twist: "We are coming here to win, we are not just here to participate"

Fresh from eliminating EG White, Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson gave a quick interview to HLTV.

Finest have experienced a hectic couple of weeks, going from a relatively unknown name to winning Pinnacle Cup IV beating the likes of Spirit and Movistar Riders and getting a late invite to participate here in Lund.

After an admirable showing in defeat against Imperial, Finest comfortably dispatched EG White to keep their hopes of reaching the playoffs alive.

twist sat down with HLTV after making it to day two to give us some insight on his teams' recent rise, their goals for this event, and his struggles with his monitor.

Congratulations, how was that EG.PA game for you?

It felt good, we felt more comfortable. I even had some minor issues with the monitor that I fixed during the second half (laughs) which was unlucky that I didn’t fix earlier, because you can’t do these mistakes at LAN, it’s too crucial. Against Imperial it didn’t feel right.

Obviously it’s been a crazy few weeks for you, winning that Pinnacle Cup and getting the invite to come here, how has it been?

It’s been up and down for sure. I would say winning the Pinnacle Cup has been a key part of my career, in my opinion it’s one of the hardest things to do, winning all these games against good tier-two teams, so it felt really good to claim that title.

We are far from done, I feel like we can go all the way here as well.

So did you set any expectations for this event?

I think we take each game as it comes, but I also think that we have super high standards, we want to go all the way. I think it’s been good so far.

Next up you would have either Imperial or Astralis, do you guys get nervous playing against ex-Major winners?

I can only speak for myself, but for me I’ve been around longer than most of the other players on my team. I started back in 2012 so I’ve been around for so long, so no it doesn’t really get me, even though Astralis are a great team and Imperial are a great team as well.

Do you try and pass on some of that experience to help your teammates?

A little bit, but mostly I like them to get more comfortable, and I can only give so many tips. Maybe some settings, but this time it was me that needed help (laughs) the monitor f**ked me up, so it’s like I don’t have Major experience. We always joke, that I have the Major experience, but now maybe they had the experience (laughs). We’re helping each other, the have also shown me some cool stuff that I didn’t know.

What are the longer-term goals for this team?

We want to go as far as possible, like I said, we are coming here to win, we are not just here to participate. We want the trophy, and I think everyone here has the mentality to go all the way as well.

I imagine it would also be cool to play in front of a Swedish crowd!

Yeah for sure, it would also be awesome to claim back-to-back Pinnacle titles (smiles).