arT on the Rio major: "That's the only thing in my head"

After a convincing win against O PLANO, Andrei "arT" Piovezan talked with Dust2us and Dafydd about the loss against EG, the current mood of the team, the IEM Rio major and more. arT was also able to catch back up with Dafydd after FURIA qualified to give a message to the fans.

Yesterday was a bit of a rough one for you guys. Did you come into this game with a chip on your shoulder, like you just wanted to blow them out of the water and get some confidence?

Losing is always tough for us. I don't know if that's because of the crowd, the pressure, the responsibility. Whenever we lose we always come back stronger, that's a fact and not because of today, but because of the mindset we have. Losing is so bad that we don't want to feel that often. Definitely, today was better because of yesterday.

Would you say you feel a lot better now, do you feel like you are ready for whoever you face?

I think whenever we have a rough tournament start we always wind up being better than we started the tournament. So I think we are feeling better now.

Is there any team that you want to play in the next round?

I won't say so. I think we are happy to face whoever we are going to face.

The EG game was a tough loss. Do you mind talking about what happened and how you lost that game?

When we talk about BO1 it's always the small things that make the difference. I would say that the pistols, that we lost both, are a huge part of a BO1. When you talk about the game, it was just about the CT. I think I did like two bad calls on T-side. On CT-side I did one very bad round, in the early beginning, I got caught off guard in the first gun round, and then the game started 5-0. When you start 5-0 in a BO1 it's just very hard to come back. We can't make mistakes anymore. That was just the CT half on the trashcan, so on the T-side we need the pistol to have some breathing room and we didn't manage to do that so rough start and a rough game overall.

Do you think if you played EG in a BO3 now you would still be the hot favorites?

I do think we have a better map pool than they have. I think when we talk about BO1, I think both teams are going to play a map where both teams are comfortable. It's less advantage for us, with that said, of course, we started CT-side but for some reason, CT-sides for us, sometimes, is good like today, sometimes is more or less. I think BO3 favors us because of the map pool.

This is the second major that you have the same five players, but you as a quartet have been together for quite a long time. What is the longevity of this roster and is there a point where, if you don't win a major or reach top four, you guys are going to start to change around?

There's no short answer to that. When you talk about results, I think we are struggling with small things. Whenever we reach playoffs like we did in a lot of tournaments we played, some of the big ones, it was the details that made a difference. We lost matches that we shouldn't, we played poorly when we shouldn't. It's hard to point a finger at what's wrong exactly, so making a roster change it's a decision that it's not lightly taken. One game, two games, that's not going to make a difference. We don't think about that. We think about how can we beat the team we play tomorrow, or how we can beat today. One step at a time. We are focusing now on the major, that's the only thing that's in my head. The only thing I think about is how we can perform in the major, how we can reach the major in Brazil and play the playoffs in the major. Step by step, now I'm worried about winning the match tomorrow.

Speaking about the major. ESL has made the decision to have crowds at the group stage. Is that something that you are looking forward to?

Definitely. I think every Brazilian team is very happy with that. In some cases, there are more Brazilians in those stages, there will be a lot more people watching and having fun. It's going to be a huge experience for the crowd and for the players. I think that's awesome.

Would you say you guys perform better when you guys have a crowd?

I would say so, yeah. Even drop, when he hears the crowd chanting and he is feeling the pressure, he feels better that way. When there's silence for him is even worse, so I think everybody is better.

Especially when they are cheering for you

Actually, cheering against you is also fun. We had that feeling in NA some years ago, when we were facing Liquid on the stage in Dallas and, of course, they were cheering for them. It's always fun.

If you look at the last RMR, compared to this RMR, Brazil and South America were dominant. Do you think SA as a region is still better than North America?

I do think so. I think there are great teams playing in South America. I think it's too early to say the Brazilian teams are performing badly. It was very close for everyone. BO1 is just a BO1. I see a lot of people talking shit about some teams that lost BO1 and it's too early to say that. When the results come we can have that chat again.

Is there any SA team here that you look at and you think can go pretty far and people don't talk about?

I think 9z is a team that is on that talk, definitely. Probably now people are talking about them but we faced them before and we lost and won two BO3, I think. They are good, they are very solid. I think 9z is a team that people should be looking at.

You just played against EG yesterday and 9z are going to play them today. Who do you have taking that match in a BO3?

I think 9z has the upper hand. I mean, the odds are very similar, but I think 9z has the edge.

Now that you have qualified is there any message you want to give to the fans?

"We are going to see each other in Brazil man, finally. For now let's cheer for the Brazilian players and teams that are playing now and let's hope that more Brazilian teams and players can qualify to be there to play the Major and have fans around. So it's going to be amazing.