KSCERATO: "I love this game. It's the best Valve has released since 1.6"

FURIA completed their reverse sweep from 0-2 to 3-2 with KSCERATO on a 1.28 rating.

Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato and FURIA are in the Elimination Stage of the Major but had to do it the hard way after dropping best-of-ones to Legacy and Lynn Vision on day one.

But heads did not drop: FURIA came into the BO3s rejuvenated, and eased past KOI, ENCE and SAW, all in a convincing fashion.

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Much of that was made possible by KSCERATO himself, with a 1.28 rating and a flagship clutch that all but secured the ENCE victory.

The whole team, however, contributed — especially against SAW. KSCERATO, speaking to HLTV, was full of compliments for in-game leader Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and had individual praise for every player, as well as coach Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira and analyst Sid "sidde" Macedo.

He also issued a warning to G2 and FURIA's other future opponents in the next stage: "We played a lot of maps, we're warmed up, so we are thirsty for victory and thirsty to kill them."

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You've completed the reverse sweep, from 0-2 to 3-2, tell me how you're feeling.

I'm really happy, bro. We worked so hard, we got 0-2 but we know that it happens. We are strong enough to come back from 0-2. I'm happy, happy for my teammates FalleN, arT, yuurih, chelo, guerri, and sidde.

About today's game, it was the proper FURIA we could see on the server. What was the difference?

arT was on point this match, his calls. He knew everything that was happening. When we tried to help him make some calls, we fucked up [laughs]. So, on both maps, we just stopped saying too much and let arT think, and that was the right thing to do.

Was that happening throughout the tournament? You're all so experienced, wanting to have input in the rounds. How hard is it to let arT think in that way?

It's normal for me, I've played with him for five years. We know exactly what he is thinking. Sometimes I'll make a call, if I see something strange, but in this match, arT was really on point.

We have to go back to that day one, the 0-2 start, the force buys, everything. What was going through your head at that point?

Bro, I was like 'fuck this.' So we lost some rounds to the force buys, the 5v3s, 5vs2s, a lot of advantage rounds. We knew exactly what we did to lose these rounds, but we know we can't repeat these mistakes. We just came back stronger, thinking, 'Guys, let's calm down, play sup[portive].'

From the outside, it was really impressive that as soon as you came into the BO3s, the energy was really high, chelo was screaming, everything. What kind of team talks do you have to have after such a bad first day?

We have been working on our mentality for a long time now. Since the boot camp, Katowice, qualifiers for Dallas, we played the RMR knowing it would be hard. You never know, it's a short game now, BO1s, anything can happen. We just figured out that... BO1s are shit, first of all.

We knew that BO3s were best for us because we could pick our map and we could do a lot of stuff because, right now, we are almost in the middle of the year, a lot of maps have been played, so we can study teams and think about their mistakes. [laughs] Sometimes we need to learn about them.

With the best of threes, is it the map pool that's the biggest difference? Are you slow starters? What do you think the difference is?

The difference is the BO1s, if you lose two pistols and the anti-force buys, you fuck up. In BO3, even if you lose some rounds, you can figure it out and think more about what to do in the first gun round. In BO1, you lose that round, you fuck your economy. It's kind of different. I hate that format.

I was going to say, should best of ones be at Majors?

I prefer BO3.

On your performance, it's what we all want to see. A big clutch yesterday, what are you thinking of CS2 now? Are you into your groove?

I love this game. It's the best game Valve has released since 1.6, because 1.6 was the best one. They have a lot to fix, like lefthand, I miss my lefthand, they already fixed r_drawtracers. I love this game. Valve, if you can hear this, please add lefthand. And release the stickers!

It's not just you though, right? FalleN had a great Ancient, yuurih's been there all tournament. You're the stable lurker, but is it the aggressive pieces you need?

Everyone's playing really well. FalleN carried me this match, yuurih's doing really well, arT is doing his aggressive shit that is crazy, and creates a lot of space for us, and is a good caller as well. FalleN as well. chelo is screaming, it brings a lot of hype for the team, and he's playing really well. He's a good player. If everyone is on point, there is no chance for them.

I wanted to ask about chelo as well, because it feels like he's sacrificing a lot sometimes with some of his roles. He's the bomb-site entry a lot of the time because arT is somewhere in Mid or something, what do you make of chelo in that adaptation? When he's hitting his headshots, there's little people can do.

Originally, we knew it was a difficult place for him. He used to play entry fragger and shit like that, but we are giving him confidence. Sometimes I give my AK to him and play with Tec-9 or something like that, because I know he's really good with an AK and is better at entry-fragging than me, he's a good player.

Next stage, is it about riding the wave of momentum you've got for yourselves?

Yeah, we are strong enough. We've played a lot of maps, we're warmed up, so we are thirsty for victory and thirsty to kill them. Who is next?

Let me check... I think it's G2. But you're seed No. 16.

Alright, let's see. We'll do our best. We are working hard for this one, and I think we are confident enough to beat G2.