yuurih: "I think we can make history"

Continuing with Dust2.us' interviews at the PGL Antwerp Major, Dust2.us' Ryan Friend spoke with Yuri "yuurih" Santos after his team's 16-10 victory over BIG in their 1-1 match. The two discussed the BIG match, the additions of Rafael "saffee" Costa and André "drop" Abreu, and what Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo brought to the squad.

Your first half was strong but what happened in those first few rounds of the second half?

We lost some fights on the B bombsite. Me and saffee play together on A, so the thought is to play to fight them, but the guys on B need to stop the guys. We had some problems at B in the beginning but after that, we made some rounds.

Did you try and make any adjustments, or change your plan?

Yes. CS:GO in general, is always a mind game you know, always change something, looking at how the guys play. Always in the game, all matches, we always change. We need to restudy our things and see how we're gonna play. We don't have anything like "hey you need to be here or there" you know, it's all in the game.

Your team has obviously gone through a lot of changes in the last year and a half, with the junior experiment, HEN1, and now saffee. You have drop, who may not have been a permanent member last Major but now he is, and he's continuing to improve. How has that been for you as a player to have a solid roster and know that these guys will be here for a bit?

I mean, me, arT, and KSCERATO always need two guys that will help us in the game, because we have a different style, so it was hard until saffee and drop joined the team. I'm very happy with saffee and drop, we have had four months with the team and I'm very happy with them.

How different is this team without VINI, now having drop and saffee in here? What dynamics have changed with you personally that you've had to account for?

VINI filled an important hole in the team, he was more aggressive so he was very important for us. When we decided to change him for drop, drop needs to do some of the same things, you know, so drop is doing that. VINI, he's a good player, and I miss him as well sometimes, he's a good guy. But drop is doing his job, you know, the same with VINI.

What about with saffee coming into the team, how has he been as a player? He's an older player coming from paiN, how has his experience been helpful to you guys?

All teams in Brazil have a different style. As I said, every player that joins our team is different and so for saffee it was very hard for him, but every practice he's pushing to be more aggressive and to have more action in the game. I'm very happy with him, he's doing a great job, him and drop. I'm very happy with them.

You're heading now into the 2-1 games, you're looking forward in this Major. Last Major, you might have probably overperformed a little bit given everything going on, but now you guys have been a really solid team, so what's your expectation with tomorrow being the promotion game and then into the Champions stage?

Last Major, we had a good performance, but this Major, in the last month in the last tournaments we played we made it quite far, like semifinals, so we hope that we can make the playoffs again, like the semifinals, because last Major we got to the quarterfinals where we lost to Gambit. But now, everyone is having a good feeling, and we just need to do our game, have our reactions be fast. I think we can make history if we keep up the good job.

Who are you most looking forward to playing potentially tomorrow in your 2-1 matchup?

I don't know, 2-1 is always hard. All the matches in the Major are hard, so we don't care about who we're gonna get, but we have a little difficulty against Cloud9, and NAVI, we've always had problems with them and we never won against Cloud9. The other teams we like to play against, FaZe, ENCE, we like playing against strong teams you know. Even if we lost the match, we learn the issues, the problems, and that makes us better and better.

There was a lot of controversy this morning about the smoke bug and the exploits and things like that. When you saw those videos and when you saw that stuff coming out, what were your thoughts about it?

So I was talking with my team, and I said to arT, m0NESY posted on Twitter saying that the admins allow it, but I see everyone on Twitter posting about how m0NESY is a shit player, and I don't think he's at fault because he asked the admin "can I use this smoke", and the admin allowed it. I think the admin doesn't make sense, because when we see that smoke it's so game-breaking. I think PGL, the admins, need to see it. I saw on Twitter that PGL allows it, it doesn't make sense. We talked as players as well, with all the teams, and everyone agreed that no one will use it, so it's perfect for us, for every player.

FURIA now eagerly anticipate the result of the match between NAVI and NIP, as FURIA will play the loser of that match in their 2-1 promotion BO3 tomorrow.