afro: "dexter is giving me a lot of freedom"

Heading into the IEM Cologne Play-In with a new-look lineup, featuring Australian IGL Christopher "dexter" Nong and French AWPer Aurélien "afro" Drapier, expectations for fnatic were difficult to pin down ahead of their opening match versus Complexity. After triumphing in their initial matchup over the American squad, fnatic made quick work of Polish side 9INE to reach the main stage of IEM Cologne, getting their new roster off to a solid start.

Shortly after the win over 9INE, Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke with afro regarding his feelings regarding the French scene, the transition from a French-speaking team to an English-speaking team, and what it has been like working with dexter as an IGL.

As a player who has been dominant in tier-two, now moving into the tier-one scene, how does it feel to make the main stage of IEM Cologne?

It feels so nice. I'm really happy about what we managed to do today, also even more happy that we did not have to go to the last match tomorrow and have a lot of pressure. That's done, so we can have a chill day tomorrow and then just reset and get ready for the main stage.

You're gonna be one of only three French players on the main stage. Does that add extra weight on your soldiers to carry the banner of French CS?

Yeah, exactly. Thanks to ZywOo we will always have at least one player at the very top. The French scene is dying a bit, so we want to make France shine as much as we can. If we need to get on to international teams to do it, then let's go, but even Falcons changed. It's like this, we have to deal with it.

A big struggle for French players moving to English-speaking teams is learning to speak English at a competitive level. What has it been like for you to overcome that barrier?

I think it's weird, but I'm not the worst English speaker of the French scene I'd say, so it was fine. I still had one or two weeks that were really hard for me. Sometimes I was holding a line and wasn't able to talk at any point because I was fully focused on the game. I guess that now I'm kind of comfortable with speaking English in the game and outside the game, because speaking outside the game is also really important to be able to speak with your teammates, and your teammates you want to become friends with, so you have to speak properly.

Now working in English you have a completely different IGL. What is it like working with dexter?

It's really different, but back in the days I was playing with bodyy a leader, and I won't say that's the same, but it was a bit close to it. We were trying to find this time of gameplay, so I had already kinda an idea about what I was supposed to do in such a team. Also, dexter is giving me a lot of freedom, and I want to thank him for that because it's really insane to have such freedom when you're an upcomer. I didn't have any real success or anything, I was just destroying tier-three teams and that's it. Me and dexter are working together to make me comfortable with what I'm doing, and I also don't want to cross the line and go to far, so sometimes I'm just asking him if I can, I can't. I'm just trying to make it good for everyone.

You can watch the full interview below: