molodoy: "It's good if I take Rookie of the Year, but it doesn't matter for me because first I want to win trophies"

The youngster from Kazakhstan is in a strong position in the Rookie of the Year race with his second MVP award.

Danil "⁠molodoy⁠" Golubenko, the IEM Chengdu MVP, took some time after the grand final to share his thoughts on FURIA's tournament-winning run in China and receiving a second MVP in his rookie year.

"I'm very happy because it's my very [first] big tournament win," molodoy told HLTV. "and... I hope not the last." That takes precedence over any personal accolade, too, as the 20-year-old reaches the final stretch in his rookie year.

"First, I want to win trophies and second step is maybe MVP, Rookie of the Year," he adds. "But when you win a trophy it's very much better, really."

You can listen to the interview, here.

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Congratulations, champion and MVP of IEM Chengdu. What is going through your mind after that game?

I'm feeling amazing. I'm very happy because it's my very [first] big tournament win, and... I hope not the last. I'm feeling amazing, I don't know what I can say now.

Talk to me about playing Vitality in the final, FalleN and YEKINDAR both talked about how big of an opponent they were for you. How was it on the server?

I was feeling good. For me, it doesn't matter who I play, I'm confident against all teams. The team helps me, they give me this confidence. My team trusts me all the time, and for me, it's very good. It helps me a lot.

Take me back to the start of the series. You played Ancient, did you expect that coming in, and what was it like starting on that map?

You know, yesterday, I just said, 'Guys, maybe we play Ancient tomorrow.' And my teammates said, 'Okay, we're ready, why not? We're ready to take this risk.' Because in my last team, when I played in AMKAL, I played Ancient and I'm confident on this map, very confident, and Mareks [YEKINDAR] is too.

Me and Mareks just said, 'Let's go guys, why not? They don't play Ancient.' And the last month before this tournament, we played Ancient in practice, so we were ready to play it today.

Are you happy you started with that map? You had a big winning streak on Overpass, so there were questions about whether you should have picked that to start instead.

Yeah, you know, it was very good maps for the start. Ancient, Inferno, and Overpass. These maps are good for us, very good. We just played, we were not thinking about, 'Guys, we need to win this map or this map,' we were just playing this game.

It was a close 3-0, every map and a lot of rounds came down to the wire. What were you thinking during some of these moments? You had some clutches that changed the game, did you ever feel any pressure?

No, I don't have pressure, but maybe in the game or in those situations, maybe I have. But overall, I don't have, and I think the team too because FalleN has big history, Mareks, KSCERATO, and yuurih too, so I don't think anyone had pressure. We just played the game, and I'm just happy. When I joined the team, I knew, we just play good.

They have big history, but you don't. You've had an incredible rookie year already-

No...

No?!

Yeah, for me, it's good if I take Rookie of the Year, but I'm just saying... it doesn't matter for me because first I want to win trophies, and second step is maybe MVP, Rookie of the Year. But when you win a trophy, it's very much better, really.

And this is the best one yet, you did it on such a big stage and you finally took down Vitality to do it. It seems like a lot of the conversation during FISSURE and Thunderpick was, 'Could you do it here?' You've done it now, so what is the future like for FURIA now?

For me, we have a good team, and we have a good team for work. Every guy in the team is working every time, and before the game every time, we just know what we need to do.

FalleN and Mareks prep before the game; me, KSCERATO, and yuurih watch for ourselves. We know how we need to play every time, and it helps a lot. Mareks and FalleN, these guys have a big brain, really.

If I got back to EPL, YEKINDAR had told me that you got a little overconfident after you won FISSURE-

Yeah. [Smiles]

-and he had to rein you in a bit. This is a pretty big confidence-boosting win, so are you going to have to be reined in again?

I don't know, maybe. You know, when you have a problem with this for the first time, with [overconfidence]... after the first time when I have so much confidence, I fixed this now, I think, because I don't want to [create] one more problem. After this tournament, we instantly have BLAST Hong Kong, and I think we have a good chance to chance to win this tournament.

That help that you've gotten, with that overconfidence, but also with coming into tier-one and playing like this, how much has that helped you adapt? What kind of influence have YEKINDAR and FalleN had on you for that?

Mareks and FalleN help me every time. Just every time. And Mareks is just the same with me in game plan, he likes an aggressive style, and I am too, and when we play Overpass we just play aggressive sometimes and it's good for us because aggressive formula resulted [in a win].

How important has having that been to you in your step up to tier-one?

Mareks and FalleN, before I joined, he just talked with me. When I joined, I didn't understand English, and Mareks had time to translate for me, and FalleN talked with me every time before I joined. When I joined FURIA, FalleN knew I played good. When I talked with him, he just told me instantly, 'Bro, you have a good options to play good,' and I just said, 'Okay, I'm just feeling, let's go.'