yel: "This win is for DeStiNy"
Collin "CarbonDogma" Davis caught up with INTZ captain Gustavo "yel" Knittel following the team's 3-2 victory over Riot Squad to qualify for the next season of ESL Pro League. The pair talked about various roster changes the Brazilian team has underwent, as well as their hopes for the remainder of the event.
First off, I wanted to get your reactions and feelings to re-qualifying to ESL Pro League, especially after being relegated last time around.
It feels great, it was the biggest thing we wanted for this season, to re-qualify for Pro League and play another LAN. I feel like we need that as a team, because we've had a lot of changes lately, so we need that experience together, we need those tournaments together. So we did what we came here for, to get to Pro League. Tomorrow we are going to reset our emotions and try to win the Global Challenge, too!
Were you expecting the series against Riot Squad to be so close? They had beaten you online, but obviously LAN is very different.
Yeah, LAN is different, but we didn't expect it to be that close because we knew like a month ago which maps we would be playing. So they were going to know everything that we do, and we were going to know everything that they do. We prepared a lot for this match, and it was almost over on Train, it was 15-10 if I'm not wrong, and then we were able to reset, get our minds in the game, and win the whole thing. I'm really proud of how my team reset on Train.
I noticed you won a lot of forcebuys in the series, is that something that you prepared for?
Not really, I think we're just good with pistols. I don't know, I think we won every pistol, I'm not sure, but most of them.
Going back in time a bit, you obviously lost kNgV- to MIBR, so what was the thought process in picking a new fifth, and how did you wind up going with shz?
When I was playing with kNgV-, I was the in-game leader and the second AWPer, but all my life I have been AWPing. When kNgV- left, I thought that me AWPing and getting a good rifler would help make the team better. I've played with shz before, and when he is focused on the game, he is a monster, as everyone saw in this match, for me he was the MVP. It was an easy choice to be honest, when kNgV- said he was going to leave, we talked as a team about me being the AWPer, and we knew it was going to be shz.
After that you qualified for DreamHack Open Atlanta, played ECS, and eventually replaced DeStiNy with boltz. What was the motivation for that?
boltz is a really good player, we all know that. We didn't want to kick DeStiNy or anything like that, we thought we were doing incredibly well in online matches and we had a lot of structure with him, but he had some visa issues that would have possibly meant [our coach] Apoka would have to play this event. So we had to make a choice, either kick DeStiNy and add boltz, or play with our coach. So we made the obvious choice, we brought boltz in.
To be honest, I feel like this win is for DeStiNy too, he was a big part of it, when I was in-game leading he was helping me a lot, we achieved the Major with him being the second in-game leader. I feel sad for him, because he truly deserves to be at the top.
At DreamHack Atlanta you beat Virtus.pro, but then lost to CR4ZY and the rematch to VP. Obviously it was a brand-new roster, but what were your expectations there?
Honestly, we wanted to win. But we had some problems, and I don't mean like strats or setups in the game, just our minds. I feel like on Train we were in that mindset, and I took a pause to try and wake us up. I know when we play like that, we don't progress, we don't play well, we have to play happy.
Looking forward, what are your goals not only for this event, but also going into next year as well?
I feel like we have a good chance to reach the playoffs here, but we definitely want to win, at least make the finals. We know that forZe are a really good team. We are going to prepare as we did for Riot Squad, like we do for every team that we play. I hope we can achieve top two here, at least.
How do you think the Brazilian scene is doing right now? There are four teams in North America, and W7M and paiN back home...
I think the Brazilian scene is growing a lot. It is way better than it was two years ago, there are a lot of good teams in Brazil and a lot of good leagues in Brazil. This is one thing that was bad back in the day, there were no leagues so there was no point of teams being there playing. I think it is in a good spot, we have Sharks, FURIA, MIBR and us. Everybody is doing here, good there. I think we will see more Brazilians coming in 2020 for sure.
Unfortunately for yel, forZe proved to be too much for INTZ to handle, and their run in Dallas ended in 3rd-4th place.
