MOUZ player Jimi Jimpphat Salo gave an interview to Players reporter Sofiia Pikhalo during media day ahead of the IEM Cologne 2025 playoffs in CS2.
Hello, did you have a nice day today?
Yeah, so far, pretty good.
Have you rested?
A little bit, yeah. We did some media today and in the evening we will have some time off to rest and prepare for the quarterfinals.
Will you have practice as well later?
Tomorrow, possibly. I'm not sure about it yet, but we will think about it. But mostly we will prioritize rest now and to prepare for the next game.
Let's go to the match with Spirit. The first two maps were close and then they won confidentially on the third one. What do you think happened there?
I think on Overpass they just played a lot better than us, to be honest. I'm not sure if it was because we played a really long game and somehow we ran out of energy or if they were just a better team. But I think overall it could have been a bit closer if we didn't lose all of the pistols, which sucks of course. But I think it's a lot of respect for them as well because they played it really good. And we know that when we wanted to play the Overpass as a last, both of the teams didn't have so much time to prepare for it, like play it. So yeah, I think it was maybe a little bit of risk, but I think they played a little bit better than us.
How can you assess the importance of the pistol round totally on economy, for example, in the half?
Yeah, I mean I think now, like MR12, if you don't win the pistols it will be a really tough game since you don't have so many rounds to play, especially gun rounds. So let's say that even both of the pistol rounds it makes the game a lot harder for us. Especially if we are not the sharpest, if we don't play the best rounds. So I think it's really important and now of course the CT side economy got buffed a little bit, which is nice. But still I think the importance of the pistol rounds is really key.
So you're preparing a lot of second rounds after pistols because of that?
Yeah, basically yeah.
In quarterfinals you have a match against FURIA. How do you like the updated roster, like international one?
I mean I think they played really good, to be honest. I wasn't expecting that, I mean I wasn't expecting anything when they signed it because for me it was a bit surprising. But so far at least they showed a lot of great results and they made it there, like they deserve the quarterfinal spot. So for sure we will not underestimate them because they're playing good. But I think we still have a really good chance to beat them as we are the favorites to win the matchup of course. So I'm pretty excited about that game to be honest.
So you rely sometimes on being a favorite in the match or still they're outsiders and you still need to expect from them everything?
Yeah, I mean I think when you are the favorite to win the matchup I think it will also give you some confidence. But at the same time you need to realize that anything can happen if you're not sharp. Like they are also a good team, they can play good. But I think also for them it means that they're also really like... They don't have much to lose because obviously people think that we are going to win the matchup. So that will make it also a really tough game. But yeah, that's about it.
Next up is a potential match against Vitality. Is there any pressure when you play against the best team this year because you have so many games against each other?
Yeah, I mean I think now it's a fresh season first of all. So I think the pressure is not there yet. I mean of course it's a little bit hard to say because first we need to beat FURIA of course. But if and when we get there to play against Vitality I think of course people really want to win against them. Because last season it didn't go so well for us. So we really want to redeem ourselves. But they are a really strong team and it will not be ever easy. So we really need to prepare well and be sharp individually. But I think overall if that matchup will happen we will be hopefully ready for it. And I think people are really excited to play after a fresh season against them to see where they are.
This is a home tournament for your organization. Probably the most important for you in this season. Do you feel any extra attention to this tournament? Because for you it wasn't successful before as an organization, as a team. So do you really want to have some secret strats or something to show off?
Yeah, I mean I think even when this tournament is like the home tournament for the organization. It doesn't give us so much pressure. Because I mean of course Cologne is one of the biggest tournaments like overall. But also only the pressure that comes is from ourselves. And the fans maybe a little bit of course. It's part of the game. But the organization itself doesn't give us anything like any pressure. Which is really nice. So we will prepare for this tournament like any other. And do our best. And see if it's enough. But I think during this season there will be a lot of important tournaments. Really big ones. Which we will be focusing as same as we would in Cologne.
Do you think the season should start with really big tournament like IEM Cologne? Or it should start from some lesser ones?
I mean I think for me it doesn't matter so much to be honest. I think there is like if it starts with a big tournament. It gives it a bit more exciting like excitement in a way. Because people are back from the playerbreak and stuff like this. So obviously there might be some weird things happening. Like maybe not the favorite teams are winning as they were previously. So for me I don't really mind.
