nin9 interview: "disappointing" BLAST Lisbon lessons, Spirit 1v4 & The Huns' future

"There's a lot of potential in Mongolia outside of The MongolZ," the 26-year-old said about his domestic scene.

The Huns were given a last-minute chance at a tier-one debut following ATOX's disqualification at BLAST Open Lisbon, and the Mongolian team gave a solid account of themselves against higher-ranked squads.

Although the Mongolians lost their opener against Spirit 0-2, Yesuntumur "⁠nin9⁠" Gantulga hit an incredible 1vs4 Deagle clutch that is no doubt an early highlight of the year contender, before they took Falcons to overtime in a close 0-2 loss.

After the loss to Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen's troops, nin9 sat down with HLTV to discuss his incredible clutch, the experience of the team's first tier-one LAN, and their expectations for the future.

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A 0-2 loss to Falcons and you're out of the tournament after two series. You played some close games, on Anubis against Spirit and today on Inferno against Falcons. If you consider everything, how you're playing with a lot of young players who don't have a lot of experience and the fact that you came here as a last-minute replacement for ATOX and didn't have a lot of time to prepare, you still have to be happy with what you showed here, right?

Personally, I'm not that happy with the results. We could have definitely got a map against Spirit, and we could have defeated Falcons 2-0, it felt like. On Inferno, there were at least two rounds that I could have individually secured on my own. But in the end... It was a mistake. I'm going to have to sleep on that for a few nights.

Coming here to practice and play against all these top teams must be a very valuable experience for everyone on the team, especially the young players, right?

Yes, for sure. It's their first tournament. It's expected that they make mistakes. But they'll have to get used to it, or at least show up when it matters and do their part as well, right?

You are the veteran of the team. You've played for many top teams, both Mongolian and also international. What is your opinion about how your teammates played here? Because they're still very young. How do you think they performed here, considering that this was by far their biggest tournament ever?

It's a mixed feeling. Some of them did better than I expected. On the other hand, some of our players, in some clutch or close rounds, kept making very basic mistakes. It's very tilting and disappointing when you lose a round so basic that you don't even learn anything from it because you should already know that stuff. But I guess it's like some kind of pressure because we're playing against very good players, and they don't let mistakes like that go unpunished.

Techno said on the broadcast that his team and your team are very good friends and that you've practiced together a lot here. Do they give you tips on how to improve? How would you describe the relationship between both teams?

We're very close. We meet very often and we're friends outside of the game. Honestly, at least from my perspective, I didn't ask for any tips. If I had asked, they would have probably given them, but I was afraid that, if I did, I would maybe overthink things or something. So I didn't ask them for advice. But I think they [the other players] might have asked some things about their role from the players who play in a similar position.

You played some amazing CS in this tournament. You had that 1v4 against Spirit, another 1v4 today, and a very good 3K on Inferno with the AWP. Were you surprised with the level that you showed here against some of the best players in the world?

It has given me a lot of confidence, to be honest. In general, you should be confident in yourself and think that you can play against these guys. At least that's my opinion. Since I'm here, that means I'm at least on a good level. I won't think I'm the best or something, but I'm aiming to be the best version of myself. Since I got here, I've been playing FACEIT on low ping. In Asia, the level is not that good, so I don't play that much. I just play EU FACEIT with 100-something ping, and you have to adjust your playstyle. You cannot really hold an angle.

Coming here, adjusting to low ping and how I peek and hold angles was my main issue on the first day. I think I managed to overcome it on Anubis against Spirit. After that, I felt I could just play my game, you know? I don't have to be, like, 'Oh, how should I peek this angle?' Or, 'If I hold this angle, is this good or not? Maybe I can get fucked'. On LAN or at least low ping, it has given me confidence that I can hold an angle and at least fire my shot before I get killed.

That really helped how I played. Personally, I'm a very aggressive player, it's just something that comes naturally. Getting comfortable with how you peek angles and hold angles really helps my play style and it showed. In my head, there's a picture of how they're playing. At least when I was peeking I was getting my kills.

That Dust2 1v4 is seriously a candidate for highlight of the year. When you think about that, what comes to mind? Because that was a phenomenal round.

I was very calm because, at that point, they had already reached map point, and we had some Deagles and some Scouts.

Nothing to lose, right?

Yeah, I had nothing to lose. If you look at it, I was trying to peek the CT with a pop flash but I ended up flashing myself. After that, I was just, 'Eh, I have nothing else to do. I should just peek.' I should just try to get 1v1 duels. And It just ended up happening. When I killed the third guy, my teammates started laughing. It was a bit distracting. If you look at the camera, they're just… [laughs] laughing, covering their mouths and laughing. The round wasn't over, but since I had got three clean shots, I just said, 'Fuck it' and peeked the fourth guy.

The MongolZ enjoyed steady growth last year. They attended more and more events and beat better and better teams, moving up in the rankings. And they're now one of the best in the world. Do you think that your team, which is still very young, can do the same? And what The MongolZ have done: does that inspire your team?

Yeah, of course. What The MongolZ have done over the past couple of years is very inspiring. I was part of it at the beginning, and I'm really proud of it. Every Mongolian player is looking up to them, taking inspiration from them. Young players should be looking at them as role models and see what they're doing well, why they got this good, and how they practice.

If our players can work on their mistakes... Sometimes, ego gets in the way of young players. They might say, 'Oh, if I had just hit my shot it wouldn't have been a mistake,' but sometimes, if you look at the bigger picture, that's not how it works. So if they manage to keep their ego in check and work hard on themselves, I think there's a lot of potential in Mongolia outside of The MongolZ.

What do you think is the secret behind this new generation of Mongolian talent?

I don't know if there's a secret, but it's mostly dedication and hard work. If you know The MongolZ's players, they are really hardworking. Their coach and staff, too. Everyone is very hardworking and dedicated to their role. They put the team first. When good players are together, they help each other grow because you have to be in sync, and chemistry must be on point to keep growing and reach new heights. I think The MongolZ have everything to be the best.

You have a busy schedule after this tournament. You have the closed qualifier for PGL Astana, the  Hero Asia Champions League, and the MRQ. What goals have you set for the rest of the year? How far do you think The Huns can go?

The obvious one is making the Major. This tournament, I didn't talk to my team about it, but I just wanted to learn something from it. But in the end, it feels like, at least from my perspective, it was kind of disappointing. We didn't manage to take that many lessons. It was mostly individual stuff, not team-wise. I wanted to get out-called or see my setups getting read. I wanted to grow as an individual and as an IGL. There are some lessons, but I wanted there to be more to learn.

So do you think that your matches came down to the other players making fewer mistakes rather than you being outplayed strategically?

That was mostly it. Of course, I made some bad calls. Today was good, but I have to go home and look at the demos to see exactly what happened. But at least from my perspective, today I definitely could have called a better T side on Inferno. I got pretty tilted from the Inferno T side after how the first map went. On Ancient, I think the calling was good. We started on the CT side but we definitely could have won two more gun rounds.

I could have helped my team win two more rounds, but I just couldn't fucking finish my kills. I was getting a lot of body shots. I ended up dying and giving the advantage to the opponent. That fucked us. Considering we lose eco rounds pretty often, we could have gotten three more rounds from CT and our life would have been much easier on the T side.

On that part, I'm very self-critical at the moment. What was the question again?

Just how far do you think The Huns can go in 2025? What goals have you set for this year, besides reaching the Major?

Our main goal is the Major. So we're mostly focused on that right now. As for the other tournaments, we will aim to win them and learn from our mistakes. That's good.