After defeating M80 with a score of 2:1, we spoke with Michael “Grim” Wince in an exclusive interview, where he discussed the challenges on Mirage, the importance of pistol rounds, restructuring their play on Train, integrating Kwem into the roster, and the team’s goals for Stage 3. The player shared his thoughts on the key changes that will help them reach the playoffs.
Why couldn’t you close the game on Mirage? What happened?
I’d say Mirage is a very good map for them, and it’s still a map that we’re trying to get the ropes on because it’s been our permanent ban for multiple years now. The more match experience we have, the better, and obviously, there’s stuff we could have closed that game out with. They played really wel,l though. But yeah, there’s still some stuff that I don’t know and some mistakes to go over just because we haven’t had as much match experience on Mirage yet. Other than that, I’m proud of the guys. We played so well. Mirage is a map where they have had a 93% win rate in the past three months. So I knew it would probably be good going into the next two maps just because they are much better maps for us, and that was their pick. So yeah, we’re feeling good.
How do you win so many pistol rounds? Do you prepare them in advance?
Yeah, you don’t really prepare much for pistol rounds in terms of looking at the other team unless they do the same thing every time, which a lot of teams don’t. A lot of teams change things up. Pistol rounds have definitely been a talking point for us because we’ve been struggling in them, but in that game we won the majority, so it definitely helps a lot. There were some big improvements.
The second pistol round on Inferno you pushed middle. Was it your idea or an anti-strat for M80?
It wasn’t really an anti-strat. It’s just a pistol that Johnny [JT] brought to the table and thought could work. At the end of the day that’s how most of our pistols are — not really too much anti-stratting. Obviously, I’m not going to go too much in depth, but yeah, I’d say it wasn’t an anti-strat.
If you didn’t win that eco, would the game have been harder?
If we didn’t win the eco, we would still be confident. As a team, on passion, we like to throw away some funny rounds that shouldn’t be happening. So you just have to go next on some of those. Overall, we would have been fine losing the eco, but we just have to keep going forward no matter what happens.
On Train you looked much better compared to the match against 3DMAX. What changed?
3DMAX were abusing our main aggression. At the end of the day, that’s on me. So I went to the server with Johnny [JT] to watch them and see what we could do better and make some new stuff. Obviously we still need to change things, but overall it was just about sitting down and seeing what went wrong like we always do, and making some last-minute adjustments because you only have a night to prepare for the next game.
You performed amazingly today. What do you do before the match? Any special routine?
For me, I like to DM a lot. We prep in the morning before the game so everyone remembers, because if you prep the night before, some people might forget things going into the next day. So we prep in the morning, then I DM as long as possible until the shuttle, and sit on my PC shooting aimbots until the match. I also like to have a lot of caffeine, so I’d say that helps.
How did you integrate Kvem into your NA roster?
He has a lot of stuff he wanted to bring to the team, and it took a while to get on the same page. I think we’re on the same page now. He’s been adding a bunch of stuff, but some of it we already have, and we want to get him implemented in a way so he’s comfortable. It’s just about him and Johnny talking about the strats and how to implement them so he’s comfortable. It’s been a lot of that recently.
What mentality has Kvem brought to the team?
He’s bringing a mentality that we don’t have much in NA. He’s very aggressive, and I love it. He helps us be more aggressive and not scared to take risks in rounds. He’s a player who’s not scared at all to take a risk, and it helps a lot because sometimes he’ll find a gap we can exploit and play off him. It’s been nice having that.
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What’s the difference between Kvem and cxzi, your previous player?
I’d say they’re similar voices and both very vocal. The difference is we definitely have a bit more firepower now. Danny was really good, very vocal, and a great player to play with. But I think Kwem brings more firepower, and that’s something we need if we want to break into the top 10, which we didn’t have before. Also Nick has improved a lot, so it’s been a nice strength.
Now that you’ve advanced to Stage 3, what goals do you set for yourself?
We have to take it game by game. Everyone on the team wants to make the playoffs. That would be amazing for us. We’re going back into best-of-ones, maybe try to get some upsets because there will be heavy favorites. We’ll take it game by game, see what happens, and hopefully reach the playoffs.
Is there any team at Stage 3 you’d like to face?
Honestly, all the opponents in Stage 3 are pretty good, so I wouldn’t be able to pick one. We’ll just see who we get and prepare the best we can.
