jabbi: "I feel like we are the best team in the world right now"

Thanks to a dominant performance over G2 back in the group stage of IEM Dallas, they secured a free trip to the semifinals, earning the luxury of skipping the first round of playoffs. The team intently watched the first quarterfinal of the day, MOUZ vs Astralis, to find out their matchup for the following day. Moments after the team discovered MOUZ would be their opponents, Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore interviewed Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard to see where the young Dane's head was at a day before they were back in the server.

You were probably expecting to face Astralis in the semifinals. What do you think of MOUZ making all the way here?

It's good for us. Obviously, we'd also be fine playing Astralis. It would be a fun game, but now that we play MOUZ, we have to prepare for them as well. We went against them earlier this tournament as well. We are pretty confident; we know what to do against them.

We asked cadiaN earlier about this. Heroic is one of the best teams of the year, but have yet to lift a trophy in 2023. How would it feel to finally get over that mental block and end the season with a trophy under your belt?

It would obviously feel really good. We've been really close to a trophy a few times now. To end that curse would be good, but our time will come when it will come. It doesn't matter how long it'll take because we're continuing to work hard and doing the stuff we're doing.

You're one of the newer players to join Heroic, coming up through Copenhagen Flames. What do you think about the news that Copenhagen Flames and Tricked have folded, two of the most important teams when it comes to the development of players like you. How will that hurt the Danish scene in the future?

It will definitely make a huge difference. That [Copenhagen Flames] was the one team you could join full time, even though it wasn't the best salary, it was still full time. You need that in Danish CS. It's a big hit.

Heroic is one of the more stable rosters in high level Counter-Strike right now. You've been with the team for quite some time, but you're still the newest member of the team. How do you feel your integration has gone now that you're a more tenured member of the team?

I think it's been going well. I feel like I've been a part of the team since day one. They've been so good at taking care of me and putting me into the team. Helping me remember all the things in game and outside the game as well. It's been going fast, I would say.

Every single team in the playoffs of IEM Dallas are international other than Heroic. A couple years ago, a question was "can an international lineup be successful?" and now it's turned around to "can a national lineup keep up?" Do you think the time of national teams is over, or is it just an aberration?

I always think it's the best to be a national team. The communication is just ten times better. If you make an international lineup, you maybe can get more individual skill across the lineup, but I think our lineup has the best five individual players. We are the best team in the world right now, I feel like, even if we don't have the best individual player.