cairne: "I was just tilted so hard [...] I won't break any mouse again"

The Ukrainian rifler admitted emotions got the best of him and he "expressed it in a bad way" when he broke his mouse against Spirit.

Inner Circle arrived at ESL Pro League with "no expectations," a sentiment reiterated by Artem "⁠cairne⁠" Mushynskyi even after his team beat No. 1-ranked The MongolZ in the 0-1 pool of Stage 2.

The Ukrainian team beat 3DMAX, GamerLegion. and Gentle Mates to advance undefeated from Stage 1, making for a spectacular debut under their new organization's umbrella, and pushed Spirit the distance on the Mirage decider in their Stage 2 opener.

That series ended in a loss after cairne broke his mouse in frustration, a result of him "tilting hard" after Inner Circle squandered several advantages.

"Too much bad emotions, I would say," he reflected. "And I just expressed it this way (laughs), in a bad way. It happens, it happens. I won't break any mouse again (laughs)."

A "life game" from David "⁠Dawy⁠" Bibik on Mirage (34-12 K-D, 2.26 rating) helped Inner Circle bounce back and enter the 1-1 pool, but cairne says the team isn't focused on results.

"We're just here to get experience and have fun," he says.

You can listen to the interview here.

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Congrats, a big win over The MongolZ. How are you feeling after that?

Thank you. I don't know, we didn't feel any pressure during this best-of-three, but it feels awesome to win against the best team in the world. Honestly, I don't have much to say, just no emotions to be honest.

Even though you say you beat the best team?

For me, it's no emotions, but for Dawy, he had a life game, obviously (laughs). So yeah, congrats to him, he carried us on Mirage.

You also were pretty competitive against Spirit yesterday, it was a good game. In the end, there was the whole mouse situation. You say no emotions now, but yesterday there were some emotions for sure, right?

(laughs) Yes, because we had this game. We lost five rounds after we changed sides, and we were losing like 5v3, 4v2, and I was just tilted so hard. Like I couldn't kill the guy in Ninja when he dropped down from Palace, and it was crazy, you know? Too much bad emotions, I would say. And I just expressed it this way (laughs), in a bad way. It happens, it happens. I won't break any mouse again (laughs).

There was a lot of conversation online about that whole situation, you breaking your mouse. You didn't have a replacement and ESL gave you one. Just wanted to give you a chance to comment on that.

I don't think that we would win; it's not a mouse issue. I had a kill in CT on the last round, but I would shoot like this even with a normal mouse, zweih just insta-killed me. It's not a mouse issue for sure. They deserved to win, they were better on this day.

You say that you wouldn't do that again, but earlier today I even saw you smash your mouse a little bit-

No no, it's a little bit (laughs), you know? Like micro-anger (smiles). So yeah, I already constantly have this thought that I shouldn't break my mouse. But we have a second one, so yeah.

You got another one after yesterday then?

Yes, yes. We have additional ones, so yeah, we can switch during the game.

It worked out for you today, as I said you took down The MongolZ. No emotions for you, but still a really big win. The MongolZ lost yesterday as well, so they're not having the best tournament, but what does it mean for you to get that?

It's hard to say. We're just here to get experience and have fun. It's the main reason, we don't think about results, we don't think about the outcome. We just play our game like we do in praccs, we just play round by round and that's it. That's the key to win.

Going into tomorrow, you're 1-1, do your expectations change at all now?

It's the same. No expectations.