Interview with kassad and pita

Wolf were fighting an uphill battle with only a week of bootcamp with Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović, and lost 7-16 on de_dust2 after winning both pistols. We've caught both of the teams' advisors to tell us what kind of role they have within the team and about the match itself.

You have just come off of a fairly one-sided win against Wolf, did you think they put up a solid fight compared to what you expected? 

Faruk "⁠pita⁠" Pita: "They played really good actually, because looking from how they executed the rounds, it was more or less personal skill, so due to that they got both pistol rounds and two anti-ecos, so they stacked up four rounds against us. And that was pretty important, I have to give them credit."

We've just recently learned that you joined the team as a strategy advisor, how much time have you had with the team? What's your part in the team? Do you have a big say in the strategy, can you actually call in the middle of a round?

Faruk "⁠pita⁠" Pita: "Actually I can't call anything in the middle of the round in the group stage because I don't have any voice communication with the team. If we proceed from the group stage, we will be on stage, so then I can talk to the team directly, because then I will have voice communication. My role is to help Xizt as much as possible, I also suggest some rounds, what we need to do.

Unfortunately they asked me when I was on vaction in Sarajevo, Bosnia, so I didn't have that much time that I thought we needed, but I had some pracc nights when I sat down and listened to them. I know how every player in the team plays and how the tactics go, so hopefully we can do something."

pita: "Actually I can't call anything in the middle of the round in the group stage because I don't have any voice communication with the team. If we proceed from the group stage, we will be on stage, so then I can talk to the team directly, cos then I will have voice communication. My role is to help Xizt as much as possible, I also suggest some rounds, what we need to do.

Unfortunately they asked me when I was on vaction in Sarajevo, Bosnia, so I didn't have that much time that I thought we needed, but I had some pracc nights when I sat down and listened to them. I know how every player in the team plays and how the tactics go, so hopefully we can do something."

Your team has just finished the match against NiP, how do you think they played?

Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović: "I'm satisfied, but I'm also not satisfied at the same time, becuase they played very brave and had so many close rounds that can go either way, just the lack of experience and lack of proper practice, like European practice, it just got to them in this match. Overall I'm happy because they showed a good fight, some good spirit and they were brave on the map."

You had some time with the team, do you think you got ready enough for the tournament? 

Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović: "Absolutely not, because I need like 3-4 months to get ready for the tournament to this magnitude, it's the biggest tournament in CS:GO, so you need lots of practice, not just seven days."

Now we don't know yet who your team is going to face next, because the Epsilon-HellRaisers match is not yet finished, but who do you think your team would rather face? 

Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović: "I would rather face HellRaisers, because I know them, I know how they play. They kinda had a problem when they played us, the underdog team, they like to underestimate teams. Maybe subconsciously, but they like to do it and you can exploit that in some situations. I'm not saying it's gonna be like this today but it possibly can be."

What do you actually do in the team? Do you have a say in what happens in between the rounds?

Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović: "I do basically anything that is necessary. When it's needed I call the shots in the middle of the game, but I also let them do it by themselves, because they're in the game, they get a better feeling over there. But from time to time I step in and call the shots and just point them in the right direction during the rounds, about the counter setups or something like that."

HLTV.org will be conducting more of short interviews like these, so keep your tab open to keep up with the coverage.