On the ground at IEM Cologne Stage 2

FalleN on return to LANXESS after eight years: "It's one of the best places to play CS"

FalleN on return to LANXESS after eight years: "It's amazing. It's one of the best places to play Counter-Strike, the magnitude and how deep the stadium is, how far people are from you, it gives you different vibes. It's gonna be amazing to play there.

On molodoy's impact: "There are only a few times that I practiced against teams that I don't know much in my career. I only had the same feelings that I had with Danil, playing against him, when I was playing against donk. When I played Spirit Academy, donk hit a shot on me on Nuke outside with a Deagle, that I was like, either this guy is completely cheating or he's the next goat. When I played Danil, we played him once or twice, and there was the same internal feeling. I was playing against this guy and he's stretching every edge, giving you s1mple vibes sometimes. And I jokingly told my team, 'if I'm gonna change one day, it has to be for this guy.'

He's incredible. He has the character, the personality of someone who's gonna step up to the task. Crossing that smoke, only someone who knows he can take the risk, who feels he can take risk, and understands how good this play can be. It was amazing yesterday as well because he wasn't playing too great against Falcons from the very beginning. I could see in his mood that he was feeling nervous. I feel like for beginner players, before they really win something, a trophy, they don't really know internally that they can win. He's playing m0NESY, NiKo for the first time, he doesn't know if he has it or not. And as the match goes 1-1, it's very tough, and the third map I tell him 'Bro, it's Dust2 now, and they have to cross mid, it's all gonna go your way.' And he started completely dominating the game the second half. He closed the game for us. I'm proud of him and I think he's gonna do wonders."

Link copied

29/0723:00

molodoy on finding play after play: "I'm no pussy, I play for my confidence, I have aura"

molodoy on helping a Brazilian team return to LANXESS after eight years: "I'm very happy, I'm very happy to be playing with a very good team. Every day my team is helping me with how I need to play in tier 1."

On finding play after play: "From when I was a kid I was playing football for 12 years and that helped me here in Counter-Strike. In football you need to play more aggressive, it's an aggressive sport, and Counter-Strike... is the same I think, but some guys can play pussy (chuckles). I'm no pussy, I play for my confidence, I have aura. It's good for my team, I think."

Link copied

FURIA celebrate grabbing last playoff berth

29/0722:46

By king_dempz

Link copied

29/0721:41

B1ad3: "makazze is showing really good potential"

B1ad3 on FaZe rematch: "Playing two matches [in the same day] is kinda tough for us, for our system. You don't have time to find a good game plan to find real weaknesses to abuse. It was very good that we played FaZe before, so we already had a game plan.

On making playoffs with makazze: "It's a good sign that we did one bootcamp with a new player, changed some roles and are in the playoffs kinda very fast. All opponents were strong, the scene is very competitive, so yeah, I'm happy with what we achieved."

On makazze: "We need to take him and consider he came from academy, doesn't have LAN experience at all, and if you analyze him like this, he is kinda incredible, showing really good potential for me."

The full interview with B1ad3 will be released tomorrow.

Link copied

29/0720:38

High fives all around as NAVI secure playoffs

Link copied

29/0720:11

Spirit celebrate making the semi-finals in Cologne

Link copied

29/0718:58

donk told off for taking his headset off after tilt moment

Link copied

29/0718:36

Vitality celebrate another convincing win

Link copied

29/0716:49

xKacpersky: "We have big potential, but we need more practice"

xKacpersky on elimination: "We expected to come further than this. The two matches we lost were very close - if we took like one round more, won a clutch or this stuff, the score would be different and we'd win. But it is what it is, I guess."

On what went wrong: "This match against NAVI, on Inferno we got absolutely destroyed and then on Train we started a bit slow, we played scared. Then we started to get some rounds on T side and we started a comeback. If we took one pistol, maybe on CT, it's different. Unlucky."

On his first tournament with NIP: "I think we fit well together. I'm really aggressive and with Snappi I can do mostly what I want. I think we have big potential, but we need more practice, also. We've had a few days of practice, we didn't have a full map pool yet, and we just need time, probably."

On going back to LAN after tough online experience with ENCE: "It's really nice, you don't need to play against cheaters in online tier-three tournaments. You play LAN, you get a lot of VRS points, and we get closer to qualifying for the Major."

Link copied

29/0715:57

Jimpphat does a bit of reaction training ahead of Spirit game

X link

Link copied

27/0722:16

HooXi: "Somehow in an elimination game from Cologne we are not fighting like it depends on our lives"

HooXi on no-show against FURIA: "I think it's easier to list what went right (chuckles). I feel like we didn't show up at all on anything we talked about. The rounds, we kinda played them as we discussed and they did all the things we thought they would do, and we still lost to it, which blows my mind right now.

"I just feel like somehow in an elimination game for Cologne, we are not fighting like it depends on our lives. I cannot explain to you why."

Did the closer Vitality match offer some hope? "My mindset has been the whole time that I don't care how far we make it or the results, I just want to see progression and I want to see that we do it better every time, and that's why I'm so frustrated right now because I feel like we learned nothing from this game.

"It's no shame to lose to Vitality, as you say, but when you're so close... And I feel like they're not the same team as they were last season. I think they are a bit rusty and they need to get back in the groove, and that was the best opportunity we will get to beat them. It hurts no matter what, but this one is way worse."

On what experience the team will take forward: "There's a lot for us to talk about from the Vitality game. I think that was a decent game where we had some takeaways.

"From this game, as I said, I honestly don't know what we can learn. It's not really about anything technical, it's just about waking up and being there from the start. Two times in a row we are not, and they were ready. If anything it shows that we need to grind harder and we need to show up more individually. In a game like CS2 you have to win your duels, and we are just not."

Link copied