tN1R: "I'm not sure I should play like a star player"

Spirit's newest addition spoke about his transition into the star-studded lineup.

Spirit are off to a strong start in their debut with Belarusian rifler Andrey "⁠tN1R⁠" Tatarinovich, marching to the 2-0 pool of ESL Pro League Season 22 after securing wins over Inner Circle and HOTU.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 22
04/10/2025	Spirit Finished 2:1 Inner Circle	Match
05/10/2025	Spirit Finished 2:0 HOTU	Match

Shortly after his team's win over HOTU, tN1R spoke with HLTV regarding their results in EPL so far, how the team's structure has been adjusting around him, and how he has been working with coach Sergey "⁠hally⁠" Shavaev, among other topics.

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tN1R, congratulations, your second win in Spirit. How are you feeling after these first couple of games?

Nothing special, I'm just feeling good because it's the second one in a row in our new roster. But, I don't know, just trying to do our stuff very good, and that's it.

Obviously, a big change, going from being the star of HEROIC to part of this championship-contending Spirit. Have you felt that difference? Has it been a big jump for you?

I'm feeling a big jump, of course, but it's not like [I have] very big emotions about that. But I am feeling that around me I have very good players, very smart, very strong players. It's insane. I'm also enjoying playing with these guys because I understand if, for example, I do a mistake, they can compensate my drop. It's the same for different situations. For real, I know with this team we can win tournaments. I want to work a lot on improving myself, for how it's possible for me to help the team.

I was watching this Q&A that Spirit did, and something sh1ro said is that Spirit are readjusting their game a bit as they make lineup changes and different people come on. Have you felt that readjustment? Do you feel like you're readjusting their game with the way you play?

Of course, we have structure, but, as a player, compared to zont1x I am more aggro, and I like more aggressive moves. Sometimes I want to adapt some of my moves in their structure, and we're just trying to find a way together, how we can adapt to this. It's the same Spirit, but sometimes we have something new.

Do you think that's something that they needed?

I'm not sure, but I think if Spirit bought me, I think maybe they need something from me.

Also in that video, you talked a lot about learning from mistakes, wanting to win really close games rather than winning super easy, so you can have those experiences. Can you tell me more about that mentality?

For real, when I started my career, I had a mentality that I was really scared to make mistakes, because I will lose rounds for my team, or something like that. In the future, when I was working on my mentality, about how I should play, and how everyone should work in the team for improving themselves and teamplay, after that, I started to change my mentality about that.

Now, if I do mistakes, it's 'Okay, what can I do?'. I just did a mistake, and I should take experience from this mistake, because if you are scared about mistakes you cannot improve yourself.

Personality-wise, how do you feel like you're fitting into the team?

I'm feeling very good, and I'm really enjoying playing with these guys. Of course, maybe right now it looks not very strong like it was in the HEROIC roster or something like that. I'm not sure I should play like a star player, because I have around myself a lot of very good players, and of course, sometimes you just stay in your positions and you see donk, sh1ro, chopper, zweih, they can kill guys, and you just miss all five because they fuck everyone. And what should I do? Just chilling, 'Nice guys!,' and make a joke or something like this.

I was watching your first game yesterday, and it kinda felt like that...

On Ancient, I didn't see anything.

Why do they all hate your music taste?

It was a joke, because I am a music lover, and I listen to everyone's music. Sometimes it's underground rap, sometimes it's chansons, sometimes it's good music, or remix, or phonk. In one moment, I take off my earphones, and from my phone, playing some random Russian music in a remix. It was really not good music, and zweih heard, and said, 'Bro what the fuck?'.

It seems like you're all getting along pretty well. Either you or donk mentioned that hally is helping you adapt with some of the personal qualities in the team. Has he helped you in that transition?

He just talks with me a lot, trying to understand how I will feel comfortable in my new positions or maybe old positions. Again, it's another style, another structure, other players around me, and we should combine all stuff in trying to find my way where we'll feel comfortable and control my performance and do what I should do. He talks with me, trying to understand where I feel comfortable and where I can't. We're trying to find this way.

donk said one of Spirit's priorities is to remain professional and have a hierarchy set. Where do you feel you fit into this hierarchy on the team? If donk is on the top, where do you fit into that list?

Of course, donk is insane player, and sometimes I shall drop him an AK because he can kill everyone. I'm not sure in our team if donk is ultra-high priority and everyone else is down; it's very very balanced. Yeah, sometimes you shall do something for donk, for example, you drop an AK because he can kill all teams every round. But, it's not like a big gap between us. Everyone has a very high priority in hally, but donk is an insane player.

In the video, donk said that even though people think he is at the top of this chain, it is more balanced.

I think it is balanced, but sometimes you have special situations where you should do something. Of course, it's about style.

For EPL, you're 2-0, one more game, and you go to playoffs. How are you feeling about Spirit maybe winning a title in your first event?

I don't like predictions about what will happen. But, it's very good, because I really want to play on playoffs in tier-one tournaments. In this event, we don't have an arena, so it's not so special. I really want to play in an arena where I can see a lot of fans. I think it's a new experience for me, and I really want to play in an arena and get this experience, and understand how I will fit in.

Of course, I have maybe two LAN tournaments with fans, in Mongolia and Riyadh, but it's not like a very big arena. But I'm enjoying when fans are screaming and supporting the team, it's very cool.