xccurate: "We changed so much on the T side of Inferno [after playing OpTic]"

We interviewed Kevin "⁠xccurate⁠" Susanto after TYLOO survived the fourth round of the New Challengers stage, defeating Renegades on Inferno.

TYLOO are now 2-2 in the Swiss stage and are heading into the best-of-three fifth round after eliminating their long-time rivals, Renegades, from the tournament.

We spoke to xccurate after the match to ask about his team's quadruple-overtime loss to OpTic and their issues on the Terrorist side of Inferno, as well as their adjustments on the map ahead of their encounter with Renegades:

Let's go back to yesterday's match against OpTic - such a long game, in which both sides had issues on the CT side, even in overtimes. Can you tell me about your point of view of that match and the problems on T sides?

I think, first of all, when we played against OpTic, it was a really tough game. I know we are really confident on the CT side of Inferno because we're really good. Sometimes our communication is not that good, we already talked about the T side of Inferno before we played against Gambit, but when it came to the match yesterday, our tactics didn't work.

For example, in the first overtime, we got 3-0 on the CT side and then we changed to T side and we said 'okay, guys, we'll use this tactic, it's really going to work', and when we used it, it didn't work. And then we used another tactic, it didn't work. I know BnTeT is the in-game leader, but I always help him, give him advice, 'try this, try that'. The funny thing is that we have this tactic, the wall of smokes in pit, but we never thought of using it. And then we used it when we went into the second overtime, but it was too late already.

When it came to the last overtime, we were already happy when we got one round on the T side, and we said 'this one round is really important for us', but when we went to the CT side, it was maybe the mentality and lack of focus after going through that tough game, so we were a little unfocused and we miscommunicated, as well. But we're not really sad or disappointed because I know it was a really nice game to watch.

Renegades are a matchup that you know very well, so how did you approach that when you knew you were going to play against them?

As you know, Renegades and us has been a rivalry since before [I came into the team]. When we lost to OpTic, we had a team talk at night, we talked about what's wrong with our T side. We fixed our banana control and banana retake because when we played against OpTic, every time we went for banana control, one or two guys from our team died, we didn't get any kills or trades and it was a big disadvantage for us.

We tried different things and we already predicted that maybe Renegades were going to pick Inferno against us because they know our T side is weak. So we prepared so much on the T side, we changed a lot of our style, the banana control and things like that, and Renegades did pick Inferno, we knew they were going to ban Cache and Mirage because I think we play really well on that map.

When we started our new default, it was really working, we got 12-3, but then some technical issue happened and, at that time, I was really worried because it could shut down our momentum. But I'm so happy that my teammates kept calm, cheered each other up, and we kept our momentum. When we played the CT side and we had got so many rounds on the T side, we were really confident that we could win the game.

Can you tell me what the team's reaction was to somebody's crazy 1v4 clutch?

Actually, that one... I didn't expect he was going to do that because it's a long rotation and the CTs could smoke it and defuse. When somebody arrived at the CT spawn and Renegades haven't done anything, I thought 'oh my god, we're going to win this', and then I saw USTILO didn't have a kit and that was huge, oh my god.

I think that was a really important round for us, and also when Renegades didn't take the bomb on the T side and they didn't have time to plant, that was a bad mistake from them, I was so happy.

Tell me about the next round - you need one win to go through and it'll be a best-of-three series, how do you feel about your map pool going into it?

A lot of people think TYLOO is a team that can upset in best-of-ones, so they say we can win in every best-of-one. But every time we go into best-of-threes, many people think that we will lose it.

I think we have fixed our map pool, we really practiced all of our maps, we prepared a lot. We want to make history and become the first Asian team to become Legends. That's our dream. Next round, for the best-of-three, we're really confident and ready.

More interviews from the FACEIT Major New Challengers Stage:

Day 4
gla1ve: "[As an IGL,] cadiaN is really good at the same things as FalleN"

Day 3
f0rest: "I'm not satisfied at all; I believe that we can go so much further"
TACO: "We knew Vega have a really aggressive style, but it was still hard to play against"

Day 2
cajunb: "I really want to win a Major, that's when I can retire and be happy"
somedieyoung: "We pretty much knew everything North were going to do"
AdreN: "It's me and Hobbit who are trying to make the mid-round calls"
hutji: "During his 1v1, chopper said 'no worries, guys, I'm going to punch him'"

Day 1
tiziaN: "I've actually practiced it 3 or 4 times, but I wasn't planning on doing that shot"
Twistzz: "We knew that bootcamping was the way better option"
BnTeT: "We're confident in our skill, but I'm not sure we're confident in our team play"
Lekr0: "I think I learned the most about [in-game leading] from pronax back in the day"

Media Day:
stanislaw: "We have all the pieces to really do some damage"
B1ad3: "We still haven't found the perfect in-game leader"
crush: "We didn't play much [officially] because we wanted to find our game"
Hiko "American teams are dependent on the momentum they gain"
NEO: "byali wanted changes even before Snax told us [he was leaving]"
DavCost: "The main goal is to show who we are"