s1n: "People may feel a bit pressured because they want to perform well, but for me pressure is a privilege"

BIG's 20-year-old stand-in didn't get a Major sticker, but the newcomer has lofty goals and believes that the German team has a high ceiling and potential to go far at the Major.

BIG made an incredible comeback in their opening IEM Rio Major match on stage in front of thousands of Brazilian fans, silencing the crowd as they brought back an 8-15 deficit to a 19-16 overtime victory. FURIA dominated the CT side early on, but crumbled under the pressure with stand-in coach André Akkari unable to help the home team revert the situation.

Elias "⁠s1n⁠" Stein, who one month ago was playing his trade in BIG Academy, was one of the players that made the comeback effort against FURIA possible. The 20-year-old made his Major debut in Rio as a stand-in with BIG's main team, whom he also helped at the RMR due to Josef "⁠faveN⁠" Baumann being moved to the injured list.

We caught up with the neophyte after BIG's victory to talk about him playing his first Major match while facing a loud crowd, the comeback against FURIA, not having his own sticker in the game, and what he believes BIG's chances at the Major are. "I'm a rookie coming in, so you can't just say like 'oh we need to make Legends and stuff," he said in the interview which can be read in full below, "but we know that the ceiling is very high and I think that we can go very far."

You just got off the stage in Rio, your first match at a Major, and you played a Brazilian team in Brazil, against a wild crowd. What was the experience like?

It was really amazing, from the moment we stepped into the arena we could already hear these fans and we knew it would get even louder when FURIA would step onto the stage. It was a really rough game, the fans were getting really loud because we had a sloppy start on the T side. They picked up many rounds in a row and we got in a hole, but we dug ourselves out of it.

Tell me about digging yourselves out of it. You were down 8-15 and fought off seven match points to come back and win. How did you do it?

The pressure got to me a bit on the T side because we lost in some sloppy ways, like entry frags and stuff, things that don't normally happen, and that's why we had a slow side. On the CT side we had a good game plan and we were prepared, but we knew that we just needed to take it round by round, even if we lost the round that gave them 15. We knew that, okay, it's just seven more. We told ourselves: 'one more, one more,' and that's how we got it in the end, round by round.

You had some time to cool down going into overtime. Did you have a talk before OT that got you guys going?

We had a three minute break and gob b was able to talk during it. We just knew after it that we were going to win the game. gob said 'we're going to win this game' and he told us what to do and to keep doing the things we had been doing on the CT side. We had a good game plan and just continued like that. Every one of us was 100% that we were going to pick up that overtime.

It's your first Major, every player's dream is to make it onto this stage. What was it like, getting on that stage and playing your first-ever Major match?

It was the best experience I've felt so far. People may feel a bit pressured because they want to perform well, but for me pressure is a privilege. I've been grinding this game for so many years, and watching this game — especially the Majors — since I was younger. Now I'm finally here and the work paid off even though I'm a stand-in. I just went with the game and finally I'm here, finally I can show what I can do and I'm very happy that I can be at the Major. I think it's the most hyped Major so far, it's in Rio, there are so many fans and every game has a crowd, so I'm just really excited.

Tell me a little bit about your path to BIG Academy, and then from there to finding yourself at a Major. How has that journey been?

Krimbo has been a friend of mine for a long time and I knew that he was going to return to BIG Academy. He asked me to create the new team with him and I said yes, of course, because every German player admires BIG. It's the best organization, in my eyes. So I joined the team and pretty soon after we got together he got picked up to the main team. I was a bit sad at first because I couldn't play with him that much, so I told myself 'you have to go get better.' That was a lot of motivation for me.

When k1to left I took over as IGL and it helped me a lot to grow as a player. Going to Fragadelphia really helped me coming into this first game here because I didn't feel the jitters that I felt in Philadelphia. Even though it was a small LAN, there was this LAN feeling that was new for me. Now it's the Rio Major, it's obviously bigger, but I didn't feel pressure, I felt comfortable and I took it to my advantage.

You didn't get a sticker this time around even though you were there at the RMR and now you're here at the Major. Are you a bit disappointed in that?

Yeah, the day the update came out I was really excited to see the stickers, but then I saw that I didn't get one. I was sad in the moment, but then a few days later I just said to myself 'now we're here, in Rio, and who cares about the sticker?' I aim to get the trophy in the game, so it's okay. The sticker is obviously really cool for every player, but playing at the Major? Playing in front of this crowd? That's the real deal, man!

What was your preparation like?

Five days before the RMR I got called in and told 'hey, you have to come to Berlin.' We started to practice the evening of the day that I got there. We had five days, played the tournament, and then it was still uncertain if I was going to play the Major. We had a few days break, then it became clear that I was going to play the Major and I went straight to Berlin. We played there for a week and a half. We played the BLAST Showdown, too, but because we got knocked out early we told ourselves 'we have one week to fully grind this game and prepare for the Major.'

What was the process like, not knowing you'd go to the Major, then getting called up? How did you get yourself ready mentally?

We got back home from the RMR in Malta and we had like four or five days free in the calendar. I was at home at the time, but I just expected to play the Major, so I was prepared the whole time. It was spontaneous for the RMR, but then I just thought to myself 'I'm going to play the Major.'

You're on the team as a stand-in, a last minute addition, and that has cast some doubt around BIG. What do you think?

Coming into the team, I played with Krimbo and k1to, but the other guys and gob b... I played with them, but not in a team environment, when you grind hard together all of the time. But I know they're the best German players, world class players, so I think they can go to the top. I'm a rookie coming in, so you can't just say like 'oh we need to make Legends and stuff, but we know that the ceiling is very high and I think that we can go very far.

We just need to take it game by game and I need to feel the game more, to become comfortable. Even though I said I don't feel much pressure, it's still a different scenario for me to play on the stage and play at this top level of CS, but I will give it my best to adjust and then I'm pretty sure we can go all the way.