MOUZ head coach Dennis sycrone Nielsen gave an interview to Players special correspondent Oleksiy Kharchenko after the victory over spirit in the quarterfinals of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025.
You started the tournament with two losses. Now you are in the semi-finals. What are your feelings and were you hoping, expecting for the result to come back from 0-2?
It's a good question, because at 0-2 we know with ourselves that no matter who we play, we can beat them.
And one bad day does not define a great team. Every match we had so far here we managed to be competitive. In the 0-2 game, the 1-2 game, the 2-2 game, also now in the quarter-finals against Spirit.
And I think this team has, over time, developed a certain level of tenacity and a never-quitting attitude. And the belief and trust we have in each other is incredible and I think it shows again on a day like today.
Was the game against Spirit the toughest in this tournament for you right now?
For every game we played, we gave it everything. And even in the group stage we went all out, we were at 100% capacity. It was the same here. We needed to give everything to win.
If we look at the Mirage, the first map, what went wrong in terms of the map points? Why did you lose so many important clutches?
When you lose any round against Spirit, they probably played a good round. And I think for us, looking at Mirage objectively, we could have won, should have won, but it wasn't the case.
What stood out to me and to the team is that we were too stressed out in mid-rounds. Once we got to a clutch situation, we were hectic and we were making individual mistakes because of the stress. And this cost us the game, in my opinion.
We were losing a lot of situations where we either had a lot of map control, we had a good post-plant, or we had entry kills. I also want to give kudos to Spirit for bringing those back. I think they have some really clutch players.
A guy like Sh1ro, for example, is amazing in the clutch. He is probably, in any game, going to get a few of them, especially in the Bo3s. That was the big issue for us in Mirage.
I think we played a pretty good game. We just couldn't manage it in the X on X situations.
You mentioned stress and we saw that the arena was mostly against you. Was it a problem for players and you personally? Or you're not feeling this kind of pressure?
I think for most of the guys, also for me at this point, it's not such a big factor anymore. I think, of course, when you go on a stage you get a bit more excited.
The excitement will make you a little bit overeager at times, or maybe you tunnel vision a little bit too much on yourself, which can make it difficult. I think this game, and also previous tournaments, have shown that we've grown a lot in this environment. That the stress is not necessarily something that puts us off. It's also something we can thrive in.
I have a question about Spinks. This guy, did he give you this kind of firepower that is very important for the team?
I think Spinx is more than the firepower, he's a bit more mature than the other guys.
Also his character and personality is a bit calm. So he's not that affected by the moment, I would say. And on a day like today, we also need him to deliver on some crucial moments.
I think he did. And that's something he's given to our team. Partly that he's maybe one or two years older in experience, but I think it's also just his character.
So when you got him on the team, you got this balance of experience and young, let's say, younger players.
Yeah, exactly. He fits still a little bit into us having one of the youngest teams out there, while still providing some experience.
BLAST showed your team comms during the Mirage map. Was your internal communication a bit tense?
No, I wouldn't say so. I think in any game where you really want to win, there's gonna be some tension.
It's inevitable. It's performance at the highest level. Sometimes it builds up, you need to release it a little bit. Also, we need to allow each other the space to do it. It's gonna happen. I think this team, compared to other teams, has it at a relatively low level, the tension.
