Magisk: "This is going to be the most interesting year in Counter-Strike history"

"It's nuts, man," the Dane says about how stacked teams are as they try to dethrone NAVI in 2022, "I'm just excited to see how it goes."

Vitality are about to play their first match since bringing on three former Astralis members, Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif, Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen and coach Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen, in what ended up being one of the most exciting moves in an off season packed with transfers.

We sat down with Magisk to talk about the Danish trio's adaptation to their new organization and joining up with superstar Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, in-game leader Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and youngster Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier under the Vitality umbrella.

The 23-year-old talked about his expectations for the team, long-term success in fighting to win tournaments and knock Natus Vincere down from the No. 1 spot in the world ranking, and he was candid when talking about how things have been going so far, his first thoughts regarding his new teammates, and what the transition from being a longtime Astralis player to working in Vitality is like, in a long conversation that covered various topics regarding the French-Danish squad.

To kick things off, what's it like joining Vitality, a new organization for you?

You can feel the hunger to win trophies, that's what they're aiming for, that's why they're investing so much into esports — not only Counter-Strike, but also League of Legends —, you definitely feel that the focus is on winning trophies, and they also understand that there are things behind the scenes that you need like a mental coach and physical training.

In general they have a lot of focus on us being in as good shape as possible and that we have everything we need to perform at the highest level. It's nice to have an organization that's so focused on performance, winning tournaments and playing Counter-Strike. It's nice to know that the focus is primarily on winning.

Do you think that focus got a bit lost in Astralis at the end of your time there?

Yes, in a certain way, but not because they didn't want to win, they definitely wanted to win, but they were focused on building a new project for the future and that's absolutely OK. They were focused on making sure that the players for the new project would work and I think that's the way it should be. When you know a lineup is going to end in a few months, then they're going to be working on the new lineups. That's the way business is and it should be like that.

I was sad to miss out in the Royal Arena in Copenhagen because I couldn't say goodbye to all of the Danish fans, but in the end they had the chance to give two new players their first time to play in front of a huge crowd of Danish fans, so I understand it.

What was it that created the rift in Astralis that ended up in the team splitting? Where did the cracks stem from and when did you decide that you were going to Vitality?

I think it all started when device decided to leave the team. We always called ourselves the five musketeers, even though we were six, but it was this bond we had. Nobody could break us. We were always fighting together for the same contracts and all of that stuff. That was really great and part of our success, the reason stayed together for so long and why we managed to win so much. Everyone was on equal terms, nobody was more important, but when device decided to leave it started to break that bond. Obviously it's not his fault, I respect his decision to go his own way — that's always OK when you're playing in a professional environment. Sometimes people need new changes and it's the way it is. I would have loved him to stay, but it is what it is and that just kind of started it.

When I talk to the guys from Astralis there are no problems, I respect all of them and we're all on good terms. There are no problems between the players, but I do think everyone just needed something new. Both the other guys, but also us, we needed to try something else and build something new. We needed to start fresh. We're happy for all of the history we made and the tournaments we won, but in the end we knew that now is the time to try something else instead of playing a few years together with mediocre results. I don't want to be like that — I want to win. That's also why I decided to pursue another way, I want to go all the way and build something new with this team.

Has joining Vitality maybe given you some of that hunger back? When you're in a team like Astralis that was at the top for so long, was it harder to keep your focus?

Definitely. It's important to state that everyone in Astralis always wanted to win and we were always annoyed about losing, that's never a fun feeling, and nobody was feeling like everyone wasn't doing their best. But I also think it's really good for me to try something new, play with new teammates, and also to feel the hunger from the young guys. We have misutaaa and ZywOo, they're young, they're basically still kids, and I'm looking at him [ZywOo] while saying this [laughs]. But you can feel the hunger to win tournaments, to be on the big stages, to enjoy it and have fun, and that's a nice feeling to be around.

It gives off a lot of good energy and every single day I come to work I'm happy, I alway have a big smile on my face. It's a nice feeling for me as a person, I kind of needed that, not because I wasn't happy or motivated, but sometimes being around other people can be a good thing. Not because I didn't love the other guys, but sometimes it's needed to start over in order to reinvent yourself. I needed a change to the way I play. The structure, the way we played, the system, I needed something else and apEX is something different. He's different, he calls differently than gla1ve does, and stuff like that. So I really enjoy it. I feel refreshed and it's nice being around, to be honest.

How long have you been practicing together, and how's the English communication going since it's something new for everyone?

We've been together for three weeks now. We spent the first four days on a mountain and we're lucky to be alive [laughs]. At least that's how it feels! It was amazing to start together as a team by getting to know each other and seeing how people react to difficult situations and stuff like that. It's important to know that before starting on the Counter-Strike part because everyone knows how to play, but if I don't know how apEX or misutaaa will react to difficult moments it will be hard for me to know how to react. So I think it's very nice getting to see how people react when they're on the edge and getting to know each other in a different way outside of the game.

We've been bootcamping now, building a lot of good things, slowly, from the bottom up, but it obviously takes a long time. It’s different to communicate in English, but I don't feel like it's that big of a challenge because every day we get better. Even us Danes, we need to learn English better and how to communicate fast, how to react to information we get. Everything becomes a bit faster day to day and feeling that progress, it’s like we're improving a few percentage points every day, which is always a nice feeling.

I don't expect us to be the best team in the world after a month, it's going to be a process, it'll take time, and it'll be difficult because there are really good teams out there, but if we work the right way I believe we have the pieces, the talent, the structure, and two smart coaches that can help us and give us the level to become the best team in the world. So yeah, it'll take some time but we have everything it takes to get there, it's just about how we do it.

How about feelings in the game itself?

I think for me, dupreeh and zonic, it was important when coming to Vitality that we didn't just take over. For me, at least, I wanted to know how they do things here, how they work around everything, how they practice, do their anti-stratting, all of these things. It was important for me to get away from the Astralis way of doing things. Not because it's a bad way, but to see how we could evolve and how I could evolve as a person. So we decided to go in the way that Vitality was working and it has been nice and refreshing.

In terms of roles I don't think anyone has changed a single position on any map, everyone has their same roles. I haven't changed any positions, it was really easy. I think maybe misutaaa is the only one who changed like one position, but that's it, everyone is playing what they want. The fit is amazing and everyone is happy with the roles they have. This makes it a lot easier when getting into it because people are used to their roles, they know how to play them and all of that.

The tactics were a bit different, it was a bit hard for us Danes because most of it comes from the Vitality side, from apEX, since he's the in-game leader. But we've also implemented stuff that worked from Astralis and some of the anti-stratting and stuff like that. It's a mix of everything. That was also important, taking the good things from Astralis and trying to implement them into the team. Everyone has been very open about trying things and we can always adapt. If something doesn't work then we’ll work on it, but we'll try it out first and give it a chance. Overall it has been an amazing journey so far and I'm honestly just excited to get started now.

What are your first impressions of the players you're joining up with?

ZywOo, he's a person unto himself. He's insane. I can't say anything else. He's a machine, he’s so fast and so smart. But one of the most amazing qualities he has is being so good and being such a good teammate. It's amazing to see a guy that young dominating the world for two years, and then being the second best player his third year, and he just doesn't care about it, he loves playing Counter-Strike and being a good teammate. He's always saying he'll go first and everyone is looking at him like 'nah bro, just stay behind, stay alive and win the round' [laughs]. It's amazing to see a teammate like that. You really have to be humble to do that and it's amazing. I really enjoy that.

misutaaa is a really talented player. I'm surprised by how good he can be individually. Not that I didn't expect it, because I've lost matches to Vitality in which he destroyed us, but I think his individual level can be insanely high. He has what it takes to be a really, really good rifler. He just needs to work a bit more on his consistency because some rounds I'll see him just one tap two people instantly and I'm like 'OK, what the fuck man? I would never be able to do that.' It's amazing, but there's work to be done on the consistency and him trying to take more control on the way he plays and taking some more individual responsibility in the way he wants to play some of the situations. But it all takes time and we're slowly working on it, to give him more space as a player and get him more comfortable in the team so that he's happy. I think it's important that everybody feels happy in a team.

And apEX… He's getting old, man! [laughs] He's such a smart player and in-game leader, it's difficult to think that he was an entry-fragger at the beginning of his career because I honestly think he's underrated in his understanding of the game. He really has a good understanding. I knew he was a good in-game leader, but I didn't know he had such an understanding of the game. It's a bit different, but really smart and I really like it. I really enjoy playing with him and with the way he's calling — I was a bit surprised by how good he was. It sounds like I had no expectations for him, but he did surprise me and every time he says anything I listen and respect his way of calling and saying stuff.

apEX is a bit like me, a direct person, and he says things… Not toxic things, but he'll be like 'Emil, what are you doing? You're not supposed to be here, go somewhere else because this isn't your position in this tactic.' He's direct in the way he talks, which can be a really good thing, but it's important to understand that things aren't personal. It's all in the mindset of improving the team. For some people it can be difficult, although I'm a bit like him myself, so it's like "OK, yeah, whatever, you're right' but for some people it can sound really harsh sometimes. These are the kinds of things we have talks about so we don't go into self-defense mode and stuff like that, we can just accept it and move on.

You're playing Evil Geniuses in your opening match, another new team. Do you have any expectations going into that? And how is your map pool so far?

Best-of-ones are hard when they're a new team and we're a new team, so there's going to be nerves. Everyone is going to be a bit nervous playing together for the first time in an official match. I hope we go out and have fun as a team, I know that if we do that and we communicate as well as we can, we have a good chance of beating EG. It's hard to know how good they're going to be, we haven't practiced against them, so it can be difficult to know what level they're on. It's difficult to play against that because you don't know what to expect, but it makes you a bit more afraid. That can be a good thing because then we won't underestimate them and just expect to go out and crush them.

I expect that we can do well at BLAST Premier Spring Groups, but there's also a chance that we don't play as well as we can because we'll be nervous playing together for the first time in official matches and I think it'll be difficult. I'm just looking forward to playing with the team and seeing how the team reacts to the high pressure situations. That's when we can start the development and work on things, figuring out what went wrong, what we can improve, how to make the tactics better and stuff like that. I can't talk much about the map pool, we have a few good maps and some that are not as strong, which is normal when you're a new team, there's no surprise. In the end I think our pool is actually decently strong, we have three maps that we're very strong on both on the T and also the CT side — I hope we can play a lot on those maps! [laughs]

What are the goals for the team?

Our short term goals are about improving and becoming as good as we can as fast as possible, but we're not really working in the short term. We want to win tournaments, to be able to beat NAVI, and that's going to take time. It'll take some disappointing moments in the near future, but we'll still play to win. It doesn't matter how good we are. So yeah, we're hoping that our individual level and as a team is good enough to win tournaments, but for us the long term is what matters. It's about winning the biggest tournaments, being the best team in the world, and that's going to take time and it will be a long process, but I know we have the pieces to do it.

We don't expect to go out and be the best team in the world in a month. It may take three, six, eight months. We just have to follow the process, the plan we've made as a team. That's what we follow and that's what we trust in. Whenever we lose an important match we'll look at the plan and say 'OK, this was not a part of the plan but now we have to keep working on it and improving as a team.' That's how we'll work. I just want to win a lot again. [laughs]

It seems like a lot of teams are in a similar situation right now. Are you in a good position to capitalize on it?

This year feels like when we were winning everything in Astralis and everyone was changing rosters all of the time, but with NAVI. It's a bit weird, but also fun being on the other side, although I would prefer to be on the NAVI side and winning everything [laughs]. It's like G2, they had to buy an AWPer to challenge NAVI or s1mple would continue to destroy them. It was the same with Vitality, they felt like they had to bring in more experience and players that have been on the biggest stages and know how to win tournaments.

This year is going to be the most interesting year in Counter-Strike history, there are so many storylines, so many new teams, so many insanely stacked teams. It's going to be so interesting, so much fun, and the team that ends as the best team of the year will be remembered for something special because this is one of the most stacked years in history. It's nuts, man, I'm just excited to see how it goes. Obviously we want to be the best team but we can't know that for sure yet.

And hopefully it happens on LAN!

Yeah, I mean I'm better on LAN, so I'll take it! [laughs] You can see that with a guy like NiKo, he wasn't bad online, he was definitely still good, but he was a different man on LAN and it's crazy to see the difference. For me too, I just work so much better on LAN and it can be difficult working online for such a long time. I know I'm doing my best and trying to be as ready as possible, but it just feels so different when compared to LAN, so I really, really hope we get to play on LAN and back in front of crowds to enjoy Counter-Strike for what it is, because it's such a good game and it's meant to be played in arenas.