valde: "We probably all expected more, sooner"

With a comfortable win over HEET in his back pocket, Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså took some time out for a conversation with HLTV.

ENCE were one of the big movers and shakers in the off-season, upgrading their AWPer with the rapidly rising Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García and replacing their outgoing star rifler with valde.

The changes have yet to bear fruit with the team struggling mightily during ESL Pro League, eventually being eliminated with a single series win to their name and a 2-8 map record.

ENCE have begun their RMR campaign with a convincing win over HEET, and with that victory in the books valde gave an interview to HLTV addressing their difficult start to life with the new roster, what areas he thinks are key to the team's improvement, and how he has adjusted to his new roles.

Congratulations, how are the team feeling after that one?

Obviously it was really important to go 1-0, so I think we are all feeling really good. It was the start we needed, but it’s not like anything is set in stone yet, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Were you confident coming into this game, considering you beat HEET during ESL Pro League?

Yeah, 100%. No games are easy in this tournament for sure, but I really feel like we always have a good game plan going into HEET, but yeah you still gotta be careful.

I think every team here is dangerous, and you cannot take anybody for granted. It was just about getting a good start, and then rolling with that momentum.

With that good start, are you guys confident moving forward?

For sure. I think for us, it’s about focusing on ourselves a lot because obviously we are a new team, there are so many elements where we need to get on the same page. I feel like we’re not there yet, but we’re slowly improving day by day.

I know it’s a really boring answer (laughs), but we need more time together.

To pick up on that point, it’s obviously not been the best start when looking at it from the outside. Before I ask any specific questions, how has it felt within the team so far?

The honest answer is we probably all expected more, sooner. We were really disappointed with the Pro League result, for example, but at the end of the day s**t can happen, and it was our first tournament together so we have no idea how our map pool is, how we play in official games. You’ve got to get used to each other, reactions and ways of doing things, so I think all of that came into play and it didn’t turn out well for the first tournament.

I think this is the perfect chance to bounce back.

How far away from where you want to be did you feel during Pro League? All bar one map loss went to double digits, and you did win a series.

Far away to be honest (laughs).

There were so many aspects where I think we failed as a team, where we can do so much better. On one hand that’s obviously not optimal, but at the same time we have a lot of things where we can go into the specifics and say “this we have to improve on, and this we have to improve on,” so in some way it’s fine.

Obviously we want to have positive results as soon as possible, now is the Major qualifier so we don’t have any time to waste.

Has there been a main struggle or difficulty the team has had, or has it been a case of small things adding up?

Sometimes there is a little bit of a language barrier, but apart from that I think it’s just mainly about being on the same page. We all came from different teams so we are used to different spot names, different strat names, maybe my old teammate reacts to a certain scenario in a different way and now you have to get used to a new teammate. It’s a lot about those kinds of things.

I spoke to Snappi when the team came together and he talked about putting you in more of a star role, how has that transition been for you?

I am really happy about the role change, but obviously I feel like I need more time, you know? I need more matches to try out different scenarios and see how I react to those, and as I said before getting on the same page is going to be the key factor for us.

Right now we are just trying to play as a team, let Snappi do his calls, and the rest of us are trying to follow.

It seemed today the individuals were performing, you and SunPayus had great games for example. How important is getting the individuals up and running for a team like yourselves?

I think it’s crucial. For any team, you will win a lot of games if the individuals are just turning up, and then you can forget about strats and everything else (laughs).

You need those types of games, especially in a Major qualifier where probably every team has a lot of nerves, especially in the first game. It’s always nice when you have two or three guys popping off, and they will drag you across the line (smiles).

One last question. Have you set any goals as a team, hitting certain rankings or challenging for titles by a certain point, or are you just taking it as it comes?

We do have goals, but I think I’ll keep them to ourselves (smiles).

Obviously the first couple of tournaments are about feeling out each other and seeing where we are at. Of course we have goals as a team, but we are taking it one step at a time at the moment.