KSCERATO: "We know how to play [all seven maps] because we have a bunch of nerds here"

The Brazilian says FURIA's seven-map pool is here to stay.

FURIA's CIS-Brazil combination continues to impress with another playoff appearance, this time at FISSURE Playground 2.

Their group-stage campaign ended with revenge over paiN for their match at the Austin Major, with Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's troops getting the better of G2 in a rare Overpass appearance earlier in the tournament.

Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato, who spoke to HLTV after making the playoffs, insists that FURIA's seven-map pool is here to stay. "The seven-map pool is good for us because we have FalleN's IGLing, and everyone is helping even if we don't play the map too much," he said.

He also spoke about FURIA's current standing in the scene, their wish for more arena experience, and their games so far in Belgrade.

Listen to the interview here.

---

Congrats on the win. It got a bit close on Dust2, but it felt like a comfortable win for you guys. Do you agree with that assessment?

Yeah, it was really tough at the beginning. They won some rounds in a row, but yuurih saved our ass in some rounds, and then everyone played well.

Last time you played paiN was in Austin. Did you want to get the better of them this time?

Yeah, we called it a Brazilian derby. It was like a rematch between, you can call it that.

You went 3-1 right in the Swiss system here. You only lost to Aurora and got several good wins, like the one against G2. Do you feel like the team is still improving, still finding a higher level?

Yeah, we fucked up some situations sometimes that made us not do well during the game. Like the economic styles and shit, it was kind of hard for us. Against Aurora we lost the economic battle in some situations, it fucked us a lot, but we just need to win those situations and play better.

Where would you currently rank your team? In the VRS, you cracked the top 5 recently. Do you feel that's where the team is?

Yeah, I feel that. I feel that we're in a really good spot right now. We are confident enough to beat anyone, doesn't matter who. With respect, I think we are really good right now, we are top five, top six.

You're one of the very few teams that play all 7 maps. Is that something that you want to keep into the future, or was the Overpass against G2 more of a one-time thing?

No, I think we are confident in all the maps. So it doesn't matter what they pick against us.
We are really confident. We understand each other, we are on the same page in all the maps. So the seven-map pool is good for us because we have FalleN's IGLing, and everyone is helping even if we don't play the map too much. We just know how to play because we have a bunch of nerds here. [laughs]

Last time when we spoke to your coach, he said you guys are still gathering experience for playoffs, for arenas. How happy are you that you made it to the arena here and that you have another chance to prove yourselves?

Yeah, I think the arena games are always more tense. It's always more anxious, and there's a lot of outside noise. We had to work a lot between us because communication sometimes got a little bit rushed, but I think that we're getting experience.

molodoy is 20 years old, so it's kind of new for him, he's played like 4 or 5 playoffs already. So he'll play more. But it doesn't really matter, because everyone can enter the arena and choke, it doesn't matter how many playoffs you played. So I think it's something that we're working on, we just need to play and be confident.

Talking about these playoffs. There's quite a lot of good teams, Falcons, MongolZ, G2 as well, who you already beat. How confident are you that this team has what it takes to win the title?

I think we're really confident. As I said, it doesn't matter who we play against, the main thing is we have to play our game, and not think about them. We have to be confident in our game, and then we can make the best decisions.