Jimpphat on adapting to tier one: "It has actually been pretty easy"

The Finn says the support of MOUZ helped ease the transition upward.

MOUZ couldn't hit the ground running at IEM Sydney as they were without their rising Finnish star Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo, who missed the event due to visa issues.

The young European upstarts had just completed a stunning run to the trophy at ESL Pro League Season 18 to close the chapter on CS:GO, but the absence of their 17-year-old rifler proved too much to move past as the roster fell to eventual champions, FaZe, in the semi-finals of the first CS2 event.

Now, they're back in full force at CS2 Asia Championships in Shanghai and are taking aim at another title. But first, the EPL S18 champions will need to beat Astralis in the semi-finals, a more difficult test than Wings Up and Lynn Vision, whom the European side beat so far at the tournament.

HLTV caught up with Jimpphat after his team's win over Lynn Vision in Shanghai to discuss his return, playing his first CS2 LAN, and adapting to tier one play after four months under MOUZ's banner.

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You won your first stage match here, tell me about the game, it looked relatively easy for you and you had a number of individual rounds. How was the experience?

First of all, it was really amazing to play in front of such a crowd, like it was really amazing to play on the stage. Before we went to the game, we had some preparation, but we also said to each other that we are the better team so we are going to win this game no matter what and that's what we did. When we went to the game we just knew that we were going to be better if we make it so, so we just played our game and made it easy.

You missed out of playing in Sydney, came back, played your first CS2 LAN here. How has it been for you playing this iteration of the game?

The thing is that I haven't played that much because I missed Sydney. It was a bit of an unfortunate situation, I was a bit sad, but I'm glad that I'm back now and that I'm here with the boys.

It's just time to grind now as much as I can and as much as I have time, and yeah, looking forward to CS2, it's been pretty awesome so far.

Let's talk about that grind a bit, you've been performing really well. You're relatively young coming into MOUZ, playing against some of these teams with players that have bene around for ages. What has that been like for you, and how have you been able to hit the ground running and perform like that?

I think it has actually been pretty easy, coming from tier two to tier one. In the way that I'm playing now with MOUZ, and the boys are really making it easy.

It's so nice to play here and it's a really nice environment, so it's really easy with that one, but also I think that I am really confident and I always have been, so it also helps me a lot when I came to tier one.

You've been in the team for four months now, walk me through the development you've felt since joining to now.

When I came to the team I was a bit nervous, like obviously it was my first time in tier one, we didn't have much time when we went to Cologne, and also I don't think we had that great of a run in Cologne as well, but it really doesn't matter.

After Cologne we just had some practice, a lot of practice actually, and then we won Malta, it went really well. Now we're in CS2 and now we're just grinding and grinding and getting better.

FaZe have been giving you a bit of trouble, you beat them in Malta, but they've won the last three matches against MOUZ. They're on the other side of the bracket so you could potentially face them if you make the grand final. What's the difficulty in that matchup for the team?

FaZe are the number-one team at the moment. They're playing really well in CS2 and they're the hardest team to play against. They're playing really well at the moment and we have to put up good numbers to beat them. We have tried a couple of times but it didn't go our way yet, so if we make it to the grand final against FaZe, then it will be a really great match because I'm sure this time we're going to win, and I want to win this time.

I wanted to touch on the rumors that came out about frozen potentially moving out of the team, he's been linked with a possible move to FaZe.

What's it been like being new to the tier one space and already having to deal with a big player on your team rumored to go to another team, has it affected you at all, has it affected the team?

Not really, actually. We haven't talked about it that much, and also, I don't personally care because it's not about me, you know? I don't really want to think about it, and if it happens, then it happens, but I just play and I will see what goes on.

Your upcoming match will be against Astralis, the last time the team faced them at Cologne, you lost 0-2. Obviously we're in a different game now, but what do you feel like will go differently this time?

We met Astralis in Cologne and we lost there, so it's been a long time since we played against them. As I said before, when we went to Cologne we didn't have much time to practice, and they had played for a long time already when we went to Cologne, like a couple of months. Also now, I think we are the better team, so we have a really good chance to win against them, and as long as we play our game I think it'll go our way.

To tie it together with playing over here, you were just talking about the signing session a little bit. What has that experience been like for you?

I really like it, the signing session was really fun. The fans here in China, I really love it, it's so nice to see that there is so many people supporting us and shouting MOUZ whenever you leave the hotel or whenever you come here. It's amazing to see.

Did it surprise you at all that you have so many fans here?

A bit, yes.

How do you feel about your chances to win the trophy here and actually hit the ground running in CS2, since the team didn't actually get a proper start in Sydney?

That is one of the things I'm looking really forward to, and as a team as well, we are preparing and trying to win the tournament as much as we can. We are doing everything for it. We will face Astralis next, and then after Astralis we are already in the final, so we have to see how it goes and how the Astralis game goes. We just have to look into it and take it game by game, and then we'll see where we get.