Delpan: "I got high expectations"

For the second Global Challenge in a row, SK Gaming have made it to the final, this time facing Natus Vincere on home soil. We got Marcus "Delpan" Larsson for you, who has taken the time to answer some questions before the big match.

SK's Marcus "Delpan" Larsson has been in Kiev CyberSport Arena two times before and both times walked home with a first place in his hands, in a pre-final interview he tells us he has no intensions to go home on Monday without another first place finish.

GeT_RiGhT has previously told us, that he's not particular fond of playing against Moscow Five, due to their play style and the fact it's hard to predict what they will do. How was the mindset going into this semi-final against them?

I have to agreed with GeT_RiGhT about that, Moscow Five has like every team out there know a aggressive and really unexpected rounds they can just be around every corner and they do a lot of fake rounds so it's hard to read them sometimes..

You beat them last time in December, after two close maps, and generally have beaten them quite a few times. Now if you don't like to play against them, how come you continue to beat them?

I don't really know, it's just their play style I don't like to play against. They do it well but we have been able to take them down and take control of the matches against them.

On first map de_mirage it looked like you were taking a beating, being down 3-12 at half time. What happened in that first half that made you lack that much behind?

We lost a lot of 1on1 situations and we needed to play some rounds to get in to our A game that we proved the second half.

After a great effort on the second half, you brought the map to overtime and eventually won the map. Was it mainly due to individual play, which was very high from your side, or were there other factors in play, in your opinion?

I started to hit my AWP shots and took my entries every round what I can remember and I think that was a important thing in the overtime, we all had our moments and I had my moments during the overtime and second map train.

On de_train you played a solid Terrorists side. Why do you believe you managed to get nine rounds, on a map the Russians usually play rock solid on?

We started out with a perfect pistol round that we won, and after that we did some fast rounds with me down in pop killing the guy roaming around the ladder area tower several times and we all just did our job as a team and that gave us 9 rounds.

As CT there was never a question in you guys sealing the deal. After winning 2-0, had you wished for a more intense semi-final?

I had fun and think it was a good semifinal, we had our momentum after the comeback on mirage and we just managed to lockdown train with a really nice last round by GeT_RiGhT.

Tomorrow will be the final, which will be against Natus Vincere. How are your expectations to this match, playing them on home soil and on the stage?

I got high expectations for this match and can't wait to get on stage, but today we're just going to relax at the hotel, watch some demos and try to figure out the winning key for tomorrow.

Having seen their match against fnatic, do you see any significant differences with starix now calling?

I think Zeus stepped up his game a lot after he gave starix the in-game role, but NaVi is a great team with great players so we are ready for anything..

You lost versus them at DreamHack Winter, do you feel you know what you have to do in order to no make that happen again?

I have been waiting for this moment after the quarterfinal loss against them at DreamHack and we are more ready than ever, New Year with the first tournament of the year, and I've been here two times before, victory both times so I'm not going to destroy that with a second place here in Kiev.

Will Larsson and SK Gaming get their revenge versus Natus Vincere? Tune in tomorrow at 11:00 to find out, when Joe Miller and Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner cast the IEM6 Global Challenge Kiev final live on ESL TV.