siuhy: "We want to finally reach the top 20 and play against the big dogs again"

The GamerLegion captain sat down with HLTV for a quick chat after the European combine defeated Falcons to qualify for the BLAST.tv Paris Major.

GamerLegion made the trip to the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR in Denmark with a sense of doubt lingering over them. The European squad had become open-circuit poster boys after making it to the IEM Rio Major in November, but had since tumbled out of the top 30 following a slew of less-than-ideal performances in online competitions.

Alas, the team around Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek showcased a high degree of form in their campaign through the Major qualifier in Copenhagen, responding to a loss at the hands of Apeks in the opening round with a hat-trick of wins over OG, 1win, and Falcons to ensure back-to-back Major appearances and dispel myths that their IEM Rio Major qualification was a fluke.

HLTV had the opportunity to speak with siuhy shortly after their all-important victory over Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt and company. The Pole spoke about how it feels to qualify for a Major for the second time running, GamerLegion's shaky journey in the months following their IEM Rio Major appearance, as well as what the potential is for the European roster moving forward.

So, back-to-back Major qualifications. What was your first thought after getting that final victory?

I don't even know. Maybe I will know soon, but it feels great coming out of an academy team and that the first two Major qualifiers I play, I qualify. It just feels out of this world, honestly.

First academy tournaments you play you win, first Major qualifiers you play and you make it to the Major, what's this all about?

We're going forward, we're never stopping. Always forward and always aiming for a better result no matter what.

So, tell me a little about the journey you've been on all the way from the past Major, which was the first time this GamerLegion kind of popped onto the big stage. It seems that after that you went back to struggling online and were always fighting in that muddy tier-two scene. Now you have a second Major qualification, what does this mean in that sense?

I think it brings us a lot of confidence for the future. Back when we played the first Major after we qualified, we knew that we aren't a complete team yet; we still had a lot to work on and a lot to develop inside and outside of the game to become a tier-one — or maybe competing for tier one — team.

I think we've been doing a really good job on that, focusing on even the smallest details. That's maybe why we were struggling online a little bit, it's a bit harder to play against tier-two teams, sometimes it's random against them.

We personally prefer to play against the better teams. I know my players also like that. We just feel much more confident when we know what we can expect from the opponent and I think we've been working a lot since then. This RMR was just an example of our hard work coming in.

The start of the RMR was against Apeks, which was a team you had beaten online. You got that 0-1 start, which can always be a bit shaky, but on the same day you bounced back, and went 1-1. Tell me a little bit about how those first games shaped your qualifier.

I think the game against Apeks, we'd been there before. Last RMR, we also lost to FaZe in the first game and it was a tough loss. This time it was also a tough loss, but I'm so proud of my teammates, they stayed strong mentally.

After the game, it was a strong reset, we knew that we'd been here before, we went into the second game with our heads up high, we knew what we were capable of, we didn't show our best against Apeks. Maybe it was because it was the first game of the tournament, sometimes it's slow, but I think we did a really good job of resetting mentally coming into the next game.

And making it to two Majors in a row like this, it's no small feat. Where do you think you're at as a team and where is the ceiling?

I think it's hard to pinpoint one specific thing. Winning this brings us a lot of confidence right now and we know what we've been working on before this RMR and we're going to continue working on that. We want to finally reach the top 20 or go into the tier-one scene and play against the big dogs again.

That's what we're missing a lot, whenever we go home we have to play online tournaments and go through them, which is very difficult for us. But, the next goal is to just stay humble and keep playing what we are playing and try our best.

Do you have a roadmap to try and hit some goals that you need to hit or some milestones or something that will let you know that you're on the right path?

I don't think we set specific goals like that. I don't think we focus on that stuff, we focus on improving ourselves as individuals and as a team. We just want to be truly the best we can be every day, on the server, outside of the server, as a teammate, whatever it is, we're just working on that and trying to progress as fast as possible. We're not relying on results or anything like that, we're just trying to be the best we can.

What lies ahead? Obviously Paris but between now and then, what is the plan going to be like?

I don't know yet, maybe there is something coming up, I'm not sure. But right now, I know that before I go to Paris, I need to celebrate.