NiKo: "A bit frustrated how we played, but happy that we won"

A relieved NiKo swung by HLTV's microphone after Falcons made up for six lost pistols and beat 3DMAX to the semis.

Falcons emerged victorious from a tight, three-map affair against 3DMAX in the quarter-finals of ESL Pro League Season 22, surviving by the skin of their teeth in overtime on the Nuke decider.

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Falcons battle past 3DMAX into EPL semis

Zero out of six pistols won and several advantages squandered meant Falcons had to get the job done the hard way, but with Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov recovering from a poor map one with a server-topping 1.96 rating on Ancient and chipping in alongside Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač on Nuke, Falcons managed to get the job done

"In playoffs, it doesn't really matter how you win, as long as you get over the line," NiKo tells HLTV after the series, "This is the most important. A bit frustrated with how we played, but happy that we won."

The Bosnian also admitted Falcons are struggling to find a winning formula for pistol rounds despite their best efforts, touched on the several advantages the team squandered in the series, and discussed m0NESY's resurgence in form.

"I was surprised, obviously, to see him not play up to his potential in some of these games because the issues didn't occur in practice; it was just in these official games where, when things would get tough, then someone else would maybe call what they want to do instead of him, for example," NiKo says.

"Whereas he was the one who always wanted to do things in these tight games and make the difference, and this is what we have talked about prior to the event, and this is what he's doing now."

You can watch the interview here.

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NiKo, congratulations. 2-1 over 3DMAX. Not a stressful game at all for you in the end there?

(NiKo laughs) Yeah, it's been a... an exciting game, to say [the least]. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, we obviously know how they play, we knew they could come out swinging, and when you give them momentum in every half, losing all the pistols, it can be very difficult to play.

We put ourselves in a bad position with these pistols, but I'm happy that we could stay in the game regardless and still grab a win in the end. In playoffs, it doesn't really matter how you win, as long as you get over the line. This is the most important. A bit frustrated how we played, but happy that we won.

Janko tweeted that not only did you lose all six pistols this series, but you're 1/12 in your last two matches now. Just trying to do it the hard way or what?

Yeah, we don't know what's happening with our pistols, honestly. I don't why, I think we tried everything. We tried to make simple pistols, we tried to anti-strat pistols, we tried to make it a bit more complex. Maybe it's just people not hitting the shots with pistols in the end, taking the wrong duels like we saw on Ancient and stuff like this.

Something is wrong, unfortunately we don't have the answer yet. Maybe after this game, hopefully, we can at least get it to 30-40% in the game, but it is a weak spot right now for us. As I said, it's very difficult to start every game like that, especially not winning... we won one force-buy on Nuke, and this is the reason why we actually had a good half afterward. But other than that, it's very difficult to play in MR12 without winning the pistols, so we will have to figure something out for tomorrow.

There were the pistols, there were also a lot of 5v3s, 5v2s, advantages in general that were lost. Can you tell me what was going wrong there? We've seen Falcons lose a bunch of those before, and I know kyxsan told me it's something that you're actively working on. What was happening in this game with some of those rounds going wrong?

It's very hard for me to say right now what went wrong. My first thoughts are that against 3DMAX, we didn't really throw away the rounds because they have the playstyle where they're going to commit somewhere with three guys, do some very aggressive thing, and then two guys are going to enable somewhere else that are going to get the trades. So yes, we did lose 5v2 or 5v3, but I felt like everything was happening very quickly, so it was kind of hard to make a plan and do something together.

But yeah, it's another struggle that we have; it didn't happen too much in the previous games, it did for this one. I would just say that, for today, our communication was not on point. I wouldn't say it was bad, but it was definitely not on point the way it should be if we want to beat the teams that we will have tomorrow, or maybe on Sunday if we win tomorrow. So definitely not the best game that we've played today, and tomorrow MOUZ or NAVI will punish us if we show up with the same level.

So a lot to take from here, but also credit to 3DMAX because they make you work for it. We haven't faced this playstyle too often with this lineup, and they played good. They were sharp, they were doing a lot of good things, they were sometimes catching us by surprise. It was a hard game, but credit goes to 3DMAX for making it hard for us as well.

Inferno is a really good map for them, it has been for quite a while. For you, it's something you're still adjusting to with kyousuke. I know there have been some role changes, he's gone to B. Can you tell me how that development has come along?

We knew they were going to pick Inferno, it's their best map by far. They are really good on it. We had good prep against them, and we should have won maybe a round or two more on our CT side. But again, we lost both pistols and still lost 13-9, so... you know, when you play against one of the better teams on Inferno and you give them these advantages early in the half, it's just very hard for us to win because our Inferno is not as strong as like an Ancient. Where if we lose pistols, it's fine, we can still win the gun rounds constantly, but on Inferno if we lose both pistols (laughs), I don't see us winning it right now, it can be very hard.

It's definitely an adjustment process for us, Maxim [kyousuke] getting to know the real... how to say it... I would say you don't often see what 3DMAX is doing in Banana from any other team, so I think he had maybe a bit of a harder time against them. This obviously will take experience, where you have to think kind of on the fly, Banana is not being played with a book, people are doing moves left and right, crossing the smoke, so you have to be really be very reactive to whatever comes to you, and you need to be ready for everything.

In this way, he's getting way more experience. We tried to help him a lot today, we were playing three B a lot, but still, there's a reason why this map is so good for them. Even if people kinda know what they're doing — I feel like everyone knows what they're doing — it still can be very hard to counter it. But I would say if we would have won a pistol, we would have a good chance of winning Inferno.

Any plans to ever bring in Overpass? That used to be a map you used to stomp around on a lot.

It's not crossing our minds right now. Maybe in the future, but we obviously need to finish the season with Inferno. There is no time for us to bring any new maps. We might be better on Overpass, we might be worse, but as I said, it's just too late now. We're deep into the season already, and now we need to just make sure we get Inferno as ready as possible for the Major.

But as I said, I don't think we are bad, we have improved on Inferno a lot. Obviously the loss today against 3DMAX is justified, I would say against MOUZ we played way worse than we did today, and I think we did improve [from the] MOUZ [game]. Like we talked after and we input and found solutions to different scenarios. But yeah, no changes to the map pool, we have to stick with Inferno and get better (laughs).

Recently, there was this conversation about how m0NESY had a bit of a dip in his form. He's \ come back into it, and I saw before the tournament you said that he would be back to his best. With this Falcons, with kyousuke, you, and m0NESY, the whole idea was there would be this whole large amount of firepower coming in. How does it feel to have m0NESY back to that level and be able to click like that now?

I'm super happy for him, that he's showing this level at this event. I mean, I was surprised obviously to see him not play up to his potential in some of these games because the issues didn't occur in practice, it was just in these official games where, when things would get tough, then someone else would maybe call what they want to do instead of him, for example. Whereas he was the one who always wanted to do things in these tight games and make the difference, and this is what we have talked about prior to the event, and this is what he's doing now.

This event, he got us multiple entries, he kept opponents always guessing where he's at and stuff like this, so for him it's just super important that he's feeling active in the round. He's not a static AWPer obviously, and we had to find a solution to enable him in these moments. I wouldn't say that he was our missing piece, but I think if he had played up to his potential in some previous games we lost, like against FURIA for example, I think we would have won these games.

But obviously the blame is not on him, it's that we as a team failed in those losses. But I'm happy to see him back to his level, and hopefully now we can kind of find a way to make everyone happy and satisfied with their roles and just think what's the best in order to win as a team. As long as we do that, I'm fine with whatever we do.

I know you had some changes too. Are you happy and satisfied with your roles?

Yeah, I mean, overall I'm happy. This event has been a bit on and off, but before this event, at EWC and the one in Belgrade, I was feeling very comfortable. I don't really know what the reason was at this event that I was not playing up to my level for the past two games, but we won, so this is important.

I'm happy that I could do some good things on Nuke today in a close game because this was the map that I could struggle a lot in some of these important matches, so I'm happy that I could help the team today on Nuke to get over the line. I'm looking forward to improve for tomorrow as well, and have some good game tomorrow and hopefully pass this semi-final for this event.

Going into tomorrow, potential match against MOUZ or NAVI, potential rematch against MOUZ as well. How are you feeling about that?

Yeah, I mean we'll get a rematch no matter who wins. We played against both NAVI and MOUZ, we have won against both of them. Obviously, if you look at it on paper, MOUZ are definitely the stronger team, it's going to be a harder game against them. And against NAVI, I see us kind of as the favorites if we go up against them, but you know... (sighs, laughs) a classic one, we just need to focus on ourselves.

We have beaten both teams already, we might see some changes in the map pool than what we have seen in the group stage. But I really want to get over this line because now we have lost two times in the semi-final, and I want to get to the final and potentially lift a first tier-one trophy for Falcons.