Swisher: "This is my dream. I'm so close, I'm so so close and I want to make it"

Facing one of the worse draws in the tournament, ATK had to play near favorites Complexity in their opening match-up, one they lost, expectedly. However, the team bounced back later that day against ARCTIC and ended the first day with an even 1-1 record.

Coming into the second day, they won their last best-of-one against MIBR quite dominantly. Dust2.us' Dafydd Gwynn spoke to Michael "Swisher" Schmid after the game as they awaited their 2-1 matchup, talking about his previous teams, Swisher's move to Mexico, and his former IGLs.

In your last game, you struggled in the first half, but went completely flawless on CT-side. How were you guys able to claw that back?

We had a game plan coming into that CT-side. We knew exactly what we wanted to do those first five or six rounds. Winning pistol obviously helped a lot, and we were able to win a scary anti-eco; I had to win a 1v1. Thank goodness for that, if we lost that it probably would have been a different CT half. Being able to stack those rounds, we were reading the game perfectly, we knew exactly what they were doing. We had the right stacks, the right utility to stop their fakes, and it just worked out.

How was your mental game going into that? You went down 6-3 in the T-side, so what were you saying to each other when you were down?

The two rounds where we went mid-to-B back to back, we knew we definitely could have won those rounds. The first time, the bomb was left in middle, which was definitely a blunder. Unlucky, that was our round we could have had it, all good. The next time, I missed a kill. I turned from a flash and missed the insta-kill on him. That would have been a clean mid-to-B, get your trades in, that would have been nice. Those two rounds, we knew we could have won those, they're not outplaying us, we're beating ourselves in that sense. We were confident, so even a 9-6 we were happy with.

Moving away from the game and talking about you guys coming into this event, at the last RMR you barely missed it. You upset GODSENT and then you lost to Party Astronauts. Has that given you extra motivation to work harder at this event?

For sure. We were super, super close last time. It was heartbreaking, in a sense, how close we were. The Complexity matches last RMRs were so close, we threw leads on both maps. It did feel though, this time, that we were excited to be here. We struggled to get here a little bit, some rough matches versus Mythic and such, but now that we're here, we're ready to play.

Are there any teams that you want to play? Before this, there was you, Party Astronauts, and Gaimin Gladiators, now Nouns. The three of you would just beat each other in a cycle. You and Nouns are here, do you want to play them? Do you want to continue that rivalry you have with them?

Not necessarily. We're almost rooting for each other until we have to play against them. There are not that many NA players here, so we're rooting for our own scene here. I wouldn't really say there's rivalry between us.

Are there any SA/Brazilian teams that you want to play?

paiN. They beat us almost every time. We've gotten so close, we want to beat them, we want to get our revenge, it matters the most.

You joining ATK, you were on Bad News Bears a while ago, you were known as the orgless roster for a long time. What's the difference between playing with an orgless team and playing with ATK?

It gives you a little bit of reassurance that it's okay if you don't play and win everything. At BNB, if we didn't win every cash cup, we weren't getting any money that month, which is a scary sight because people are paying rent, people are paying phone bills, car bills, insurance. If we're not winning cash cup, we can't pay those bills. Being signed to an org relieves that stress and let's us just focus on the game.

Would you say playing on Bad News Bears has changed you in and out of game?

For sure. That BNB roster was the first time I came to Europe. We came here for EPL and for Cologne. During those travel days, I was so excited. Honestly, I was happy on the flight, I was like "oh my god this is so close to my dream." Getting here, I stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning watching demos, prepping, playing FPL, and trying to use every little bit of time I had here to my benefit. That definitely has helped because I'm doing the same darn thing here.

I've been asking your teammates and the Nouns guys this, in NA there's this space, this tier two team that's always fighting upwards. When BNB was making Pro League, Party Astronauts were doing the same. Are you guys ready to take that spot as the NA team that's fighting tier two and upwards?

I would say we are. We tend to have an issue with finals appearances. We lost to oNe in Rotterdam, we lost to paiN in ECL, and Melbourne too, we lost to PA in that one. We feel like we're in the game, we're right here, we're so close, something happens and we just throw it. We're battling through that, and we're hoping to break through that here too.

You're living in Mexico with the team right?

Half the time.

That's a pretty big move for just an American kid whose now moved to Mexico. How was that experience?

The food trucks there, absolutely amazing. Tacos, oh my gosh, literally insane. Honestly, it's not scary, but different. Hardly anybody speaks English. People don't understand us, really. We don't necessarily fit in. During the summer, there was a drought there where there was no water for five days a week, no public water at all. We couldn't use the bathroom, we couldn't wash our hands, we couldn't shower. That was pretty rough. Thankfully now it's raining with all the hurricanes. That was pretty rough during that summer, very rough.

Has that impacted you with travel and burnout?

Not necessarily for burnout, for me at least. A few people on our team like to have a break day or two. Whenever there's a break day in the team house, I'm bored. There's nothing to do for me, cause the only thing I want to do is play CS, so those are my stream days. I've got that grind, I've got that fire inside of me. This is my dream. I'm so close, I'm so so close and I want to make it.

Just to bring it back to today, I heard that during the vetos, you guys read it. You knew exactly what was going to happen. Talk me through that a little bit.

We saw their Ancient yesterday against Liquid, very very scary. Honestly, they should have won that Ancient game against Liquid. We knew that Dust2 and Ancient are their comfort maps, for sure, no double about it. I think they've defeated Liquid and other teams, they've beaten FaZe on Dust2. We know that's their comfort map along with Ancient. So going into that, we banned Vertigo and Nuke, and they banned Mirage, Inferno, and Overpass, cause our Mirage is pretty decent I would say, and they're not as confident on Inferno and Overpass as they are on Dust2 and Ancient. So, as soon as we say Dust2, our eyes lit up green. That's exactly what we wanted.

You've played with a few IGLs, how is playing with MisteM? How does his leadership fit with your playstyle?

He's always eager to learn, that's the thing. He's always watching demos, he's always grinding, and always trying to increase his knowledge. When I joined this team, from my own experience, I added a few things that came from daps on Orgless, some things from Shakezullah, some things from ptr, from BNB. I've learned things from every IGL, including MisteM, that I've taken and added to my brain. I've brought a few things here where they said, "oh wow that makes sense. Cool, great." It's been great. We've definitely been on an up and up, that's for sure.

Would you say that's common in NA players?

Generally not. I think a lot of people play a very puggy playstyle. For example, even flashes. A lot of NA players don't use their flashes or their nades very well. You tend to not see a lot of utility damage. Scrims in EU, we're getting naded to half HP every round, while in NA we get freedom, no nades thrown at us, it's a completely different game, it's a completely different playstyle. No. Most people don't learn a lot, unfortunately. More NA players could watch demos even their own demos, their own POVs to learn what they can do better, to bring NA to the next step.

Would you guys say you align more with NA playstyle or more with EU playstyle?

Definitely more EU. We've got Jonathan Boden, who's Swedish, so he brought a lot too. It helps having that EU mind, in a sense. When I played back on Yeah! gaming with the Brazilian guys, I learned a lot about the Brazilian style. It added that to my brain so I have a Brazilian style, an American style, a European style, I have all these styles mixed into my brain that I mix up and even know how to play against, in some sense.

So would you say ATK is a hybrid?

For sure. It's more hybrid than you can ask for. Two South Africans, two Americans, and a Swede, playing in Mexico, with an Israeli coach.

You guys are 2-1. How confident are you guys in regards to making it to the Major?

We're confident, but we'll take everything as it comes to us. We're just watching this match, 9z vs EG, that's who matters the most to us. I think we generally play the loser of that game unless Complexity beats Liquid. We're keeping our eye on those matches, we don't know for sure who we're going to play, but we're confident. We're ready to do some prep tonight and show up tomorrow.

Swisher's ATK will be playing 9z tomorrow in their 2-1 matchup at 07:00AM. The winning team will directly qualify to the Rio Major as a Challenger or Contender team, depending on their final seed. The losers will fall to a 2-2 match where they will have to fight for tournament life, and even if they do go 3-2, they will then need to fight in a gauntlet for the final Contender team slot.