cynic: "we were definitely trying to save some stuff [at FRAG] for this event"

Nouns have just defeated O PLANO in a length BO3 series with three overtimes in the first two maps. Defeating the Brazilians 16:12 on the third map and avoiding elimination, David "cynic" Polster sat down with Liam Slevin of Dust2.us to talk about the match, what this tournament experience has been for the young in-game leader, and what how the team is feeling and how they've been so far.

You've just taken down O PLANO to move onto a 2-2 swiss score, what was that series like for you?

It's a longer series than we expected, honestly. Hard three maps and I feel like going into it, we kind of knew they were never going to give up because this is an incredibly important tournament to them. They're playing to play at home under their home crowd, and they kind of showed that as well. I think on Nuke and Vertigo we were at an early lead, 6-0 both maps, and then they brought it back, really strong on both of those maps.

Then on Nuke we kind of let it get away from us and Vertigo we were able to come back, close it out. We had some big plays, Jeorge, Danny, like everybody just had really big plays. I'm pretty happy with how we played, I feel like I called a good game. I feel like we all came through when it mattered.

You mentioned that you called a good game, they obviously your IGLing and AWPing. For a pretty young guy who hasn't had much tier one experience. What's that as a dynamics, considering we've seen other players struggle with it?

Sometimes it's difficult because AWPing requires a lot of focus, and obviously calling I have to be looking at the map and I have to be looking at my players in my utility that I have left to work with.

For me personally, the way that I overcome that is with preparation, where if I say a phrase or something like that, or I call it strat, I just know that a certain amount of things are going to be done and I don't have to necessarily micro-manage as much. So, we play in a more structured way at the beginning of rounds, and if I have an AWP, I buy it for more of a specific purpose or I have a specific goal in the round with it.

This being your first RMR experience, what is it like playing against some storied names like kNgV- on O PLANO?

Sometimes seeing these players on stream and them for years, you feel like they're not in the same kind of category as you, and then you come here and you see them in person and you shake their hand and you play against them. Not to say that it takes, away the spice of it — I don't know the word for it — but, it's just kind of a cool experience, you know? Getting to meet everybody that you watched growing up and watched when you were coming up in the game. So it's just, you know, a pretty cool experience.

You guys missed out on playoffs at FRAG recently and then coming here you're in the 2-2 game, potentially going on towards a Major at this point. What was the preparation like from FRAG onwards?

We had a bootcamp and we knew that we were going to have to put in a lot of work to improve from where we from FRAG to where we wanted to be to qualify for the Major. And obviously we're not in the best spot right now, we still have to win at least two series, but I believe we've made a lot of strides to improve since FRAG.

And at FRAG specifically, I don't want to say we weren't putting in 100%, but we were definitely trying to save some stuff and keep it in the back pocket for this event. I think people were commenting about Nuke, being surprised about our Nuke pick, and that's one thing that we definitely kept in the back pocket and didn't show at FRAG.

SEMPHIS is obviously working with you guys as a coach right now. What's the dynamic with him and what does he bring to help you out?

I think he brings a lot of level headedness that we need on this team. We have a lot of young and emotional players and he's a big voice of reason in practice and matches. He helps me personally with a sense of direction; obviously he gives input on the structure and the strats and I would say primarily I make the strats or I come up with this structure, but obviously he gives a lot of input and I value his opinion greatly.

cxzi has been one of those players that has really shined for you guys. What is he like as a player and how do you set him up during games?

Danny is definitely a unique player, there's not a lot of players that play like him. I would say he's definitely the biggest playmaker on our team and we've realized as a team that he has the potential to take over a game. It is sort of a balancing act sometimes where you don't want to have to completely cater your entire style to one player, but we have a good system where he has enough room to make plays and have the impact that he can have.

Complexity just went down to 2-2, ATK are joining you guys in 2-2, and the other two NA teams have already moved on to Rio. What you kind of think of the way that NA has performed at this RMR?

Relative to South America, North America has been slowly catching up. There was a period of time where SA had overtaken NA, but with Liquid going through, EG going through, as the first two teams and then our team, ATK, Complexity all having a chance to make the Major. I think that we're giving a pretty strong showing.

One final question, like you said you had a boot camp here and with a bit of EU experience, I guess. What do you think are the goals for your team moving forward as a roster towards the end of the year?

The goal is just to be a better team, you know? For all of our players, everybody on the team, the goal is just to be better players. There's a lot of things that we need to improve and we know, we identify stuff. Obviously at this event it kind of sucks that we don't have the time that we want to improve stuff, but the goal is just always to get better, you know? Fix the mistakes when we see them come up.

Nouns will be playing Imperial tomorrow at 10:30AM where they have the opportunity to go 3-2 in the swiss system. If they win, then they will move onto a gauntlet bracket tiebreaker, with the other 3-2 teams, for the final Americas spot in the IEM Rio Major.