Fnatic - A profesional gaming team

Following a good run at the European Finals you guys managed to qualify for the Globals. Was it luck or preparation? Or a combination of the two?

Yeah, the preparation was really short, obviously. Following most of the teams, we also operated changes, which is not common for us. We had the opportunity to start with mTw. They really dislike playing us, so we could manage it in a good way, and that's what we did. To qualify, we had to win one of the three favourites who were aTTaX, fnaticMSI or mTw. But we don't feel like we had such a good run. Beside it, we almost lost n!faculty, grabbing the draw after so many advance, which could lead us to bigger problems.

Do you think a lack of experience denied you a victory over Ravens in the play-off? You simply knocked them down during second map, but then rushed into it on tuscan and failed to build up a composed game.

R!Go posing

Clearly, we miss some time playing together. Personally, I've been leading the team for 3 months only and this event was my first one as a leader for international competitions. It was also our first international event with only fifteen days of training. Even with all that, we're mostly happy with how we did.

We took quite some time to enter the match against Ravens, putting only five rounds on the terrorist side on de_nuke. Next to it, we botched the CT gun-round. We then started to think all together that if we keep on making so many mistakes during the match we're going to take an ugly 2-0. So we took the time to make a huge debrief and put up a game on inferno, which denied any resistance from Ravens, giving us the ability to take the second map score to 16-01.

So here we go on the conclusive game on tuscan, a map which we really didn't want to play. We hoped for a 2-0 at first. Nevertheless we had to play this one. After such a dominating second map score, it's really not easy to re-concentrate and to focus again, moreover against people that even themselves thought they wouldn't be able to win one match into their group stage (according to an interview they gave back then).

What we prepared on tuscan didn't work against fnaticMSI. Well guess what, it didn't work also against Ravens. It was even worse! Between the individual small bad things, the anticipation of every Ravens' move, every "try" ended in a huge failure. We can for example quote the round where we took 2 awps and they ended our hopes with a first bomb-site rush. Twenty seconds rounds!

You're the only French representative at the Global Finals. Do you think that picture reflects reality? Does it make you guys the best French team out there?

Actually, for this time it seems normal that we're the only French representative. But be careful, it doesn't mean we're the best French team out there. Around us, co-national squads are quite unsettled, yet the comparison level is really close. The funny thing is, because of this proximity, all of our rivals focus on the national level and supremacy. Whereas in other countries, players just care less to be the best at home, but they struggle ambitiously to reach a top 3 on international events, a way more glorifying achievement.

From this point of view, French teams don't have a high enough level of ambition. Instead of fighting to win aqainst FnaticMSI, mTw or such, they work in order to beat us or Millenium, for example. No matter where, French associations should send more names in tournaments abroad. Consequently, we cannot really hope to have something else than one usual team to represent France in front of players that do that for ages.

R!Go congratulates Friis, following their EM dispute (HLTV.org)

And if we're on that chapter what do you think about the recent changes in the French scene? What do you make of the new Millenium, the new aAa, Geno and co. or YoYoTech? How do they fit into the picture?

It was sad to see Millenium lose a team or a group of players that has been together for quite some time. Now, for the other teams, we can't give an opinion yet, sadly. It's been three months now that all those teams didn't play LAN tournaments. The "Atomic ReSO" happening soon in France will gather all those, so we could find out what YoYoTech is really worth, but also the new Millenium compared to the old ones.

Well last time you achieved a third spot during group-stages. Is that your aim for the Global Finals as well, considering that you have FnaticMSI and mousesports ahead of you. Not to forget EG or mTw *smiles*!

Yes that's definitely a goal of the trip. We're going to fight to reach the third place, and, like last time, we'll have to beat one of the favourites. FnaticMSI often face trouble during the group stage, let's hope that their trouble will be against us this time. Otherwise, we should keep on being mTw's problem, but also manage the win against maybe EG. Ordered like that, we can peacefully loose Mouz! It doesn't look that complicated after all!

Okay, more seriously everything can change until the last match in these kinds of group stages, every match has to be taken more than seriously and we'll have to give everything we've got 'for mother France !'

R!Go at the center of attention

It does pretty much look like a death group. Realistically talking what are your chances of not ending up as victims of it?

Both group stages are mostly the same, to my mind. The only thing is that our group stage has more teams used to reach podiums. But looking at the last Extreme Masters, who would have betted that Kerchnet and us would finish in front of aTTax and mTw? Not many, so we have to believe is our forces of being the executioners of the huge names!

If you were to swap one of the rival group teams with another one from group B to make you group-run easier, which one would it be?

The best teams to swap would be either Mouz or FnaticMSI. They've both shown a good enough game to reach the final for the European one. Instead of them we'll take any one but SK-Gaming, if I could really pick. Anyway, if you want to win the tournament, you have to beat even the best.

What do you guys think can bring you success at the upcoming Global Finals? Is it team-work, the element of surprise, or mSx's mad-fragging skills?

In order to be successful in this challenge, a little bit of all you said is needed. The level is high enough so you really have to pick every single thing you can to defeat all the others.

Enforcing the strategies and not being scared to dare in front of teams that will maybe underestimate us, might also be a good advantage. Apart from the normal team-practice, everyone will also have to train personally to maximize our chances both individually and collectively.

It's also true that mSx can, on his own, bring a victory for us, just like Neo can do it for AGAiN or f0rest at FnaticMSI. But, just like in those teams mentioned above, every player will have to be aware enough to make his part of the job. We have to trust each other, take pleasure in playing the game, and feel comfortable together. In osmosis ! *smiles*

In terms of preparations, how do you usually approach it. Do you gather a couple of days prior to such an event and practice all the time, or do you prefer to do it over a couple of weeks?

We play regularly four or five times a week. Each of these nights, we try to play at least 3 maps starting from 9 P.M. Two weeks before the tournament, we try to play as much as we can in the weekend, and play earlier in the evening, like starting from 6 P.M. with a diner break. Sadly, we're not doing serious bootcamps prior to the event.

Name a top3 finish for the Global Finals.

Giving a top3 is never an easy thing, so let's say FnaticMSI, Mouz, and oXmoze ! *smiles*

Well, Mathieu, rounding it up, I wish you guys good luck and thank you for your time in taking this interview. Any final additions?

First of all, thanks to all the sponsors that support us like www.esportDesigners.com but also VeryGames. Thanks to everybody close to us, like BoZo or MonsteR, who helps us out every day. Thanks to Casiii and uNk, who also trust us and that helps progress all together.