zonic: "We succeeded with getting kyousuke comfortable, but we neglected that we also had NiKo and TeSeS in new roles"

The Danish skipper talks about the growing pains with the new lineup, how Falcons is working on finding its DNA, the boon of having some days at home to work on the playbook, and more.

Maxim "⁠kyousuke⁠" Lukin entered tier-one competition with a bang at IEM Cologne, but the team failed to back him up during their group-stage exit.

"The main objective was to try and make him feel as comfortable as possible," Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen said about his new superstar. "And I think I made a mistake as well in that regard."

Falcons, now armed with more practice under their belts due to visa issues forcing them to pick their tournaments "more carefully," have shown much better face at FISSURE Playground 2 and qualified for the playoffs without a map loss.

After their win against FaZe, zonic spoke to HLTV about their performances in Belgrade, the need for some calmness around the team, and their expectations for FISSURE Playground 2.

Listen to the interview here.

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First of all, congrats on the win. Clean 2-0, I would say, against FaZe. Did it feel clean on the server as well?

I would never say clean in that sense. I think FaZe is a good team, and you all know that their teams can also be dangerous, they have definitely shown improvement throughout this season. Nuke was a bit tough. I think we won both pistols and it was 13-11, we maybe had a couple of missed shots or a couple of rounds on CT side that should and could have gone our way.

But I think Dust2 felt clean, if you can say that. It's been a long time since we played Dust2, last time was in Cologne, so you could see that you don't have this sharpness all the time. But I'm very proud of the boys for pulling it off today, good game to FaZe.

Overall, you went 3-0 in the group stage and didn't lose a single map. Would you say that you're getting up to speed with kyosuke now? Are you getting to the level that you expect?

I think one thing that has helped us a lot, and also something that I have been doing in my previous teams, is that you have these periods at home where you can actually really work on your playbook. I think last season was a bit tough. We had a roster change and also a roster announcement, m0NESY, coming in in the middle of the season. We didn't have that much time to practice.

Unfortunately, this is life now with the new VRS system. You kind of have to grind out tournaments. This season we have been forced in some way due to visa issues and stuff like that to pick our tournaments carefully, and I think that has benefited us a lot to work on teamplay, the playbook, and integrating Maxim [kyousuke] into the playbook properly. I'm happy about that and really pleased with the tournament so far.

Speaking of kyosuke. His debut tournament, Cologne, definitely didn't go to plan team-wise, but he had a fantastic performance personally. Do you feel that was maybe down to everyone trying to make him feel as comfortable as possible and not thinking of themselves?

I think we only had six or seven days before Cologne before we started off. The main objective was to try and make him feel as comfortable as possible, and I think I made a mistake as well in that regard. We succeeded with getting him comfortable, but we also kind of neglected a little bit that we also had NiKo and TeSeS in new roles as well. It was a bit tough.

We relied a little bit on a honeymoon period, as we didn't have that much time to integrate. It was important for me to try and make him feel comfortable, give him a lot of freedom, give him a lot of space, and that we succeeded with, but as a team it was definitely not the best start. We're getting better and better tournament by tournament, and also trying to find our DNA. We know what works for us and we're trying to improve and make less mistakes on both CT and T sides.

You're now in the playoffs and definitely among the favorites for the title, I think we can agree. Is that what you guys are aiming for or is it just trying to get mileage with the new roster?

Of course we can... We always have to look at ourselves as [that], and I think this is also the position that everyone has of us, given the player names on the team and the track record that they have, but also the ambitions from Falcons. But it has been very important for me this season that we need more stability and more calmness around the team.

We are a team where a lot of people talk about us and there's a lot of eyes on us, and for me, it has just been important that we take it step by step and focus more on evolving and developing our playbook with the main goal of being as ready as possible for the Major.

So, of course, if we play like we have here, we also have high ambitions. I think for the team as well, NiKo is playing on home soil. It would be nice for him to lift the trophy and same with kyxsan, who doesn't live far away. I expect them to have family here, so it would mean a lot to the team to hopefully have them lift the trophy.

But I need to stick to what I said when we started out with this team and after the player break, that now we just need to have a bit of calmness around the team and not just constantly aim for trophies immediately. It takes time to build a team, and I think this has so far proven to be the right approach by us taking it to a higher level step by step and not focusing too much on the trophy.