Xyp9x: "The secret on Nuke is our CT side"

We talked to Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth after his Astralis swept MOUZ out of contention at ELEAGUE Premier, where the Danes have now clenched a spot in the grand final which will be played tomorrow.

Astralis, who have proven over and over again throughout the season that they are always the top contenders at any tournament they play, have made it to the final of the million dollar tournament after defeating MOUZ 2-0.

During the interview Xyp9x touched upon various topics such as their four-day pause between the group stage and playoffs, the match against MOUZ, looking at the grand final, and the downsides of having a Major so close after the player break.

You had a whole four days to prepare which is kind of crazy. What did you actually do or what did you spend most of your time on during these days?

The first day was a day off, chilling and having fun, but the next days we practiced a bit. We didn't over practice, because I don't think you should over practice at tournaments, but also playing individually is key to keep up your shape. Playing FPL or whatever. Then just having fun, going out to eat, getting the team chemistry on point. So we spent most of our time preparing. The last two days, when we knew we were going to face mousesports, we anti-stratted them as well.

When you say over practicing, what do you mean by that?

I think we played three praccs a day, so maybe over practicing is what like what you would do at home, maybe five or six praccs a day. You're not here to develop new strats or anything, just keeping up teamplay and communication and stuff like that.

You said the other day that with so much time to prepare, there could be some mind games being played today. Did you notice any?

Yeah, I think so... I think they knew some of our things, but I was expecting more, actually. We didn't know they were going to pick Mirage, actually, we didn't prepare that much on it, so that caught up by surprise. Maybe that was a mind game, that they were picking a map we wouldn't expect.

That kind of looks like it backfired, though, as they didn't seem very comfortable on the Terrorist side and you were reading them pretty well...

Obviously, we have played them before on Mirage, so it's not like we don't know how to play them if we don't prepare for it. We also spent the time between the first and second map to prepare a bit. We obviously knew some of the stuff they were doing, and they kept on hitting A. At that point we stacked A or just tried to play the retakes. I think fighting for mid control on Mirage is key, and we won that pretty easily, I think, this time.

And you have one of the best in the business with device...

Yeah, device was playing well on Mirage as well, so it was about the reads and making good individual plays.

You've increased your streak on Nuke, what's your secret?

I think the secret on Nuke is our CT side, we know when to rotate and when to back up and I think we have the best setups, as well. Nuke is a lot about rotations and getting your communications right. It's really just about the small details that can mess up the round, so you really want to have everything perfectly situated and be aware of all scenarios, like "what do these guys do when they push high?" or all of these kinds of things. I think we just played so much together that we know "if they do this, then we do that," and many of the other teams have maybe changed players and have to coordinate everything again. I think regarding rotations and communication we're just miles ahead of other teams.

Moving forward, you're in the final. Any preference, Liquid or Na`Vi?

I don't know, I think Na`Vi right now is the best team, but I could see Liquid take it. I just want to play either of them and I'm sure we'll put up a good fight.

If you win this tournament, you're definitely the uncontested #1. How important is that for you going into the break?

Of course, it's important for us to go into the break knowing we're the best team. It adds confidence after the break, as well, but I think after the break everything is... it's a new start, right? We can easily be a Top 5 at that point because maybe a team is playing on the holiday or starting earlier. It's really starting from scratch after the holidays, everyone will come with new strats, so yeah, it's nice to end the season with a win, everyone wants that, but it's not going to affect us too much after the break.

Looking at the Major, how do you feel about it being so close to the player break, and do you like that there's an event before it?

I like the Majors to end the seasons. For example, that this event we're playing right now would be a Major and that we then get to go on holiday. I think there are many teams starting the season before the break ends, teams that are already on holiday, so they start earlier... I just don't think having a Major right after the break is the best idea because many of us, or at least some of the teams, still have to qualify through the New Challenger Stage, so we don't actually have that much preparation time because Stockholm is before that. We could skip Stockholm, but then we'd be going into the qualifier without having played on LAN for a month and a half so then you maybe get nervous or something and you lost your habits and how you usually play, so yeah... I think putting the Major before the break would be best.