nitr0: "I'm hoping we get Astralis, we can definitely put up a good show and a good fight"

After Liquid went 2-0 following their second win at the tournament over Ninjas in Pyjamas, we grabbed Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella for an interview about the team's first matches in the New Legends stage.

We asked the in-game leader about his approach to preparation in Liquid's first two matches in the New Legends stage against Winstrike and Ninjas in Pyjamas, both of which were played on Mirage.

He also shared his thoughts on the teams in the 2-0 pool, as well as on Complexity's success in particular in the following interview:

How did you approach your first matchup against Winstrike as a team you didn't know very well from before?

It was the same situation as with Vega. I looked at their past matches and they hadn't played since like July. But then I read in an interview that they did a bootcamp and I thought that they couldn't have changed that much stuff because the player break was two weeks after their last match.

You can't really study them that much, it was more about focusing on our own game. Actually, the match I did watch from July, they didn't change anything. In the first gunround, I noticed they didn't change anything, so I figured they didn't change anything else, and it actually turned out to be like that, so it worked out for us.

Going into your second match against NiP, how much did you learn from them from their previous Mirage matches they played here?

I would say I had their whole strat book written down. I knew everything that they did, I had so much to study and I was so thankful that they played Mirage because both of our map pools collide and it just so happens that it would Mirage again.

We both played Mirage a bunch at this tournament and I just knew they would veto the three maps and we had to veto these other two, I just knew it was going to be Mirage, so I only studied Mirage knowing it would be the map.

How much did you utilize that?

I utilized it a lot. I created the whole game plan based on it on our T side. We were up 6-1 and we stopped following our game plan, which is my fault, and they started taking over the rest of the half and it was 8-7 to them. But I felt like if we had stuck to our game plan, we would have definitely closed out the half way easier, in my opinion.

So is that what the problem was after 6-1, you stopped following the game plan?

Yeah, I definitely think so. I'm not going to say what it was, but we definitely stopped following it in the eighth round and that's when they got comfortable, they started playing loose, they had the AWP rotating around. Because they don't have a dedicated AWPer, it looks like whoever is feeling it takes it, and they started rotating the AWP towards B/cat, and that's what we kept on hitting.

What do you make of the competition in the third round, where you have Astralis, BIG, and compLexity?

We've played BIG in practice a lot, we haven't played compLexity in practice in a long time, they're looking really good right now. BIG looks really good, they beat FaZe confidently... I don't know, I'm hoping we get Astralis, we can definitely put up a good show and a good fight.

I hope us and Astralis both make it through if we don't get the other teams because I'm pretty sure you can't face each other if you go 3-0. It would be cool for us and Astralis to make it out, obviously. I'm not going to say who I'm hoping to get, but I'm very confident with all the teams. Maybe not Astralis as much, but the other teams for sure.

What do you think about compLexity's success here?

I'm very happy for them, I think you can tell they're very energetic and their synergy is on point, Rambo is a great coach, stanislaw is implementing his system that he tried to do with us but that didn't work out as well as he had planned. He's a great in-game leader and I'm pretty sure they're all colliding right now and it's working out really well for them.

More interviews from the New Legends stage:

Day 2
Xizt: "Every loss is going to take a toll on your confidence, we had to slowly build it up again"
LEGIJA: "Before the Major, we said 'We will not practice to make Legends, we're here to f****** win'"

Day 1
Xyp9x: "Against Na`Vi and especially on Inferno, it's all mind games"
REZ: "Not playing the Minor means a lot to me, I have played so many"

Media Day
JW: "We considered twist after the early StarLadder exit; he wasn’t really interested"
jmqa: "After the last Major, our practice wasn't great, we didn't have good conditions"
flamie: "We still want to play Dust2 because no one is playing it well"
SmithZz: "We aren't completely ready at the moment, but we are getting there"
RUSH: "Hopefully, after the Major, our ranking will reflect how we actually are as a team"