jkaem: "We're finding a good balance of [loose play and structure]"

Dignitas started the Main Qualifier with two narrow losses, 14-16 to GODSENT on Overpass and 13-16 to Immortals on Cache following a 2-13 Terrorist side debacle. Day three saw the Norwegian-Danish-Portuguese lineup draw Tengri and get their first win on the board with relative ease. 

jkaem has heard rumors about the Famas receiving changes ahead of the Major

We got a hold of Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad after the opening match of today and asked him about Dignitas' issues on the first two days, the UMP-45 versus Famas dilemma, and what it will take for his team to go 3-2 and qualify for the Major:

Starting with the past 10 days or so that you had in between the Minor and the Main Qualifier, what were things you worked on the most in that time?

In the past week, we figured out four to five maps that we would play, because it's best-of-one and you can always have three vetoes, so you can always end up on one of four maps. The focus was only getting stronger on those four maps and not to care about the three others in practice.

Being such a new team, does this format help you in that sense, not being pressured to have a wide map pool?

Absolutely, because then you don't need to focus on three maps, but then we never have an advantage in the veto, we're always behind. But it's fine as long as we feel comfortable on the four others.

You had two really close games to start it off but didn't manage to close them out, 14-16 against GODSENT and 13-16 against Immortals, what were the issues on the first couple of days and what did you have to fix for today?

I think we should have won the first match against GODSENT, there were a few mistakes, people were a bit nervous, there's much on the line. We lost the first game because of a few bad comms, stress situations, and it's new to people to play these important matches. Versus Immortals, I don't know what happened on T side. Usually, in practice, we've been pretty good on the T side. We were pretty comfortable to start on the T side as well, we knew we had a lockdown on CT, because Cache is one of our strongest maps.

But then we were down 2-13, then you think the game is over, right, and then you start to play loose, you don't really care. And, all of a sudden, you're locking the CT side down, it's getting closer and closer. Let's say we got a few more rounds as T - and we should have, like in the pistol, we got the A site for free and then we were in a stress situation again, we agreed to plant for A main, but we had to plant on default because Immortals pushed the site. There were a few mistakes at the start of the game that made people a bit tilted, but with just a few more T rounds, I think we could've beat Immortals.

Talking about these pressure situations, is that an ongoing problem for a team like you with some players that aren't necessarily used to speaking English?

Yeah, I think so. You know, there is no crowd here or nothing like that, but there's a lot on the line, it's a Major spot, so of course it's going to be stressful for cromen, a guy who has no experience. But he's so talented that you have to give him a chance, you have to understand that mistakes can happen, and it's most likely to happen to people that don't have the experience. I'm not gonna blame him for it, of course, it's fine.

For today, out of the three teams you could have faced (Renegades, OpTic, Tengri), I imagine you were happy about drawing the least experienced team in Tengri...

We felt like we could beat anyone, of course, we're not scared of any one of them, but yeah, Tengri was a better draw than Renegades and OpTic.

I noticed that during the second round of your CT side, after you won the pistol, you bought four Famases as opposed to the UMP, which is still used quite a bit even though it is less prominent than before. What are your thoughts on the UMP, is the change that noticable, is it not as viable as before?

I bought the UMP a lot before [the update], but now, I never buy it anymore. I feel like it's so bad in long range, and I'm holding mid on Mirage, where the Famas is much better on long range. I've heard a lot of rumors saying that the Famas is going to be better for the Major, I don't know if it's true or not, but I'm practising the Famas.

Was this not a conscious team decision, then? Was it just the players deciding not to play with the UMP individually?

I think everyone in our team swapped to the Famas, actually, and it's just personal reasons, it's not like we had a team decision on it.

As the Swiss format works, you're progressively going to meet harder and harder teams, at least on paper, what is it going to take for you to come back from this and go 3-2 to qualify for the Major?

It's a long way, absolutely. You need to be a bit lucky with the draw as well, I don't see any weak teams, but I'm glad we can't face Immortals anymore, because they're a pretty strong team. I don't have any teams that I'd prefer to meet, we just need to be ready for everyone. Hopefully, G2 and mousesports qualify for today so that they're out of the picture, because I think they're the two best teams here. But otherwise, we just need to focus, be there when the game starts and hit our shots, and then I think we can qualify.

How has RUBINO progressed in his new role, him being a new leader?

Yeah, it's a new role for him, he has never led before. I know that he wanted to before. Of course, we have different playstyles - me and fox, we want to play very loose, and then TENZKI and Ruben wanted a bit more structure, and then cromen is in the middle. We need to find a way and I think we are finding it, of course it takes time with a new team, but we're finding a good balance of it I think.