k0nfig: "Tried to get Pimp"

Dignitas opened the tournament well, defeating one of the strongest sides in the world SK 16-7 on Overpass.

Following the match, Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke told us that they were looking to pick up Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche before Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså, that their preparation with Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due didn't go well and what the best part of the Sixers deal was.

Coming into this event, you’ve been pretty busy, ELEAGUE was pretty disappointing and then magiskb0Y decided that he won’t be going. What were the feeling coming into this event, were you thinking about skipping it and having some time off?

Our feelings about the whole tournament were kinda off because we thought that we didn’t qualify, it was down to the last remaining match. We haven’t prepared so much for this tournament, we have a stand-in so we are going to play the best we can.

Talking about the stand-in, how did the process of getting valde in go? Was he the only player you had in mind?

We tried to get Pimp but the player union in ECS said no because he already played for Liquid. So we talked to Heroic about valde, talked to their owners and the players and they said: OK he can go, it’s a short tournament, he will come back quick - and they don’t have anything to play.

You’ve been bootcamping before this event, how did that go? 

In our bootcamp we played with ruggah instead of valde for the first three days, and he is really shit so it went like shit. We lost to CLG and to some Canadian unknowns… so our motivation was dead, but when we got valde, for the last two-three days, our practice results were actually good. We won against FaZe on several maps that we shouldn’t win, Nuke, everything… So with valde it’s definitely an upgrade. 

Your match against SK ended up on Overpass, a map that is defined by magiskb0Y, his aggressive plays and things like that. What were your thoughts going in, did you appropriate valde in his roles?

On the CT side we said to him: “do what ever you want, just feel comfortable”. If he doesn’t feel comfortable about what he is doing he wont win any duels or anything. We just told him, you don’t need to play exactly like (magiskb0Y), just do your best.

In the match, the first half was going pretty good for you, what do you think was their problem, why couldn’t they get any rounds on the CT side?

I think the problem is that we got too many easy peeks, for example fer was top mid and we kill him and get and entry. We did some picnic standard and they weren’t picnic at all… I think we messed with their heads, because they were not expecting us where we came. They got kind of faked even though we were in a standard.

In the second half they started coming back a little, how did you feel on the CT side, were there any shaky parts?

I think that we made a stupid mistake in the first gun round, we did a setup on A that was defensive so they got all the map control on A, so we didn’t know if they wanted to fake A and go B or fake B and go A. I think the choice we made was not stupid, but it wasn’t the best one. Still, I didn’t feel like they were going to win the game at any time.

A general question, since being acquired by the Sixers, has anything changed in the way you prepare? There has been some talk about them having some additional stuff for you to use?

We have mental coaches, we have diet coaches, nutritionists, we have all kind of coaches but we haven’t really used them yet, we only talked to a few. I think that the Sixers only helped us mentally and I think it’s a very good thing for dignitas to get in with Sixers so we could get a little bit higher salaries.

After having a good first map, what are your expectations for the rest of the tournament? 

Since we won against the best team in the world in the moment, I think that our confidence is getting a lot bigger so I think we can make more stupid plays and win the rounds, even if we are 3v5, 2v5… So I think that this was a good start.

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