khaN: "It was a hell of a match in a bad way"

Nemiga have got their first win of the RMR after a 105-round mudfight versus Rebels.

"The thing was the headphones," Beksultan "⁠khaN⁠" Ospan tells HLTV. "They were very very heavy on my ears, and my head was really hurting. I was thinking, 'Can we win already?'"

khaN was not the only person thinking that, after Nemiga survived 105 rounds of action against Rebels with clutches galore and man advantages thrown away like they were nothing.

Nemiga were sent to the 0-2 pool after getting smashed by MOUZ and Cloud9, receiving a rude awakening to the RMR in the squad's third LAN together as a core.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Europe RMR A
17/11/2024	MOUZ Finished 13:3 Nemiga	Match
17/11/2024	Nemiga Finished 5:13 Cloud9	Match
18/11/2024	Nemiga Finished 2:1 Rebels	Match

They actually won their second LAN, at RES Regional Championship over teams of the calibre of fnatic and UNPAID.

But the RMR is a different challenge, khaN admits. "There was pressure, we can't hide it. But we've never been at such a LAN, at such a high level."

After beating Rebels, though, it's not over yet. There is still time for Nemiga to prove why they were dark horses before they arrived in Shanghai.

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

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Here with khaN after that crazy game, how did that feel?

I would say, that it was a hell of a match in a bad way. More in a bad way [laughs]. It's the first time I'm this exhausted after a match. It was kind of overwhelming before the start, and we didn't expect to play that much. You know, when you win eight rounds on Anubis as CT, you need just to do a little to win the entire map because the T side is better. But we lost Anubis, we lost a lot of clutches.

The most important thing is that it did not affect us at all. We were moving on, round by round, even if we lost. On Ancient, we were pretty chill. Even losing 1-6, it was okay for us. We know how to come back. We are used to it, against strong teams, against not, whatever.

Tell me what went through your mind when 1eeR lost that Anubis 1v1? Did you know how low kisserek was?

I remember a little bit of this clutch. I knew [kisserek] was low hp, but it was okay. We don't have time at a tournament like this to give up. It's one of our advantages, that we don't talk about the previous round, we're not fighting, we're not thinking about it, we just move on. We have a plan and we try to do our best to win.

Clip: Aliaksandr "⁠1eeR⁠" Nahorny's 1v1 against Kamil "⁠kisserek⁠" Banak

I think it was a 4.5 hour match in the end, have you ever played one that long? What was that like?

To be honest, I don't think I had ever played something like this. Maybe BO1, it was 27-25 or something, I'm not even sure it's on HLTV. But for me, it would be okay to play such a long match, I am used to it, to playing a lot. The thing was the headphones, they were very very heavy on my ears, and my head was really hurting. I was thinking, 'Can we win already?' You have a headache, you are playing a lot, you want to eat. I wasn't thinking about eating but I was thinking that my head hurt so much.

One more thing that somebody noticed, we weren't happy after the win. I didn't notice it myself but watching it back, how this match was going, we understood everything that they were doing but we couldn't express it on the map, on the game. Maybe that's why we weren't happy. We were exhausted, and we didn't win confidently. There was no confidence like there was online or at another LAN that we won a month ago.

Something on that, we all know the RMR is a different pressure. But you guys had such good results coming into it, even on LAN winning RES in Belgarde, what has upset the balance a bit this tournament?

Yesterday, nothing went our way. There was pressure, we can't hide it. But we've never been at such a LAN, at such a high level. We have BO1, against really good teams. If you make mistakes... Everyone makes mistakes, but we weren't punishing the mistakes that they made, which they were. It was just not our day. We didn't show much.

Today was another day, a BO3 against a not-so-high-level team. We just cleared our minds and started to play.

Today was very difficult as well. wWre you relieved when you won? A lot of teams who lose in overtime on map two like that might crumble on map three. Were you proud that you fought back, with all those match points?

Yeah, I'm proud of the team. We were fighting even when we were losing a lot. We actually came back on the last map. But we need to focus more on the next game, there will be much stronger teams for sure. We need to focus more, we can't let ourselves make such mistakes like we did versus Rebels. Tomorrow is going to be not Rebels, it won't be that way if we make mistakes.

Do you feel the team is growing into the tournament? You've survived day one, survived today, how will tomorrow be? Will we see a better version of Nemiga?

I'm pretty confident about myself, we showed that we are not going to go home 0-3. I'm pretty confident that tomorrow will be a really good game. We are not out. All my teammates understand this, we will put more and more effort for the Major.

I wanted to ask one thing about xant3r, he's really impressed me a lot online and at RES, how far can he go as a player?

Everything he does, and everything he shows, it's a result of his hard work and mentality. He's watching a lot of demos, playing a lot of DM. He really loves this game. I would say, he's really talented, and in the future he will go to the top if he continues his hard work.

Last question, on the Major itself, do you still believe?

For sure. We will.