mhL: "nettik can be the next big thing like jks was"

mhL "wanted to try something different" by moving to Talon and his Asia RMR journey has started with a win over regional heavyweights FlyQuest.

Miłosz "⁠mhL⁠" Knasiak's RMR couldn't have started much better, after his TALON side ripped through FlyQuest in their best-of-one opener.

Their task now is simple: Defeat Rare Atom tomorrow, and TALON will qualify for the Major.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Asia RMR
12/11/2024	Rare Atom 12:00 TALON	Match

The Polish AWPer has undergone a long journey to get here, earning a 'One for the Future' nod in 2020 but traversing through a variety of European teams without truly hitting his potential.

In July he was benched as Falcons rebuilt their team, after a tough period where his teammates had stopped turning up to practice.

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One for the future: mhL

But it was still a surprise that he chose Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward and Daniel "⁠djL⁠" Narancic's TALON project as his new team, linking up with some Oceanic talent that mhL admits he did not know at the time.

So far, results have been mixed, but after a month-long European bootcamp TALON have entered the Asia RMR with fuel to burn, and they have kicked it off with a bang.

If you cannot see the Soundcloud embed above, click the link here to listen.

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Here with mhL, just beaten FlyQuest and you're one series from the Major. How did that feel?

Beating an Australian team as an Australian team feels really good. It was more important for the boys from Oceania to win the game, but of course it feels nice to be one game away from the Major. The job is not done, so we need to focus on tomorrow.

How was the preparation for this event. You did play in Europe, and it was mixed results, but do you think it was more the stuff you did behind the scenes that was important?

I was on Falcons' bench for around a year, grinding a lot of FACEIT with friends, watching some demos. But I'm not 100% ready I would say, I still have a lot to do to be back in my prime form. It's going to be great.

What was the decision making behind joining TALON. Obviously, nettik is a big up-and-comer, AZR as an IGL is something we've wanted to return to for a while, was it an easy decision?

I had some offers from NA and Europe but they didn't seem good enough for me. I wanted to try something different. I didn't know the guys before, except AZR. It was a new step for me to play in an Oceanic team, I just wanted to grind back because I know I can still be the best, one of the best players in the world.

What do you think went wrong in Falcons? It was a long time ago, but I don't think we've spoken to you since?

I'll be brutally honest, it's hard to play in a team when two guys don't come to practice.

Okay, I think people can guess who. On this, it's a long-term thing, right? So what are your impressions of an Oceanic team in terms of strategy, is it hard when you're not practicing in Europe all the time? How is AZR doing as a leader compared to what you've had before?

AZR is a really nice guy. He can be harsh sometimes but the work we have done in the last once month since our performance coach joined us. It helped a lot. I knew that joining this team would not be easy, not a short-term team. After two weeks in the team, I could see that the Oceanic boys struggled playing European CS. I think we're doing a great job for now, we have been bootcamping in Serbia and Malta for the past one month and I can see it's paying off. We don't have many expectations for now, and the org is not pushing us, so it's just nice to have backup like that, that is not super pushy.

djL as a coach, a lot of tier-one experience of course, how important is he?

He's really smart. He coached NIP for a while, and I think he's one of the best coaches. I'm surprised he joined this team too, I didn't know he was going to be here. But he's one of the bigger parts why we played like that now. Super nice guy, super smart guy, nice to be around.

Last question, something on Nettik. He's the name that keeps coming up when you talk about Oceanic youngsters. What do you make of him? Because he's just smashed FlyQuest alongside you, right?

Yeah, he's a fucking sharp guy. Of course, he has a lot to learn, especially in communication but he made big fucking progress. I'm just happy for him, he can be the next big thing like jks was. I believe in him, if he's going to be on the track he is right now I think we can make it big.