frozen: "Our team is like one big unit, a big family"
When Robin "ropz" Kool departed Mouz to join FaZe at the start of this year, no one expected MOUZ to bounce back quite like this. While ropz and his FaZe team are enjoying the beaches in Rio after going out 0-3, frozen and the core of the MOUZ NXT lineup from the start of 2022 are shocking the world, reaching the Major semifinals. The lineup helmed by Aussie IGL Christopher "dexter" Nong has continued to exceed expectations, eliminating heavy hitters Cloud9 in the quarter-finals. Following their triumph, Ryan Friend of Dust2.us got the opportunity to catch up with the elated star player.
First of all congratulations, I don't really know what to say about this one laughs
Me neither! laughs
It's a crazy upset to beat Cloud9 who was one of the favorites for the event.
100%. I mean, I'm not sure if I said this in interviews because I am super cooked now, but I know we are capable of beating anybody and I think we just showed it again that we had the pieces and people cannot underestimate our team. I'm just speechless at the moment, it's crazy.
A lot of people are making jokes that it's this is just MOUZ NXT, it's actually working out.
I think the pieces we have work pretty well together. Our team is like one big unit, a big family. No matter what happens, no matter what the score is, we got each other's back and we never give up.
dexter is obviously a huge part of this team, being the IGL and for Asian CS, an Australian coming in and doing this well is surprising to have. How much does he bring to the table with this team? Does he give you guys that extra edge?
I have been in a team with him for two years, and in the last year I don't want to say that he has stepped up massively but he improved so much. You could say that he is the head behind our success but after all I think we have players that are their own individuals, everyone makes their own decisions. He is there holding our hand and kind of guiding us, maybe me stepping in a little bit calming everyone down but yeah I think we work very well together.
You guys are now going to have to play Outsiders. Another CIS team, another team that just seems to be unbeatable at times. How are you feeling going up against them? Are you still riding that confidence like you said that everyone is beatable?
As I said, I think we are capable of beating anybody. Outsiders beat us in a BO3 earlier this tournament so I definitely think it's going to be a tough match but we are hungry for revenge. We will see tomorrow.
You have a day off tomorrow with some time to prepare. Are there any mistakes that you feel like you made in that Cloud9 game that you are going to try and rectify for the game against Outsiders?
I think Inferno, even though we lost it, but the score and when we lost two rounds to Tec-9's didn't allow us to come back. Otherwise, I think we were coming back into the match. There are obviously some rounds we need to look at but honestly I can't even talk right now I am too cooked laughs
You guys did hold off the comeback against Cloud9 on Overpass so talk to me a little bit about that.
Yeah we knew that they were going to pick Overpass. Our CT-side is pretty strong and we had some pretty big discussions. We played Overpass earlier this tournament, I think against Outsiders and we had a big talk, fixed some mistakes and discussed how we wanted to play it, and yeah thank god we closed it out because their CT-side is also very good.
You have had this evolution, being one of the young prodigies that came into CS:GO but now do you feel like you are hitting your apex and finally seeing all the hype around you being vindicated, like you made it and you're at the top?
Maybe a little bit. I think I am always doing my thing, it doesn't matter what the lineup is I am always going to do my best and as I said, in this team I think we have the right pieces and it's like a home to me, the whole organization at this point. So yeah, I am just happy to be here.
MOUZ are scheduled to face off against Outsiders tomorrow at 12:00PM.
