TeSeS: "When we have these huge star players, it's only fitting that I go to anchor positions"

"I know that with time I will be a really good anchor player and do justice to this team," TeSeS adds.

René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen has fulfilled a plethora of roles throughout his career, with Falcons' recent roster change pushing him to a small-site anchor role.

While the Dane isn't happy with his contribution yet, he states that his adaptation is only a matter of time and that he is happy with his new responsibility.

"I like to play around people that take initiative and I can follow, build on that, and make sure to make the plan work," he told HLTV.

TeSeS also spoke about the straightforward win against Virtus.pro, playing with Maxim "⁠kyousuke⁠" Lukin, and their upcoming FISSURE Playground 2 campaign.

Listen to the interview here.

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Congrats on the win. It's probably not the strongest team considering the stand-in situation and everything, but losing just three rounds has to feel good, right?

It feels very good, and personally it also feels very good to have some important rounds and deliver on a much better level than I've done in the past tournaments. I hope I can keep that up. I've been working really hard, so I'm looking forward to trying to do it.

After EWC, you guys decided to skip BLAST and attend this. What did you feel you needed to work on the most? Because EWC probably didn't go exactly as you planned.

What we used time on the most is full focus on practice and getting better in-game. It feels like mentally and outside of the server we are where we need to be, so everything has been about CS. Protocols, agreements, and these small things that we work on all the time. So practice is where we can perfect this stuff more.

The EWC performance was pretty good at times. You beat MOUZ, you beat Vitality in the end, but then against Aurora it feels like you didn't really show up. Do you think that's just growing pains after adding such a different player to your roster?

I think it comes down to... In that game, we lost a lot of advantageous situations, which really cost us the economy and some crucial rounds. That has been one of our focus points to try and work on that. So hopefully here in this tournament, we can show that we've gotten better at it, and there's more team play involved.

You could see today in the game as well, we were really playing as a team. Even though we were split up on the map, we connected the rounds really well together. That's one of the things we lacked at EWC.

kyosuke is a much different player to Magisk. In-game, he's much more aggressive and likes to go for plays. How hard has it been to adapt to such a different piece?

I really don't think it has been that hard. It's very easy to play with an aggressive player. Personally, I like to play around people that take initiative and I can follow, build on that, and make sure to make the plan work. Or at least if it goes wrong, then I'm there to pick it up again.

So for me, I love playing with Maxim [kyousuke]. It's very easy, you can just follow him. When you see he's in a hard position, then you can say 'I'll strafe for you,' and he's following you and making sure that he gets that double kill.

You said it's nice to follow him around, but on the CT side especially, you've been moved to a B anchor on Mirage, for example. It feels you pretty much played every role there is throughout your career, so how is it to be on the extremities again?

I like it. I really don't dislike any of the roles I've had in the past, and playing anchor positions also suits me really well. I think when we have these huge star players on the team, it's only right and fitting that I go to anchor positions, and do my absolute best in these positions. I know that with time I will be a really good anchor player and do justice to this team. And for me, I'm very happy with that.

You come here as one of the favorites, I would say you and MongolZ are probably the main favorites for the title. Is this an event where the result is the important part, or is it more about just getting the reps in before the season finishes with the Major?

We want to get to the best stage at the Major with this tournament and get enough VRS points. So obviously winning would be the best case scenario, and I think everyone in this team wants to lift trophies.

In the back of our heads, we want to win, but if you have to think long term, then building on the team play and so on is the most important thing, so we are ready for upcoming tournaments. We know at some point we'll get there and play really good CS, it just takes time. And this tournament, if we win or not, is not going to decide how we're going to do at the Major.