gla1ve: "I think you shouldn't be punished [economically] for being in front, or for having a big lead"

We sat down with Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander during the BLAST Pro Series Madrid media day, as well as at the mixed zone after the first day of play to talk about how Astralis is doing.

After failing to reach the final at BLAST Pro Series Miami, Astralis have secured a 2-0 record after the first day of play in Madrid by beating Ninjas in Pyjamas, 16-8, and Giants, 16-7. Tomorrow they will go on to face ENCE, Cloud9, and Natus Vincere for a spot in the best-of-three grand final.

In the interview, gla1ve talks about Astralis' last couple of events, losing their Inferno streak to BIG, not feeling pressure as Liquid cuts distances in the ranking, the new economy, and how the team is doing after today's first two matches, among other things.

The last thing you played before coming here was the Pro League group stage, where you finished first dropping just one map to BIG. How is the team doing as of late?

We feel pretty good, we started practicing the new map and we're pretty happy with how things are going. Of course, there are always things that could be improved and I think right now we are a bit shaky because as you saw at Pro League—and in Miami as well—, we had a match against BIG that we really wanted to win and almost lost. I'm not saying they're a bad team at all, they're pretty good, with good tactics and a good leader in gob b, and XANTARES also played really well, but I think we should be able to win more comfortably against teams like them. So yeah, a bit shaky but I still feel like we're there, still #1.

You had this Inferno streak going which you lost during Pro League, I imagine it's a bit sad for you guys, what caught you off-guard?

Sometimes we have a tough time on the CT side of Inferno. It happened against Cloud9, as well, where we won 16-14, and I just think the CT side of Inferno can just be a bit tricky sometimes because you have to adapt the way you play, and you can be really unlucky when adapting if the opponents do everything right. I just think they played really well and device told me that he missed some shots in key rounds that if he would have hit we would have won, so sometimes it's also just about individual play, which you also have to take into consideration.

We saw at the last BLAST, in Miami, that you had a rough second day and couldn't make the final. What was it? Was it an off-day you had, or what happened?

Yeah, I think it was mainly an off-day, individually we were just really bad. I wasn't a good leader, we didn't have the focus we needed to have, and we have those days in practice, as well. It's really rare that we have them during official game days at tournaments, so it was kind of unexpected for us, but stuff like that happens and you just have to move on.

You have to go back all the way to IEM Katowice 2018 to find two events in a row that you didn't win, so is there any added pressure to win this one?

Those two events, IEM Katowice 2018 and StarSeries i-League Season 4 were the first two events with Magisk, and besides those we didn't lose two in a row, so I guess there's some kind of pressure, but you know, and we've said this before, we believe the BLAST format can be kind of random sometimes, but of course we expect to win the tournament, as we always do, although it'll be tough.

IEM Sydney just ended, with Liquid lifting the trophy. It looks like they could be making a push to become a contender against you guys. Do you feel a bit of pressure from them?

Actually, I don't really feel the pressure right now. I think if we lose a really big tournament to them, like a Major. Then I'll feel the pressure because I'll think they're taking our #1 spot for real, not just in the HLTV ranking, but in everyone's eyes. That's what I don't want to happen, I know there can be some shifts on the HLTV ranking, but for me, it's about if people are thinking that we're the #1 team in the world. As of now, I think we will be for some time, even if we lose here in Madrid, I still think we'll be #1.

Talking about being #1 for a while, you just made a whole year at the top, which was a big deal. What is it that can keep you going?

You have to be really adaptive, to steal opponents' stuff when they make new stuff and put it into your gameplay. You also have to be really aware of how the meta changes with the AUG. I personally played a lot more with the M4 than the AUG, but I need to adapt as well because it's a really good weapon right now, and when you have good money as CT you need to buy it. It's also important to be aware of the money system and how it works now, which is something we have been thinking a lot about, how we want to buy. So yeah, there have been some changes to CS:GO and you really have to figure out and understand these changes and utilize them to be the best.

Talking about the money system, now that it has been in play for a little bit, there's more and more talk about it. Some criticism is coming out about it punishing the winning team. Is it something you like, you'd keep, you'd change?

I like changes, but I would like if it could be balanced out a little bit more. I like when they put in new maps, it has been fun to practice Vertigo for the last couple of weeks. I feel like Valve could ask the pro players a bit more, and I know some players have been talking about having to change these kinds of things. The CSPPA has been in talks about asking Valve to change something about the economy, so hopefully we'll get a bit more balance, but I think it's nice that we had a change so we don't see the double eco all of the time. But yeah, I think you shouldn't be punished for being in front, or for having a big lead.

Other than the money, what do you think the biggest changes are? What direction is CS going in? What do you think the cutting edge to being the best is right now?

The AUG and the money are some of the most important things, but besides that I think it's just really important to try and make new stuff so that you get to the big tournaments, the Majors, and people just go "OMG, that's crazy! What a sick tactic!" But it could also be something that worked two years ago and people now forgot that it worked so well and don't use anymore, and you bring it back. So you don't have to find new stuff all of the time, just be thinking about what worked in the past, as well.

So do you go back into the archives and bring a lot of stuff back?

Yeah, there's one tactic on Overpass that I've been thinking about. I remember SK, when I joined Astralis, they were the best CT-side team and they played really defensive. So we would put up some defensive smokes in backup and tower so their rotations couldn't help them and were just blocked. Now, people started to play more offensively, and you have to make new tactics because now people are offensive and you put the smokes in another way and flash in another way. Since people are now starting to move back again, that's what I mean with the meta changing all of the time, that's where you can go back and use these old smokes.

Is there something interesting that has changed from the past to now as far as preparation and expectations, or are you still working on the little things from tournament to tournament, as usual?

We're trying not to change too much because we still feel like the #1 team in the world. Like I said before, we have some shaky days, and that's what we're trying to fix the most, so being fully focused every single day, not just on tournament days, but also in practice, that's what we've been working the most on.

You played your first two matches here in Madrid, with victories over NiP and Giants. How's the team doing after today?

Feels good, but it's like Miami, right? Could be winning 2-0 on Friday and maybe go 2-3 on Saturday [laughs]. I hope not! But we're happy with our performance here so far, and our practice has been good coming into this event, so it looks good!

You touched upon the second thing I wanted to ask, which is about the second day in Miami. Is there anything you've worked on so that it doesn't happen here, especially since you have a couple of tough matches against teams like Na`Vi and ENCE.

I think if you have an off day that's one of the toughest things to fix because everybody has them. I think we were quite unlucky that it happened to us in Miami on that exact day, so of course, we're just praying to the Gods that we don't have an off-day tomorrow. If we don't have one, I expect us to make it all the way to final!