r1nkle: "We're feeling way better than we were at the last RMR"

B8 beat two of the top teams at the Europe RMR A and are now heading into the best-of-three portion of the qualifier with a strong 2-0 record.

B8, who were just one series win away from making the IEM Rio Major after going 2-2 at the RMR before losing to GamerLegion, have started their second shot at qualifying for a Major from an RMR with a clean 2-0 in the first day of play in Copenhagen.

Artem "⁠r1nkle⁠" Moroz and his teammates did so in fashion, too, taking out none other than two top 10 sides, MOUZ and Virtus.pro, albeit in best-of-one matches on Ancient. On both occasions B8 did so while starting on the attack and taking early snowball leads.

We caught up with the Ukrainian team's AWPer, r1nkle, after their day came to an end with the victory over Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's side, to discover more about this underdog team and their perfect start in the final qualifier before the Major.

The first days of the RMR is over for you guys and you went 2-0 with big victories. How was it?

It was really sick, we prepared for the first match really well. The communication was good, everything went by our side and my team did an amazing job. We didn't really feel like we won something big or anything, but looking at the second match we had less time to prepare, we just prepared that one map, and here it is, Ancient.

The start was really good, we were leading like 8-1, but after the technical pause we just froze and couldn't find our game. In the last rounds I won a clutch and got some really nice kills and we won.

Being on of the lesser known teams here, can you run me through the team, who does what and so on?

I'm the AWPer, obviously, and sometimes I help the IGL with calls and mid-rounding. amster is the clutcher, he's a quiet guy and clutching in the game, but in real life he's not like this. alex666 is a monster, he likes to press 'W' and run and shoot. OWNER is a chill killer, I would say, and a chill IGL. He's always chilling. [laughs] cptkurtka023 is the guy who can run first and give kills, you can't stop him.

Tell me a bit about that end of the match against Virtus.pro, there was a round that they won on a forcebuy and it got tough for you guys. Then you had your clutch as well and turned it around. Run me through those late rounds and what it took to get that 16th.

I would say that I had really good confidence, I wasn't pressured, but it felt like some of my teammates were and they were yelling or something like that. In that situation, I don't really remember it, but somehow we managed to win.

That clutch, I was a bit nervous because I was defusing, he flashed, I stopped and killed him, and it was like 0.5 seconds left after the defuse. After that we felt really good and just finished the game.

Tell me about your confidence here. You're going 2-0 on LAN with a huge first day in the best-of-ones. At the last RMR you were in the 2-2 group and were just one series away from the Major. How is it this time around?

We're feeling way better than we were at the last RMR because we have a little experience and for me it's no pressure, even the first match against MOUZ, a top 10 team. Everyone thought we would have pressure, but it's not like that. We have confidence, we practiced our communication, we practiced our stuff, and we're ready to show ourselves — and we did.

You beat two huge teams in MOUZ and VP, both times on Ancient. How do you feel about going into best-of-threes now? Having to deal with vetoes, playing more maps...

We feel good, we have many maps to show, so we'll see. That's it.

Do you think you can be just as strong in best-of-threes, especially in the 2-0 pool against the best teams?

I think so, yeah, I think we're ready.

You're usually stuck in the second tier, online, so playing here and beating top tier teams is something unexpected. Did you feel like you could do it before coming here?

Yeah, we have huge motivation because we couldn't play for two months, so now we want to show what we're made of. I'm really feeling ready to play in tier one.

Is this team ready to make that jump?

I think so, yes. It's the time.

Do you think this five that you have now is it, after bringing on OWNER, who wasn't on the team at the last RMR?

I think that we have better firepower now, he can kill everyone, hype everyone, he's calling really well and sometimes I help him or the team helps him. He's a really cool guy, we're friends in life, we're hyping up all of the time.

You had strong starts and early leads in both games today. What do you think this is due to?

I think it's because we have a really good T side now, we practiced it, and it's like at the start of the game when you win five rounds and you're snowballing — it feels like it did in these matches. We were just snowballing and that's it, but after that we threw some stupid rounds and couldn't manage to end it.

Where do you see yourself as a player? People are no doubt noticing, even at the last RMR, and especially with performances like today's. Where do you see yourself when you play like you did against teams like VP?

I don't really think about what player I am, I just really want to be a good team and show everyone our skill. That's it.