Tonight, Team SoloMid take on Fnatic in Aftonbladet Esport’s new format ”Fight Night”.

Leading up to the game, Nicolai ”device” Reedtz talks about how they’re working their way to the top, tournament formats in general – and a much debated CS:GO patch he feels took the game in a completely wrong direction.

– Lowering the skill ceiling and making it really easy for people holding an angle in an already CT-based game, how does that make sense? I really believe it ruined a lot, he tells Aftonbladet Esport.

After leaving Team Dignitas and signing with North American organization Team SoloMid, Nicolai ”device” Reedtz and his teammates have started their climb towards the very top in the CS:GO community. With four top 4 finishes in the recent months and a quarter finals elimination against Ninjas in Pyjamas in Katowice, TSM have established themselves as a true force to be reckoned with, even though they’re yet to play full time.

– It has been one of the biggest things that has happened for me, almost everything is different. Some of the major effects will not be seen until we are going full time, which always was planned in July. But our fan base has grown and it instantly puts more pressure on us, since we want to achieve what the other teams are known for: winning. We are given a security and a base of a size we’ve never had before, and we want to show that we are worthy of it, device tells Aftonbladet Esport.

Even though you’ve presented very respectable results lately, you still haven’t been able to overcome the NiP/Fnatic/EnVyUs dominance. How are you working as a team to take that final step to the absolute top?

– We play a lot, like, really. I spend my day going to school from 8-15, I get home at 15:30 and start playing until we start practicing from 17/18 to 23. We want to spend more time analyzing other teams before we have to play them, and it is something we are adapting into our schedule and playstyle. I feel like we have the material, and it is also some mental barriers that eventually will fade. Looking at the other teams individual skill level, I feel like we can match them if we have a good day. It’s always the golden question asking how much it will take from us to get there, we don’t know. But one thing is sure, and that is that we are giving our all to start competing for the trophies and not just the medals.

You missed out on the Pro League playoffs because of an illness after Copenhagen Games. How are you feeling now and how did it feel to pass that tournament up?

– I felt like the worst person towards my team when I said it Wednesday evening after practice. I really had it like shit the whole day, but I thought that my body would cope with it and that it wouldn’t get worse. But it did, a lot, and I’ve had two checkups afterwards to be sure it was going in the right direction. But the boys really put a smile on my face when they made it to that semifinal, because they were really sceptic going into the event, not knowing the stand-in right before they actually took off for the event. So I know that they are happy too, and had a good time.

”The patch before Copenhagen Games annoyed me heavily”

TSM ultimately fell against Titan in the Pro League semifinals, eliminating their chances of making two lan finals in a row. At Copenhagen Games, they lost against Virtus.Pro in the final game of the event. Now, device talks about how irritated he was before that tournament, because of the recent patches to the game.

– Valve decided to patch right before Copenhagen Games, something that annoyed me greatly. Admins at the event decided to play on the new patch, which I think is a step in the wrong direction. We practiced the day it was launched, and I was mildly said really angry at the decisions they took. Of course you adapt, but I’ve never looked upon ”WASD:ing” or having high moving accuracy as something you should update towards. The Tec9 nerf is nothing really noticeable for me, it has just been countered a bit by the SMG:s, but I still think it’s not moving the right direction. The developers have told us that they want almost all guns to be used in the game, and they certainly mean it.

– Moving on to the AWP, we can start speaking about lowering the skill-ceiling and making it really easy for people holding angles, in an already CT-based game. How does that make sense? I mean, you will almost never take fast picks on AWP against AWP duels anymore, I really believe it ruined a lot.

You’ve been one of the more standout players in your team for a while. What do you think yourself about your recent form. What things do you still want to improve?

– We’ve played a lot of online games which might have given a false view on who has stepped up when it mattered. I mean, Copenhagen Games was by far my best event in a long long time, but I feel like I can produce a better form if I stay more consistent. I always try to improve and recently I came across a lot of errors I started making into the later part of games. This is the part I want to improve the most. Also, I have been using a lot of time trying to get better at AWP:ing, but with the current state of the AWP, it is something I won’t be putting a lot of time in to since I am more of an aggressive sniper.

Tonight, you’re facing Fnatic in a BO5 as ”Fight Night” premieres. They’ve been looking a bit out of shape lately, what do you think about your chances of beating them?

– I believe we have a good chance of beating them. Actually, I don’t really think they have been that out of shape if you take into consideration that they’ve had a break which always affects results in the short term. We’ve always had a good matchup against Fnatic, especially with karrigaN, so I am confident that my teammates that just came home from a tournament with a great result will be just as motivated as me.

There was a lot of talk about FnaTEC during Katowice, do you think they’re one of the teams that have suffered the most after the recent nerfs?

– Nah, not really. As stated they have been one of the teams who have had a break, and I believe they will adapt, they’ve shown to be one of the best teams at adapting and I am highly doubting that it will make them suffer on the long term.

A lot of people want to see the BO1 format disappear and make way for BO3s and more BO5 finals, what’s your opinion on the tournament formats and what is your personal favourite?

– This has been my opinion in a long time, I would really favor this setup even though it would take a lot more time. It will remove some of the random results that, for instance, Titan has suffered in many majors. I want to address lower and upper bracket too, though. I don’t really think lower and upper bracket is good when you look at a tournament in a whole. The final will be affected by some advantages for the team going through upper bracket, which makes sense. But it removes some of the excitement a final should have, and I really believe that in a final no advantages should be given. So my personal favorite would by far be a GSL BO3 group stage followed by single elimination brackets and a BO5 final.

Tonight at 7PM CET: Team SoloMid vs Fnatic in ”Fight Night” – watch the game on our official Twitch channel.