ISSAA: "I had challenges in front of me and I faced every one of them"

HellRaisers have stayed alive at the tournament in Kiev, Ukraine, reaching a 2-2 score in the Swiss group stage after starting off the tournament with two losses. In the first two matches, HellRaisers were using Kevin "⁠HS⁠" Tarn in a stand-in, with Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad only arriving at the tournament on day three due to visa issues.

ISSAA said that he worked hard to adapt to the team game

In our interview with ISSAA, we learned about the Jordanian player's history, his development from an FPL star into a team player and how he felt having to watch the start of the tournament from the sidelines.

As we know, you are the only player from Jordan or the whole region that broke out and made it to a top team. How has that been like and why are you the only guy that made it?

It's a really good feeling to know that you are the only one from that region. I have a special, unique feeling because when you know that you are representing the Middle East, all of it, you keep trying to give more and more, you try to give your best so people can, by seeing me, know that this region has really good people. I'm really glad that I'm performing well, and I would say that there really a lot of talent in the Middle East, but they didn't have a chance yet. I'm sure that in the future we will see more of them. Overall, it's a really good feeling, I'm happy to represent the Middle East and I hope they are proud of me.

For the people that don't know you, what has your path been like? You got into FPL, but what did you do before that, how did that go?

It was really hard, you can't imagine how hard it was. Especially because my family was against it, since in the Middle East they don't know anything about gaming, so when your family sees you gaming, they say "What is your future? You are doing nothing with your life." So I had challenges in front of me and I faced every one of them, especially my family. At the start they were not with me at all, but I have proved them wrong and I'm happy that I did that, and now, they are watching every game that I play.

So I started from some Middle Eastern teams, I grinded there and then some people from Middle Eastern teams motivated me and told me "Bro, you are talented, you have to look forward more and more". One of them was called Foolz (Mohammad "⁠Foolz⁠" Subhi Tawfiq Abdel-Rahman), he is like a brother to me, he always cheers for me and wishes me good luck.

After that, I qualified for FPL and in FPL I really played well and a lot of pros were recommending me to good teams. Like JW, NBK, they helped me a lot, also they were helping me with individual insight in FPL and I always took their advice. It helped me a lot individually and after maybe 5-6 months playing in FPL I made a team with woxic called gux and friends. We started our career there actually, we played some ESEA Premier matches and we played pretty well, me and him were always carrying together.

Then HellRaisers contacted woxic and told him that they wanted to trial the two of us. We started the trial process and they signed woxic, but not me. They wanted to give me more time because I struggled at the start of HellRaisers. Before, I was always a star player, wherever I played: in FPL I can do whatever I want, when I was playing in Middle Eastern teams I was doing whatever I wanted. I have that feeling that I need to do everything, like a star player.

So when I joined HellRaisers they didn't give me that role, it's because they are structured, so when you are in a team that is structured like HellRaisers you have to have your own role and you have to get used to it. So at the start, I was really lost, I didn't know what I had to do, all of my positions on CT and T - I didn't play in any of them before.

After one or two months of geting used to it I finally started adapting, and back then I was watching demos every day, even though I was sucking in the games at the start, I still gave all I can. I started to watch more demos, tried to play more deathmatch, tried to do whatever. In the end, I'm happy that they signed me and that they trusted me. Now, I'm still trying to adapt to my role, I'm happy that I'm doing well and I hope it will stay like that.

Tell me about the development process, how much did your teammates and your coach help you and guide you in what you needed to do?

To be honest, Johnta, the coach, and ANGE1, are great people. I'm gaining experience from them every day since I joined the team. ANGE1 is a very smart leader and a fragger in the same time. And a lot of times, in a lot of situations, after I do something I ask ANGE1: "Is what I did right or wrong? What can I do better?". You know, he is an experienced guy, he has been on the scene for more than 10 years. So I'm glad I'm playing on a team with ANGE1 and I'm proud of it actually.

With Johnta, he helped me a lot with my individual play, because I was more of a solo player than a team player.  Because you know, I'm from FPL! (laughs) And he is fixing that, so I can become a bit more teamwork than solo oriented. He helped me a lot, he is still trying to provide me with insight, as much as he can, every day, about what I can do and what I can be better at. So he is working with me a lot on my individual game and my communication skills. And I'm really happy that I have these two guys on my team, I'm proud of them and it's an honor for me to be on a team with them.

How did you feel about not being able to play with HellRaisers for the first two days, seeing them lose their games?

I watched the HellRaisers game, the first game, and I was very sad and depressed because of how they lost. When I watched them, they were pretty much lost, they couldn't do any of their tactics, and I am a member of the team so I know their tactics and I didn't see them do any, they couldn't do anything.

I really wanted to thank HS for what he did, because without him, HellRaisers couldn't play the tournament at all. And he actually did pretty well, considering HellRaisers asked him to join one day before the tournament, so it was hard for him to adapt. And yeah, I was pretty sad and depressed with how they played so I stopped watching all of their games, but then I got my visa and I came to Ukraine. I'm happy that we started to come back and I feel the best feeling in the world. You can see that this team can still compete even though it is 0-2. They don't think negative, they think about the future and that is what we are trying to do.

I wanted to ask about the Gambit game, just coming into it, what were your thoughts about facing them? Was there some extra rivalry?

I'm going to be really honest here, I'm very happy that we got Gambit because I know they are a strong team and I want to face a strong team. I don't want to make the comeback without facing any of the strongest teams, I would hate to qualify for the playoffs without facing a good, strong team. I would feel that I don't deserve it.

So when I faced them, I was very happy that I was going to face the Major winners and a strong team, I had to prove that I don't care about any team that we face. It was a pretty good game, I was happy, and when we went into the game we were pretty confident. We discussed that we should not think about anything else than winning. We did pretty well, I'm happy that we won the first map, the second map we should've won but we threw a bit, however, we managed to bounce back in the third map - thanks god.

Throughout the whole match, the whole BO3, you were pretty hyped up, you and woxic the most, getting pretty loud. Is that your style, getting hyped up, and does it help you in the game?

For sure, to be honest, when you give your teammates a lot of hype they start to play more confident and they trust their team more, you know? And that is very good because when I watched them without me, they were pretty much quiet, none of them were talking. I'm the guy on the team that likes to scream a lot, who likes to make a good mood in the team. I'm happy that I'm doing it, I'm trying to do my best so we could have the best results. If you don't have a good mood in the game you won't perform good.

Look, for example, five players are sad and calm - there won't be a good performance. But if the mood in the team is good, you will have a really good performance. So yeah, what you do outside of the game reflects inside the game, let's say.

Moving on, you are now 2-2, the next match determines if you are going to the playoffs. How is the feeling for you now, moving forward in the tournament?

I look like it as now we are in the grand final, like we have passed the quarter and semi-final. So now I look at it as the final, either you win the tournament or you lose. That's my way of thinking, for now, I have to think about it that way so we can manage to at least get out of the groups.

It would be a very good feeling to go to the playoffs although we had a 0-2 score. It would feel like one of the best feelings in the world and I didn't experience that before. I'm looking forward to experiencing it, I'll give all that I can, me and my team, and I hope we can qualify, it would be a big achievement for us.