BIG are among a few teams battling for one of the final invites to PGL Major Singapore, making a late push for a spot with appearances at 1win Private Club Season 2 and Stake Ranked Episode 5.
Their hopes rest with the latter event now after they were eliminated in Belgrade after losing a rematch against The MongolZ, and Sebastian “xenn” Hoch admitted to HLTV after the match that the team will need to show mental resilience and recover quickly to give themselves a chance.
“It’s tough,” he said. “We wanted to finish top two at least here, or even win the tournament so we have better chances for the next one, or so we can even lose something. But now, as far as I know, we need to win the tournament, or even if we place second, we need others to fail, which is pretty hard.”
xenn later added: “The most important thing is we need to reset mentally here because this was damage, basically. It was a huge loss for us, because we wanted to get deeper in the tournament. We wanted to win again against MongolZ, but yeah, it’s just sad how it is right now. We need to fight through it as we did before, and hopefully we’re going to win the Stake tournament and qualify for the Major.”
A third-place finish: how do you reflect on this result?
I would mainly say we had two good days and two really bad days. Especially against PARIVISION we had no answers in the game, even though we prepped and we knew exactly what to expect, how they play and so on. We even talked about it. From our mindset, we were not there mentally, basically, all through the day. We had a really good Cache on the first map, and the second map was kind of the opposite. We had exactly all the information we needed. We knew, okay, we had Banana, they have to go A, and we were not even talking to each other. We were not on point at all.
It was really bad today, especially on this map. And on the last map, it was kind of the same. We were on CT side, we knew exactly what they do. We even understood in the moment what was happening, but then we get entried here, we get entried there, and also 910 played a really good game. We also have to give credit to him on this. But in general, as I said before, the first two days were really good. If we had kept our form throughout the whole series, then we might even talk about maybe winning this one, but it was not good enough, and that’s why we are just third basically.
You won against The MongolZ early in the tournament, so is it a good day and a bad day that are the differences in the result?
No, I wouldn’t say a good or a bad day. The problem we kind of lack is having consistency against good teams. The MongolZ, even though they changed, are still a good team. They know how to play the game, basically. We had one really good day; we played a fantastic, top game. And on the other, we were not playing well at all. We didn’t communicate well; we were not ready to punish their reactions, basically. We were making a lot of sloppy mistakes and that’s how we lose the games. If you are not even playing a decent game, then you cannot beat those teams. It’s really hard.
We need to reset mentally here because this was damage, basically. It was a huge loss for us
So what do you think about your VRS situation considering the next event you are attending? How is it looking from your perspective?
It’s tough. We wanted to finish top two at least here, or even win the tournament so we have better chances for the next one, or so we can even lose something. But now, as far as I know, we need to win the tournament, or even if we place second, we need others to fail, which is pretty hard.
The tournament is really stacked. We have good opponents. We’re also in a good bracket, playing against magic first and then fnatic, Astralis. So all three teams are really good, so we need to play really well there. We need to be in shape; we need to be in form.
And the most important thing is we need to reset mentally here because this was damage, basically. It was a huge loss for us, because we wanted to get deeper in the tournament. We wanted to win again against MongolZ, but yeah, it’s just sad how it is right now. We need to fight through it as we did before, and hopefully we’re going to win the Stake tournament and qualify for the Major.
Previously, also here in Belgrade, you managed to snatch a Major spot in this type of event. Do you think the fact that you’ve already done this before would help you to actually do it again and not fall to the pressure?
Yeah. I’m pretty sure we can handle the pressure. We proved it a lot of times, even in the Major when we were behind 0-12, for example. We proved a lot of times that we can handle those pressure moments and even pressure games, and I am pretty sure it will be a hard fight and it will be tough. Especially mentally, it will be really hard for us, but I’m pretty confident in my boys that we are fighting through it.
We are in this together, and it’s just like a war. We just need to fight. We need to fight the whole tournament. Doesn’t matter if it’s magic, fnatic, Astralis. Whoever comes, we need to fight and need to show each game that we want to win, that we want to qualify for the Major, and that hopefully we’re going to play like we played here the first two days throughout the whole tournament, and then I’m pretty confident that we can win the tournament.
I knew that if he’s going to switch, he will succeed
And as much as I understand that your focus is on your team right now, I’m still very interested to hear your opinion on Krimbo as he’s showing very good results with NIP in his new role. Did you expect this kind of performance from him as he joined NIP and won a few tournaments already?
Yeah, I’ve known Krimbo for quite some time now, and I knew that Karim is a really smart player, and he’s obviously pretty young to be an IGL, but it was something we also talked about back then: that it might be something for him in the future. And I knew that as soon as he started his IGL career, it would be a small change for him, like how he’s playing basically. But in general, I knew that if he’s going to switch, he will succeed.
And also with the addition of adamb, it was really huge for NIP that they signed him. The whole tournaments they played were really solid. I think they just failed the Logitech one. But besides that, I also watched some games. They played really well. Krimbo is doing a really good job there, and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully we’re going to meet them soon, and let’s see how this goes.
And it’s a little bit of a long shot, but in the long-term perspective, can you imagine him in BIG being an IGL? Do you think it’s something that could happen eventually in the mid- to long-term?
No, I would not think so. We are really happy with blameF. He’s doing a really fantastic job on the team, and we are not looking into changes for our IGL, for example. And also I think NIP is really happy with Karim, so it’s just a matter of time until hopefully he’s signed for them permanently, but we will need to see what’s going on because they qualify for the Major, playing good tournaments and winning a lot. So it’s just right now we are not thinking about any changes at all.
