BL1TZ: "You do not get to play your own game [internationally]"

We caught up with Peter "⁠BL1TZ⁠" Athanasatos following the defeat to FURIA and quizzed him on Chiefs' MDL season, the results at IEM Sydney and his expectations for this event.

The Australian team were given a reality check in their opening game in Dallas as they were humbled 16-6 by a FURIA side attending the tournament with a stand-in, coach Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira.

In this interview, conducted by Dust2.us' Collin "CarbonDogma" Davis, BL1TZ shares his thoughts on the recent roster changes, the team's struggles to make their mark on the international stage, his own level when compared with other Oceanic AWPers, and more.

Let's start by going back a little bit, to when you first formed this lineup. How did the current lineup come together?

The team just saw an opportunity to pick up really two good players. Unfortunately, we had to replace MoeycQ and InfrequeNt, who are also very good. Sometimes, you have to make hard decisions. It is what it is. We saw it as an upgrade so we took our chance there.

You recently went to IEM Sydney, beating ViCi in the lower bracket. They had been playing really well, upsetting North at the Minor Play-in. How did that game go for you?

I think in that game we were just all feeling really good, the loss against FaZe did not affect us too much, we knew they were one of the top teams in the world so we went into it with a positive mindset. We tried to play our own game, we were able to do it, and we came away with the victory.

Right after that, you took a map off fnatic. What was it like playing against them? Do you think you had an overall good result in Sydney?

I think we definitely had a good result for how knew we were as a team, our map pool was extremely limited. We beat fnatic on Dust2, which I would say at the time, was one of our best maps. I suppose it still is. We think we are very good at it, we seem to understand it very well, so we got our map pick against them, which is always necessary if you are going to take a map off a very good team.

Returning to MDL, you had a really great main season, 15-2, and the run to the final was pretty easy. How do you think that the season went?

We are pretty happy with our MDL Season. Even the 15-2 in Australia does not really matter that much. The only thing that matters for our region is if you are qualified for this LAN. Grayhound did not play, so that was definitely a factor in us qualifying. It would have been nice to face them in a high-pressure game. But we ended up qualifying and we are quite happy with our season overall.

Did you expect to beat ORDER in the final? Because I feel that could have been considered an upset, in a way?

I do not think it can be considered an upset, but you have to go into every game assuming you are going to beat everyone, right? We assumed we were going to beat them, they assumed they were going to beat us. We show up on the day, and whoever plays better, wins.

Earlier today, you played against FURIA. Did you have any special preparation going into that game?

We do not really prepare super hard individually against teams. We look at map pools and that sort of thing, but we are trying to focus on our own game. From what I have gathered so far - and I am quite new to international experience -, you do not get to play your own game, I am starting to understand that. It is quite hard, because in Australia people do let you play your own game. I think we need to start playing as if we are never going to be able to play passively, for example. They are just going to rush us, they are just going to play too fast. Same thing with IEM Sydney, it was much the same, and in scrims it was much the same, they did not give you room. I do not know if it is because when you watch demos of pro teams they seem to play slower or with more respect against their opponents, but when we play it seems like everything is so fast paced, so we are going to have to figure something off of that.

What are your overall goals for this event? Where do you want to place in the end?

We do not have too many goals on placements. I think our goals are much more on ourselves, like how we are dealing with pressure, how our communication is going, how we are aiming against these teams, which strats are working, how we are responding when people are doing things against us. It is more about trying to build a system and seeing how our system is currently working.

Oceania has produced quite a few good AWPers. Do you think that, in the future, you will be able to contend with some of the best there?

For sure. I think my style is very different, and I also leading. In terms of pure fragging power, sure, but we need to be able to build a system so I can focus less on other things and focus more on individuals, and all of that takes time. This is really my first time leading, so it is my first time I try to delve into all of this. I have led previously for a little bit in other teams, this is my first time for real. But in the future, sure.