sycrone: "It was more of a decision for JDC than it was against NBK-, he never did anything wrong"

Coach Dennis "⁠sycrone⁠" Nielsen believed MOUZ could be a few percentage points better with Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro on the starting roster when they brought him on.

MOUZ had a tough start at the PGL Major Antwerp Europe RMR with a loss to OG in the opening round, but have since gone on to turn things around with best-of-one victories over QUAZAR and Outsiders, joining the 2-1 pool of teams heading into the best-of-three portion of the Swiss group.

After MOUZ's second victory, the team's skipper, sycrone, took some time to answer HLTV's questions about the their run at the tournament, as well as the changes in the team and how they have affected the European squad. The coach also gave an example of how Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás's proactive play helped his team beat Outsiders, and the good atmosphere currently reigning in the squad.

Let's go back to your first match, against OG. It was the 50-50 match of the day, what did you expect from it and did you get a bit scared after losing?

No, we didn't get scared after losing the first match. When we looked at the veto format we had chosen to be 'Team A,' which means that you decide the map but not the side. We were maybe hoping to play Inferno against them, although we knew Mirage was most likely, so we prepared both maps.

We didn't get any of th pistol rounds on Mirage and some of the key rounds went their way, which in a best-of-one you kind of need those. I still think it was kind of close, so we weren't worried at all and I still think we can play a very good Mirage.

I overheard some of the guys chatting about pistol rounds, is that something you've been struggling with or something you need to work through?

I think it's something that has been in MOUZ for a long time. I don't personally see it, but the guys say it goes back a while. In a BO1 you have to be smart with the money, save at the right times, maybe do some funky stuff to save the bank and not buy fully all of the time, so yeah.

You beat Outsiders, which is another team fighting to qualify, and did it on Inferno, which is a map that they seemed to be comfortable on. How was it playing them on that map?

In the preparation leading up to the match we saw a few different maps and Inferno looked like the weak point for them, so we were very comfortable going there and today we showcased what kind of game we can actually provide, always playing to win, sitting in the smokes at the right time, making game winning moves and not just sitting back — being proactive on both sides.

torzsi has been playing quite well since he's come up, he's a player that can make moves and be proactive. It's good to see it in a guy getting his first steps at this level.

torzsi is much more than the stats, I'll give an example of how creative he was today. There was a round on the CT side, we had a streak of nine or 10 rounds, then they got two in a row, so I called a timeout. I told them we were falling too far back on the sites, giving them too much space. I said 'let's go back to being proactive, sitting in the smokes and getting information on the map.'

The first round, at 40 seconds, Adam [torzsi] pushed middle for info, called everything, and while he was doing it he called for Auri [bymas] to sneak under short. Then Adam fell back loudly after clearing middle, setting up Auri perfectly because if anyone was close apps, he would hear Adam falling back. Then Auri got two kills and we ended up winning the round.

He's very proactive making moves, a lot more than just the stats show. Outside of the server he's also super funny, humble, and gets along with everyone, he's the goofy kid on the team.

I also want to talk about JDC, which of course brings up the NBK- change. What triggered the change, because seemed like it was a bit too quick to happen after he joined the team.

I understand why there are so many people wondering about it, it was more of a decision for Jon [JDC] than it was against Nathan [NBK-], Nathan never did anything wrong. He really tried to put himself forward, being very unselfish. He was never arrogant or anything, he put in a lot of time and added structure to the team, these outside intangible things. It just happened to be the case that I believed Jon could do it a few percentage points better.

They play a similar role on the team and when you have a roster, collectively, of 10 players, and you're heading into the Major with four weeks to go, you look at the players and ask 'is there anything we can do to be just a couple of percentage points better and have a better chance?' And I had a feeling that we could. I asked a bit around and that was also the feeling, which is why it happened so quickly.

I was one of the guys that pushed for it and it was a very tough decision, I have to admit. Also having the talk with Nathan about it, saying that I was pushing for this, it wasn't easy at all. Nathan did nothing to deserve the position he is in now, it was really just more of a decision for Jon than anything against Nathan.

So Jon is here to stay now, then. It's not just a stand-in situation?

Yeah, I would say so.

How has his growth been? He was the most experienced guy in the MOUZ NXT roster. How has his transition to the first team been?

Jon was always a solid rock in the team, we called him the emotional leader. He was always the guy to cheer everyone up, making sure we're on the right path and never tilting. He's the guy that when he dies he'll compliment the opponent saying that they've played a round well. He's never frustrated, or at least he never shows it. He kind of brings that to the team. His growth has been that he's even more like that, and also he's a more complete player. He can play almost any position on any map and be good at it.

Little known fact, if you're from Germany you know just about every grenade in the game, and when he was a stand-in for Katowice the rest of guys were very surprised that every time they'd ask if he knew a smoke he'd be like 'yeah, sure,' and just threw it instantly. Overall he's a very complete player and his biggest strength is that he's a great emotional leader.

Now that the best-of-ones are behind us, you got out of them with two victories. Going into the BO3 series, how do you feel about your chances?

I think we have pretty good chances, looking at the match-ups we may face some of the more favored teams, but we have a very deep map pool right now. It doesn't look like we play Overpass at all, but we're on a very good spot in the six other maps and we have a lot of material.

We've worked really hard for this ever since we started, there was a bit of a transition phase making sure that Jon also feels comfortable and that we're not just throwing him into it, but he was very quick to adapt and we just picked up where we left off and worked on our map pool. I think best-of-threes suit us very well.

With ropz leaving, how has that affected bymas and frozen? Has it allowed them to flourish without having the aura of a superstar casting a shadow on them?

Without ropz on the team, Auri can play the lurk positions a lot more, something he really likes and enjoys. I think that finally he feels like he has the right spot on the team. He played it a bit in FaZe, played different roles, the joined MOUZ, played different roles, swapped around a bit, and now there's finally the space for him to play the positions he really likes to play.

David [frozen], when we were first bootcamping with Nathan on the team, he said that it was the first time in a long time that he was enjoying himself. He ended up re-signing with us and I think it's a sign that he's enjoying the direction this team is going in and that he believes in the project. Every day I see a happy David, who is joking around with the young guys and dexter has a bit of dad humor at times, me as well, so we're having a great time.

So you're in a sweet moment right now?

Yeah, I would say so.