motm: "We can make it to the Major as long as we manage the pressure"

Shortly after their 2-0 victory against British side BLVKHVND, ATK's Ian "motm" Hardy chatted with Dust2.us' Samuel "Draik04" Popkes. The two talked about ATK's hopes for Fragadelphia and the RMR, the pressure issues the squad is attempting to overcome, and how Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm has been integrated into the squad.

Can you tell me about the goals and expectations for you guys at this event?

Coming into Fragadelphia, we want to win the whole thing. We wanna get to the final and play well. A big thing with our team, a problem we have, is our ability to play at a high level under pressure. When you come to LAN and you play versus everyone you play against online, it's a good proving ground for us, and it's an excellent level-up that we can take going into the RMR in Sweden.

On the issue of crumbling under the pressure, you guys are usually on top domestically, but never have international outings, part of which is because of struggles in online qualifiers. Is part of that just the issue of the pressure getting to you?

Yes. The game before the final we played versus Party Astronauts and we destroyed them, we played very well. Then the very next day we played them again and it was very similar maps and we got destroyed. It was a night and day difference between the two. When we go into a grand final, I think something in our mind just changes, kinda like a light switch going on and off. That's something we have to train if we're gonna go to Europe and play well. At the end of the day Counter-Strike is all a learning experience, so when we go to Europe, and maybe we're not quite ready to play at our best, we'll still learn from that experience.

Now that you actually have secured an international outing with the RMR, how are you going to prepare yourselves to not crumble under that pressure?

A lot of the changes we do on our team right now in terms of the pressure is how we approach each other going into a grand final day. Leading up to that we've been pretty good about the pressure and managing it. Small things like changing our language, you know like "Oh are guys ready for this grand final?!", hyping ourselves up. I personally love being hyped up but part of being on a team is compromise. Some of my teammates, they don't like that as much. It's not that they don't like it, they just don't manage it well. So just small little things like language, talking to a sports psychologist, and developing mechanisms where we can manage that pressure.

You guys had an analyst, Fisic0, who departed in August. You also just mentioned working with a sports psychologist. How is the support staff for you guys on ATK? Are you guys planning on getting another analyst to assist sprayxd?

Right now I'm not sure what moves sprayxd wants to make with the analyst. I think he's being real patient because he doesn't wanna just sign someone and have it not work out, so I believe he's out there looking around because that's a real big help to our team. It allows the coach to focus more on fixing our team, rather than having three things to focus on, fixing our team, the analyst work, and dealing with the organization. In terms of the support staff outside of the analyst, right now we work with a sports psychologist and that's pretty much it. That's where were at right now, but it's ever-changing as time goes on.

Do you guys have plans to do a bootcamp in Europe ahead of the RMR?

Yes, our team is going to try to get there a week before. Not a super long bootcamp, more or less just to get adjusted to the jetlag, play some scrims, see how the Europeans are playing since it's much different than how North Americans play. Outside of an extended bootcamp, we're not exploring that.

Reeling it back to FRAG, you guys just beat BLVKHVND in your opening match. Did you notice any differences between them and normal North American competition? Could you tell it was EU Counter-Strike?

Yes. The score may not have been super close, but in terms of the style they're playing, they're playing much more slow, taking the game in step by step, which is how most high-level teams play. When we play versus American teams, say Homeless [formerly Gaimin Gladiators] for example, in the first twenty seconds of the round you know where all five of them are on the map, they've already rushed and took a fight against you. It is much more enjoyable to play, but that is kinda subjective because I've been playing American Counter-Strike my whole career, but it does feel much more structured and thought out.

Most people consider you the favorites in your group. Are you worried about either of the other two teams in your group, Davenport University and EG.CD?

I don't believe worry is the right word, but a team we've never really beat before, granted we haven't really had the opportunity since they signed to Evil Geniuses because there's three rosters, besides here in Fragadelphia. It's a team we haven't beat, and we've gotten a lot better over time since our last outing against them, and I think we're totally capable of beating them, but they're the team to beat.

In the likely event you guys make playoffs, are there teams you're looking forward to facing there?

Yes, I would like to play the Apeks team if they are there. We played a lot of practice versus them and it was kinda similar to BLVKHVND; they play a style that's really enjoyable to play against, and it's also kinda difficult if you're not ready for it. I would love to play versus Homeless, just because we have a rivalry. We're always practicing versus each other, we play a bunch of matches versus each other, and we're friends, and frenemies with some of them on the team, so it's always enjoyable playing against them. oNe as well, I want to play versus malbsMd.

Going a bit back in time, can you tell me about the process of integrating b0denmaster and truth into the team? Is it still a learning process for b0denmaster, or is he already comfortable?

Playing with b0denmaster, I believe he's super comfortable very enjoyable person to be around, also knowledgable and I think that comes from his time in Europe. In terms of picking up b0denmaster and truth, we went through a time where we were testing out some Americans, Minus, Cyrix, all these guys. Once Minus left our team to go play with daps' Orgless team, sprayxd made the decision, and we all agreed, that it was better to go to Europe and get some players so they could bring some knowledge into our team, as well as we wanted more maturity. We believed that we could get that with the Europeans, so we could have a team focused on longevity and improvement over time, so that's why b0denmaster is still with us.

Touching on truth, he departed the team in April due to health issues and then you guys picked up Swisher. What was the process like of finding a new player, and what led you to Swisher?

When truth left because he was sick and wanted to go home, we really wanted to keep exploring our options in Europe, because that's where got our success and growth. After truth had to go, it was a struggle to find a fifth, someone we really wanted for that support player/second lurker. At the time, while we were looking in Europe, I believe the Orgless team kinda fell apart, and that opened up an option in Swisher. A lot of people have a good past with Swisher, he's a really enjoyable person to be around in FPL when you watch his stream, a lot of people like hanging out with him. Once we had him stand-in, what really stood out to us was his personality like I said, but also his knowledge of the game. He has a lot of little niche knowledge that he gets from demos or finds a really cool smoke lineup that is super beneficial to the team. That kind of nerdy knowledge is something we all like, as well as his ability to open up and talk about the game. We have a bad round, we talk about it, we forget it, we move on, and that's a really big strength of his that we really enjoy.

With the RMR coming up next month, how do you guys think you're going to do? Do you think you'll reach the Major?

We can make it to the Major as long as we manage the pressure that we struggle with. We have a lot of friends on other teams, coaches, players, and they all tell us that we're playing outstanding. When we're playing our best we're a really hard team to play against, and they all believe that we can make it to the Major, so our team of course believes we can make it.

Shortly after this interview, ATK squared off against EG.CD in the Group C winner's match. In the end, ATK bested EG.CD 2-0, locking in their spot in the playoffs of Fragadelphia 17, slated to begin tomorrow.