THOR Open: Group B interviews

Following our yesterday's piece which featured interviews with a member of each of group A's teams, today it's group B's turn to be featured in our pre-THOR Open interview series.

While group B has no VeryGames who were unable to qualify for the event, it is arguably more evenly matched with Anexis, Absolute Legends, Lemondogs and Western Wolves all aiming to break through to the next level.

Each of these teams felt disappointed following their campaign in Jönköping, so they travel to Stockholm with one goal in mind: to redeem themselves. Find out below what the teams themselves think of their chances at doing just that!

How has your team prepared for THOR Open specifically? Have you bootcamped or only practiced online? Have you watched demos or streams of your opponents playing to prepare for them?

Anexis ruggah: We have only been able to practise online since we recently had to make the switch from cajunb to coloN. We have tried to practise as much as possible, obviously we can't be 100% prepared due to a player swap, but we feel confident going into the group stage.

Absolute Legends rdl: We have been practicing like usual on a daily basis and tried to come up with a lot of new stuff since dreamhack, so we are not predictable when facing any opponent. We haven't really watched demos for other teams tactics and playstyles, more just to get ideas and new stuff to do and maybe take someone's stuff and just improve them and implement it into our own game. Since CS:GO is still such a new game everyone has diffrent ways of doing things, some maybe better then others.

Lemondogs beRg: I think we are one of the more prepared teams at THOR not just as a team, we all put in the hours for DM and we have certainly watched demos so we are without a doubt really prepared for this event.

Western Wolves zende: We just switched downie out for waver last week and since then we've been practicing online every day until now, sadly we can't bootcamp for this since we have school etc. We've been going through standards with waver and he's picking up on how we play really fast so that feels good. We haven't really had time to prepare any specifics against certain teams, this week has been about incorporating waver into our play. Mostly we've been trying to avoid practicing against other qualified teams to not give too much of our strats away, we've only played a few matches against some of the Swedish teams.

Anexis expect to make playoffs this time around 

How do you think your team will realistically do, given the group draw and tournament format? Is there anyone who you think will surprise or disappoint from what many might expect from them?

Anexis ruggah: I think we will finish top2 in our group. I would have preferred a bo3 format in the groupstage or add lowerbracket to the playoff, since it is too random for my taste. It's a long way to travel when considering it's a bo1 groupstage, where you can be sent home packing in 1½ hour. With that said, we know it's the same for everyone and we will do our best to stay focused and get the points necessary to advance from our group. 

Absolute Legends rdl: We are getting through groups, if we face NiP in the final or semi finals remains to be seen. I think once again Lemondogs will prove to be strong.

Lemondogs beRg: I think that we are one of the favorites to go through our group at DH and probably move on to the finals and I honestly think we are able to do that with the time that we have put in. I am not too sure about any surprises or disappointments because we haven't played any of the teams going to THOR but we will see.

Western Wolves zende: Dodging NiP in the group stage was pretty nice and that means our group is the easier one. Our praccs have been going really, really well and we have a good feeling going into this event so not getting out of the group would be a huge disappointment for us. I think we will get second or first in the group but after that it's hard to say, not knowing what teams that will be going through from the group stage. I'm really looking forward to both playing Lemondogs and seeing them play as they, in my opinion, are the team that can both surprise and disappoint this event.

rdl & co will hope to improve on their DreamHack showing 

Can you tell us what you think about each team in your group? Who do you think is going to be your toughest opponent and which match are you looking forward to the most?

Anexis ruggah: We know it's a group filled with talented teams, which means we have to play up to our best to even get rounds. People seem to underestimate teams as WW and aL, but we know their quality and we will do our best to prove us being the strongest side among the 3 of us. Lemondogs is favourites in our group, even though we played 15-15 against them at DreamHack, they have been playing really well and it will be really difficult to win against them. 

Absolute Legends rdl: Western wolves - Has alot of potential, they have made a roster change and i'm not sure if it will affect them good or bad. Anexis I personally know from the CS:S days and I know they are a strong team, they got quite unlucky with their draw results at Dreamhack and im sure they are hungry for better LAN results. Lemondogs are the team we want to get revenge on from Dreamhack and we know its not a easy task, but we are doing everything in our power to make sure we take the 1st place in the group.

Lemondogs beRg: We know that it will be tough to get out of the group and we played both Anexis and Absolute Legends at DreamHack so we know that they are good, I don't really know that much about Western Wolves since they recently changed their lineup and last time we played them in an official was a really long time ago. I am really looking forward to play Anexis because we had problems closing up the match versus them at DreamHack so I think they will be the hardest opponent and the ones I look forward to playing.

Western Wolves zende: Anexis are a good team but it's hard to say how good they will be with coloN instead of cajunb. As far as I know, he's one of their highest rated players so if coloN isn't able to pull off the fragging cajunb has been doing it can be hard for Anexis to perform up to their old standards. Absolute Legends is a really LAN-experienced team which gives them an edge but from what I've heard all of the players haven't really put in the hours to learn the game fully yet. I think their performance will be determined by the time they put in before the event, they are all skilled players but without the game hours you can only do so much. Lemondogs, for us, is the team to beat. After their great showing at DHW we really have gotten a lot of respect for them but it has also given us motivation to beat them. The match vs Lemondogs is the match we're looking forward to the most, we really look forward to playing them and hopefully beating them.

 cype's Lemondogs are favorites in group B

Is there something specific you have been working on as a team since your last tournament that you think will help push you over the top?

Anexis ruggah: There is something yeah, but you will have to wait and see - since i'm not going to reveal our surprise element before actually attending the event.

Absolute Legends rdl: We have just been doing changes to our playstyle so people can't read us as easily from our DreamHack demos. As well as trying to improve individuall skill.

Lemondogs beRg: No, we have just practiced and talked about what we could improve on but not too much, we have mostly been focusing on putting in more hours than we did for DreamHack.

Western Wolves zende: Before Dreamhack we didn't get much practice in and one of the big factors for that was that downie simply had too much going on in his life to put time into really practicing. With our new addition, waver, we can practice every day which is great. Practicing much before an event isn't only good for the team practice part, it also helps by keeping everybody in the best possible shape for the event.

waver has switched sides to Western Wolves 

Renè "cajunb" Borg left the scene for army just days ago, with you picking up former Xapso member Morten "coloN" Johansen as his replacement. How has Johansen's adjustment been to CS:GO? Can he help you get past the group stage roadblock and into the playoffs this time?

Anexis ruggah: Morten has a lot experience from his days on the top in 1.6, which he hopefully can use to get us through the groupstage. He has been playing a lot recently and we can recognize his 1.6-playstyle already, which keeps impressing me - he is one of a kind! I can't wait to play alongside Morten, since he can pull off some amazing things. We know Morten isn't the same player as René, it gives us a bunch of new opportunities and we will give it 200% in order to get out of the groups, third time is the one!

After a close match against VeryGames and wins over ex-Hawks and Western Wolves at DreamHack, your team was easily stopped by Lemondogs. Is there a specific reason why you think they were able to completely shut you down, or did you maybe have a bad day?

Absolute Legends rdl: Well, we had faced them alot online so I personally think they knew a bit how we played and we didn't adapt early enough on inferno to make a comeback. On dust2 we never got any momentum and just got shut down completly. Which won't happen again.

Your team showed very strong play at DreamHack Winter until the VeryGames match. Why do you think your performance saw such a huge drop from earlier in the semi-finals?

Lemondogs beRg: I think that we weren't really that prepared to play such a good team as VeryGames, this was our first big LAN, for everyone and I know that we all were kinda relaxed since we got way further than we expected. For the future I just think that we need to play our A game every single time and don't be satisfied with our results when we still have matches to play.

Will the addition of Anton "waver" Wiberg be enough to push you over the top against the likes of Absolute Legends, who denied you of a DreamHack Winter spot, this time around? What does he bring to the table that your team lacked in the past?

Western Wolves zende: Waver is a really good player individually and he also helps the team out strategically. With downie we were all 1.6 players so it's a nice addition to get a Source player into the team, he has a lot of nice ideas coming from his experience in Source. Also, as I said earlier, he is able to practice as much as we want to which is great, it's helped us to be in great shape for the event. We're really looking forward to showing everybody what we can do with both practice and waver in the team!

THOR Open will kick off tomorrow morning at 11:00 with group A taking place first, followed up by group B shortly after. HLTV.org will be on-site in Stockholm to provide you with full coverage of the 130,000 SEK tournament.