kennyS: "I feel like I never left"

Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub, back on LAN for the first time since 2021, believes in his team's chances to qualify for their home Major.

The BLAST.tv Paris Major is doubly important for the likes of kennyS and Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt, Falcons' veteran stalwarts and two amply laureated players in CS:GO, and to a lesser extent for another member that alongside the two forms the core of the 2017-2019 G2, Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro, as it will be that last Global Offensive Major and will take place in their country's capital city.

Alongside Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier and Jordan "⁠Python⁠" Munck-Foehrle, the aforementioned trio are fighting at the RMR in Copenhagen for their spot at the Valve-sanctioned Major. They reaped their first win in the opening match against Sprout, a 16-12 victory on Ancient, and are now facing off against one of the favorites to go 3-0, Natus Vincere.

For kennyS, who has been on the sidelines since early 2020 with the exception of a stint as a stand-in with G2 at IEM Winter 2021, this is his first bid to return to Counter-Strike's biggest stage after four months of online play with his new team. When bodyy joined in late January, kennyS was sure of his team's ability to make it through the qualifier, even with a clean record. Now his optimism isn't gone, but it's more tamed. "I think we're at a place where we can qualify in a good way, in a pretty convincing way," he says.

First things first, it's been since the end of 2021 that you've been at a LAN like this. What's it like to be back?

It's pretty fun, I feel at home. I missed it, I feel like I never left. It's a pretty good feeling. I'm still adapting, you know, but I can see that it's much easier and much more fun than any of the games you can play. LAN events are the best you can do, so I'm very happy to be back.

You had some time playing online games. how has the team been feeling after having some time together, where are you at?

I think we'll actually find out at this tournament. I think we're confident coming up to the RMR, but you know, a lot of things are at stake and a lot of conditions are needed in order to go through such as the opponents you're getting. It's going to be fun to see where we're at. I think we're at a place where we can qualify in a good way, in a pretty convincing way, so we'll figure it out.

We had a lot of games, it was really hard because in online games the schedule is even heavier than in tier one. Without the travel, but with a large amount of games. I think the best way to practice is to play official games, so I think that if we stay consistent during the game, which we might have lacked during some rounds against Sprout, we're definitely going to do it.

Tell me about the first feelings. As you said you just played Sprout and got your first victory. One foot in front of the other, getting that 1-0 start. How is it after getting that first victory?

We've seen a lot of teams already that we're not expecting it to be hard to play against, but that are actually hard to play against, such as Viperio and Into The Breach. I'm not necessarily surprised, considering I play against these teams pretty often, but yeah, it's always nice to start with a win. The first game is always the easiest to win depending on who you draw, but it's better to start 1-0 than 0-1, so it's satisfying.

We're satisfied, we're 1-0, now I think we're up against NAVI, so that's going to be one of NAVI or FaZe, the two teams we know that are for sure going through, the pressure's not on us anyway. There's a lot of games that will be played, we have no expectation considering that you can not qualify by being up 2-0, but also qualify while being 0-2. So yeah, it's round by round, game by game.

Tell me about when you got here and sat down, set up everything, especially with NBK- and bodyy, on LAN at an RMR. Did it bring back some memories?

As I told you, I got back to it really quickly, I feel like I never left, so it almost felt like we went in straight away, you know? It's just like the process, when do you actually do the vetoes, that kind of thing, the normal schedule of the day that you forget, but at the end of the day I feel like I never left so there was nothing to get used to again or any nostalgia stuff.

How does the leadership in the team work, because you guys have enough experience and voices and knowledge over the years. How are you handling that, even with Ozstrik3r?

The game and the way we play is really held by the players, in the first place. The coach has his input, but he's mostly here to keep us together, he's really good at it. The main caller is NBK- on T side, bodyy is what we call the co-leader, so he's really active as well in the early and mid rounds, and on the CT side as well.

Me, as an AWPer, I'm trying to get as much impact as possible. There are some maps where I'm struggling to get the impact I want, such as in Ancient, as we saw against Sprout, but over all I myself have the AWPing role so I speak a lot during the rounds, as well. But yeah, the callers are NBK- and then bodyy.

How's the synergy with the younger guys? Of course misutaaa has his experience from Vitality, but how is bringing these different generations together working out?

It's good, I've played with players, even already in Falcons, that didn't necessarily have the right mindset. That shows on their own progression and career, and in the way they perform and the wish they had. When it comes to Python and misutaaa they really are not what you expect from the French scene, they really listen and they're not thinking that they know better.

We expect them to feel comfortable, as well, we want them to feel comfortable, but they definitely have the right mindset and it's really easy for us, they're easy going and the chemistry in the team since we arrived in Copenhagen has been really good so we're keeping it up that way. That's mostly because the young players have the right mindset and us, the more experienced players, we're really focused on the tournament as well.

You guys are kind of considered a middle of the pack team here at the RMR. Where do you see yourselves and what do you want to get out of this tournament?

When bodyy arrived and we qualified from the closed qualifier I was really confident to say that we could go 3-0. Maybe that was a bit idealistic, but we gotta be confident anyway, you know? Now as I said we have all it takes to qualify and that's the most important for me; 3-0, 3-1, 3-2, it doesn't matter as long as we qualify.

We're trying to not have any expectation, we're ranked in the middle of the RMR, so we're in that place where you don't really know, it's 50-50. But yeah, for us, I think we're aware of our strengths enough to be confident.

We're in Copenhagen now, sure, but you can see everywhere the Paris branding. Is that in the back of your minds as the French representatives here? Does that give it an extra meaning?

Yeah, absolutely, but most of it we just do for ourselves. Nobody is playing instead of us, we're playing for us and obviously we're playing for our loved ones because we actually want them to cheer for us in Paris and to have them there.

We're also thinking about what it could be for us to play in front of our crowd, for our crowd, and what it would represent for the French community. We have it in the back of our mind, but we try to not overthink because that might be a pressure that's unnecessary. The pressure is already really high for everyone.

In that sense, for you guys, especially you and NBK- who have been here throughout the life of the game, this will be the last CS:GO Major, right? So it's a special moment for a team like Falcons. It's good seeing you win your first game and getting into it.

Yeah, we just have to keep it up, huh? NAVI is next, we might be 1-1, 2-0, we don't know. Nothing is done. The Swiss system... I've been really disappointed, but also really happy, surprisingly happy after that. So we'll see.

You said that when bodyy came in you felt really confident and were in really good form. Where would you say you're at now? Can you snap back and be that super strong team or are you in a place of doubt?

We have some players, even myself, that are finding consistency depending on the tournaments and games we play, but over all I feel like we've been pretty consistent since bodyy arrived. Of course we had some accidents, losing in games that I could tell you and maybe you're not even aware of, you know?

But over all I think we've been doing alright, making the finals of online tournaments, losing in quarter-finals against Cloud9... I feel like it's going to take the best version of ourselves this tournament, our best version is always dangerous, but I mean the best version of any team here is always dangerous, but especially ours.

We enjoy this kind of tournament. Maybe we don't know if we feel ready, you think 'Oh I should have done that, I should have done that,' but I don't think preparation is everything in this situation, I think the dynamism of the team and the momentum of the tournament is a really big key to success. I think we have all it takes, we play with our hearts and if we build momentum throughout the tournament it shouldn't be a problem.