Jerry on Monte revenge: "Here in a higher stage we are over them, so I'm feeling pretty good"

An upbeat Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov stopped by after his team's win over Monte to talk about the keys to victory.

FORZE made it to the 2-1 pool of the BLAST.tv Paris Major's Challengers Stage after defeating Monte in their final best-of-one match in this phase of the tournament. They did so after an opening 14-16 loss to Grayhound and an in-extremis victory over Liquid, 16-14. The 1-1, which took place on Ancient, ended up with a heated exchange on Twitter between some of the players after its final round.

The team's in-game leader, Jerry, took some time to give one of his insightful interviews after the second day's match came to an end, which puts FORZE in the 2-1 pool. He and his squad can't rest on their laurels despite the positive start in best-of-ones, however, as this is a known position for the FORZE, who went from 2-1 to 2-3 in the PGL Major Antwerp's Challengers Stage.

"In this case, let's say it's going to be different, for sure," the 24-year-old says. "I'm not saying win or lose, I'm saying it's going to be different because we really made some conclusions after that."

You just beat Monte, you got revenge from the RMR. Was it nice to be able to get back at them?

Yeah, of course. It's kind of the same tournament, just the next higher stage and here each win is more important because before we had two chances to make a mistake, we were in the 2-1 pool and lost the best-of-three against them. Then we went 2-2 and we won, so we got to the next stage as they did. Yes, they did it through us, but now here in a higher stage we are over them, so I'm feeling pretty good.

Last time there was some controversy over the handshaking, did that give you extra motivation?

It might be like that, but the only case here that gives me energy is that DemQQ was playing in Akuma, in the RMR in 2020, and he was probably playing with the cheaters, everyone knows that. But no one can prove it because it's Counter-Strike, we don't have an institute to detect cheats because they might be really good. That was the only motivation, I think, because when you play against an ex-cheater at a Major you have to win. [laughs] About handshaking? I think it's just their choice and we don't really care.

Best-of-ones are done now, you're 2-1. The last time you were at a Major Challengers Stage you went 2-1 and ended up losing to Vitality and Imperial. What did you learn from that?

In that previous lineup we had some stamina level, let's say 100, and when we were 2-1 we almost lost all of the stamina we had. We were at like 35 or something. Then we played against Vitality, a really good team, and they sucked all of the blood from us. We had like 5 stamina before the Imperial game.

This particular time we have more stamina, it's like 120 because we learned from some mistakes in previous rosters. We learned some analyst mistakes, we learned some mood in the game, let's say, how we should approach the game, what we're going to do inside the game. In this case, let's say it's going to be different, for sure. I'm not saying win or lose, I'm saying it's going to be different because we really made some conclusions after that.

Since we're a young roster, we've been five months together, I think that we might have some problems with stamina again, actually, because it's really hard to have the schedule of an esports player. Especially for r3salt, he's 18-years-old, he was studying in school five months ago and now he's traveling all around the world. He was forced to change his sleep regime all of the time and it might affect the team, and him as well.

But the rest of us are experienced, this time we're four experienced players and one experienced coach with only one guy who is not experienced in this lineup. I think that this time, as I mentioned, it will be different.

Give me the main points of the Ancient you just played. You had a really good T side and were able to lock it down quickly on the CT side. What were the keys to breaking Monte's defenses?

Fierce did some research yesterday while we were sleeping because it's not possible for us, we get back to the hotel at 23:00 and then we have to wake up at 09:00. We need like an hour to prepare for sleep, the emotions, you know? A 16-14 game against Liquid... So Fierce took all of the responsibility, he researched the game and realized that they are playing the same Counter-Strike as they do on Anubis, Overpass, Mirage, all of the maps they're good at.

We prepared for Monte at the RMR, he just looked at the previous notes and compared them to what he had on Ancient because we knew it was going to be Ancient. He realized that they have the same game style, so we had some rules to beat them at the RMR.

There are three points: First point is to hit your shots because they really like to push and they're very good aimers, especially BOROS; The second point is to be ready for executes everywhere, pushes everywhere; The third point was don't over rotate because those guys might look like they're going A, throwing a lot of nades, but they might be lurking B at the same time because their style is unpredictable.

The key point on Ancient was to hold our positions, grab the info, and make the decision of what we're going to do with exact nades. Also, there was another key point, to not play the first time because they're throwing a lot of nades in the beginning and after that they have a lack of nades. We're baiting them to use their nades, extinguishing the mid molotov, using some flashes, and using HE grenades really well.

I think we did 500 or 600 damage on the T side. I'm not sure of the numbers, but we had two HEs to use in middle and that always gave us some damage. Maybe 20, maybe 25, but if you have all buy rounds combined together, that's like 500 or 600 damage. So everything we prepared worked really well for us here.

Run me through the Liquid game yesterday, it went to the last moment. You could see how devastating a loss that was for Liquid, going into the 0-2 pool. Tell me about what it was like getting those final few rounds.

We did it because we saved a lot of pauses from the CT side. On the T side we used three pauses. On 11-14 we used one and on 12-14 we used another one, we used two pauses in a row to grab the advantage because we had less money on the 12-14 round. If I'm not mistaken we won a clutch round or something. That was the key for us, we are not a team that is really good on Nuke, for now, but I think we're doing a lot of research, a lot of rotation work, a lot of good utility usage, and a lot of fakes.

We just need more time to play against such a team as Liquid. I think they just started to play Nuke, let's say they played Vertigo before and after they said it's a fake, that they're playing Nuke, that it's a joke, but it's actually not... They were training it, but they're playing it a bit fast and direct. They're not using a lot of fakes. But on Nuke it's all about getting the early advantage on CT. We had that, but after that Liquid did some fast-paced rounds that we weren't prepared for. I mean, we did prepare for it, but we just weren't able to hit our shots.

It was a really emotional and heartbreaking game for both teams. I mean, heartbreaking for one and emotional for both because it's really hard when you have a strong CT side advantage. You just need two rounds and something happened with those clutches, those retakes, but in my opinion the key point was that we were playing the B bomb plant because there is a lot of close quarters with angles you can use to headshot.

For example, zorte, he had the match-point with an incredible four kills, but all of them were pretty simple headshots because if you're a CT trying to retake B from ramp, the first thing that a terrorist will see because of the perspective is your head. If you're calm, as zorte was at that time, you can just go to the deathmatch. In that particular moment it was like a deathmatch and I think that the combination of our strategy, incredible performance from zorte, and all of the team helping each other is what helped us win that best-of-one.

It was really hard for both teams, the emotions... I don't know, I slept seven hours today because I was not able to sleep. I used a lot of energy there and you need some time to get rid of it form that kind of emotions.

What was the importance of those T-side 3vs5s that turned the tide of the game in the late rounds? How did it happen?

Let's talk about the B site because it was the key factor. We have some tips about how to approach this advantage on T side when you have them bomb planted. It's really funny, but it's pretty simple at the same time. You have to take double doors, you may close them or you may not, but when you have double doors the CTs are at a big disadvantage — even if it's a 5vs3.

Two guys are coming from secret and one coming from vent. You have the double doors and you're in laboratory/aqua, where the glass and the stairs are. You have a fight against ramp and against the guys coming from secret. In this case, as I mentioned, two are on the right and three on the left, and if you're 3vs5, you have a 3vs3, actually, because the door is closed and the CTs are not able to exchange you from the ramp.

That is the key we are using because if you can at least win two, or let's say three duels, you need to win three duels, and have only one guy alive, he has a door that he can use to bait. One guy from ramp has to defuse and one has to cover, so you have a clutch 1vs2 with a lot of things you can hide. You can break glass, you can throw a flash from glass, you can open the door, close the door, maybe they'll be nervous because it was 5vs3 and now it's 1vs2 — the time is ticking and that's what we're using on the B site all of the time. I think a lot of good teams do that. I'm not saying we're good, but a lot of good teams use that. Just a little insight!