br0: "The culture [in Monte] is different from the Danish teams"

The Danish rifler is full of confidence coming into the last four of ESL Pro League S18.

Monte made their breakthrough at the BLAST.tv Paris Major in May, where they surprised many by qualifying for the playoff stage. That wasn't enough for the squad to keep hold of star player Mohammad "⁠BOROS⁠" Malhas, who departed for Falcons in the summer off-season.

Alexander "⁠br0⁠" Bro was chosen as the Jordanian's replacement, and the Dane needed to make a big step up after previously playing for Astralis Talent. His start in Monte was steady, but the 21-year-old had a breakthrough performance in their win against Vitality in the EPL quarter-finals.

After the match, br0 sat down with HLTV to talk about their shock victory, his start to life in Monte, and yesterday's game against Complexity.

You beat the number-one team in the world and qualified for the top four at EPL. How do you feel right now?

No words can describe the feeling. I must say it's a first for me, and hopefully not the last. I'm stunned and amazed that we were able to do it.

You also didn't have a lot of time to prepare because yesterday's game was quite late. Do you think that hampered you, or did it help you stay focused on today's match?

It helped us keep us in form and keep us focused. We didn't lose focus to any distractions because we went straight from one game to the other, but with rest, that's a key part. I would say that KrizzeN, our analyst, did a very good job at helping us get the bigger picture of the game.

Talking about that game against Complexity, with CS2 coming out in the middle. It was probably a new experience for you, playing with the default loadouts?

I mean, we didn't have any expectations at all. We just went in and went with it because we didn't want to wait for this day in case we won and had to play Vitality. We didn't want to play two games on the same day. So we just agreed upon playing with the default skins and default weapons. But I would say that Overpass is very economy-heavy, so it was very tough to play with the A4 as CT.

You now move on to play either Eternal Fire or Navi. Eternal Fire have been great here, but who would you rather play in the next round?

We just beat the number-one team in the world, right? So anyone.

For you individually, you came into the team to replace BOROS, which are quite big shoes to fill. You've been doing well individually, especially today, so how would you say you adapted to life in Monte?

First of all, the culture is different from the Danish teams. I'm also speaking English on a daily basis now, it's very different. And the precisions, the dynamic, everything is different. But I think I've done 110%, all that I could. Of course, I have big shoes to fill, but I'm a different player, a different person, and I think that the team can also feel that. And I think there's not a big difference in firepower. I just play a little bit more safe and passive.

I also want to touch on CS2. Your team said that you were already practicing CS2 a few weeks back. So what is the situation with that now?

We play CS:GO, and we play CS2. We keep in shape, and that's basically it.

Talking about the game, what are your feelings about it? Do you think it's ready to go competitive?

That question is probably for Valve since they control everything. If I could have an opinion, it would be no, just because I feel like there are some details that need to be fixed. But if there's a complete switch, there is no resisting, so yes, it's ready.