w0nderful on Major debut: "I don't feel nervous"

Spirit stepped into the IEM Rio Major with Major debutant Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov leading the way in a 16-8 win against Bad News Eagles.

As one of the Legends, Spirit faced off against Bad News Eagles in their first match at the IEM Rio Major and passed it with flying colors. Despite a sub-par defensive half, the Russian squad won the match 16-8 after a flawless Terrorist side.

Major debutant w0nderful was a key player in the match, topping the scoreboard with 24 kills and denying the Kosovar team a way back in the second half with a 1v3 clutch.

w0nderful spoke to HLTV.org following the match and about how Spirit shut down the typically CT-heavy Bad News Eagles squad, saying that it came down to good preparation.

He went on to talk on the topic of his Major debut and whether he feels any nerves in his first appearance. "I don't feel nervous," he said. "It doesn't matter if it's a Major or some other tournament, I'm just feeling great emotions."

The Ukrainian AWPer came to the Major less than two weeks after he has become a target of allegations of match-fixing by former ESIC investigator Alexey "Yarabeu" Kurlov. When asked for his response to the claims, which are also being looked into by Spirit internally, w0nderful only reiterated that he is ready to cooperate with ESIC's investigation into the matter before the Spirit management stepped in.

"This might be part of the investigation. We shouldn't say anything," Spirit Brand Lead Konstantin Machaidze said.

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Spirit conducts investigation into w0nderful match-fixing allegations

ESIC has yet to launch an official investigation into the claims, and according to Machaidze, there haven't been any conversations between Spirit and ESIC about the allegations in recent times. "I guess the communication will resume after the Major," he said. "That's what we think, at least."

The full interview can be found below:

Bad News Eagles have been strong so far at the Major in the first stage. What did you think about the matchup going into the game, first of all, and how did you approach their playstyle?

We played versus them at the RMRs and we beat them, and when we knew we would play versus them we just prepared well for them. We knew we would play Ancient, and it was just good preparation, and my guys are beasts.

They had a lot of success on the CT sides, but in your game you didn't let them win even one round in the second half - was this down to that preparation? Did you have a good idea of what they were going to do?

Yeah. It was our first game at the Major and the CT side was hard, but on the T side it's all about good preparation for the teams, and we just knew what they would do. It was easy on the T side. They play exactly like in the demos, they don't really alter their playstyle too much, so we just watched some demos, we studied their playstyle, and we knew what to do.

In your 1v3 clutch it was clear you were confused about where the last player was coming from. Can you walk me through what happened there and what your thinking was at the time?

I killed the second guy and there was a nade, and I thought he was in cave, but my teammates were saying 'it's banana, it's banana'. I didn't hear his steps and I was watching cave, banana, cave, banana, cave, banana, and after he went banana I killed him.

How has the last week been, watching the first stage of the Major from the sidelines, and what did you do with that extra time to prepare for the Major?

It was a hard week, the last week before the Major. We were preparing a lot, we were praccing a lot. We lived and breathed CS, we really focused on the game.

How ready do you think are you?

I don't wanna say anything, we will see how it will go. But we came prepared.

This is your first Major, how are you feeling about the challenge? Has it been nerve-wracking?

I don't feel nervous. I'm just feeling good emotions because it's not my first LAN. It doesn't matter if it's a Major or some other tournament, I'm just feeling great emotions, and I hear the people [Editor's note: the crowd had just cheered loudly], it's great.

How do you think it's going to go when you go up there on the stage, especially if you play against a crowd favorite? Do you think it's going to get to you at that point?

I don't, no. When you see people who are screaming, it's good.

I have to ask about the public match-fixing allegations that have been made against you and the investigation that Spirit have launched into these. What's your response to what has been said about you?

It didn't affect me that much. Me and the organization will cooperate with ESIC in the investigation fully.

But what is the response?

Konstantin "-tvd-" Machaidze: I would like to skip that, because this might be part of the investigation. We shouldn't say anything.

Have you had any contact with ESIC? Can you say anything about what the conversations have been like behind the scenes?

Konstantin "-tvd-" Machaidze: We had some conversations with ESIC before, but not lately. I guess the communication will resume after the Major. That's what we think, at least.