sh1ro: "Only the game will show if we have improved or not, because you can't play this game without mistakes"

"We tried to focus on those in-game moments [in Astana] that we had problems with," the Russian sniper says. "We practiced for a week and a half, probably. So I think it's a decent time to fix everything."

On the media day ahead of Stage 3 at the BLAST.tv Austin Major, HLTV spoke to Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov about Spirit's recent form after winning PGL Astana, not bootcamping and their online practice coming into the Major, and the team preparing to mount a title defense against a near-unstoppable Vitality.

"There's no pressure of any kind," the 23-year-old says. "We have proved many times what kind of team we are with our results, so there's no pressure, it's up to us, and we will be trying our best."

sh1ro had less to say when asked about ongoing community conversations regarding the team's mentality.

"I don't really like the questions about the mental aspects, because these matters are subjective, everyone has their opinions on this or that. This is why I can't say anything about who has what mentality, but I can say that we still want to win, and we will try hard. It's a Major, and we want to win the Major."

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Editor's note: Questions were answered by sh1ro in Russian, and then translated by HLTV staff.

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You've had a bit of time off coming into the Major. How are you and the team feeling?

I think that everything is alright. We came to the Major, it's been plenty of time since the last official. We feel good as a team, and we'll be trying to show a good game and reach the playoffs at the minimum.

You won Astana. donk said the event was largely to prepare for the Major, and you had some mistakes that you realized that you wanted to fix. Can you tell me about working through some of those issues and what that's been like?

After Astana, we had three days of a break. We came together, rewatched the materials that we played in Astana. Of course, we tried to focus on those in-game moments that we had problems with. But only the game will show if we have improved or not, because you can't play this game without mistakes. We practiced for a week and a half, probably. So I think it's a decent time to fix everything.

A lot of the conversation during and after Astana was about Spirit's mentality in-game, and seeing the players not hold up emotionally as well as they used to. Can you tell what you've done regarding the mental side of the game while preparing for the Major?

I don't really like the questions about the mental aspects, because these matters are subjective, everyone has their opinions on this or that. This is why I can't say anything about who has what mentality, but I can say that we still want to win, and we will try hard. It's a Major, and we want to win the Major. For us, a good result is always a win, and we will be trying our best.

There was this comment about not bootcamping and the team not wanting to get on each other's nerves, which I think was somewhat of a mistranslation; it was more about keeping the mood up or something along those lines. Can you comment from your side personally, what does it mean not having bootcamps and practicing mostly online with the team?

I believe that in the current Counter-Strike, if players approach [the practice] responsibly when playing online and not on bootcamp, there's not much difference, really. There's probably a 10-15% difference in being able to talk more about the game outside of any official setting.

But for the most part, if you look at the entire history and data of our team, even when we were not at the bootcamp, everything was quite good. Definitely, it helps us when realizing our ideas as well, which is why bootcamps are also a complex topic... we just do it the way it's convenient for us and the team.

At a bootcamp, you can talk about CS more than when you just practice and work on your individual form afterwards. But then, while I'm also playing, I can discuss some things with my players so they get more information. Why do teams gain form during the event? Because they sit together, and so it gets better and better. But when bootcamp stacks up with 20-day events, it gets very tough.

You come into this Major as reigning champions. Does this add any pressure to you? And especially with Vitality and the form that they're in.

No, there's no pressure. Like all players say, again, there are a million events, so there's no pressure of any kind. We have proved many times what kind of team we are with our results, so there's no pressure, it's up to us, and we will be trying our best.