Magisk: "I think the individuals stepped up today on the CT side"

After a victory over his ex-team Astralis,
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif provided some insight on the win to HLTV.

Vitality got off to a winning start at BLAST Premier Spring Groups, defeating Astralis with a 2-0 scoreline. The win now sets them up for a clash against Evil Geniuses on Saturday and puts the European combine in a strong position to qualify for the Spring Final. Magisk doesn't want to underestimate the North American team, especially after their performance against HEROIC.

After their win against his former team, Magisk sat down with HLTV to reflect on their first game of the year.

Congratulations on the win. First of all, how do you think the series went? Overpass seemed close, but you seemed to be in control for most of the game?

So Overpass was obviously a little bit close, they played really well. I think we got a bad start, which can be tough when you're on the CT side, so obviously that didn't help us. We also lost both pistols and the first buy round after pistol, so in that sense they got like, six, seven rounds, kind of for free, so it put us in a bad situation. It's the first game after the vacation, so obviously there was a little bit more chaos on TeamSpeak than we are used to, which I think is normal because we have to get into the routines again and get used to playing on LAN again.

So with that said, I think we played really well overall. We made some good decisions as a team and pushed at the right moments and held the flanks as well when we played on the T side because they really played aggressively whenever they lost the first kill or stuff like that. So in that sense, I think we played well, a really good game, but we definitely have things we can improve on as a team. First of all, it would help to win a few pistols (laughs), but yeah, that's how it is sometimes.

So then on Vertigo you again got to a bad start on both halves, and you were 13-7 down at one point. What helped you come back?

Our Vertigo CT side is usually really good, and it was also today. So we had that in our minds that we just have to play our own game. And I think the playstyle they had on the T side was pretty good for us, playing really passively and stuff. They did have some success sneaking out mid with some good timings, but that is CS sometimes.

To be fair to them, they played well today, but our CT side was really strong. I think a lot of individuals had moments on the CT side with multi-kills and that helped us a lot, as well. We won a few rounds that could have gone their way, and it would be different. So, yeah, I think the individuals stepped up today on the CT side to make sure that we could actually come back into the game, but the game plan was also pretty strong. I would say it was a mix of the game plan but also individuals being strong at the right moment.

And speaking of individuals, Spinx had a great game today. He first won a clutch on Overpass when you were full eco, and then another one on Vertigo that allowed you to get back into the game. How important is it for the team that he finds the confidence that he had in ENCE?

I mean, it's obviously a crucial role in the team. He is supposed to be the star player together with ZywOo, so of course the more confidence we can give this guy, the better it is for us as a team. But it's also about putting him in the right situations and talking a lot about CS as a team because he needs to understand the way we want to play CS and we need to understand the way he wants to play it sometimes. So I think it's a mix of finding the balance between the way he played in ENCE but also adapting to a new team, which can be difficult.

Being the one new guy coming into a team can be difficult because it's a lot easier playing like before because that's what we are used to. So obviously it's also about us adapting to him, which is something we are trying to do slowly and find out how we can activate him the best. He played really well today and he had some really crucial moments and thanks to him, we actually had a chance to come back today.

EG upset Heroic earlier in the day which means you can put yourself in a great spot by just beating them on Saturday. Do you think this gives you a slightly easier path to the Spring final?

I think nowadays it's really bad to underestimate people. It's obviously a game where we go in as the favorites, but if you can beat Heroic, I would say that you can't be underestimated. That means you can play some really good CS. Even if it wasn't the best day for Heroic, I still think EG played really well and you actually felt like they were playing good as a team in certain moments, kept their cool, and had pretty good teamwork.

So it's going to be a tough and important game in the sense that it makes it a lot easier to qualify if you win it. But yeah, I feel like many teams can upset and many people can play good CS. So we have to be sharp and we have to be good as a team, but also like today, be good as individuals. So I'm looking forward to the game.