Havard "rain" Nygaard talked with Players Editor-In-Chief Alex Kharchenko at ESL Pro League S19. We discussed a potential lack of energy, the “streak of finals”, the most dangerous team in the group and NAVI’s performance.
You have almost no rest between tournaments, how does this affect the preparation process and do you feel a lack of energy? In one of the interviews, ropz mentioned that you were playing a lot of CS.
Yeah, for sure. I think exhaustion comes into play. It puts in mind if you think about the schedule. We are tired but we did something good after IEM Chengdu - we took a couple of days off to do the mental reset. I think, with the amount of Counter-Strike we played in the last months, it shouldn’t really affect us if we take a couple of days off to do the full reset. We did the correct thing after Chengdu and hopefully, it will work.
You have been to eight Grand Finals in a row, are you determined to continue your streak?
Yes, there’s no reason why we should stop now. We play exhausted in China and I think the exhaustion has gone down since then because of the rest we had. I think, our goal is to win here and have another notch at a Grand Slam.
You won at IEM Chengdu but lost at the PGL Major Copehagen final. Was this victory able to slightly improve the state of the team after the defeat at the “home tournament” in Copenhagen?
Yes, I think winning the grand final is what we needed, it’s been what we haven’t tasted for a long time. It was good to win it with David (frozen - Players) as well, so he could feel it with the team. It’s been a couple of losses at Katowice and Major. It improved our winning spirit.
Can you compare these two tournaments?
No, I can’t compare these tournaments (smiling - Players). After Copenhagen, I wasn’t smiling but I felt happier when I won IEM Chengdu. The Major has a very high importance to every player. Losing it, especially when you get to the final, is hard.
Which team in your group is the most dangerous?
We have VP in our group. With the new addition of electronic I think they can be a very good team. I think it’s going to be a tough opponent as we don’t have any information about how they are going to play. VP is always a hard team to play with and if they have a bit of mystery, they can be a good contender in this tournament.
What’s the minimum goal for FaZe Clan in this tournament?
I think our minimum goal is to get to playoffs and just take it from there. We always had a tough time playing in the group stage in general. If we get to the playoffs I know anything is possible from there.
Some analysts name Navi's victory at Major a fluke, do you agree with that, or do you think their team is underrated?
It’s hard to say. I think the team itself has really good players. I think during the major they came together very well as a performance unit. I don’t know, we have to wait and see how they will be doing in ESL Pro League and upcoming tournaments before calling it a fluke. From our perspective, they pretty much destroyed us on two maps in a final. They did a good run but I don’t want to call it a fluke.
Do you see their improvement as a team?
Yes, they improved as a team during the tournaments. They played a good game during the major and their individuals popped out at the right time.
You became the record holder for the longest stay in one organisation (3014 days in FaZe). What does this mean to you?
Nothing, really. It’s fun to be the longest team member but at the same time, it doesn’t really matter to me.
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