Players Editor-In-Chief Alex Kharchenko talked with 9z player Nicolas buda Kramer at IEM Dallas 2024.
You got into a super difficult group. Did you expect such a result?
We expected to win one game or two games. At the same time we won, not comfortably, but very good against Mouz, Top 1. And Liquid and Vitality. It was like, just happening.
What was your reaction and overall team reaction, when you beat these teams?
We were happy and relieved. Because we know we can win against them, but we never win in a tournament. I think relieved is the correct word.
Were you nervous during the game against Vitality?
No, because we are the underdog team, so for us it's easy. And they have the pressure, right? Because they are in the top 3 and have Zywoo, so...
Are you not afraid that you won't be able to withstand the arena and the crowd?
We played two times in front of the crowd. And we feel okay, because we played a lot of games, so our head is more focused on the game than the people. So I think we're going to be in good shape in front of the crowd.
What can you say about the crowd in the United States? Last year we came, and we didn't pass the playoffs, we lost 2-0 in the groups.
We came to see FaZe - G2, and it was amazing. And all the people screaming, it was really good.
Can you compare the crowds here and in South America?
Because we are from South America, the people cheer for us, so it’s another level. But it's really good here.
If we look at the South American region, historically we have FURIA, and we have other teams. What should you do to be the most known team in the region?
It's our goal, but we have pretty good teams, like Imperial, Pain, MIBR. They play really good CS, and that's good for us, because the region is growing. The level in South America is getting pretty high, so it's good for us.
I think the main reason is the change from CS:GO to CS2, because it's like a restart from zero. But players in South America have a pretty good aim. The movement in CS2 is different, and the bigger aim advantage is pretty obvious.
We had examples of GamerLegion and Monte, teams that got to Paris Major 2023, Mongols, playing in LANs. How are you planning to keep the consistency of getting to more and more LAN events?
We are planning to move to Europe, Spain, to train a lot and live there. That’s our next goal.
Can you explain why you are planning to do it?
Because of teams in Europe, the training in Europe is pretty good.
In South America it's not that good because we are like six teams that are pretty good, and we can train together because we play tournaments against each other. So usually we play against the top 10 teams in South America.
So will it be like headquarters in Spain or a long bootcamp?
No, we will be renting a house and living there for 2 years.
What else can be done by a team to improve this kind of consistency?
We are planning to play a lot of tournaments, to grind more.
At the beginning of the year we changed two players and we didn’t play 50 games together while other teams played 100 and more.
So it was pretty obvious when we went to play a tournament the experience they got and that's all.
You have an international squad, do you have any issues with communication?
No. We all speak the same language. Like Spanish from Spain and Argentina and Chile and Uruguay it's the same. It’s like English from the USA and England.
