tarik: "I'd rather play a stronger opponent just to show everyone that we're going to win this Major"
After MIBR beat G2 in their 1-1 match yesteday, Michael "Duck" Moriarty had a sit down with Tarik "tarik" Celik to discuss his team's performance in the Major so far.
Tarik, you and your team are now 2-1, after a dominant win over G2. How did that win come?
We were really prepared for the game, and we knew the map would be Inferno. We had a really good game plan going into the match, and everything worked out in our favor, we even started off on the CT-side which made things easier for us because our CT-side on Inferno is really strong right now. To be honest, everything worked out for us. We were hitting out shots, our team play was there, our communication was flowing. It would be really hard for anyone to beat us when our game is in such a flow like that. Overall, just props to my team because everyone played so well.
This is the second strong win you've had at the event, after your 16-6 win against mousesports yesterday. After your slow start against TYLOO on Wednesday, are your feeling like you're getting into your stride?
Yeah, I feel like we're getting our confidence back. I think the TYLOO loss was definitely a let-down as we had a really good start, an 11-4 first half, and then we let the game fumble away on the T-side. Props to them, they played really well but we made some really crucial mistakes that lead to it getting to that point. With the mousesports match, going in it was really important for us as we weren't feeling too good, we had just threw a big lead against TYLOO and we had to win against mousesports. Having that win against them, and then getting the win today, it's definitely going to put our confidence at a high.
You've got potentially one more game tomorrow, where if you win you're headed straight to the playoffs and avoiding the best-of-three on Sunday. Are you confident, with the remaining teams in your pool, that you'll be able to do this?
I'm not too worried with who we play. I know that no matter who it is that we'll probably beat them. I'd rather play a stronger opponent just to show everyone that we're here to play and that we're going to win this Major. Once we get to the best-of-three playoffs then it'll be a lot harder for people to beat us because these best-of-ones, it's easier for people to get a fluke win or just have a good game. In a best-of-three, it's a whole different game and once we get there then I think our chances of winning will be much higher.
So finally, you yourself are performing at a high level, where in the last game you were one of the strongest performers in the server. Are you confident that your performance helps the rest of your team, as they see you being strong in the game?
Yeah, I'm just doing my part. If I do my part correctly then my stats will reflect it, sometimes you'll have games where they just don't come to your bombsite or they go to the other one more often. It's not really about the stats, I think anyone on our team is capable of having good stats, it's just about playing together. We've created a system where everyone has the chance to have rounds where they can have an opening or have a chance to make a play. Everyone is comfortable so it's easy to play, and especially when we're winning.
