Having won Thunderpick World Championship last time out FURIA have continued their good form and secured back-to-back top-four finishes, eliminating BETBOOM in the quarter-finals of PGL Masters Bucharest to stay in the hunt for the trophy.
BETBOOM have become a regular opponent for FURIA in recent times, and Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo feels they are perhaps unlucky to sport such a poor record in the matchup. “I feel like you cannot say it’s a dead beat, or we’re always beating them, because they had many chances in many of those games[…] I think it’s been a little bit unlucky for them.”
“I like the way Boombl4 thinks about the game. If you go and watch what they have been doing on Dust2 on the last matches, there’s nothing about it similar to what he’d done here, so he was able to really bring something new to the table.”
FURIA now have a battle with MOUZ ahead of them, and FalleN sees the game as a toss-up. “It’s a difficult team to play against, but both teams have chances. I feel like we can beat them, and I think they can beat us as well. It’s going to be up to who can play better on the day.”
You can listen to the interview here.
I heard YEKINDAR say on the broadcast that you said Cache was a bit like a facelift. Just describe that series for me from your point of view.
It was a nice game. I think Dust2, we had a chance to close it earlier and they managed to do an insane comeback, very respectable. Some of the long pops were giving us so much trouble, I think we have to go over the drawing board and check maybe some of the flashes we’re using or some of the answers we had for it, it was not good enough. But they managed to do a great T half, which is great to see.
I like the way Boombl4 thinks about the game. If you go and watch what they have been doing on Dust2 on the last matches, there’s nothing about it similar to what he’d done here, so he was able to really bring something new to the table, and it worked. But we managed to have some good CT rounds to close Dust2, including a 1v2 from Mareks which was ridiculous. It was very good, a very good play, very well played.
Then on Cache, I think the game got tense on the first half, but second half was a free flow going, coming in. I think things just went our way too much, and they kind of felt they had to do something on the CT side, and then they kept trying and it kept not working, so the game just ended. So it was a very good match.
When it comes to us, I think we’re still like a rock in their shoes at the moment
Do you think stylistically it’s a good match-up for you? Because I think they’re also quite active, they like to move around a lot, but it’s also kind of in your wheelhouse as FURIA, right?
For some reason we have been able to beat them the last four times. The best-of-five was the most insane game that we played so far in the finals, they could have won that one too, so many games we played against them. I feel like you cannot say it’s a dead beat, or we’re always beating them, because they had many chances in many of those games.
There is a 2-0 that we did on them before the finals where there’s an Ancient game where KSCERATO goes crazy in two rounds, then that decides the game. So I think it’s been a little bit unlucky for them that they’re not able to get those wins, and maybe a little bit of a mental factor too, because they have been able to overcome a lot of good teams. But when it comes to us, I think we’re still like a rock in their shoes at the moment.
Were you surprised by the veto at all? Because first two maps of that series were Dust2 and Cache. You won both of those 13-6 in the Thunderpick final.
Yeah. When we were thinking about the vetos, we thought they would go Ancient, which is a map they play very well, and we have played against them a couple of times already. Maybe that’s why they didn’t want to go that way, when you play many times against the same teams, you can never really think that that’s just one way of thinking, right?
Because we were not expecting Cache so much, we actually didn’t really prepare Cache
We thought they’d go Ancient, but they thought that, even though they lost Cache for us, they probably felt that the game was unlucky because of the force-buys that happened during the finals and all those things, and they thought it would be different here this time.
There’s always this factor where the team who lost the map normally puts a lot more effort into understanding what they can do better and how they can beat us the next time. And what I think goes against them on this Cache game is that because we were not expecting Cache so much, we actually didn’t really prepare Cache that much.
So in a sense, we had to actually play a little bit more free flow and universal on the T side, and that’s why maybe those riskier plays that made us get so many kills is not something they’re expecting. They’re expecting the same game from the other time, I guess.
We were able to get to some conclusions about what cannot miss in our game to actually play good games
I know when you spoke to us at Thunderpick, you said you wanted that feeling of winning a tournament again and what it can do for a team. Do you feel like that’s happened for you? Do you feel like you’ve got that kind of post-win bounce going?
Yeah. There’s a lot of good things going our way at the moment. I feel like the first thing to happen is the change in our schedule in terms of practicing on game days when we can. I think that’s helping the team to get better form, to put more things into our game, and just play better overall. I think we were able as well to get to some conclusions about what cannot miss in our game to actually play good games in terms of communication, in terms of the set plays we want to do. There’s been shared responsibilities being done in a better way.
Winning a tournament always helps you to boost your confidence, and now it’s going to be the big test with the best teams on semi-finals and finals. And I think if we can play the best we can, there’s a chance to win the tournament, but the same can be said for a couple other teams here.
Yeah. I was going to say MOUZ is the next game. How are you feeling about that one? They’ve beat you the last two times, I think.
MOUZ is a team that’s been very difficult to play against. I think we have been able to beat them in one of the tournaments we played, but overall they have been playing well and beating us as well sometimes. So it is going to be a challenging game, they have been playing very good. It’s one of the best teams in the world, no doubts at the moment. I think it’s one of the teams that made the best changes as well in terms of bringing the new guy, and they just transitioned xertioN to the IGL role as well. He’s just fitting in a lot.
So it’s a difficult team to play against, but both teams have chances. I feel like we can beat them, and I think they can beat us as well. It’s going to be up to who can play better on the day.
