chrisJ: "More confident in what I need to do"

Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk and Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool led the way for MOUZ as they defeated LDLC on Nuke. After the match, Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong was quick to lavish praise on his men and coach Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov.

chrisJ says that everyone on the team is improving

What are your thoughts on the match versus LDLC? They didn't seem to present much of a challenge for you on Nuke.

I would say we went into the match really confident. We recently lost to them in EPL online, but you have to keep in mind we were playing with Sergey "lmbt" Bezhanov that match, which obviously affected our performance a lot. You can see what Robin "ropz" Kool did this game, tons of entry frags, obviously much more impact than a coach. So we didn't think about the online result too much. We are frustrated about it because it screwed our EPL [Finals] chances, but we were definitely confident against LDLC. I would say everything went according to plan — maybe we got lucky in the sense that we won more clutches than usual, but we knew what they were doing most of the time and how to play against it.

As you said you are sort of on the fringe of the EPL Finals discussion, how do you like your chances of sneaking in?

Because we lost 0-2 to LDLC, it seems like we don't have a serious chance anymore. Before the LDLC match, lmbt did the math, and it looked like we would have to win six matches. Even then we would have to rely on Astralis and NiP losing. Now that we lost, we have to rely on them to lose even more! We aren't counting on it anymore, but maybe we'll get lucky. We also qualified to [ROG MASTERS] in Kuala Lumpur, which is the same dates as EPL Finals.

ROG MASTERS EMEA was played at the TaKeTV Studios, do you enjoy the feel of more laid-back tournaments like that?

The feel is pretty good, but the thing with TaKeTV tournaments is that the area where you play is a bit too small. Other things like the PCs and monitors are not as good as they are here [at DreamHack], for example. So there are some negatives to it, but the atmosphere is the thing I really like. The issue with the space is most important, it has been like that forever there, I remember playing with Fatih "gob b" Dayik there, and he had to play with the keyboard in his lap. Martin "STYKO" Styk had to do that last week. It obviously affects the performance of players.

A few months back you said that Tomáš "oskar" Šťastný was clearly the best player on the team. Do you still believe that to be true, or have other players stepped up?

I think he is still the best, obviously the rest of the team is also playing well. When you look at our win in Mykonos, oskar was really good there, along with Miikka "suNny" Kemppi. It maybe isn't as clear-cut as it was when we had Nikola "NiKo" Kovač in the team, but without a doubt Tommy is the most skilled and experience player in the team. We rely on him having good games, and he has them often.

You're a relatively new in-game leader. How is adapting to the role going?

I'm starting to get comfortable in the role. I've said it before, I get helped a lot by lmbt, who helps create a lot of our game plans. He still calls many of our online matches, because he prepares more for opponents. He watches more demos than me, so he often knows what they are able to do. He is a more experience in-game leader as well, so I just can't catch up with that in a few months. I think I am making progress, I hope to be in good shape for the next Major Qualifier.

I feel like I am also starting to fit more in the roles I have on the map. I feel like it is going better with the rifle, I am more confident in what I need to do because I have played it more often now than when I first switched from the AWP. I'm feeling good in the team, everyone is making steps forward, myself included.

You're the only Dutchman playing this level of Counter-Strike, do you feel any pressure because of that?

I'm not really a nationalistic kind of guy, I don't care much about my nation's pride, I don't feel pride when other Dutch people achieve stuff, because they just happen to be born in the same country as me, I don't know them at all! So I don't feel pressure like "Oh, I have to play good for the Netherlands" — I just play good because I want my team to win. Or at least I try to play good *laughs*.

It is cool to see the Dutch fans supporting me, of course, and I would like to see more Dutch people do well, it would be fun to have people at tournaments to speak with in Dutch. It is hard though, the scene in the Netherlands isn't so good. It doesn't really allow you to step up to the professional scene right now.

Do you have any thoughts on Petra "Petra" Stoker, who has been making a name for herself in the female scene?

I've said before she is the best Dutch player *laughs* she is doing great. She is on the best female team now, so props to her. It is hard for a female Dutch player to stand out in the international scene as well, she is making steps forward for sure.