Zeus: "fnatic have a better shot vs nV"

After having issues with closing out de_overpass against Titan, Natus Vincere fell to the other French team, EnVyUs, in a fairly close series in the quarter-finals.

We talked to Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko about Na`Vi's problems at ESL One Cologne, as well as ESL's special treatment for the players:

Starting off with the group stage, you had Titan in the initial round and it ended up getting to overtime. They're a new team with no history behind them, is that why you had a hard time closing the match?

We had many hours on Overpass T side, but we couldn't find a key for their defence. It's not about them being a new team, we played very bad in all maps at this tournament and we couldn't understand how they play. We just played very bad at the entire tournament.

You're known to prepare a lot for specific match-ups, can you talk us through the routine that you went through before the matches?

It's more difficult to prepare for any opponent when you don't know the maps that you will play against an opponent. It was very hard to prepare.

Being someone who has travelled to many tournaments over the last six years, how did you like the special treatment from ESL overall?

This is a really nice championship, everything's beautiful and I just remember the voice that introduced all teams. It was great to see so many people here at the stadium. ESL have the most professional tournaments. What we see as a mistake is playing with the in-ear headphones, it's impossible, so it's a big problem. Many players said the same thing, for example Fifflaren, that it would be a big problem for players, but they didn't listen. We played the first map with uncomfortable headsets, we didn't like it. But all in all it was very nice.

Lastly, what are your predictions for both potential finals - EnVyUs against fnatic and EnVyUs against Virtus.pro?

The first map was won by Virtus.pro, but fnatic are still the favourites of the match. But Virtus.pro showed us that they had good preparation before this tournament. Still, I think Virtus.pro have less chances to beat EnVyUs, fnatic definitely have a better chance.

We are hoping to get a few more interviews, both with teams that are still in the tournament at the moment, as well as teams that exited earlier.