Players Editor-In-Chief Alex Kharchenko had an opportunity to talk with Team Liquid player Casper cadiaN Moller before the start of ESL Pro League S19. We discussed the progress of building the team, personal performance, pitfalls in travelling and CS in the NA region.
How do you see the whole progress of team building in Team Liquid right now, how complete is it from your point of view?
I still think there's a long way to go for us to reach our full potential. There are still many things to be clarified inside the game and outside the game even more. We're still learning to know each other. As I said before, it's a completely new team, right? The only two people who were there before were NAF and YEKINDAR. So it's like three new players, a new coach, a new mental coach. And it's just a lot of ideas, and we're trying to make the project moving forward. There are still things to learn. We're still a bit away from our full potential.
I know it's a tough question to answer, but do you have a timeline within the organisation when we can see the full potential of this roster?
No, I don't think there's a set timeline. I think a lot of people are saying that it takes six months to see the true nature of the team, and that would be at the end of the break, maybe more. I think it appears people are very quick to jump to conclusions and change players and stuff like this. Sometimes it's necessary and sometimes it's not. I think my job is to try and make myself and the team just a little bit better day by day. So that's where my main focus is.
There’s a lot of community attention to your team. Does it add pressure?
That's the part of the game. When you play in a big organisation with a big brand and big players, a lot of people are looking at you to perform and to do good things. And that pressure is something that I have had on my shoulders for many years. So for me, it bothers me at 0%. I'm very aware of the situation, and I have a hard time believing that there are higher expectations out there than myself.
YEKINDAR hasn't been playing well lately. What do you think is going on with his performance?
Well, I think he's putting all the time and effort into getting his shape back. He's playing a lot of FACEIT, DM and trying to work out on a lot of setups after practice. Maybe sometimes he still has a tendency to be a little bit too aggressive, but then again, it's also his strength to search for these openings and to have this play style. It's the balance of decision-making and gut feeling that he has to trust himself. With time and with him knowing the system more, I think he will get back to where he wants to be. That's what I hope for, and I think that's what he hopes to.
What can you say about your performance? Compared to your time in HEROIC, your stats are quite low. What improvements should be made?
I think first and foremost, it's a new game. Some of the comfort I had in the old game, I need to get in this one. And in HEROIC, we had a very well-oiled machine where everyone knew what to expect from each other. And that also made me able to focus a bit more on my individual game. So I think those two factors are the main ones. We need to know each other better as a team so I can focus on my game. And I need to get more hours and more repetition in CS2. I think that's the main thing because for sure, as you said, maybe it hasn't been awful, but it also hasn't been to the standard and expectations that I'm hoping for myself either. I think in the IEM Chengdu quarter-final against FaZe, that's the CadiaN I want to be, the one who is very impactful and makes a lot of great decisions as a call-up, but also a lot of impact in the later-on situations as a clutcher. Working hard to try and see that version of me even more.
Following your answers about the team, your performance and the performance of YEKINDAR, it looks like it's just a matter of time when you will be back on track.
Yeah, that's what we're all hoping for. But obviously, potential is also something you can talk about forever. You need to seize it and reach it at some point. The sacrifice should be made by everyone, by myself, by my teammates and by the organisation to make things work. I think the team culture is still being built, and I still see a lot of room for improvement in this area as well, which will make people more comfortable. We all know CS is a mental game and a game about comfort.
You played a lot in Europe for a long time. Now you're playing in NA region. How would you rate it? Is there a big difference with Europe?
I think the NA region right now is a bit underrated. We lost to M80 a few times. Also, I think that here now at ESL Pro League, they showed some great signs. I also said it to the boys when we lost to them a few times that these guys are actually not playing badly. I think there are some of the other up-and-coming teams in North America which are doing pretty well. If they continue developing, you can see them performing better.
I know, for example, MIBR has players mainly from Brazil, but they are playing in the NA region, as well. They just won in Melbourne, where they're playing against some of these teams like Apeks and Aurora, which are also competing in the Tier 2, Tier 3 scene in the EU. I think there are a lot of facts that NA is not as bad as people are making it. I think the rough part for me and the team is a travel between Europe and North America right now. We're using a lot of time on this and that is not really healthy for our development.
I know that you're spending a lot of time in Copenhagen. You are travelling a lot to North America but there are time issues because of the time zone difference. It all builds up.
Yes, it builds up. When you have to go there to play qualifiers, you have to spend more than a week in North America. And that's a week we could have been practising from Europe, but we go there and you can't really practice the teams you're playing in the qualifier. The level is a little bit lower overall, the number of good teams you can practice. And then just the time it takes. It takes a day to travel to NA, and it takes a day to travel back to Europe. So you're losing approximately 10 days and going there to play a qualifier. And that has definitely hurt us a few times.
Can you describe which NA team surprised you? Maybe M80?
Yeah, I think M80, but also I think BOSS played a pretty good RMR, to be honest. They also had a beautiful story of trying to fight for their fallen teammate. That actually touched me a lot. I think now they're here in the ESL Pro League as well. Hopefully, they can show another good performance. But other than that, I can also name a Wildcard. Maybe, they don't have the best results, but when were practicing them, they've also been doing pretty well.
As you know, Valve made changes to the map pool and Overpass was replaced with Dust. What do you think about these changes?
I think people are debating a lot, whether this should be a different map or not. I personally liked the Overpass but I also like that Dust 2 is coming back. I think they could have made some more changes to Dust to change some dynamics on the map. But maybe, because it’s such an iconic map, they don’t want to make a lot of changes. I’m curious to see how the map is going to be played in CS2. I think the positive thing is that they are making changes to the map pool. For me, it’s more positive than exactly what maps they are changing in and out.
Did you discuss the minimum goal for Team Liquid in this tournament?
I think for me it would be great to do the playoffs again. Back-to-back playoffs would be something where we can see that we are developing in the right direction and step by step getting to where we want to be.
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