r1nkle: "I overthought my playstyle a lot, so I'm just trying to play by feel"

The Ukrainian sniper comes into the RMR with a fresh mindset.

Ninjas in Pyjamas came into the RMR in a state of turmoil. The organization replaced their IGL Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet with Gareth "⁠MisteM⁠" Ries in September to turn around their disappointing season, but their plan was foiled soon after.

Max "⁠maxster⁠" Jansson was moved to inactivity due to health issues, with academy player Jacob "⁠jocab⁠" Nerheden replacing him in the interim. Artem "⁠r1nkle⁠" Moroz described the youngster's integration into the team as the most important part of the team's pre-RMR preparation.

After Ninjas in Pyjamas' win against PARIVISION that put the Swedish organization in the 1-1 pool, r1nkle also spoke to HLTV about his change in playstyle, NIP's expectations for the RMR, and MisteM's impact on the team.

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

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You finished the first day with a 1-1 record. How do you feel about the first day here in Shanghai?

I mean, I'm feeling good. I think 1-1 is the best you can go because we're going to play one more best-of-one. Of course, versus G2, it was hard to play because they're a tier-one team, but I think we got a really good game versus PARIVISION. We had a slightly shaky CT side, but it was good.

The G2 game was your first match here. It felt like you had a really slow start but then came back into the game.

Yeah, we couldn't do a thing on the T side. It was pretty hard, they were just killing us. I mean, it kind of felt very scary to play, I would say. But on the CT side, when we won the first round, we made some other stuff and I felt we could even come back. But yeah, we couldn't do it.

Then came another very close game against PARIVISION. Considering you're such a new team, you've just added a new IGL and have a stand-in, how good does it feel to close out a game like that?

It feels good to win a game at the RMR, it's very important no matter what the score is. On the T side, our captain, MisteM, was calling very well, but it was a bit hectic on the CT side. We lost an eco and then some clutches, but when we went OT, we just smashed them.

You're playing with jocab here. He had a pretty rough first event at Elisa, but here he's playing a lot better. How does it feel to play with him?

He's a very funny guy, an active guy, I would say. He adds a lot of firepower and he's not scared to do plays. He is really good and I'm just happy to play with him.

The other new addition is MisteM. You mentioned that he had a really good Anubis T side before, but what did he change when he came into the team?

I think we became a more structured team, I would say. We tried to play structured [before], but it became a bit flow-style. Now we have many defaults, and I think MisteM and sprayxd [assistant coach] did a good job alongside Xizt, and we have a good structure now.

Do you prefer to play in a more structured system or do you prefer to have more freedom to do whatever you want?

It's not really as structured as it sounds. I still have space to do some things, it's very nice for me to have space to do what I want because I'm an aggressive sniper. But yeah, it feels good to play now.

When you came into NIP, you were super aggressive, but it felt like you reeled it in in a bit when you started playing against better teams. Do you feel that that is the case?

Yeah, I was super aggressive. But I think after we lost to G2 in Blast, I kind of started thinking about how I can be more passive and smarter. In the end, I just overthought it a lot, so I'm just trying to play by feel here. We'll see how it goes.

You've been in NIP for a bit more than six months. How do you look back at this whole journey? You've played with a lot of players, and you probably developed a lot as a player.

Of course, I developed as a player because I have really experienced guys around me. Also, my English got a lot better. It's a good journey, I had a lot of fun experiences also. I'm happy.

You now have one more best-of-one, then it's best-of-threes. What are your expectations here? Do you feel confident about qualifying?

I feel confident, but it's going to be hard. I had the experience with B8, where we won many best-of-ones but couldn't close it in best-of-threes. Best-of-threes are going to be the hardest part of qualifying, but we'll see.

You came into the RMR after EPL and Elisa didn't go to plan. What was the biggest thing that you felt you needed to change coming into this?

I don't think we needed to change anything. We just needed to feel that LAN experience at Elisa and Svenska Kuppen with jocab. Elisa was his first international LAN, and as you see now, he's playing really well. He played well versus PARIVISION, he is doing a great job in being active and taking space. I think he got better because of those tournaments.