aliStair: "I'm going to do everything I can to keep this rolling"

In the final day of ESL Challenger Atlanta, FlyQuest ended a seven-year title drought for the ANZ region by taking down BIG in a thrilling final that saw a team from a struggling region rise to the occasion and secure glory for Oceania. In this historic win, many of the FlyQuest players posted massive performances, however Alistair "aliStair" Johnston in particular found a new level in Atlanta, top-fragging against BIG at a level not seen amidst many months of lagging results from the 26-year-old player.

Following this monster performance that helped push his team to victory, Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke to aliStair about the historic trophy, his renewed form, and what this means for the team as they head into the qualifiers for Asia's first Major.

How are you feeling coming out of a historic win for your region. bringing ANZ its first trophy in seven years?

As soon as we won I had this instant feeling of euphoria and I was just so happy to hug and celebrate with the boys, it was indescribable.

We have seen a lot of criticism of your performances as FlyQuest's AWPer. With that in mind, how does it feel now to have delivered such a monster performance in the finals versus BIG?

I'm lost for words. I don't blame all of the criticism I have received, it was really bad and my performance recently has just been so below where I want to be. I'm happy I'm here now with the boys and I'm going to do everything I can to keep this rolling and not be complacent.

Can you talk me through round 20 on Dust2, besting Krimbo and syrsoN in a 1v2 post-plant defense to claim a 4k and an eleventh round for your team?

I knew it was just such a high pressure situation, Krimbo was feeling it so I had to worry about him while syrsoN was just holding the angle. They were waiting for me to make a mistake so I tried to hold my nerve and take both the duels at once, whoever would give it to me since I was AWPing.

It just panned out really well for me.

Does this win give you confidence heading into a stacked APAC RMR?

Absolutely, this is the perfect time to start performing and show the level we can actually perform at. It is an absolute honor to be here and to be able to compete at this level let alone win it.

On map one, Ancient, Krimbo had an insane performance to carry his team. Did dexter call around him or what was the plan to neutralize Krimbo?

Krimbo was playing out of his mind on that map for sure. It didn't really affect dexter's calling, which is good. I don't think you have to always call around an individual performance so I'm glad we stuck to our plan and didn't let it rattle us because he put up a performance.

Do you think rising to the occasion tonight while syrsoN really failed to live up to expectations was a key factor in besting BIG or who deserves the most responsibility?

Everyone, absolutely everyone. It went from coaching staff to FlyQuest staff all supporting us and our team. Everyone put in so much effort and work leading into this and we did it all from Australia.

It was really nice knowing that we don't need a bootcamp [in Europe] every time to show this level of performance. It's a really big mental win in that regard.

With the APAC RMR right around the corner, what is the plan to prepare for that event?

A lot of work is going to go into it, but we can't fall into the trap of putting too much pressure on ourselves. Obviously it is such an important tournament, very prestigious, but we have to treat it like a tier-one event and prepare the best that we can and not worry about results and trust the process.

After seven years without a title, how are the boys planning to celebrate after a hard-fought victory?

Respectfully the boys are probably going to get a little bit shitfaced tonight with some drinks and celebrations.