sAvana1 after making the main event: "We can beat better teams than us"

Lukáš "⁠sAvana1⁠" Lintner sat down with HLTV to discuss his team's unexpected run to the main event.

Day two of the V4 Future Sports Festival Play-in saw the first team qualify to the main event, and it was not a name that many predicted would succeed.

eSuba completed a surprise qualification run by beating ONYX, having already upset AGO on day one of the tournament.

With behemoths like Gambit and BIG waiting for them in the main event, HLTV sat down with 18-year-old Slovakian rifler sAvana1 to discuss his team, their run so far, and their expectations for the main event.

First things first – congratulations! How does it feel to qualify to the main event?

Thank you! It’s insane, we overcame our expectations; we didn’t think we would get to this stage so it feels really great and we will celebrate today.

It must have been good to get an upset win over AGO to kick off your event?

Yeah, we came into the match as a huge underdog, but after watching 6 hours of their demos we knew the match was going to be real close. That’s actually how it turned out. We were feeling like that win had given us confidence, and once again shown that we can play well on LAN, and we can beat better teams than us.

You probably should have closed that game in regulation, but it ended up going into overtime. Were you at all worried that it might get away from you?

Of course there were some nerves, but we just kept it cool and played our game, that’s about it.

Turning to the qualification series you just played, you obviously faced ONYX, a team that beat you the last time you met. What were your expectations for the rematch?

We have watched all the demos from games that we played against them, but after all they have a new player in the team so we knew the game would be a bit different. I thought we would take the game 2-1, I wasn’t really worried about that match.

Were you surprised with how the series went? You won Inferno, which isn’t your best map, and then dropped your home map of Nuke.

We expected us to lose Inferno, which didn’t happen, but they really surprised us on Nuke. They punished us for our mistakes, so well played to them because they played really well, but we came out on top.

Banana seemed a key battleground on Inferno, was that part of a gameplan?

That really wasn’t the gameplan, we never play Inferno like that because we suck at that map. I guess the stars just aligned today for us.

The series seemed comfortable overall, and as previously mentioned they beat you during the V4 International Cup, so what changed?

It’s just the LAN environment, we hate playing online, we are a LAN team. We showed to ourselves we can play better on LAN than online. There are so many things happening at home when you are playing online, whereas on LAN you can focus on one thing: winning.

Do you think you have gotten the classic LAN buff?

Yeah of course, after the past few events we found that we are a huge LAN team. Just the LAN environment in general gives a huge boost.

How do you feel about your personal performance, because you have had some high impact maps during the play-in?

The first day we played, I wasn’t really satisfied with my results. Right now I am feeling hella comfortable, I have never felt this good. I hope it will continue for the next matches, and hopefully we can sneak a little underdog win.

Speaking of the main event, do you have any expectations about how far you can go?

I don’t want to talk about our expectations, because I am not really sure about them! But our main goal coming here was to get the main event.

Obviously for many people this main event will be the first time they have seen your team play, so can you tell me a little bit about your team’s style and the roles within the team?

I don’t want to talk too much about roles, because the only set roles we have are IGL and AWP. The rest of us are just moving around, making plays, calling for each other and supporting each other. We don’t like to have a set game style so we can surprise anyone, and adapt to everyone and their gameplay.

About the team, most of the guys have played together in former teams, and this year me and twist came together with them to form the new roster. Right now we have only been together for only four months, so we have showed up pretty well here.

So I take it you are pleased with how the new line-up has been performing?

Yeah definitely, I didn’t even expect to play this event, I didn’t think we would qualify. Every single one of us has showed up with our individual qualities, and showed that we can play with the top teams. We really don’t have any expectations, all we want to do is win.

Let’s go for a couple quick and easy questions to finish up: who would you like to face in the main event?

I will actually pick two teams, and that’s gonna be BIG and Movistar. I really like their playstyles, but I think they will suit us, so I hope we can take a win.

What player would you like to face?

Oh that’s a good question. I will go with Ax1Le, because I am a big Gambit fanboy!