bodyy: "Top 10 is something I truly believe is possible"

Despite sporting a lineup lacking in tier-one experience, bodyy believes the new fnatic roster can climb the rankings.

fnatic have completely rebuilt their roster ahead of Elisa Masters Espoo, with only Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson and Aurélien "⁠afro⁠" Drapier surviving the demolition of the previous iteration. Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro, Can "⁠kyuubii⁠" Ali, and Matúš "⁠MATYS⁠" Šimko are the trio who have been brought in as reinforcements.

Questions abound regarding the level of this new constellation, although many will point to the potential for the future. There is a steady hand present who has proven his worth at the top level for years in the form of KRIMZ, but beyond that the tier one experience is thin on the ground, with much of bodyy's coming earlier in his career.

The aforementioned Frenchman has been tasked with leading this eclectic squad, and he took some time out with HLTV to talk about what lies ahead of him. He also addressed his time in Falcons, his thoughts on international rosters, and how far he believes this fnatic side can go.

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fnatic add trio including bodyy

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First question, how does it feel to join fnatic?

I’ve gotta say it feels really great. Back in the days playing in G2 I had to face this legendary team, always falling short to them, and seeing how they dominated the scene back in the day, it makes me proud to join a tier one organization again.

Looking at your time in Falcons, the last team you were a part of, why do you think that team didn’t go so well?

(chuckles) I was not prepared for that…

Asking the hard questions!

It didn’t go as well as we predicted because I think we all had different goals coming into the team, some were more individual goals and some were more team-focused. The reality is that when you don’t have the same goals and aim at the same thing together, you just don’t put the same effort and will to achieve what is supposedly something you aim at. Definitely, I would say the goals were too different for everyone in this team, and I am not gonna go further than this.

One last question on Falcons: When zonic came in as coach, he said he was going to give everyone a chance. Do you think that this was the case?

Pass.

Turning back to fnatic, what was the process like for you joining fnatic, how did it come about?

I got benched from Falcons and I definitely thought that it would be very hard for me at this time. I thought I would have close to no offers because our time was really rough there, close to no results and basically being unable to consistently beat tier-three teams. I thought it would be difficult for me and teams like fnatic would never contact me, to be honest.

Then I had this chance to stand in for ITB, and I still had some offers before, but it kind of unlocked everything at this moment. I think fnatic were still viewing me, but when the week happened of standing in and making results with ITB, this is definitely when the contacts were really made. I had a few interviews with the team and a few others, who I thank for their interest. Definitely that [fnatic offer] was the one that I considered as a go-to directly, to be honest.

I was really impressed by the process they want to build and the way they are so professional and ready to welcome people for who they are and to build around different profiles. Not to build as how they want a team to be, right? They want to build a team that meets the needs of the project, but they are not building from everything they know, they are giving tools to build on. This is definitely what caught my attention the most.

Was the afro connection important?

This is definitely a profile I wanted to work with again. I actually wanted him to join Falcons back in the day but I think he was already on fnatic, so I knew I would play with him again. I didn’t know when, but I knew it was something I wanted because we had this connection, I kind of taught him a few ways to play the game and this is how we learn because I learned to play around him. This is basically since G2 how I used to play, I played around him and him around me, so we have this connection that is something I could not let go of once I had the chance to play with him again.

I think I can help him to be a better AWPer, obviously, everyone has to improve and I think I can help him to be as consistent as he used to be when he was playing in HEET and DBL Poney.

I know fnatic haven’t had very long with this five-man lineup to practice, but how are the roles shaking out, what is the structure of the team looking like so far?

As you said we didn’t have much time, very close to no time, so how I like to build teams is to know how everyone likes to play and build around that. So checking who I have on the team and how he likes to play, then have talks to have an idea of how people interpret their profile, to know where they want to play. Then it was Tetris to know who fits where with the insane players that we have, so I think it was all building up very well.

kyuubii is a really good prospect. He is really young but has already been on the scene two or three years, being only 18, and he went through every role possible, even AWPer, so he could fit in with what we needed him to do.

We have to find a balance, obviously, you cannot have everyone in the perfect roles because we cannot have five people in the same spot. Even though I want to be AWPer, I can’t. We have all these insane players in the team right now and I am looking forward to playing with them.

MATYS is insanely skilled and I was very impressed when I played with him at how vocal he is, and how ready he is for this experience. He reminds me a lot of me profile-wise, obviously, he is more skilled than me, but I can see myself a lot in him. And then there is KRIMZ, who I don’t need to introduce obviously.

I think it’s our job as coach and leader to find the right way to use the players, but I think when we find that, the chemistry is going to be insane.

It’s an international team, you’ve got a lot of different cultures coming together and not the most tier-one experience, especially kyuubii, and MATYS. Is it going to be difficult, is this a tough project to bring together in your eyes?

It’s definitely not a really hard project because, as you saw in the last couple of months in CS:GO, tier-two teams were doing really well in big tournaments such as the Major. Like the last Paris Major, when Apeks, ITB, and GamerLegion all went really far, even though they didn’t have that tier-one experience. Obviously, it’s easier when you make it in one tournament and it’s kind of a one-shot, but I think those youngsters are more ready than we were used to back in the day, I definitely don’t think it’s going to be really hard to make it to tier one consistently.

For me, the biggest part is that I didn’t really lead on international teams, so this is the biggest challenge for me, to get used to leading in English. But still, that was my goal in Falcons, to get experience internationally and it gives me a step to this team. I think I am ready to adapt and it’s actually not going to be a huge challenge, we just have to see how we fit with keita and make this project work as well as possible.

Do you think this is going to be the future for you and the scene in general, more international teams, or do you maybe hope to return to the French scene at some point?

It’s definitely not in my needs at the moment. I gave a chance to international projects when I switched to Falcons, I knew it would be the case at some point and this is where I am at the moment, so I am giving it… I wouldn’t say a chance, because international rosters are the future, you can mix so many profiles into teams. So I wouldn’t see myself going back to the French scene, profiles are way too limited compared to what I have here. So it’s definitely the future and I am really excited to start because this is my first six months in international teams, so I am excited to see what my next years are going to show.

Looking forward to this tournament, with virtually no time to practice and prepare, are there any goals? Or is it just ‘Turn up and play’?

I am sure we are going to take this as experience for the qualifiers that are to come, this is going to be close to our only officials before the open Major qualifier, so this is really good practice for us. As you told me before, you know we don’t have practice, so the goal is to get as much experience as possible together, and for me to understand how people like to play, how the profiles are compared to what we are going to see later, online and in practice. So it’s definitely a good way of seeing how things go together, and obviously go as far as possible, but this is a bonus most likely.

Looking further forwards for this fnatic team, obviously the goal is qualifying for the Major, but where do you see this team going, what do you think the peak is? Do you have anything in mind, like top 10 HLTV? What is the goal long-term?

Hmmm. My goal as the captain of fnatic is to bring fnatic back to where they belong in my opinion, so top 10 is something I see as doable. The biggest example is Monte right now, they managed to be top 7 and they won another tournament this week, so being top 10 is something I truly believe is possible. Then, working on as many things as possible to make it further than this. At the least we need experience to go further.