nitr0: "We were losing too many anti-ecos and force-buys"

Liquid, despite being ranked number four in the world, was not in the forefront of anyone's mind as IEM Katowice began, especially after a dismal BLAST Spring Groups. However, the North American squad showed grit and resilience throughout the tournament to bring home a top 4 finish.

Liquid's run in playoffs was stopped short only by G2, who currently sit on a 19-map win steak, tied second in CS:GO history. After the defeat, Dust2.us' Liam "Slevo" Slevin talked with Liquid's captain, Nick "nitr0" Cannella to discuss the game and Liquid's improvement over the previous tournament.

That brings an end to your run here at IEM Katowice. Looking back on the teams you beat, obviously, it wasn't meant to be today, but tell me about the run overall for you guys.

It's a pretty good run overall considering our last tournament result. This team, with the experience we have, should be making playoffs consistently, and we all understand that. Every single tournament we attend, playoffs is a minimum. We have the core of the Grand Slam, YEKINDAR as an up-and-comer is insane, and we have an up-and-coming AWPer. We have all the pieces of the puzzle, it's just a matter of time until the tournament win. Last year, we didn't get that tournament win, which really sucks. Moving forward, we have some really big tournaments coming up with EPL and the Major. We know what we need to work on and that's the most important thing.

G2 have looked really formidable here. We know that you guys took down FaZe and Vitality, but G2 look like a different beast. What was the game plan going into today that you felt was necessary to find success?

It's hard to say cause they're playing really well right now. It's not like I can say a definitive thing that would have changed the game. I'm not really sure, I just think we need to keep practicing. Maybe we're not there yet to beat the best team in the world, but at least we're making it competitive. We definitely beat some top-tier teams here, and for me personally, that's something to be proud of.

In terms of the series, in the two maps, there were two different stories. Anubis looked pretty close until they pulled away, and in the case of Inferno, it looked light a blowout and then you pulled it back. You weren't able to close out in the same way as Overpass vs Vitality. Tell me, from the perspective of the series, what was going wrong for you guys?

I don't know, we couldn't really get our footing going. We were losing too many anti-ecos and force-buys. When you lose those rounds it's really hard. Not only are they building their economy, they're also damaging our economy really badly. When you lose those rounds, it's really hard to get those back-to-back rounds. We were also losing a lot of the clutch scenarios today, they were playing really well. Whenever you're playing against the best team in the world, you need to be on point with your clutches and comms. Overall, I think that was the biggest takeaway for me today, working on the clutches specifically and figuring out what we should do better for next time. Hopefully next time we can capitalize against those force-buys and on those anti-ecos. We shouldn't be losing those.

You also mentioned that making playoffs is necessary for you guys, that's the expectation every time now. Someone that's new to the team is oSee, we saw him come out of his shell this tournament. What's it like seeing that from him, stepping up this game here in Katowice?

I'm super proud of Josh this tournament. I know he's been struggling with confidence issues, so seeing him come out of that shell, and step his game up, is a really good sign for us. Every team has a really good AWPer right now, especially the top five teams, so we need to have Josh hitting his shots. This tournament, he really stepped up his game, and you can tell the difference in our overall gameplay. We're able to beat FaZe, we're able to beat all these really good teams because Josh is having huge impact in those specific matches. He's gonna continue to work hard, I know he's a really hard worker. He's gonna be really good.

oSee stepped up. One player that's hasn't really done that in high-level games is YEKINDAR. Can you tell me on an individual level what was going wrong with YEKINDAR this tournament? It was by no means bad, but it wasn't the high standard that we've come to expect from YEKINDAR.

I think a lot of Mareks' roles on our team are very aggressive with ambitious peeking. Sometimes it doesn't work out in his favor and it looks really bad. Statistically speaking, he's not gonna be at the top of the leaderboards all the time cause he's in these difficult roles. He's the one taking zones and creating space for us. If they have a setup there and he dies, he's gonna have a negative KD. He's a crucial part of our team, he's a crucial part of our structure, and sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles. I know him, I know he's a super hard worker, he knows when he needs to step the game up and play the game more, or focus on macro. He knows what needs to be done, so I'm sure next tournament he'll be way better.

Like you said, YEKINDAR has a lot of aggressive roles on the team. Another rifler on the team is EliGE, and he mentioned to me back in Cologne that when you picked up YEKINDAR, he always wanted another aggressive rifler on the team. We saw his T-side stats struggle toward the end of last year, as an IGL. What's it like trying to accommodate both of these aggressive riflers and get them both in the best positions possible?

EliGE has been working really hard on figuring out why he's not as consistent as before. I don't really have any problems with him in terms of his own performance. I've never actually seen him in a slump, in my whole career that I've played with him. He's really trying to figure out what's going on and we're all trying to help. We watch games back with him so he can get other perspectives on what he thinks we should do. I'm 100% confident for next tournament he'll be back in form. Actually, in the last two games, he played really well. He's definitely started to show that form again, and I think for next tournament he's gonna be fine.

You also mentioned that there were a couple of things that were going wrong like anti-ecos and such. With EPL coming up, along with a lot of big tournaments., are there any major things you need to focus on?

I think the number one foremost thing are the anti-ecos. We need to be winning these. Out pistol rounds are pretty good this tournament, statistically, so not really much to look at there. Maybe for next tournament, we need to focus more on clutch situations protocols, like where we should be looking, where we should be. Those are just the things off the top of my head that I can think of, but I'm sure there's a lot more issues we need to watch and figure out what we should be doing better on. Overall, this tournament was pretty good for us, we're playing confidently, and that tells me we're on the right path.

A semifinal finish is something to be pretty proud of. With the final tomorrow, you guys took on G2, we all know what Heroic have been about, who are you favoring in that best-of-five final?

Hard to say. I haven't been watching too much Heroic, honestly. I'm gonna say 3-1 G2 wins. I think G2 is playing really well right now. With their confidence right now, it's insane. They're all figuring out the gaps with the perfect timings. But then again, Heroic are playing really well, so it's tough to say. I'm gonna have to side with G2 for the final.

Liquid are now headed to ESL Pro League for their next shot at another title.