ropz: "We created so much new stuff; I have way more opportunities in the team"

Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool spoke to HLTV after being handed his HLTV x 1xBet MVP award.

FaZe emerged victorious over Cloud9 in Malta, clinching the ESL Pro League Season 17 title and at long last winning Season 4 of the Intel Grand Slam to take home an extra $1,000,000.

The European combine had fallen short in their last three opportunities to truly contest for the final win they needed for the Intel Grand Slam, but finally managed to bring that story to an end at Pro League, cementing their name in the history books and likely becoming the last team to claim that title in CS:GO before play moves over to Counter-Strike 2.

HLTV spoke to ropz after FaZe's victory to discuss finally taking that win over the line, the relief that no longer having the pressure of the Grand Slam hanging over their heads brings, and his own individual performance in Malta, for which he was awarded the HLTV x 1xBet MVP award.

Congratulations on the win, a big relief I'm sure with the Grand Slam no longer weighing over your shoulders and no longer a conversation, which we talked about yesterday. How does it feel to win it finally?

This win feels extremely satisfying. This is a goal we've been working for ever since Cologne, so basically nine months I think. Obviously, we've had big wins before with this team when we started it, but now being on the road for a long time and getting to know everyone, getting to see what we need to work on and hitting the low points in Rio etcetera, it's extremely satisfying. I'm so proud of everyone, that we can work towards this goal and make it happen, I think... I'm just speechless right now, sorry.

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ropz on Intel Grand Slam: "This is where we need to do it and it's not going to get better than this"

All good, I can ask another question. You had a really strong performance throughout the event, even in this grand final. You earned the MVP with that, so how does that feel for you after putting up that level individually?

I think there's only one thing for me to say here [laughing]. I don't know, somehow it's just the EPL seasons man, every EPL I find good form. I think now I'm the three-time EPL MVP, the only person I think to do that, which I'm super proud of myself. It's weird to see, I don't know if it's just a coincidence, or just stars aligning, or it's just destiny, I don't know what happening [laughs]. For myself, this is obviously a huge boost to my confidence and everything.

For me personally, I didn't have the best start to this year so far, so I think coming into this event I've been grinding, especially with this month off which we had. We created so much new stuff, most of the stuff which we created I also have way more opportunities in the team, and my team is good at enabling me and we're so good at putting each other into good positions to close out rounds and just do whatever entries. I'm super happy to earn this award once again, and hopefully keep them coming.

I was going to ask about that, it's always EPLs for you! Is it just that the event is longer and you have more time to warm up into it, or do you not have any idea why it's just been EPL MVPs for you?

Yeah I mean I've actually given it some thought myself during the last one. So I think there's definitely something to talk about there, that it is longer and you have more time to play in the event and grind out the hours, get in the right shape for all the matches. Also, the timing of this tournament is always in the middle of the season, and this is where I start to find my form. Obviously sometimes you can get dried up after the player break or have a good performance throughout the season, but once it gets to the middle of the season, I know I've been playing so much the past 2-3 months that I'm going to hit my peak form during those times. I think the timing is also beneficial for me.

Obviously you just tied up the Grand Slam, but coming into that good form right now is really great for you considering you now have the Major cycle coming up. Turning you attention toward that, how do you feel given that FaZe seem to be back on an upward trajectory after a rocky few months?

For sure it's actually great that we're hitting this form for the Major, but honestly [laughs] I have no idea if anyone is thinking about the Major right now. This [the Intel Grand Slam] was such a long-time goal for us. I think if we didn't win this one, we would have probably more focus for the upcoming Dallas and Rio tournaments than the Major, so there is also a difference there obviously.

Now that we have achieved it, we can direct all that energy, focus, and the mindset to the Major, and hopefully good things can come. I think it's great we hit this form right before, and it's the same what happened last year with us having good form before the Major, so I'm looking forward to it.