Maka: "A lot of frustration; on stage I didn't manage to [wear both hats], IGL and AWP"

Maka was unhappy with his performance on the way to a 1-3 record in the Shanghai Major's Elimination Stage.

Following a 1-3 record in the Elimination Stage, 3DMAX's Bryan "⁠Maka⁠" Canda spoke to HLTV reflecting on the run, in which the French side suffered losses to MIBR, G2 and MOUZ.

The AWPer and IGL admitted he was unhappy with his performance at the Major after recording a 0.91 rating. "A lot of frustration because I've been able to show I can perform against good teams," he said. "On stage I didn't manage to [wear both hats], I think I could have done better, so... A bit frustrating, yeah."

Thrown advantages cost 3DMAX in the elimination match against MOUZ, which Maka put down to nerves. "The gameplan was good and we managed to put ourselves in good situations, but we threw them because we lacked composure," he explained. "It's something we have to focus on."

He and 3DMAX will still look at the qualification campaign with pride after setting the goal to make it to the Major after bringing in Damien "⁠wasiNk⁠" Dufour and Filip "⁠Graviti⁠" Brankovic in April.

Now, thanks to their high ranking, the Frenchmen should get more opportunities to play at tier-one events early next year, and Maka hopes that will allow them to set an even higher goal for the next Major.

"It will bring less pressure for us because we went to ESL Pro Leagues thinking we needed to make it far to be able to play other events," Maka said. "It will allow us to improve and set another goal for the next six months with [the Austin Major] coming up."

Yeah, I think the opportunities to play a lot of events will bring less pressure to us because it felt like we went to ESL Pro Leagues thinking we need to make it far to be able to play other events. Now we are quite up in the rankings in Europe, I think it will allow us to improve and see how we can set another goal for the next six months with Austin coming up.

The full interview can be found below:

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Just tell me your reaction at the moment. I'm sure it's a disappointment, what's going through your head?

A lot of frustration because I've been able to show I can perform against good teams the last couple of events. I think on stage I didn't manage to [wear both hats], IGL and AWP, and I think I could have done better, so... A bit frustrating, yeah.

On Dust2 it felt like you threw a lot of advantages, you were in a lot of those rounds but it ended up slipping away. Does it feel like you could have done better?

I think the gameplan was good and we managed to put ourselves in good situations to win the rounds, but we threw them because we lacked composure, I think. We were not that calm compared to other games. I think it's something we have to focus on because this is where we are the best, when we are calm.

At the beginning of the second map you had the really long tech issue. Can you tell me about what happened and if it affected things?

I had some issues with my keyboard and my mouse, they got reset in Razer Synapse, and the PC was lagging also... I don't know what happened. It got me out of the match a bit mentally for like one round. I think we should have won the first gunround, we had a good gamble and again a 5v3 and we didn't manage to close it.

Tell me about the result overall. For 3DMAX to make it to the Major was a big achievement in the first place - will you look back on that with pride, or is the disappointment of the result prevailing?

Of course we're really proud of ourselves. A lot of people are proud of what we showed for French CS. Even though it's frustrating we made it this far, I think people didn't expect this.

We set the goal one year and seven months ago with the new roster with wasiNk and Graviti that we had to make it to the Major. We made it to the Elimination Stage, so it's insane, and I think we'll use it for the next Major. I'm pretty sure we're gonna make it again and we can have a good year next year.

In general, for next year you guys have made it quite far up in the ranking, so it seems like you'll get a lot of invites for big tournaments. You were in and out of the top scene and missing out on a lot of opportunities before, how is that going to change things for 2025?

Yeah, I think the opportunities to play a lot of events will bring less pressure to us because it felt like we went to ESL Pro Leagues thinking we need to make it far to be able to play other events. Now we are quite up in the rankings in Europe, I think it will allow us to improve and see how we can set another goal for the next six months with Austin coming up.