mixwell: "[Our preparation] has just been about living and breathing CS"

We sat down with Movistar Riders' Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas, who got us up to date on the Spanish squad attending WESG and what they hope to achieve in Chongqing.

Movistar Riders, currently standing in second place in the European MDL division, are in China to compete at the WESG 2018 World Finals, where they drew the short straw and will face fnatic and Windigo in a group that also had the Finns of ENCE drawn in before they pulled out from the competition.

mixwell told HLTV.org about the practice and preparation for the team leading up to the event, where they rank among the rest of competitors in Chongqing, what they hope to get from this event, being drawn into the group of death, and gave some insight into some of the lesser known players in his squad.

You just played the ECS Pinnacle Cup and finished the MDL season off before coming here. How prepared do you think you are for an event like this?

I think we're at our best moment as a team. We have a better map pool than a few months ago, we can play almost every map, and I think it's a good moment to show it all on LAN. We practiced a lot, it was more about spending more time practicing than doing anything special. We spent time on fixing mistakes, watching our own demos, becoming more solid, broadening our map pool... We'll also prepare for fnatic and Windigo, but nothing fancy.

We had a couple of bootcamps at the Movistar Esports Center, our organization's facilities in Madrid where MIBR were bootcamping before the Major, we played a few maps against them and so on... basically, it has just been about living and breathing CS.

As you said, it's about getting LAN experience for you guys, how do you feel playing against some teams that have a bit more experience in that sense?

We've only played like five LAN maps since this team was created, which is next to nothing, and that's always a factor. We still need to gain more experience, an experience teams we're going to play against already have, but I don't think that should affect us. We have to face this as if it were any other match and do it as best we can.

You're pretty high up in the MDL Europe standings, and a lot of MDL teams from around the world are here. Where do you think you are compared to the rest of the field at WESG?

We're fighting to get out of the groups, we drew the hardest group at the event and we can't make any mistakes. I think if we can make it out of the group stage we have a lot of chances of making a deep run. The team is doing well and if we make it out I think we could fight for a quarter or semi-final run.

I'm not going to get into the seeding or lack thereof, but what do you think about ENCE not coming? You're just three teams in the group now.

We didn't really like that because as you said we don't have much LAN experience, so missing out on the opportunity to play against Major finalists is bad for us, but I understand why they made that decision, they've had a lot going on and they need to rest, allu also became a father and so on, so it's normal. The trip to China is hard, and they have other LANs and so on coming up and a tight schedule. We understand, but it's a bummer.

For some of the viewers who may not be acquainted with Movistar Riders, can you tell us something about mopoz and ALEX?

mopoz is a player that likes to break the meta, he likes to do things that are atypical and to think about breaking the current way the game is played. He's a playmaker, very aggressive, a somewhat rare type of a player. On the other hand ALEX is a pretty well-rounded player, individually. He's our secondary AWPer and IGL, and a very hard worker.

How about bladE, your coach, what has he brought to the table?

I think we needed someone to give us structure as far as practice goes, to always have something you're working on, to keep adding layers to the game, and so that practice doesn't just become something repetitive, the same all of the time. I think he's also helping the team mentally, in the sense of being both someone who can both motivate and discipline players, as we all as be someone who can keep adding tactically because we had become a bit stagnant before he came on.