Snappi: "I think we hit rock bottom at EPL; hopefully, that was it"

"I felt like we had a mental block after all of the turmoil," says the Danish captain.

Falcons have had a tumultuous time ever since they came together in December of last year. The roster missed out on the Copenhagen Major, which forced the organization to remove Mohammad "⁠BOROS⁠" Malhas from the active roster. Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev then joined the team as a temporary addition, before Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen filled the void permanently.

Their debut with the Danish veteran didn't go to plan, as Falcons finished in 21st–28th place place at EPL, with their only win coming against a struggling TYLOO. After the Maltese tournament, which Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer described as "rock bottom," the team looks to have finally found some confidence at BetBoom Dacha, where they have locked down a playoff spot after beating BetBoom and Virtus.pro.

After the close win against Virtus.pro, Snappi sat down with HLTV to discuss his individual level, dupreeh's adaptation to the team, and his thoughts on facing Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets in the semi-final.

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Congrats, you've made the playoffs here in BetBoom Dacha. How do you feel right now?

I feel good, this is what we needed. I felt like we had a mental block after all of the turmoil and after we got dupreeh. I'm really proud of everyone because in practice and every day at home, people have been doing the best work they could to get ready. At EPL, we simply didn't show it well enough.

We still have a big problem with pistols that we somehow need to figure out. We have tried different approaches where I am the full utility guy, then tried an approach where I am in front a little bit more. We need to figure out a way, because now in MR12, pistols are more important than ever. And in the top 30, we have by far the lowest winning percentage, and then it is tough to be a contender.

We need to get it up to 50% instead of 30% or whatever it is, and that is the next task ahead. But after every game we win, the confidence builds, and some of the pressure is lifted from our shoulders. I think we hit rock bottom at EPL and hopefully that was it.

This game was a rematch from your opening game, and this one went a lot better. Did you change anything specific or was it just about hitting your shots today?

We talked a little bit about the rounds that we lost and the fact we needed to improve our trading, there was too much 1v1 CS in the first match. We also spoke a bit about CT Mirage. Last time we got zero CT rounds, this time we got five CT weapon rounds, and that's an improvement.

I try to look at it positively, that we're improving game to game. Also for myself, I've been in a terrible slump, and this is the fourth consecutive game where I think I can look myself in the eyes and feel like my old self, that I'm coming back. It feels nice.

I also wanted to ask about Maden. You have a lot of history with him, but he has a very different role on this Falcons roster. How has he been adapting to playing more of a star role in the team?

In practice, he's been doing great, and he also played amazingly today, he was having a really big performance. He's been adapting well, but obviously, it takes time. Maden and dupreeh are the ones that are set up in a lot of the good roles, and then Magisk and I are anchoring the majority of the maps. This is the approach we try, and I hope it's the correct one because it feels more natural now.

When I talked to dupreeh earlier, he said that the win against BetBoom was a much-needed one for you guys. Did you feel that on the team as well?

Yes, I believe so. We have been having to fight so hard for every map, and I think especially the last map against BetBoom, where we started T Nuke and destroyed them 13-3, was a big confidence map for us. Sometimes it can be draining when you have to fight every single round to win. Today, on the Vertigo T side, we had another one of those.

If you want to be a top team, sometimes you need to just destroy the opponent in a half, and now that we did it on T Nuke and Vertigo, it feels good to see that we can have those kinds of dominant halves. I would even say that today probably should have been 11-1, but I had a crash in the 3v3, which was just unlucky.

dupreeh also mentioned he knows the system that you guys play. Was that a part of the decision that you brought him in? Because he knows the system and you can focus on some other things that you need to improve.

We brought in dupreeh because he guarantees us stability, and he also proved that he was still very hungry in tier two. He did amazing in Preasy and HEROIC, he still had hunger and showed really good signs there. We just needed stability.

We were standing still for three months because we couldn't develop our playbook and system at all, and we needed time to do that. It's impossible to be a top team if you cannot manipulate strats, and we really needed to be a team where we could sit down and focus on stuff together.

I also wanted to ask about your individual level. You were also very critical of yourself, but it feels like this tournament you've been fragging much better. Do you feel like you're more confident now in the team because of the stability?

Yes, I feel like now I don't need to micromanage every single smoke. Before, I couldn't focus on my own game at all. I was focused on building the system and trying to get everyone to go correctly and stuff like that. Now, I have to do less microing with every practice day, which is what you want to avoid. Having to sit and micromanage every small smoke and flash.

The more we play together, the more we have agreements. The more we talk about situations, the more I can say keywords that lead to reactions. That gives me a lot of chances to focus on my crosshair. And I also felt, since I had this long transition period from ENCE to Falcons, where I didn't play when CS2 came out… Well, I did play FACEIT, but I wasn't in practice mode. I felt I was probably behind the meta to a certain degree because I wasn't playing regular practice. I was trying to be as sharp as I could on FACEIT, but it's not the same.

Then we tried to build a system, but there was no excuse for the level I have been showing regardless. Even if I had to micromanage and it was a tough situation, I should have delivered better individual numbers. So sorry to the fans for that, but obviously I'm happy that I'm back fragging at this tournament at least.

Your next opponents are Spirit. You're coming into the game as underdogs, but what do you expect from that game?

I expect us to fight donk. He is an unreal talent. It's crazy to sit and watch how he single-handedly wins matches. We need to try to find a way to stop him, but it's hard. We faced him in Katowice, and if a guy just turns the corner and shoots you instantly in the face, you can have the correct counter, but it can still be tough.

We need to find a way to try to deal with donk. FaZe beat them at the Major, and donk was still the best player in the match, but they found a way to keep him at a 1.20 rating instead of 1.50, [laughs] so I guess we should look a bit at them.