torzsi: "We will not be satisfied just by being here, we want to win"

We sat down with MOUZ NXT's AWPer after their opening victory against BIG Academy to talk about the international squad as they navigate the WePlay Academy League Finals.

MOUZ NXT, the WePlay Academy League group stage winners, are one of two teams favored to hoist the trophy after the tournament's final match on Sunday, but before that they are set to take on their main rivals, Young Ninjas, in the upper bracket final after defeating BIG Academy 2-0 in the opening series in Kyiv.

We caught up with the team's AWPer, Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás, to get his thoughts on the team's coming together, how they stack up against the rest of the field at the WePlay Academy League, and MOUZ NXT's approach of focusing on more experienced players with raw firepower than trying to mold a team from scratch.

The 19-year-old also talked about easing into a squad not built around him, where he is not always expected to be the one carrying the weight of the team, and he shared his thoughts on the importance for MOUZ NXT, who he says have been working on out-practicing and outpacing their opponents, to win the event in Kyiv.

Let’s start at the beginning, with the creation of mouz NXT. How were you approached about the team and how did the transfer happen?

Dennis [sycrone], our coach, contacted me about whether I would be interested in a new challenge. At the time I was with Budapest Five, but that team was not going well, so I decided to say yes and after that we had a talk with mouz's CEO.

Did you know what the roster would be, or did you jump into the project blind?

When sycrone first contacted me, I didn’t even know what the team would be, but after we had a couple of meetings I knew it would be with mouz and that it was to build an academy team. At the time only JDC was in the planned lineup and I was the second guy in.

Before the move you spent your career on Hungarian teams, how was the transition being and was the choice easy to go international?

It was very easy and it happened very fast once I had decided it. At the start my English was not the best, and it's still not the best, but it has been improving day by day. The difference between mouz and Hungarian teams is huge in terms of how professional mouz is and how all the players are willing to give everything. In Hungary teams are fine where they are, they are comfortable being the best in the country, but Hungary is nothing in esports, so they don't really want to give everything.

So you feel there is more hunger now?

Yeah, of course. For sure.

We live in the AWP-abuser meta and you were the star AWPer signed to mouz NXT. Did you feel any pressure?

Yes, I did, actually. In Budapest Five I knew the team was built around me and I had a lot of impact, but now it’s not just on me. We have five great players who are also giving their best and I am still learning to deal with it. Sometimes when I am not top-fragging I get a little nervous [laughs].

Talking about bringing in different players from different countries, compared to NAVI or NIP, it seems that mouz are less focused on team building and more on raw talent and individuals. What do you have to say about that?

I agree and you can see this also in the main lineup, too, with bymas and frozen, they're also very young. It's true that mouz is built on raw talent, it's built differently because in other academy squads they picked up really young and inexperienced players and are trying to teach them how to play. Our roster, except for xertioN, has had experience on teams in Tier 3-4 for a long time. The two Polish guys with Izako Boars, myself with Budapest Five and JDC in a lot of German leagues. So we're a bit more experienced and know a bit more about CS.

Do you think that has a particular impact being on LAN? For some this will be the first opportunity to play on LAN and as you said, you’re a little more experienced.

I think it makes a difference because we have been to a lot of LANs and local LANs, even to just get used to the noise, so that you can hear each other and things like that which are annoying for the first time.

Do you think you guys are the favourites?

Yes, next to maybe Young Ninjas, they are really good too.

What separates you and Young Ninjas from the rest, why are you two the favourites?

Like you said earlier, mouz has a focus on raw talent and I think compared to the other teams in the league we have a lot more experience. Also, we are playing and practicing a lot, our goal is to be improving faster than the other teams and I think we are doing well.

Also, Young Ninjas has been in Tier 3 for like a year already and there are really good players like ztr or Ro1f, so they have good players as well.

Building on your words about improving as a team, can you talk about your preparation for this LAN and how you’ve improved and what you’ve worked on?

We had a break after regular season and on the 15th we traveled to Hamburg to have a bootcamp before the LAN. We played there for a week and we got to meet each other, which has helped us to learn about each other before flying to Kyiv.

What did you work on?

We extended our map pool so we can play almost all maps and added new strategies so enemies cannot read us as easily as well as changing some strategies.

With this LAN, did your match against BIG go as planned? Was Ancient something you expected in the veto?

We wanted to 2-0 BIG Academy, and the veto from our perspective went in our favor because we picked Dust2 and they picked Ancient, which we didn't know they would pick. We counted on Nuke, but after they picked Ancient and we banned Nuke they were confused, they were talking in German and I think we surprised them in the veto.

On Dust2, we played great and we prepared for BIG Academy well. We won both pistols but then lost both force rounds. It was a slow start and it was rough, but we closed it out. I personally didn’t play well on Ancient, but our team chemistry was good and we played well as a squad. Kamil [siuhy], our IGL, called insane and he helped us win both maps because he was doing great things and everyone was playing well.

Is your expectation at this event to win, is that the top priority?

On the second day after we arrived we noticed that the other teams were not practicing as much as we are, so we thought that they are fine just being here and that they are not giving as much as we are to win this. We will not be satisfied just by being here, we want to win it.