zweih: "It's not my first big tournament, but it's my first time in the arena and I'm so excited"

The 17-year-old will try to "just be inside the game at all times" to not get distracted in his stage debut at the LANXESS Arena.

Spirit made it through IEM Cologne Stage 2 flawlessly with three victories over HEROIC, Aurora, and MOUZ, and are now waiting in the semi-finals for the winner of the Natus Vincere vs. The MongolZ quarter-final.

For Spirit's newest addition, Ivan "⁠zweih⁠" Gogin, it was his first official matches with the team, and an adjustment as he takes over Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev's roles.

The differences are most obvious on the T side, where zweih went from lurking to entrying, although he is not completely inexperienced, as he played the role in older teams. He is, however, still grappling with the finer points of playing in a new team, and especially on a team of this caliber.

"I'm just thinking a lot not about my aim, but about the things that I should do in a new team, and it's not something that I can do right now, it's just all about experience on the team," he says. "I just need to play more games to think faster and because of that I think that I would play much better individually than I played at this stage."

Other than his adaptation to the team, Spirit's 17-year-old also shared with us his thoughts on how the group stage went for him, playing on a team with Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, and the excitement ahead of his stage debut at the LANXESS Arena.

Link to interview

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Your group stage debut with Spirit is behind you. Can you tell me how you would evaluate it?

We won all three games, but I think that I could play much better than I played. Individually, I was losing some important duels in some rounds, and maybe if I won them we would have won easily, but we won all games, so I think I did enough to win them. I'm comfortable with this stage, I think.

Why do you think you haven't been performing up to your standards?

I started to think about some new things because it's a new team for me and it's my first tier-one experience. I'm just thinking a lot not about my aim, but about the things that I should do in a new team, and it's not something that I can do right now, it's just all about experience on the team. I just need to play more games to think faster and because of that I think that I would play much better individually than I played at this stage.

You've been put in magixx's positions, pretty much one to one everywhere, but generally we've seen you be more of an aggressive player, less of a supportive player than magixx was, even though you share a lot of the same positions. How has this adjustment been for you?

In Nemiga I played many of the CT roles I play right now, but on the T side I played the lurk position a lot. Now I'm just an entry-fragger, like donk is coming behind me all of the time when we do some rounds, and it's something new for me. I think I'm confident about that, I have some experience in this role in older teams, so I don't feel really much pressure about that. I just need to play some more games to get more confidence on these roles.

Tell me about playing with donk. It's no secret you've been friends for a long time, you play on FACEIT together and all of that. What is it like to play with him on an actual team for the first time?

It's great. I mean, when I have a teammate that can kill all of the opponent team, like if you just drop him an AK he can kill all five people and the four other teammates don't have to do anything. [Laughs]

Of course, it's a great option, you know, like sh1ro can also do some insane highlights with the AWP, and zont1x and chopper too, all of them have great aim. Maybe some of them have problems with mechanic skills, so maybe there's some problems about that, but when you have donk on the team you don't have to care much about them.

You're playing your first Cologne. I'm sure it's a tournament you watched in the past. Does it bring any emotions to see yourself qualify for the LANXESS Arena in your first time playing at such a tournament?

It's my first time in the arena. It's not my first big tournament, I played at the Major and ESL Pro League before, but it's my first time in the arena, and I'm so excited about that. I will just try to show my best and try to not feel the pressure from the viewers in the arena, just be inside the game at all times and try to show my best.

Do you have any memories from watching this tournament?

I watched Cologne last year when Spirit lost four maps, 0-2 to The MongolZ and 0-2 to G2, and I just didn't understand what happened with them because they won Katowice half a year before and then they won zero maps in kind of the same tournament.

I just don't think viewers have some difference between all tier-one tournaments. It's all about the players, like only the players and some viewers can be on this scene and only they can feel some difference with that. I just watched it, like, 'I want to play here,' and after one year in Nemiga I'm here already and in the playoffs, too. It's a great feeling.