nicoodoz: "I think we can just ball out, there is no pressure"

The Danish AWPer feels HEROIC have thrived because of the lack of expectation on their shoulders.

It would have been easy for HEROIC to have written off IEM Dallas as a lost cause as they were forced to attend with benched AWPer Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi back amongst the squad, after visa issues struck down their latest addition Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov.

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Sources: nicoodoz to sub in for degster at IEM Dallas

Instead they recovered magnificently from a chastening opening loss to Virtus.pro by sweeping three series in a row to earn a quarter-final berth, which included a morale-boosting win over reigning Major champions Natus Vincere.

nicoodoz took some time out for an interview with HLTV after his team secured their playoff spot, and he gave some insight into the atmosphere within the team, why he thinks they have performed so well despite their circumstances, and what the future holds for him personally.

If you cannot see the SoundCloud embed above, you can listen to the interview here.

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First of all, congratulations on the win, how are you feeling having secured a spot in playoffs?

I'm feeling really good honestly. It's a good feeling to achieve something you struggled with in the past, especially with this team. Even though I'm benched now it feels just amazing to get something out of your hard work, and we finally make it to a stage game. It means a lot.

I'm curious about what the feelings have been in the team for this event. I'm sure you guys are pleased to make playoffs, but has it been weird for you with the circumstances surrounding this event?

I think going into the event I was mentally prepared, because when I got told I was benched I also got told that there's a high chance I need to stand in. They asked me if I wanted to stand in, and I said yes, of course, I want to help the team still. So it's not like it was a huge surprise that I have to play Dallas; I already knew back when we were playing ESL Pro League that there's a really high chance that I'm going to play the event.

In that way, it's not that awkward. I'm making it a bit awkward for the other guys, making jokes, like you can't bench me again, making jokes about being late, or stuff like that. I'm trying to make them a bit uncomfortable in a fun way, other than that it is not awkward at all.

As far as the games have gone, you had a tough opening against VP, but basically every BO3 has been super straightforward. What do you think made the difference? Was the VP game just a tough matchup?

I think the VP game was a bit of a warmup game, I would call it. We were really rusty in communication and the way we played. We were just sloppy and a bit scared, not doing all the stuff that we know we can do. We had a good talk after that game and we stepped up for the BO3s.

This result is one of if not the best, results that this HEROIC lineup has achieved. Why do you think things are working out for this event when they weren't coming together earlier?

I think it's all about the pressure and the outside view you have on you, especially when you're playing for a big organization like HEROIC, in the past making playoffs consistently, winning a tournament here and there. Basically playing with a stand-in relieves a lot of pressure off of the team, but also me standing-in, so to speak. In that way, I think we can just ball out, there is no pressure.

I don't know how much you know right now, but do you have any idea what the future holds for you? Do you have offers or talks you're engaged with?

I have a few offers, so I'm not going to go homeless like my Twitter name says. So in that way, I'm still fine, but I'm still waiting to make a decision, where I'm going to join, what I'm going to do role-wise and stuff like that. There's a lot of stuff I need to think about, and it's hard to think about that stuff when I'm here in Dallas. I want to focus game by game. There will be a home for me in the future, I just need to figure out what I want to do personally.

When you say role-wise does that just mean the flexibility between the AWP and the rifle?

Yeah, I think I need to find a place that's more comfortable for me, where I can bring out the rifle more and AWP more when it's needed. I don't think I wanna be a full-fleshed rifler, because I think as a player I need more freedom, and I need freedom to go A, B, Mid on all maps, where I want to be. I want the option to do that with both a rifle and an AWP, and not feel limited to only playing AWP.

So like a dedicated hybrid of sorts.

Yes, in that way, yeah.

You guys are squaring up against Vitality for the quarterfinal matchup, how do you feel about them as opponents?

Honestly, I feel pretty good. Last time we beat them they were number one in the world, so I have high confidence that we can beat them again. So just really confident.

With that in mind, how far do you think you can make it in this event?

I mean, we've seen other tournaments where teams with a stand-in have gone all the way, so hopefully we can go all the way. As I said before there are no expectations, no pressure, we're just gonna do whatever we can and have no regrets at the end of the day.