jabbi on role changes: "Staehr is the most aggressive guy, it shouldn't be him [anchoring]"

"I just wanted to do what's best for the team and I just took basically all of the positions," jabbi says.

Astralis arrived in Germany mere days after a runner-up finish to TYLOO at FISSURE Playground 1, given little time to fix their mistakes or adjust to the economy changes that are in effect at IEM Cologne.

The Danes still didn't miss a beat in their Stage 1 opener as they dispatched of B8 in a two-map series, which started with a slaughter on Mirage thanks to Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz's 1.99 and 2.17 ratings, before the former helped lead the charge to an overtime victory on Inferno to close things out.

The 22-year-old is doing well to adjust to a few role changes after he took over anchor positions to free up Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr, ones he's played before but still has to get used to.

"It's weird that you have to be a little bit more quiet when we are playing on the CT sides sometimes, but overall it's been going good," jabbi told HLTV after the win.

Astralis also have the benefit of their permaban, Anubis, being removed, so the return of Overpass is not as large of a blow as it could be, but with only the feeling from PUGs to play off of for the MP9 and economy changes, the team still needs time to adjust in Cologne as they look toward a match against FURIA for a spot in Stage 2.

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"The MP9 hasn't been the best weapon, so we also changed the loadouts and stuff like this, so we're just trying things out," jabbi says.

If you can't see the embed above, you can listen to the interview on Spotify.

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It looked quite easy to start the series, but then it came down to a close finish on Inferno against B8. How did you manage to pull it over the finish line?

We stayed composed throughout the Inferno CT side even though there were some rounds that we felt like we should win. Then I think they made a misplay with the economy, so we just had the advantage because they were saving three rounds in a row, and we knew that they couldn't have a full buy. We got it to overtime, we started from scratch again, and we played it out and listened to HooXi to do the things we talked about.

It's back-to-back events for you, coming over from FISSURE after making it to the grand final there. How much did time did you have to adjust, to see what went wrong in that final, and to reflect heading into Cologne?

We talked about some of the big topics in the final, what we did wrong and things like that, and then we just instantly focused on what to do because it's a new economy system and the CT molly. Some stuff changed because we weren't used to that when we played on the old patch.

I think it's a learning process for us. Now we played two tournaments and it's been two finals, one of the tournaments is not like big teams and the other one as well, but it's still great experience to play on the stage as a team, to know each other, the other guys can get to know HooXi and how he does things. I think it's just a good progress we're in right now.

What did you put the grand final loss down to? Close maps all around, a couple of rounds here and there could have changed things. What did you talk about, what did you see as the biggest issues?

I think we weren't on point in some of the team communication and doing the stuff in the server, and obviously TYLOO is also a good team. They surprised us a little bit when they won against us with a coach, and we knew it was going to be harder when they got Jee back. JamYoung as well was having an insane tournament and he's really good, and basically all of them are great players, so it was just a tough game.

A lot of people were talking about HooXi top fragging in that series and the others that didn't quite step up. Did you also put it down to individuals not showing up in the game?

Yes and no. Obviously, if you're fully on individually you will just win games by that, but there were some more problems in the game, I would say. As I said before, we weren't on point in these communication things and things like that. But if you're not on point with the individuals, you will basically lose most of your games.

I also wanted to ask you about some of the role changes between you, Staehr and stavn. What led to these changes?

We had a talk about some of the roles because, basically, we are five vocal players in our past teams, so we had to adjust. I have played these anchor positions before and Staehr was just the one that got them, but he's the guy who is the most aggressive, it shouldn't be him, and then we just had a talk about what would fit the team best. I just wanted to do what's best for the team and I just took basically all of the positions.

Now I have to get used to that again, and I think it's going okay so far. I don't think it's too hard of a change. It's weird that you have to be a little bit more quiet when we are playing on the CT sides sometimes, but overall it's been going good.

You mentioned the in-game changes coming in for Cologne. I don't think I need to ask you about Overpass, you had the fortune that it was your permaban that went out, but otherwise what did you think about the MP9 and especially the economy change?

We had talks about it, but I think it's easier to know more when we have played more. When we played FACEIT in Serbia and stuff, as CT when you win the pistol round you can basically buy five M4s, so there's a little change there, but for now we're just saying in the rounds, 'Just be ready, they could buy here.'

The MP9 hasn't been the best weapon, so we also changed the loadouts and stuff like this, so we're just trying things out.

Expecting more FAMAS, or what's the solution?

Yeah, the FAMAS if you have money for it, but I'm going with the MP5 or MP7.

What do you think about those? They haven't been in use too much.

Yeah, no, NertZ is the only one that used the MP7, but it's actually pretty good, and the MP5, yeah, that's not that good.