olofmeister: "In Odense, I couldn't hit a bus if I wanted to"

In our second interview from Bahrain, Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer commented on FaZe's two latest tournaments, IEM Beijing and ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals, and the importance of a good finish to the year at the Global Final.

FaZe are heading into their last event of 2019 on the back of a tough exit at ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals, where they went out in the group stage at the hands of MIBR and 100 Thieves, with olofmeister putting in one of his worst tournaments of the year despite improved form since the player break.

The Swede told us about his dip in Denmark, describing it as "one of those events where nothing felt right," and gave us his thoughts on a number of other topics, such as his progress with the AWP, whether FaZe's crushing loss to Astralis in Beijing is playing on their minds ahead of BLAST, and his former teammates' and fellow countrymen's success in fnatic.

Since your win in Copenhagen, you came third-fourth at IEM Beijing and went out in the group stage in Pro League last week. How is the team feeling about these two results?

In Beijing, at the start we were pleased with our result because we beat Evil Geniuses and we were doing pretty well. And then we faced Astralis and... I don't even know what happened, I don't think anyone really knows what happened (laughs). We got destroyed, basically. We didn't get into our game at all and they just wrecked us.

Going into Odense, we had higher goals than going out that quickly, but I think the game against MIBR especially affected us a lot. We thought, and we still think that we had that game. We made some stupid mistakes. We lost a super-important round where I f**cked up, when FalleN had a Scout in mid on Mirage, I let go of an angle for one second and then with that he got NiKo and wrecked everyone else with the Scout, that was just a bad timing and we lost 13-16 off that I think. And when we played 100 Thieves, I think that's a hard game no matter what, but I think we could have done better. Lately, they've been showing they're a really good team, so yeah, I think the MIBR game is something we should have won and I think that affected us in a lot of ways.

You had been looking in better shape throughout the second part of the season, but Odense clearly wasn't going well for you individually, what happened?

I don't know man, I couldn't hit a bus if I wanted to. I don't know what to say, it was just one of those events where it didn't feel right anywhere. I couldn't hit easy shots, the confidence wasn't there. It's hard to say why, but it was a really tough event for me, and I know that. Hopefully, I can play better here.

You've now had a bit of time to get used to the AWP, how has your progress been in that role?

I mean, it's hard to say now when I played so badly in Odense (laughs). But in general, it's easier, of course, because you get more confident. It was hard in the start, taking some duels, because I hadn't done it in such a long time, to be aggressive and also just hold certain angles. But just learning where to go more aggressive and what angles I can take and what I feel comfortable. It's still something I learn and I still try to look at demos of others AWPers and try to learn as much as possible, get some tricks, because it's just a big difference from back when I used to AWP a bit more.

This will be your last event of the year, how important is it for FaZe to end the year on a high note and be able to do well here?

It's super important, of course. We want to win it and that's our goal, but, at the same time, we have No.1 here and I think Liquid is No.4. Astralis is the team everyone wants to beat, but we want to at least get into the final and then we will see what we can do from there. Of course, it's important to do well, it's only four teams and only good teams, but it would mean a lot for us to end it on a good note.

You mentioned the Astralis loss in Beijing, that must be playing on your minds in a potential rematch...

Yeah, of course.

... have you been able to figure out what to do next time you play them? It's possible it will happen here.

For me, personally, 16-0 is something you don't forget, right? (laughs) It plays on your mind in one way, but, at the same time, what I told the other guys is also that one month ago we beat them 16-2 before that tournament. It can go very fast in Counter-Strike. Of course it's going to be in the back of our heads, but for me, it's more about trying to get revenge, you want to try to prove that we are better than that.

I noticed you comment on fnatic's success on Twitter briefly — as a former teammate of most of those players, what do you think about the meteoric rise they've had?

Actually, I'm just super happy for them because I know how hard they have been working and what they've gone through, and I was in the same boat before and now I'm kind of back in what they used to be (laughs). I'm just happy they're doing well and hopefully they can keep it up.