oSee: "It seems like we have a tendency to start off the half slow"

Speaking after Liquid's precarious game against MIBR, Josh "oSee" Ohm spoke with Dust2.us' Liam Slevin to discuss the NA scene, his teammates, and mentality of coming back. oSee has long been considered one of NA's most exciting prospects and has appeared to have found a new gear with the addition of Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis.

You guys just closed out the game against MIBR, tell me a bit about that game that ended up in overtime and it looked like they caught you off guard a bit. What surprised you about the way that they played?

First of all, on CT side we started off really rough. We lost pistol round and then we won the first gun round but then we lost the gun round after that so it took a real big hit on our economy. They played really well on their T-side and caught us off guard a lot with their fakes, they did a lot of misdirection with their plays. There was a lot of "oh we're going to retake B and then swing out A with three people". We didn't know that they were playing like that to be honest so we over-rotated a lot and got caught in bad positions. Props to them because they played really well and we had to fight tooth and nail to close that one out.

With FURIA losing, and you guys being really tested at 1-0, what do you think that says about the level of competition that is here at this RMR?

I expected everyone to be pretty prepared coming into this tournament since the RMR is a huge deal, especially since the Major coming up in Brazil. I'm sure that all the Brazilian teams are putting in 120% to try and make it to that event. Coming in we didn't have much time to prep because we had Pro League right before so I think the teams beforehand had good amount of time to practice and prep and study us, rather than us being able to also have time to prep. We came in with a little bit of a disadvantage but at the same time, it's not much of an excuse for our performance or making it that close against these teams that I think we should be beating so. The scene, in my opinion, has been getting a lot better and all these Brazilian teams have shown like Imperial, Pain and MIBR, they've been showing really good signs of improvement and showing that they can compete at this level so it is great to see. I think that in the future it will be a lot more competitive.

Another team who went 2-0 is Evil Geniuses. From their progression at Pro League where they got two victories some people didn't expect them to get, and their performances here by beating FURIA. What do you think of the current state of their team?

They look really good with the additions of Nealan and Hext. At EPL you could see their improvement and coming here seeing them beat FURIA who are not an easy team to beat. It was a little surprising but at the same time you could see the improvement in each game that they were playing so seeing them finally show that they can beat this level of team is not that surprising to me at this point. They still have players who have been in the Tier one scene for a while so there is still a lot of experience in that squad so it's really good to see them doing so well and hopefully they can keep it up.

Complexity is another team from NA that has gone 2-0. With their form at EPL and how they tested FaZe there, how do you think that potential match-up would go?

It's definitely going to be a tough game and I think we both know how the other plays and we know each other pretty well so it's just going to be about whoever is on point. They have a lot of skilled players so if we are off our game and we are missing shots, we could just get steamrolled. Complexity is not an easy team to beat and we shouldn't take it lightly. I think it's going to be a really good matchup since I am an ex-teammates with a lot of them. I kind of know what they like to do and they kind of know what I like to do so I think it's going to be a good game.

EliGE is a player who has had such a high ceiling with Liquid and unfortunately in the EPL Grand Final against Vitality he went missing a bit. We know what he can be like with his emotions so with such a quick turnaround to the RMR where he is performing really well, what was his response like after the EPL final?

He is one of those players that has very high expectations for himself. Going into this tournament I think he wanted to prove that, even though everyone still knows, he just had an off-series, so coming in and seeing him perform like this is not a surprise to me. It's just another day for him and seeing him bounce back so quick from EPL and coming in here performing really well for us is really good to see. I'm sure he will be performing the same way throughout the whole RMR.

In terms of mentality, you had to come back to win it. What do you think that says about the way your team has been gelling, and the fact that you had the mentality to come back in a game like this today?

It's something we have been getting a lot better at. Even at EPL, there were maps where we started out down 5-0 and we came back, the Vertigo against Vitality for the last map we were down 8-0 and we started clawing our way back into the half. It seems like we have a tendency to start off the half slow, but the fact that we can still stay in the game mentally is a good sign. As long as we can iron out the small mistakes and in time, as long as we don't have those slow starts, it will show that we can beat any team that we face.

I interviewed you at Cologne and one of the main things you said to me was that you were going to do whatever you can to get back on the stage. With the way that things are set for IEM Rio where they have the crowd for all the stages, what are your thoughts on that, playing in front of a crowd for the whole thing now that you are in a prime position to qualify?

I think it is pretty cool. It's not very standard for a group stage to have a crowd and to be playing in front of people but I think it is a really cool addition and it will make the group stage matches feel more important. Every match is important, but playing in front of a crowd is a different experience so it is a really cool addition. I think the Rio Major, if we make it past the group stage onto the big stage, it will be a really nice experience for me. Cologne was one of the best times in my career and one of the best experiences playing CS. Like I said in Cologne, to get back on that stage, whether it's Rio or, I think we have BLAST coming up in the Royal Arena so we are going to have chances to play in front of an arena there as well. I think we are going to have plenty of opportunities to play in front of crowds so I am super excited.

Now that we're at the end of day one, is there any teams that have surprised you with their results?

Obviously EG, it wasn't that surprising for me but seeing them perform that well was good and yeah 9z. I honestly didn't expect 9z to be performing this well after they lost some of their players in the past but seeing them still be competitive and performing well is nice to see. I think everyone else was pretty expected but yeah 9z is pretty surprising, but teams like Complexity and EG I expected to perform pretty well here.

With FURIA gone as your main rival for that Legends spot, how confident are you in the team that you can claim it against the likes of 9z, EG and Complexity?

I think we were pretty confident after he heard that FURIA lost to EG. Obviously, EG is still a pretty hard team to beat but I would rather play EG rather than FURIA just because of the playstyles. FURIA is very unpredictable and when their players are on point, it's pretty hard to play against them so finding out that FURIA lost is pretty good for us. I think we have a really good chance of getting that Legends spot now which would be really good for us. As long as we learn from these last two games where I think we didn't show our best then I think we have a pretty good chance of making it.

Liquid defeated Complexity in a qualification BO3 and is looking to play Evil Geniuses on Sunday to decide the Legends spot.