FeTiSh: Overpass nicht für Wettbewerb geeignet

FeTisH: Overpass does not fit for competition either

readmore.de sat down with Team Dignitas‘ Henrik 'FeTiSh' Christensen to talk about their opponents, the new maps and the tournament. The 27 years old player has some clear words for the veto system as well as for the new maps.

readmore.de: First of all, let’s start with the beginning of the tournament. You faced Vox Eminor in the opener. How would you rate their performance?

Henrik 'FeTiSh' Christensen: I’ve read a HLTV comment saying they would love to see them with a few months of practise in Europe and they would really become a great team – they are already a really strong team. They aimed amazingly and we struggled against them. I think it was 16-9 and the score lies a bit since they were hitting shots.

Afterwards you seemed to have issues against C9. It feels like you lost some rounds that should have been won. Can you talk us through that?

Well, this is a team game and we made to many mistakes acting as a team. Individually we did well, but the communication didn’t go well. We made silly, silly mistakes because of that and it was a big throw.

Then you faced Titan and you went 16-1. What’s the story behind this?

The veto system at this tournament is highly impacted by Valve and to say the least it is fucking retarded. I am sorry to use these words but it really is. I feel so sorry for Vox. Let’s talk about Vox: They travelled all the way from Australia and got the fourth seed in the group. Therefore they always had to pick last and always get the worst side on the map. So before the game starts they are already at a huge disadvantage while on top of that facing the highest ranked team in the group. That is not even remotely fair. The veto system might be okay, but then picking sides – it is just a coinflip.

That was also the case against VeryGames aswell. The map got randomed to nuke and obviously we were going to start CT. VeryGames did play it horribly, though, they didn’t seem to be the team they were in Source. If people remember them: You just get a smoke in your face followed by ten flashes and then you were dead. Their set strategies have changed, but you still need them. You still need the set smokes and stuff. And we were able to kill them in „yard???“ all the time, because they didn’t do that. It was fightingly easy for us to deal with them. It felt like a team that didn’t play Nuke.

Do you think they should have removed Nuke against you?

Knowing that they had to start T, maybe. But I think they feel confident on Nuke, aswell, but their T-side really seems to struggle. Once we got a big lead it just spiraled out of control. They should focus more on their strategies. They didn’t have enough strategies to get through the yard and that’s important. We know how hard it is to get through the yard.



What about the veto system would you change? Just the pick phase of the side?

In best-of-threes it is not that big of a problem. For example Epsilon wanted to pick an open map against us, just to get an advantage. So, both sides are pretty eco, right? So they forced us to pick a map that is more CT-sided, so they can get the easier side. That’s how they think and that’s how we would think. So in Best-of-Three it is kind of fair – it has fun mindgames to it. Also you have the knifes to decide for the third map, which in the Best-of-Ones you don’t. In the Best-of-Ones it is just random. I don’t think it is fun for the spectators and I think they only do it to force the new maps. I don’t think having the maps added this late is viable for competition, though.

You said Epsilon wanted an open map. Are you weaker on those or what makes you strong on the other maps?

Well, we removed Cobblestone ‚cause that is the only map we have not played. We feel confident on the rest of the maps. Let’s say Epsilon picked Nuke. They would have forced us to choose sides on it – so they would never pick that. Also, I don’t think we are the CT-team most of the commentators see us as. At Gfinity we did really well at T-sides, we only struggle against Virtus.pro on Cache. And we only played Cache a few times.

You mentioned that you are always going to veto Cobblestone. On the other hand there is Overpass which you practised. How is it and how do you feel about this new map?

We practised Overpass and feel confident on it. The thing about the new maps is that favoured teams are not always aware of the metagame. For example we saw NiP going onto Cobblestone confidently before Epsilon showed how much better they knew this map. Basically there is no set metagame yet and it feels random. That’s what I don’t like about the new maps. I don’t think Overpass is fit for competition, either. Many fanboys are probably going to hate me for saying this, but you cannot do good fakes on Overpass. You need to take that „yard???“ area at that green area where the tree is. If you want to take that area and follow it up with a rotation to B, you just cannot make it. As T there is just not enough time. As a result the tactical options on that map are very limited. Alot of teams just go with four guys to B in the start of the round and then they have like 20 seconds to get A and B in perfect positions, because there is no way that T is going to make it their. On the map there is just too many angles to check.

You added Phillip 'Aizy' Aistrup a couple months ago. How did he fit into the team and how did his developments look?

He is a young player and got alot of citicism at Gfinity, since alot of people care about scoreboards. However inside the team we do not care about that as much, since scoreboards can be misleading and we care about winning as a team. He showed at this event that he fits perfectly into the team. He is a calm and collected guy and still learing alot. He has progressed amazingly and this his very first big stage and it does not seem to affect him too much. Whenever he does a messege mistake and I point it out to him he will always take it in a good way to learn from it.

How would you rate this tournament in general. You have been to all three majors, how would you compare them?

Well, Katowice is just unbeatable. The stage here is great aswell and the crowd is nice, but the first day was horrible. We had to sit down at little desks and there were no spectators. It actually felt like a small local Lan rather than a major tournament. Therefore I would say that this is the worst major. Also the second day has been great so far, though.

You seem pretty unbeatable at the moment. Who can stop you?

I have said this many times before: There is only great teams right now. I saw some of the other pros getting bashed for saying that ten teams could win this tournament – I totally agree with them. Whenever we play each other in other leagues or practise it is always so even. I don’t see any favourites. Maybe NiP has an edge due to their amazing players and abilities to put in a million hours. They get more salary that other players so they can justify investing alot of time. Therefore they should have an edge on other teams. I do not fear another team, though, and I don’t expect another team to fear us. Alot of great teams and alot of great games!

Can you explain your point about salary?

I just know that they can live off of this. In our team everybody either has school or a job to manage next to this profession. We do get a salary, it is just not enough to live off.

If you were offered the necessary salary, would you go full time as a player?

Well, if I got the offer right now, no. I have got half a year left on my education and that would not make sense. That is also the strategy of the whole team, because in Denmark everything is really expensive. You need at least two to three thousand Euros for a minimum wage. Polish guys for example could live like kings with that. For us it is just not the case. Also we skip Lans to finnish our educations and look after school.

That’s why you participate in so few online tournaments?

Yeah, usually the issue is due to me. I cannot take that much time away from school and therefore the team cannot participate. It is not too bad, though. Sure, it would probably be cool to be paid like NiP and live off of this, but maybe we could be burned out aswell. Maybe you can also play too much CS. It also did not do us any harm if you look back at Gfinity. We hardly practised beforehand and actually overperformed there.

You overperformed?

Yeah, maybe that is just our level. It felt like overperforming, though, because we only played like five days before the event and most players were about six to eight weeks off of the game.

What do you think about the matches of Cloud 9 against NiP and Virtus.pro?

Virtus.pro just had to advance. They always do, they are experienced and Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski is currently probably the best player in the world. He is just on a next level right now and that carries over to his team. Their games so far have been freaking amazing. I feel like both us and Titan threw their games against Cloud 9. The americans seem strategically weak but their aim is impressive. If NiP can play on their normal level or slightly below that then they should win.

What makes Cloud 9 weak strategically?

They don’t seem to have anything advanced that is capable of surprising you. We only played one map against them, so don’t hold it against me. That is just my impression so far. Their aim is nice but I dont fear strategically.

Do you have shoutouts?

Yeah, we have quite some sponsors. Alienware, SCAN, Western Digital, Intel, Twitch and HyperX.