s1n: "There are always new tournaments; that's the beauty of CS"

M80 fell to FURIA in the seventh-place decider match in Shanghai.

After entering CS in 2023, M80 came agonizingly close to a Major spot in Copenhagen. They got to the 2-2 pool but couldn't best Legacy, who beat the American team and secured their Major ticket.

M80, now under the leadership of Elias "⁠s1n⁠" Stein, gave it another go in Shanghai. The team would suffer heartbreak by losing in the seventh-place decider match against FURIA, however, which once again left the organization without the coveted Major stickers.

After their elimination, s1n spoke to HLTV about their campaign in Shanghai, his wish to improve as an IGL, and M80's plans for bouncing back from a tough loss.

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

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Commiserations, you're out of the RMR after a very intense game against FURIA. How do you feel right now?

It hurts at the moment. The tournament is over for us, the Major dreams have ended, and we have to go home. I really enjoyed the time here, it hurts a lot, but we just couldn't do it.

What do you think went wrong today? Did you just get a tough draw, a tough team to play in FURIA?

FURIA are obviously a good team, but we know how to play versus good teams. I think we play stronger versus better teams, but in the end, our protocols and our level were not as consistent as we would love to have it.

But overall, we showed glimpses of what we can do. We had a good T side on Anubis, which is a good example, and I think we can show a really strong level versus top teams. But on the CT side, we were just lacking. We were getting played rather than playing ourselves, if you can say it like that.

What positives can you take from this event? You came very close, so is there anything positive you can take away as a team?

I have to say so. It was a pretty rough first game, we lost versus a much worse team. No offense to them [BOSS], I like the guys, but I think we have higher aspirations than losing in the first game at an important tournament like this. I admire our resilience to bounce back, and I think it also showed in the second game in the great comeback we did.

Same with the decider game versus BESTIA, we had an insane mentality, we came back almost from rock bottom and just kept believing. Now it's just about finding our consistency and gameplay, adding these heroic comeback moments to it, and I think we can be great.

Talking about the loss to BOSS at the start. Do you think that ruined your tournament in a way because you had a worse Bucholz score and ended up playing Complexity and FURIA?

For sure, especially with this system. I'm not too familiar with Bucholz, but overall, just losing to a worse team, that's why we played the decider game in the end. For the kickstart of the tournament, we had to start sharp, and unfortunately, we couldn't do that. Also, Vertigo was one of our better maps in practice, but we couldn't show consistency on it. It definitely sucks, especially losing the first game.

You said you have to start strong. The first game was a best-of-one, was that a factor as well? How do you feel about best-of-ones in such an important tournament?

I would prefer best-of-threes, I think the better team will always come out on top. The start of this tournament was a bit weird for me, I had a weird SSD, not that it was a problem because we figured it out before the game, but I just remember that I was not really into the game at the moment. I think this translated into my voice, and it's like a chain reaction.

When the IGL's voice is down, it translates to the next guy and maybe adds a little bit of nerves. We're also playing in a new country. It's always something different, but I don't really care about the schedule, it is what it is, and it's been like this for a while. MR12 is rough, we lost both pistols in this game, just a hard map.

What's next for the team? Just reset and prepare for 2025?

Yeah, I think we have nothing on the calendar right now, it's now empty. I will go home, I haven't been home since the player break, so I will enjoy that for sure. But overall, looking back at the games, especially for me as a leader individually, it was my first RMR as an IGL, so I can improve in a lot of ways. I just want to improve, and the same goes for next season, which will be really important. New tournaments, a lot of tournaments, the new system, there will be so much going on. We can just only look forward to it. That's the beauty of CS, there are always new tournaments.