar to the CS:GO version, which is good because the Ts have to battle for early control of Outside and Pop.
It plays quite differently to the old version, the fight around B and Pop is much different because you control both areas if you push it aggressively, which I find interesting. I feel like Outside is still missing something because it's so open.
When I was growing up and playing Train, I had the feeling that you could get lost Outside or be hidden behind different trains and a whole number of things could happen from a number of angles. It was much more demanding and chaotic back then, which I liked because it was chaotic and challenging. It offered more ways on how to play the map, which I think is missing right now.
But, overall, I enjoy that there's something new that we can play around with a little bit and see if it's something for us.

I'm excited to see the new rosters and how they've come together. Falcons is a good example, and Liquid are also exciting with NertZ.
It's also fun and exciting to see that the top teams get to play the lower-seeded teams, which they don't normally do, and in an online format at the start of the season. It creates an interesting formula for whoever is watching, whereby if some of the top teams are rusty or showed weakness towards the end of last season, just to have that matchup instantly exposed is exciting and there could be some upsets.

I feel like that team has made upgrades in my opinion. Also, for Ax1Le and Boombl4, they're two players that maybe didn't have success in the last year, so when talented players like that get a fresh start and a different perspective, they really get to shine again. We're in for a good game.