Lekr0: "Swapped almost everything"

GODSENT had a shaky start to the PGL EU Minor, losing to LDLC on Overpass in overtime.

With their backs against the wall, the Swedish team eliminated both ALTERNATE aTTaX and LDLC in best-of-three decider matches to go on to the playoffs - where they will face Epsilon.

To hear his thoughts on the team and the tournament so far, we talked to one of GODSENT's standout performers - Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson.

You just made the swap from fnatic back to GODSENT - we saw similar cases in the past but we have never seen someone losing a Major spot over that. You and KRiMZ were the two pieces moving around - how did it feel to be in that situation and how did it all go down?

It was really messy. How it went down is - first I was in GODSENT and then they said that they are going to have these guys (flusha, JW, KRiMZ) join up and like - sorry, we have to replace you. And I was like - OK, I understand, I know they are really good players and it was really good for both teams. But then again when I swapped back it felt really weird, because going to one team and then going back is not something we see every day. I think I’m pretty satisfied with the move anyway. I think fnatic is going to get really really good and I think after a while we will get even better. We’ve only bootcamped for 3-4 days and these were some of our best maps so we still need a lot of practice.

You obviously were not in the team when KRiMZ was, but from your outside perspective, what was the problem with GODSENT, why were they not clicking?

It’s hard to say. I think KRiMZ wasn’t satisfied, he didn’t feel really good in GODSENT so his skill dropped a bit - but everyone knows he is really skilled, one of the best players in the world and I think he will become that in fnatic again. I think he couldn’t really fit in GODSENT and the change will feel good for him and the GODSENT players. He will make fnatic better again and hopefully I can do something with GODSENT to make us better again.

Coming back to the swap that changed the Major slot and resuled in your team ending up here. Some people thought that GODSENT, maybe not you in particular but other players in the team, had a feeling that they were too good for this tournament. Did you have this feeling in the team?

I think somewhere inside most of the players that played Majors feel like that, and I understand them. To me, I haven’t been to a Major, I haven’t been even close yet, so I’m not coming into this tournament underestimating opponents because I know they are really good. I just hope we can be better than them and make it to the Major.

You have been playing pretty well at the tournament so far, so how do you fit in the team now when replacing KRiMZ? Did you just take his spots or did you get some new roles and some new spots on the map?

I think we swapped almost everything and we swap positions still, even during game time. We haven’t even got the chance to practice on some maps so we don’t even have all the set positions and we don’t feel comfortable on some maps. It’s a lot different to what it’s been before, it’s not like I’ve just taken his positions and his roles. But me and KRiMZ are similar because we hold a lot of sites by ourselves. Except for that, it’s kinda different. 

Talking about today, you started on Overpass against LDLC and on the first half you had only five rounds on the T side. What went wrong on the Terrorist half?

I’d say almost everything went wrong. We didn’t do anything together, when we did an execution we weren’t timed with each other, we went one by one. Sometimes we got the trades or someone went really big and won the round so they were eco, and we won by ke that. Except for that, we didn’t play together and we didn’t play good Counter-Strike and we knew it. So we were upset about it, in-game and after.

So what changed going into the ALTERNATE aTTaX match? Weaker opposition, better maps for you or something else?

I think that everyone was angry at the game before and we talked about it together and we were like: we can’t play like this, this is not how we should play. Still, we have been struggling a bit, even in practice, some maps and roles we still need to explore. I think in the ALTERNATE game we had a lot of confidence, we did things together and the communication was really good.

Then you had the rematch against LDLC. The first map seemed pretty straightforward for you, and on Dust2 you were close from 11-11 until it was 16-14 for you in the end. How did you close the match out?

I think it was a bit of a throw by them actually - we both had chances to close it out but I feel they had the bigger chances. We took advantage of their mistake and made them pay for it. Similar to what happened on Overpass when they did the teamkill.

Lastly, there has been a lot of talks on the social media about the whole Major/Minor qualification cycle. What are your thoughts on the invites for the Minors and the fact that after the invite for fnatic happened a player switch resulted in GODSENT taking their place? Do you think that is something that should be regulated in some way in the future?

It’s really hard to answer - I think there should be invites, even though if they could have no invites it would be better. But when I was playing in fnatic we had so many events coming up that we had no time to play the qualifiers online. So we probably had no other chance than to get invited, HellRaisers as well.

Regarding the Major spot, I think it’s a bit messy. I actually watched Thorin’s video today or yesterday regarding the Major spot thing and he said something like if you leave a team you should be replaced on the roster so you can’t go back again. I think that’s a good solution to the problem. I don’t think you should be able to swap back and forth because the companies and organisations have problems, keeping the players and such.

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.