HObbit: "We prepared for everyone"

In the first round of the Swiss format, Gambit played North on Cobblestone and came out on top after a comfortable 16-8 affair.

After the match we grabbed Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov for an interview to see what his thoughts were on North leaving Cobblestone in the veto and find out how the CIS-based team prepared for the Major:

Let's talk about your first match here against North - obviously, Cobblestone was by far your most successful map in the last few months, were you surprised the Danes kept it in?

Yes, Cobble is our best map right now. The first match was very hard, North player very well, but we watched a lot of demos and we knew how they were playing. Zeus did nice calls.

I'd like to get an idea on how much each team played, what their preparation looked like. When did you start practising for the Major and how many hours each day?

I actually got my visa four days ago, and we didn't know if we'd be here or not, but we practised as much as we could. We prepared a lot, eight to ten hours per day, and when we didn't play we at least talked about our game. We had a little vacation around the New Year, but we started preparing for the Major right after DreamHack.

How did you approach the practice considering you can't know who you're going to play. Did you prepare for any specific teams apart from North?

We just want to beat everyone, that's why we prepared for everyone.

Did Zeus actually prepare for every single team?

Yes. He has a lot of experience.

It seems like you played more than most of the teams here, what are your goals for the Major?

Of course we want to win. Our minimal goal is to go to playoffs.

Who do you see as your biggest threats?

Everyone. Every team right now is very strong, the last champions were often different, so...

We're hoping to grab another interview with the winner of the next match between G2 and fnatic, so stay tuned to HLTV.org.