FaZe player Robin ropz Kool talked with Players reporter Sofia Pikhalo before the start of the IEM Cologne 2024 playoffs.
How are you feeling today? You slept well?
No, actually, I haven't had much sleep. We finished quite late and our media day also started like 9am-ish, 10am-ish. So, not much sleep, so we're pretty tired. But we're in a very good mood. It was a fun game yesterday and it's nice to be here.
I have to ask you about yesterday's comeback. What was it and how did you do it?
Well, there's no one thing that I can answer. I think it's so many different things combined. First of all, Liquid played extremely well. They got to do 11-1 on the first half. I think they destroyed us. And then, we were calm. We were quite relaxed. We knew that we only have two rounds. If we lose those two rounds, we're out.
It started with the pistol round and everyone was in a good mood. I think that's always a thing that helps. Everyone was showing positive vibes. That helped us definitely win each and every round. The pistol round was obviously a big one. And I think we never just stopped believing.
I mean, the comms were really calm. I think the plans we had were quite clear. We've obviously been struggling on many maps. Mirage was one of them, which we came back on. We worked on some different things and I think the CT site is also something we pay attention to.
Everything worked out for us. I must say, I definitely feel like Liquid was pressured in that moment to close out the game. And I could feel in overtime they changed a bit. On the first round they played less scared. But I feel that before the overtime, they were playing a bit scared.
Mirage for you and Liquid, in your personal games against each other for the playoff stage, becomes legendary. Why do you think both teams manage to show such performance on this particular map?
I think Liquid came from momentum, from Nuke. I think the Nuke, we should have closed out. It should have been a 2-0 in our perspective. Obviously, there's a round on Nuke, which we're winning 12-9. And they win a 3-on-5, just from the come-out ramp. Which we should definitely win.
They're just riding off the momentum and CS is a game like that. If you are feeling it, you're going to win many rounds. You know, it's such a strange game in a way. But it's crazy what emotions can do and different things, like the human aspect of it. So I think that was how Liquid kind of destroyed us coming into Mirage.
We got no chance. I think they were winning a lot of aim duels. Everything we did, they completely shut us down instantly. I don't think we ever stood a chance on many of the rounds. I think we just found a way to reset after the first half on Mirage. Important was to win the pistol round, as I said. From there on, we just took it round by round. I mean, you always do that, but... Yeah, we weren't nervous. We were just chilling.
After the comeback from 3-12 to 11-12, there was a moment in the game when you went to solo push the underpass in a medium timing in a 5v5 situation. Can we say that confidence in your personal actions and in the team played a key role in this episode and at the end of the game?
Yes, I would say so. I think we've had similar experiences where those kinds of pushes, like the one in underground, you want to do those things towards the end of the game. Because that's where people get more pressure, the more mistakes happen.
Usually, in the beginning of the game, you have more ideas. You're using the game plan to just play the rounds. For example, on T side with Karrigan, he always has a plan for the first few rounds and then see how the game develops.
You can always adapt and change things. Towards the end of the game, those kinds of pushes definitely work much more. Having experienced some of that already this tournament, I think that's an example that has definitely given us confidence to do in the late rounds. If we are feeling it in those moments, we will go for it.
Previously, in an interview in Dallas, rain told us that in that match against the G2 team lacked a fire in the eyes. Do you feel like your games are a bit like a roller coaster right now? If so, what accounts for the lack of stability for FaZe?
I can't really say what it is. It's one of those things that comes down to many different factors. Outside of the team, one thing would be that every team is so good. It's been like this for a couple of years now.
The gap between the top teams is non-existent. You see G2 losing to SAW and now they just wrecked everyone in the lower brackets. I think it's the same story for us in some tournaments where we can beat some teams but then can’t beat anyone.
It's a strange time, but I think everyone is so good at the game nowadays. That's just how it goes. If you're having an off day and you're not winning your duels, which I think is the reason why we're having poor form recently, it's just like individuals not playing well and it goes for everyone. That can decide the games a lot of the times.
So you are saying that it's not just fire in the eyes, but also a feeling of confidence in the whole team.
Of course. We had a period of rough times recently of three to four months now, I would say. During this time you constantly lose confidence and you constantly start to lack of ideas and just the stuff to go for in the game. I mean, when CS 2 came out, we were winning a lot and we were going to the finals earlier in this year.
Then everyone is just feeling it. As I said, CS is a strange game in a way. The human aspect is so important. It's so down to emotions and how the person is feeling and how each round goes. That can definitely help. Now going to the playoffs, I think this definitely helps because you just need one good tournament to get back into the rhythm.
You mentioned that CS2 now is very strange. Previously you send some feedback to the CS developers to get this game better. How can you describe CS2 right now?
I think CS2 can be much better. So far a lot of people are disappointed and I'm leading towards being disappointed as well. I think many things can be better. I've noticed recently that the game is much more T-sided, for example. I think it comes down to just the game. I don't think it has to do with anything else.
I think the game favors T's much more. I think MR12 with the current economy is quite rough. When you have to do full eco rounds in some of the rounds or if you have to do full eco in MR12 and there's not many rounds to play, it's very uncertain how the game will go because winning a pistol in the first round is like half of the game. It's almost already over, you know? You don't really have much to come back.
I think performance and FPS, everyone talks about it, is pretty poor. That's something that definitely needs to be improved. Sub-tick is also kind of weird. A lot of interesting things happening that I didn't really notice before in CS:GO, for example. But there's many different things. I'll just not dive too much into it.
broky showed some uncivil gestures towards opponents. How do you comment on this and how do you generally feel about this side of the game?
I think everyone understands it wasn't toxic. At least people with a common sense, I would say. Because when he did what he did, it was after the pistol round in Mirage and the score was 2-11. We're just showing some positive emotions in that moment where everything was crumbling for us.
I think that's always good. We're able to do something out of the negative that happened at Mirage in the start. I think in the end it's kind of friendly because we are very familiar with Liquid, the players there. It was very friendly in a way. Nothing disrespectful or anything. Just some fun vibes for us to get back to the game.
