cynic: "We've got to learn from the experience"
Right after the opening match against G2, which ended in a tough 16-5 loss on Inferno, Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore talked with David "cynic" Polster, Nouns' IGL and highest-rated player during the game, about the team's debut in Dallas, Nouns' first match against European opposition, and the team's preparation prior to the start of the tournament.
Please note that the full interview can be found below on YouTube, while the transcript has some key snippets from their conversation.
You picked Inferno against G2, which is their best map. Can you walk us through the thought process of choosing Inferno?
I think that we have a similar map pool to G2, so Inferno is one of our better maps. Going into it, it was a decision of "we have to play to our strengths" because of the overlap. They are also really strong on Nuke and other maps, they play Anubis, and Vertigo, which, historically haven't been that great for us, so we try to stray away from that. We just try to play to our strengths, that was the thought process.
This is your first match ever on Nouns versus a European team, despite you guys having been together for years as a quartet at this point. What were your overall takeaways from playing G2, which is one of the best European teams in the world?
The overall takeaway? I would just say we got to learn from the experience. I think we planned as well as we could, but we fell short, it was kind of disappointing to lose in the way that we did but I would say we got to tighten stuff up. Where we are now is definitely not where we need to be if we want to have better results in the future.
From when you used to play for Gaimin Gladiators and then Squirtle Squad, you didn't have a ton of LAN opportunities, but now you have gone to two RMRs and you are at IEM Dallas. How do you guys feel mentally as a tea? Are those LAN jitters starting to go away now that you have more experience?
I would say to some extent it never goes away, I mean, it's an opening match, I don't want to make an excuse for why we lost but I could definitely feel the nerves, there was some miscommunication in some areas, we got jumpy, or messy in certain situations. But I think it definitely helps to have the experience.
Watch the full interview below:
