nitr0: "We definitely feel like we are super inconsistent right now"
Heading into the Americas RMR, Liquid wasn't expected to face too many issues in progressing to the BLAST.tv Paris Major. Following two straightforward victories against 00 Nation and Flamengo, it looked to be smooth sailing for Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella's squad. A close encounter against FURIA ended in defeat, resulting in a domestic face-off with Nouns. Despite being the heavy favorite, it looked very shaky for the 7th-ranked team in the world as they lost their own map pick of Ancient in overtime. The more experienced side eventually pulled through to win the series 2-1 and secure Paris.
On the topic of Liquid's map pick Ancient, many in the community were left puzzled by this choice especially after Nouns claimed the victory on it. Map pool in general has been an interesting topic for Liquid this year, with Nuke reappearing in the rotation for the first time in over a year for the North Americans in what was considered a "7 map pool" experiment. Ancient has not been a map that Liquid has favored in the past few months, so choosing it against Nouns was a tactical decision according to nitr0.
We haven't really shown Ancient in a while. We played paiN then before that it was about a month or so. In our minds, we knew that they weren't really going to prepare for us and it was a super-important match so we tried to go for something they wouldn't expect and we just couldn't get our game on Ancient unfortunately. We've just got to keep practicing it and go from there.
There is plenty that needs to be practiced for the NA side by the looks of things. Liquid's form since IEM Katowice has left a lot to be desired from the best North American team. Getting knocked out and missing out on BLAST Spring Finals in Washington, both at the hands of paiN who have been exceptional, nitr0 is hoping that Liquid can build up some momentum heading into the Paris Major. The 27-year-old IGL was unambiguous with his thoughts on the team's form as of late, however, the veteran IGL sees the upcoming month as a chance to get back on track.
We definitely feel like we are super inconsistent right now, but we are trying to find that consistency. Before the Major, we are going to have a bootcamp so I am sure that will help.
Attending Dreamhack Winter 2014, the fourth CS:GO Major, with IBuyPower, nitr0 has competed in 11 Majors throughout his storied career. With the BLAST.tv Paris Major being nitr0's 12th and final in the game before CS2, the Liquid captain is still in a bit of shock that CS:GO is coming to an end after all these years, but is excited for the new game to really get rolling.
It feels fresh. CS:GO to me still feels a little bit smoother since it (CS2) is a game that still is in Beta so they have to figure out the bugs and you're only allowed to play Dust2 right now. I think that when they bring some new maps into the map pool it is going to be really cool and people will start theorying so overall I am really excited to play it.
