sense on the Major versus the RMR: "There's less pressure playing here"

Apeks' young captain thinks it is harder to qualify for a Major than to play at its early rounds.

Apeks have endured a difficult start to their run at PGL Major Copenhagen, falling foul of paiN in their opener and needing overtime against AMKAL to end the day 1-1.

"Nerves and pressure made us play not like we usually do," Ådne "⁠sense⁠" Fredriksen told HLTV as he reflected on the day's play. "We play with a lot of aggression and making a lot of chaos around the map, but against paiN we didn't."

AMKAL also proved a tricky opponent, and Apeks required a comeback from 12-10 down on T side after fumbling a 3vs1 advantage to Vladislav "⁠Krad⁠" Kravchenko late in the half.

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Tough day, but survived. 1-1 record. What's your reaction to day one at your first Major?

We could have had a better start against paiN. We had a little bit of nerves and pressure, that made us play not like we usually do. We play with a lot of aggression and making a lot of chaos around the map, but against them we didn't, we were affected by nerves and pressure. So going 1-1 for the day, I'm really glad we were able to reset and pull through against AMKAL. I enjoyed the end, the 1-1 score.

Talking a little bit about how you set expectations for the year, a few people have talked about how much of a high qualifying for the Major is and then when you're here it can be more difficult. How hard is it to motivate yourselves?

If I'm being honest, I think it was harder to qualify for the Major than actually being here, at least in this stage. At the RMR we had so much pressure, not everyone was expecting us to go through but we were expecting ourselves to, so it was a lot of pressure and nerves. Being at the Major, there's actually less pressure playing here.

A little bit on AMKAL. They've had a few dodgy Overpass games lately, did you prepare for it in the veto? Did you think they'd let it through?

Yeah, we expected an Overpass pick. We knew it would be between that and Vertigo, where they had some bad results too, so most likely it would be Overpass. Before the Major we have been boot camping and practicing these kinds of maps so we were prepared.

What's it like for you as a young IGL, having to be quite loud on the server and the one hyping things up, but also being one of the least experienced players. How can you fuse those together?

I think it always comes naturally for me. I was calling in academy team, I've always had a loud voice, screaming when we were winning rounds, and trying to stay calm when we lose. For me it's natural to scream and take control.

On mithR extending, what's the partnership between you guys like?

We have a great partnership. On the server I'm the boss, and off the server it's a little bit more of him with the overview and things like this but when we're actually playing the game I'm the boss.

You're Norwegian, it's a Norwegian organization, does that add anything to playing for Apeks?

Of course. I've been here for two years, playing for the academy team, maybe three now. I've been here a long time and I'm really proud playing for a Norwegian club and representing them at a Major. My dream one day is to have a Norwegian core, or five-man roster, and to play a top level.

Going forwards, is it about resetting, knowing you've survived, and showing a better face tomorrow?

Yeah, like I said before, I'm really happy we went 1-1 because we have had tendencies of breaking when we are losing to teams we should beat, so I enjoy 1-1.

One more time on that comeback from 10-12 vs AMKAL, what was it like inside the server? Coming back from that Krad 1v3, two rounds needed on T side Overpass, being the one to call yourself out of that situation?

We lost a 1on3 so the mood was a bit nervous, after you lose a round like that you feel like you need to win the other rounds. The comeback itself, we just played our game, our defaults, with aggression and pushing through smokes. We know we can comeback against any team. We are showing this too, in Katowice, and in Challenger Atlanta. We all had faith.