JDC: "I was maybe a bit too hard on myself in the last period of tournaments"

Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro spoke to HLTV about MOUZ's recovery at IEM Dallas, where they have advanced to the semi-finals.

MOUZ's campaign at IEM Dallas has seen them get back on their feet following poor outings at their previous two tournaments, IEM Rio and the BLAST.tv Paris Major.

The European side is through to the semi-finals after three consecutive 2-0 wins over FURIA, OG, and most recently Astralis in the quarter-finals. Now they head into a tough rematch with HEROIC from the group stage, in which the Danes dealt MOUZ their only loss of the tournament in a landslide series.

Following MOUZ's quarter-final win, JDC spoke about the team's quest to find their identity and his own self-belief, their recovery at IEM Dallas, and the upcoming rematch against HEROIC.

JDC, through to the semi-finals. Started out a little rough on Inferno but you came through in the end, how does that feel?

It feels really amazing. We are very confident in our Inferno, that's been a great map for us for a long time now, we have a good mental[ity] at the moment, we're very calm, so starting off slow doesn't mean much right now. We are just focusing on ourselves and we are glad we bounced back on our Inferno.

device was doing quite a bit to demolish you early on, but even throughout that map, and I think he ended on 40 kills [Editor's note: it was 42]. Did you have a game plan to counter him at all, or how did you resolve that toward the end?

We didn't have a specific game plan to counter him or avoid him. I have an insane amount of respect for device, he's a great player, an absolute legend, and a beast. But we wanted to play our game, focus on ourselves because at the end of the day we need to play MOUZ CS, we have to force our game into them and that's what we did today. We tried to not think about anything else besides us.

Tell me about that game a bit, because you've had a tumultuous couple of months, there was obviously the fumble in Rio where you lost both your games and were eliminated, then you went 0-3 at the Major. It's been hard. Tell me about playing that game, what is the "MOUZ game"?

That is exactly the question we are trying to answer right now, and I think as soon as we answer this we will start seeing results. Obviously we are capable of doing great things and we have shown it from time to time, but that has never been enough. We have an incredibly high standard for ourselves and we were lacking, and are lacking, some identity sometimes.

We just need to find a way, and to find a way is the hardest part of CS. Every team that does find their own way starts to win. Yeah, it has been a tough year, there's nothing we can argue about that, but the beauty of it is that you have the chance to rebuild yourself because the truth of a man comes out when the struggle is there, not when everything is going great. Only when we have struggle and we have pain, the true faces of the people show, and we are working on improving ourselves.

Who is trying to find that identity, is it a team effort or what does that come down to?

Well it's first of all a team effort because we need to win as a team, as well as player-wise, we need to find our identity. I count myself in that regard, I've not been performing to the extent that I want to perform and I know I'm capable of.

It's been a tough period for me, I've been trying to schedule my life in a better way, I moved out of where I was living at home, moved in with my girlfriend that has been supporting me an incredible amount. I'm structuring my life a bit more on other sports, trying to get my head clearer. I know what I'm capable of and I'm incredible, but I just need to stop thinking so much and believe in myself more, and I'm trying to work on that.

It showed today in this match, you played really well on Inferno and Ancient. How was that for you on the server, did you feel that impact coming out more?

Yeah for sure. I was feeling that I'm way more calm, more and more at peace with myself. I think I was maybe a bit too hard on myself the last [few] times and the last period of tournaments, I didn't give myself any credit for achieving what I have achieved until now. I didn't appreciate what I've done for myself, and right now I'm just trying to take a step back and just start loving myself again, if you can say that.

Start enjoying life because it's beautiful, and I say this every time but I'm blessed to be in the position I am. I love this game, I love the community, and there is no room for hate or being too hard on myself, so I'm just here finding peace.

The team has come under criticism just because of their performances, the community has been quite hard on you especially with GamerLegion's recent run to the Major finals. Everyone is talking about why you didn't bring in siuhy, you've obviously played with him — do you have any comments on that?

The run from GamerLegion was very impressive, I give them all the credit. siuhy is an amazing player, amazing IGL, I love working with him and he's a good guy. We just fell short at the Paris Major, and the only one that was to blame was us. There's not much more to say about that besides we failed and we fucked up ourselves, if I can say it this way, and they didn't.

People have been calling for dexter to be removed and siuhy to come in. Obviously you've had a really good result here, so how does that influence that conversation for you?

I think everything that is coming from the outside right now should be completely avoided in our heads. It's very dangerous to go down this rabbit hole, reading all the negative comments, reading the hate, because it's a lot. Especially if things are not going great, it's always easy to kick a man when he's down, right? We try to avoid every rumor, everything, we will see what the future brings obviously right? That's what it's all about, but right now it's only about playing some good Counter-Strike.

Talking about playing some good Counter-Strike, you're going into the semi-final versus Heroic tomorrow, a team that's been performing really well but also had their own little fumble at the Major. What are your thoughts on that matchup?

I have immense respect for Heroic, we've played them a couple of times now, they've won, we've won, it's a back-and-forth. They are a great team, probably one of the most, if not the most consistent team in tier 1 right now. But even there, it doesn't matter who they are or what they are in that sense, we just have to focus on us. It will be a great game, I don't know who will win it, but I always believe in myself and the team.

The crowd was cheering for Astralis here, a surprise for you at all?

Actually I didn't think they would cheer for anyone. I thought they would be a bit more objective, just cheer for the game, but I don't have problem if they have Astralis cheering, then they have Astralis cheering, you know? Whatever they like and prefer.

We were here to silence the crowd that was against us, to make them our fans in a way, that's what we do. They can cheer for whoever they want as long as they applaud both teams because at the end of the day it's esports, and we should be respectful to every team.

I saw a few "sexter" signs out there, so I'm sure you've earned some support for tomorrow!

[laughing] 100%, yeah! There were a bit of sexter signs, I saw a MOUZ sign actually as well. The crowd is here, they're supporting, and that's what it's about.